Two Sides of History: Are UFOs really as extraordinary as they seem?
In the new Sky HISTORY series Two Sides of History, believer Jonathan Davies and sceptic Deborah Hyde debate UFOs.
Image: Believer Jonathan Davies and sceptic Deborah Hyde debate UFOs | Two Sides of History
In recent decades, the UK and US have released intelligence reports acknowledging the existence of UFOs. Such revelations are not surprising to MUFOG.co.uk founder Jonathan Davies, who attests to seeing UFOs landing near his homes.
Deborah, a former editor of The Skeptic magazine, is more cautious. While not denying UFOs’ existence, she suggests they could be attributed to 'atmospheric junk' like balloons and satellites, or 'lights or interference from the ground'.
What do UFO sightings really tell us? Do they say more about the wider universe or instead simply humans’ overeager willingness to believe? In Sky HISTORY’s Two Sides of History, Jonathan and Deborah present contrasting views.
Is a new tech ‘arms race’ underway?
In a Sky HISTORY survey, about 47% of respondents expressed their belief that Earth had been visited by aliens. Nonetheless, Jonathan doesn’t jump to the conclusion that UFOs are necessarily extraterrestrial spacecraft.
He posits that many of these UFOs are craft incorporating advanced technologies not yet known to the public. 'There’s currently a race going on between the West and Russia and China to develop these technologies.'
However, Deborah isn’t convinced when Jonathan implies that they include time travel. 'You are aware, I’m sure, that our present understanding of physics is that time travel isn’t possible. So that would be a quantum leap ahead of what we generally know.'
The 2004 ‘Tic Tac’ UFO incident
In November 2004, US Naval aviators had been undertaking training exercises off the Californian coast when they were alerted to the presence of nearby UFOs.
Upon closer inspection, an oblong UFO appeared to be moving erratically above the Pacific Ocean. The UFO’s performance characteristics are said to have far exceeded the capabilities of human-made aviation technology from both then and now.
One of the fighter pilots even captured footage of the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO — so-called due to its similar shape to a breath mint. This video has since been released to the public, and Jonathan sees it as evidence of futuristic aliens.
Has Mick West refuted the ‘alien craft’ theory?
Sceptical investigator Mick West has his own take on the ‘Tic Tac’ footage — and as far as he’s concerned, no aliens are involved. Deborah brings up West’s explanation that the UFO had actually 'been a similar naval plane from a good distance away, probably 30 miles'.
The Tic Tac seemingly lacked obvious protrusions of a human-made aircraft, such as wings. However, Deborah relays West’s view that, on radar, 'the heat haze had sort of taken the rough edges off the shape.'
'I prefer to believe the actual US Navy that came out with the report on the Tic Tac,' Jonathan replies. 'Mick West develops video games, I believe — he’s not really an expert.'
The US Navy, on the other hand, 'even said themselves that there were objects under the water as well as above the water. The Tic Tac moved at 70,000 miles an hour. It was tracked. There were three different pilots that saw it, and they’ve all given testimonies.'
Could UFO sightings be a trick of the light?
Deborah is thinking along these lines. She opines that 'there’s likely to be a psychological and neurological and sociocultural reason for all of these things.'
Deborah wonders if people who encounter UFOs 'have a cluster of specific neurological traits that predisposes them to it.' She believes that sleep paralysis could help to explain Jonathan’s own experiences.
'I’ve heard interviews with you where you describe sleep paralysis to a tee. If you didn’t know the neurological basis, you would totally buy into what you saw in front of you. I’d like to emphasise that none of this stuff means you’re weird.'
Some surprising common ground emerges
As the debate goes on, there’s a surprising amount of overlap between Jonathan’s and Deborah’s opinions.
According to Jonathan, studies indicate that between 5% and 8% of sighted UFOs are 'anomalous', while 'everything else can be identified.'
He acknowledges endeavouring to consult 'the people that are rational, are credible, that are not looking for any type of publicity.' He tries to 'avoid people that say they know. Nobody knows at this point.'
Deborah observes: 'I think we probably agree on quite a lot. We know that there’s unidentified aerial phenomena. I think we would agree there’s stuff that we don’t understand yet, we’d just disagree on how certain we were on what it was.'
Sky HISTORY screens various shows on UFO phenomena. To find out about further such programmes coming up, just subscribe to our newsletter.
