UK - UFOs in Tyneside now UFOs in Wearside!! (Jan 10th, 2008)

Typical isn't it, there's been no real reports of UFO activity in the North East for quite a while and now two separate local Newspapers decide to run a story about UFOs on the same day!!

The first one called, “North UFO Encounters" by the Journal and the title of the second article in the Gazette asks: “Why is Sunderland a UFO hotspot?”

I would have to ask: “What led to this opinion?” as truth be known the amount of UFOs reported in the Sunderland area could be described as minimal at best, and if you cast a critical eye over these reports the amount (that in my opinion) warrant further investigation are negligible to non-existent, especially over the last year with the most memorable one being dismissed as Venus within a couple of days.

Having said that I sort of understand where the writer (Mike Hallowell) is coming from and if I'm honest the article seems overly diluted but it would appear that this is a necessary evil in order to maintain the interest of the average reader. And it's certainly a nice change to see a local rag at least hinting at the origins and motivations of the UFO phenomenon rather than questioning the existence of it.

I commented several times towards the end of last year that the media in general is taking a less critical approach to UFO sightings and reports, whether this in itself is a conscious decision, a case of following the lead of others or perhaps a signifier of a more publicly tolerant media stance, who can tell?

Perhaps soon we will see a local newspaper entertaining the possibility that they are not extraterrestrial craft as we currently understand them. Perhaps that the phenomenon is a trans-dimensional one, or that UFOs are no more than a result of the collective, fractured human psyche, an involuntary projection of our primal fear or an externalization of these fears, one that is given structure, form and physicality by its respective beholders?

Hopefully these articles are an indicator if things to come, or it could just be a slow news week………….

UK - Why is Sunderland a UFO hotspot? – Shields Gazette (Jan 10 2008)

Why is Sunderland a UFO hotspot?

RECENTLY there has been a flurry of UFO sightings over the Sunderland area.

To some, this may be disturbing. After all, no one likes to entertain the idea that our skies are being filled with alien invaders from a distant solar system. Personally, however, I quite like the notion that we are entertaining visitors from beyond.

Overall there has been a decline in flying saucer activity in the UK, and if our friends from the other side of the galaxy suddenly got bored with us and stopped coming, then we may never find out who (or what) they are, and why they found planet earth so fascinating in the first place.

One of the big problems with the concept that we are being visited by alien life forms is the distance they would have to travel to reach us. The nearest star to us is more than four light years away, and this means that even if aliens could travel at the speed of light, it would still take them over four years to get here.

Some researchers have postulated that there may be "worm holes" in space, which could acts as portals between one solar system and another. The idea is that you pop into one worm hole and hey, presto, before you know it, you pop out of another millions of light years away, without having to travel the distance in between.

Of course, this notion is still but a theory. Personally, I believe that UFOs probably have their origins much closer to home. It seems unlikely that they originate on another planet in our own solar system, as there are no signs of alien civilisations on Mars, Venus or the other worlds in our vicinity.

Another problem is that life as we know it would probably find it difficult to survive in the hostile conditions those planets present. Is it possible, though, that UFOs could have their origin right here on planet earth? This may not be as strange an idea as one might imagine. For years there have been rumours that there are subterranean worlds hidden under the north and south poles that could house civilisations whose existence we are unaware of.

If such civilisations do indeed exist, they could, theoretically speaking, be in possession of advanced technologies that enable them to build aircraft far beyond our own understanding, and using propulsion systems we can only dream of. Another reason for thinking that the "aliens" may be related to us is the biological similarities between UFO occupants and human beings.

Put aside their strange skin colour, large eyes and antennae, aliens are normally described as having a head, torso, two legs, two arms and facial features pretty much the same as our own. If aliens are similar to us, if not identical, then we can probably assume that they are related to us in the same way that horses and pigs, although not identical, are both mammals and occupy places reasonably close to each other on the evolutionary tree.

If you're ever lucky enough to see the occupant of a UFO, it's a fascinating thought that you may not be staring at an alien from outer space, but a long-lost cousin. Why haven't our ethereal visitors contacted us formally and announced their existence officially to the world?

Well, look at it this way; if you had the chance of making friends with a bunch of people who behave as badly as we humans do, wouldn't you think twice about it?

Source: Mike Hallowell - Shields Gazette