Since we started gazing into the sky and being more aware of the existence of other planets, the search for other worlds and life on other planets has grown more intense. Over 3800 planets have been found up to now, and this leads us into thinking that aliens could actually be out there.
For the time being, there's still much research to do, in order to know which planets are similar to Earth, which could be appropriate to create and store life, and if this is possible, how many technologically advanced civilisations are there.
There has never been an official instance of an alien message coming in, and there hasn't been any strong proof of aliens being real, let alone blending in with humans. If alien life existed, should they be among us already? How can we talk to them? Can they take us along on a far-off journey into a distant planet? Is their message peaceful, and are they coming to Earth just for research? How much truth is there in the movies where aliens want to destroy our planet?
[predef]mh-general-eng-489[/predef]
UFO sightings: what are they?
The word UFO stands for unidentified flying object. When talking about aliens, UFOs are the ships with which aliens would travel from their home into ours. Testimonials of people who claim to have seen UFOs don't give one single exact definition of this phenomenon.
There's differences in size, colour, speed, even the so-called alien technology. Some of the most well-known UFO sightings in human history are Roswell 1947, Belgium 1989-90, Sao Paulo 1986, and Teheran 1976.
A place that's closely linked to these sightings in the UK is Liverpool. The police there has received more calls regarding UFOs than anywhere else in the United Kingdom, and a Ryanair flight in 2015 had a delayed landing because of a supposed sighting over the Mersey River. There is another group of ufologists, the Mutual UFO Network, who claim to have experienced many sightings as well.
- You could also read: Afterlife and near-death experiences: what comes next?
The alien autopsy: what's the truth behind that story?
The previously revealed Roswell UFO sighting is definitely one of the most legendary, especially since the release decades ago of a video with a supposedly ongoing autopsy of an alien's body which fell into that area.
We go back to late 1995. Mass media around the world talk about what could be 'the most disturbing discovery of all time': a movie sold by a London producer, Ray Santilli. This movie marketing expert claims to have purchased footage, supposedly filmed by a former officer in the US Army, of an alien autopsy. They claimed the recording was taken right after the famous UFO drop in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.
The images were sold to more than 20 TV stations, but they turned out to be fake: the footage was recorded by Spyros Melari in a Camden apartment (London). The alien was created by sculptor John Humphreys, a special-effects expert who had worked in the sci-fi show Doctor Who. Upon the reveal of the truth, Melaris pointed out that 'it was just a joke. I feel remorse now. The truth is, all ufologists have taken this movie as proof of the existence of UFOs and aliens".
- Give this a read: Parallel universe, the theory behind Stranger Things
Alien abductions: what are they, and how they occur
Some people claim to have had verbal or telepathic communication with an entity (no matter whether extraterrestrial or not) inside an UFO. Many reports mention night visits: the appearance well into the night of an entity standing in front of that person's bed, which occurs after a close encounter with aliens, perhaps a sighting. Oftentimes it is said that an alien entity 'just appeared' while the person was driving.
Sometimes those people are brought into a ship where the creature lives with other extraterrestrials, who are generally interested in performing research; many people mention that aliens take blood samples from them.
Although this is a phenomenon that occurs all around the world, non-believers of these events point out that night visits might be connected to sleep paralysis or other similar illnesses which occur between sleep and wakefulness. They also state that people who claim to have experienced an abduction have a history of childhood trauma, stress, or just a very vivid imagination.
E.T. The Extraterrestrial and other inspirations for sci-fi movies
We have always fantasised about the arrival of extraterrestrials and aliens into our world through art. Each person interprets it differently, and if we look into movies, we'll see there's all sorts of aliens in different shapes and sizes.
There might be aliens in human form who are kind-hearted, like Kim Basinger in My Stepmother is an Alien, or villains like the teachers in The Faculty, a movie that showed us how to kill off aliens... through drugs!
Sometimes, Earth will have to fend off martians, like in Mars Attacks, Independence Day, District 9, War of the Worlds or The Abyss. Other times, humans will have to jump into the battlefield and fight aliens like in the famous saga Alien.
However, the most undoubtedly loved extraterrestrial in the movies was E.T., the short and stumpy extraterrestrial that Steven Spielberg brought in the movie E.T. The Extraterrestrial. The movie was a worldwide success, and told the story of an alien getting lost in our planet and eventually being rescued by part of his family.
For years, there were talks of an E.T. The Extraterrestrial sequel that never came to life. However, to see more, we can see some of the other nearly clone-like exploitations around the world. For instance, in Spain, the movie Los Otros Extraterrestres ('The Other Extraterrestrials') we can see that E.T.'s embodiment is a sort of space aardvark called Trompy.
And on the topic of alien abductions, we could point out the movie The Fourth Kind, recorded as a sort of mockumentary about disappearances in Alaska linked to aliens.