This isn't a joke. Most discussions of UFO sightings focus on reported sightings and reactions of those who saw the object or objects. If you consider yourself a rational individual with a good understanding of the physical world, actually having the experience of seeing a UFO can be a life changing event. A recent poll on Daily Kos was very interesting. About a third of us have advanced degrees. I have a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with an undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics. I'm 65, and I've been a private pilot since the age of 18, and am used to looking at objects in the sky. My wife, who also saw the objects is a Ph.D. clinical psychologist who testifies in court as an expert witness from time to time. Our experience follows:
We were in Negril, Jamaica on vacation last January. We were walking outside on a very clear night when my wife suddenly asked me, "Are those airplanes?" There were five round orange globes about a tenth of the diameter of the moon moving actoss the sky in a way that can't be associated with any aircraft. The motion was uneven, with abrupt changes in speed and direction. The whole thing lasted less than a minute before the objects vanished over the horizon. I posted about it on the Negril message board when I returned home to see if anyone else had seen this, and nobody had. I checked the internet and read about the O'Hare sighting as well as one by a retired air force F-16 pilot in Arkansas that was very similar to what we had seen.
I don't want to focus on the details of what we saw, but rather our reaction to it. I am having a very hard time dealing with this. I made a nice living as an engineer/scientist, and I always assumed that regardless of the reports, that interstellar travel faster than the speed of light was impossible. I certainly enjoyed Star Wars, and I used to read science fiction from time to time. I enjoyed Larry Niven and Harlan Ellison, in particular. I feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me right now. I never had a problem with the idea of advanced civilizations, but I didn't think they'd have any interest in us, and they certainly wouldn't be traveling faster than light to visit us. Obviously, I was wrong. As a matter of interest, when a nuclear explosion occurs, a particular kind of very strong radio signal termed EMP is generated. I think perhaps we may have got something's attention with our above ground testing in the 1940's.
My wife is not having the same problem I am. She just thinks our known laws of physics will be modified in the future, and in the meantime, life goes on.
I have been giving this a lot of thought, and one conclusion I have come to is that I would be having an even more difficult time if I had seen this by myself. If any of you are in that position, be assured that you're OK. That's as much as I can come up with right now. We may be an interstellar tourist attraction; who knows?