UFO Hypotheses:
UFO hypotheses
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To account for unsolved UFO cases, several hypotheses have been proposed.
* The Extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), defined by Edward U. Condon in the 1968 Condon Report as "The idea that some UFOs may be spacecraft sent to Earth from another civilization, or on a planet associated with a more distant star", further attributing the popularity of the idea to Donald Keyhoe's UFO book from 1950,[63] though the idea clearly predated Keyhoe, appearing in newspapers and various government documents (see immediately below). This is probably the most popular theory among Ufologists. Some private or governmental studies, some secret, have concluded in favor of the Extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), or have had members who disagreed with official conclusions against the conclusion by committees and agencies to which they belonged.[64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71]
* The Interdimensional hypothesis, that UFOs are objects crossing over from other dimensions or parallel universe, popularly proposed by Jacques Vallée,[72] though also predating him.
* The paranormal/occult hypothesis; A variant of the Interdimensional Hypothesis, invoked to explain so-called paranormal aspects sometimes associated with UFO reports
* The psychosocial hypothesis, that what people report as UFO experiences is the result of psychological misperception mechanisms and is strongly influenced by popular culture.
* That UFOs represent poorly understood or still unknown natural phenomena, such as ball lightning or sprites.[73]
* The Earthquake lights/Tectonic Strain hypothesis: UFOs are caused by strains in Earth's crust near earthquake faults, which can also supposedly induce hallucinations.
* That UFOs are military flying saucers; top secret or experimental aircraft unfamiliar to most people.[74]
