Very interesting interview, Kat. Thanks for posting that.

I used to listen to Terry Gross's program all the time, until my local NPR affiliate started putting it on late in the evenings when I'm involved in other things.

Her guest is very credible sounding and the story she tells is fascinating. I've followed this business ever since private pilot Kenneth Arnold sighted nine disc-like objects flying over Mount Rainier on June 24, 1947. He said they were flying in formation and he estimated their speed at around 1200 miles per hour—unattainable by any known aircraft at the time. Arnold, a trained observer and not given to tall tales or vast quantities of strong drink, was quite definite that what he saw were not weather balloons or migrating pelicans, but machines of some sort.

Coincidentally with that (or perhaps not), I recall reports toward the end of World War II of pilots spotting some kind of flying gizmos that were disc-shaped, glowed incandescently, and were unbelievably maneuverable appearing in the skies over Europe during dogfights. American, British, and German and Japanese pilots saw them, and each thought they were the other guys'. They didn't take part in the dogfights, they seemed to be merely observing, and if approached, zipped off quickly, far too fast to overtake, although many pilots tried.

All of these pilots were quick to identify one aircraft from another. Among other things, their lives depended on it. And they didn't know what in blazes they were. Enough of them were spotted that they came up with a name for them. They called the "Foo fighters." (Pre-dating the rock group by many decades.)

So—??

Then came the 1950s and subsequent sightings, Project Blue Book, Donald Keyhoe's book, Flying Saucers are Real, which was a well-reasoned examination of the whole matter, although Keyhoe did not claim any extraordinary knowledge. Just common sense. (Very interesting book!)

Then, vast quantities of goat feathers, complete with fruit cakes, and various opportunistic folks trying to exploit the phenomenon for gain or notoriety. Muddied the waters and raise the level of general skepticism.

The whole phenomenon is rife with possibilities. There is the whole new field, about which the late Carl Sagan said at the time that he was the only scientist in the world who did not have an acknowledged object of study—a "xenobilologist." The term has since been changed to "astrobiologist," and there is an Astrobiology Department at the nearby University of Washington. Studies in this field have pretty well established that if it is at all possible for life to develop, it will. In even some very harsh conditions such as the 700 degree waters around "black smokers" in the deepest depths of the ocean (such water temperatures possible because of the pressure at those depths). I have a friend who works there.

And, of course, SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intellegence. Arecibo telescope and all that. And recently, with the Hubble telescope and other instruments, the discovery of hundreds of "extrasolar" planets—planets outside our solar system, orbiting nearby stars, many of which are what are being called "Goldilocks planets." Not too hot, not too cold, where H₂O would be in a liquid state and "life as we know it" could possibly develop (or have developed already).

So I wouldn't simply write the whole matter off as insanity brought on by overdosing on back episodes of "Star Trek" or "The X-Files."

As to the matter of the famous Area 51 aliens being genetically engineered and surgically altered teen-agers. . . .   I'd have to chew on that one awhile.

Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proofs. Although Terry Gross's guest was very convincing—or very convinced—there was no actual evidence. I find it hard to believe. But I can't say that I totally disbelieve it either.

Don Firth

P. S.   Two further comments:   CLICKY

And

A disc-shaped object, pulsing with light hovers over the street and sets down in front of a music store. A door lifts up, a ramp slides down to the sidewalk, and a little green man with a large head and big black eyes walks out, crosses the sidewalk, and enters the music store. The clerk behind the sheet music counter watches the little green man approach with her eyes wide and her mouth agape. When the little green man is finally standing before her counter, she manages to stammer, "M-m-may I h-elp you?"

The little green man says, "Take me to your lieder."

(May be too subtle for some.)