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[Music]

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ufos and balloons

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by charles lear throughout ufo history a

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common explanation for sightings has

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been

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that the witness or witnesses saw a

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weather balloon

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this explanation has often been used in

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a ludicrous manner

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by authorities seeking an easy means of

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dismissal and this causes many

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ufologists

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to scoff at it in all cases the truth is

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that it has been convincingly proven

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that weather balloons and balloons of

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all sorts

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have been mistaken as anomalous flying

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objects

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there is a classic project blue book

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case known as the gorman dogfight

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this incident occurred on october 1st

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1948

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and involved north dakota air national

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guardsman lieutenant frank gorman

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gorman described chasing a six to eight

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inch white light

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with sharp edges that was blinking on

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and off

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he chased it in an f-51 getting up to a

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maximum speed of 400 miles per hour

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and it eluded him the explanation in the

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blue book file

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is that gorman was chasing a lighted

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balloon but there are problems with that

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and even notorious skeptic donald menzel

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took issue with it

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what makes the balloon explanation

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doubtful is that two air traffic

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controllers saw the object from the

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ground

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and one described its speed as excessive

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adding to this

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a pilot in the vicinity flying a piper

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cub also saw the object

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and described it as moving very swiftly

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menzel resolved the problem by

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concluding that gorman was seeing a

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balloon

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and a mirage of the planet jupiter

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because this was at the very beginning

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of modern ufology

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the balloon explanation was off to a bad

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start and would continue to be used by

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the air force as a convenient way to

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dismiss a case

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this was unfortunate because the

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explanation is often correct

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and if the air force could have been

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trusted it would have been able to

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remove a lot of noise from the signal

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a blue book case involving what appears

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to be a genuine misidentified balloon

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appears in a scanned document from the

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collection of robert mercer

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the document can be viewed in the

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section from the desks of project

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bluebook

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on the blackvault website a pdf labeled

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balloons has an undated description of

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the above mentioned incident

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along with pictures the report states

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that there had been

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a rash of ufo sightings reported from

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golden colorado

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the case was solved when police found a

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homemade hot air balloon

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made of thin clear plastic with a

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saucer-shaped

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platform that supported candles weather

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balloons can often be identified by

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checking with local meteorologists

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however a case in japan from june 17

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2020 was not so easily resolved what

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looked like a large white balloon

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attached to two crossed propellers was

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reported over the city of sendai

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it remained motionless for several hours

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and then drifted out over the pacific

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ocean

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a spokesman for the local japan

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meteorological society

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denied it was theirs and japan's chief

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cabinet secretary

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yoshida suga also denied knowledge of

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its origin

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suga also did what he could to dispel

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rumors

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that the likely unidentified flying

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balloon was a nefarious device from a

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foreign government

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a frequent source of ufo reports is

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something known as a chinese lantern

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this is a paper bag with a support for a

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heat source at the open end

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and has over the last few years become

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popular in america at celebrations such

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as weddings

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a lantern misidentification in east

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liberty county texas

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made the news in 2013. around 8 30 p.m

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on sunday march 23rd the local police

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received a 9-1-1

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call from a person who reported seeing

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red fireballs up in the sky

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police responded and looked with the aid

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of magnification

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possibly binoculars not specifically

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identified in the news report

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while it seemed to them that they were

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looking at four hot air balloons in a

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line

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flying at a few thousand feet they saw

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no gondola underneath

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the ufos disappeared and then a second

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nearly identical line of four objects

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appeared and also vanished

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the police were mystified and concerned

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enough to contact the national weather

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bureau

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the federal aviation administration and

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even the national ufo reporting center

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the mystery was solved when members of a

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wedding party in the area

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came forward and explained the sighting

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as being lanterns that had been released

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another common source of ufo reports is

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mylar balloons

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there's a huge assortment of shapes and

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sizes available at present

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including numbers in every letter of the

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alphabet it is more than likely that it

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was a balloon of this sort that caused a

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great deal of embarrassment for chris

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mellon

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and to the stars academy in october of

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2017

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mellon was describing the tic-tac-shaped

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ufo encountered in san diego in 2004 by

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the crew of the uss nimitz

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with a picture of an object on a screen

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behind him mellon said

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clearly this is not a u.s experimental

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aircraft

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but whose is it in january of 2017

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the uk paper express broke the news that

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what was in the picture

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was almost certainly of terrestrial

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origin the photo was one of six that

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were taken in july 2005 by british

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researcher steve mara

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and posted on rents.com that same month

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after carefully examining the photos

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and comparing them with pictures of

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mylar balloons mira came to the

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conclusion that what he had taken a

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picture of

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was a silver mylar balloon shaped like

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the number one

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recently news of a leaked photo of a ufo

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taken from the cockpit of a fighter jet

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caused a stir in the community

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what was supposedly a clear image of a

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triangular craft

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has been convincingly identified as a