UFO claims, checked
Every UFO claim goes through the same machine.
For each famous claim we set out what its supporters can actually show, what scientists and investigators have found, and a verdict you can follow back to the sources. We take witnesses seriously. Many people saw or lived something. The question is what.
How a case file works
The strongest version of the case, limited to evidence anyone can check: documents, recordings, measurements, published studies, named witnesses.
Studies, official investigations and primary documents, explained in plain words. We give the mechanism, not only the conclusion.
One of five ratings, chosen by answering the same five questions every time. When new evidence arrives, the verdict changes and the change is logged.
The verdict scale
Five verdicts. Open is rare, and it never means alien.
A known cause accounts for the evidence, and the cause is documented.
The main features are explained. Some details still lack a firm answer.
Real, recorded observations that nobody has explained yet. Open does not mean alien.
The claim rests on testimony, rumour or documents that cannot be checked.
Someone made it up, and the maker, a court or an official investigation has shown it.
The case files
Sixteen claims, in four groups. Pick one, or filter by verdict.
Experiences and methods
What people report, and the tools used to explore it.
Alien abductions
The experiences are real. Sleep science and memory research explain them. Nothing shows anyone was taken.
No evidenceHypnosis and recovered memories
Hypnosis can make a memory vivid and certain. It cannot show whether the memory is true.
ExplainedTests that spot “abductees”
Questionnaires and attention tests cannot show that a person was abducted.
No evidenceAlien implants
Objects removed from the body have been called alien chips. None has been shown to be non-human.
No evidenceThe ancient past and faith
Claims that reach back to ancient cities, myths and miracles.
Ancient astronauts
Visitors from space built the pyramids, the Nazca lines and the Easter Island statues. Archaeology shows who did.
No evidenceMohenjo-daro and ancient nuclear war
A 4,000-year-old city destroyed by an atomic blast? Excavation shows a slow decline, not an explosion.
No evidenceGiant human skeletons
Skeletons of people three or four metres tall? The famous finds are hoaxes, edited photos or misread bones.
No evidenceFatima and the “dancing sun”
A crowd in Portugal said the sun moved. The sun did not. What the crowd saw has partial explanations.
Partly explainedSecrets and hoaxes
Leaked papers, famous films, sprayed skies and invented lamas.
Secret bases and leaked documents
Area 51 is real. It does not show crashed saucers, alien bodies or genuine Majestic 12 papers.
No evidenceThe alien autopsy film
A 1995 film showed a dissected “alien” from Roswell. Its makers later said it was a reconstruction.
HoaxChemtrails
Are airplane trails secret spraying? Atmospheric science explains why some trails persist.
ExplainedLobsang Rampa and “The Third Eye”
A bestselling 1956 memoir of a Tibetan lama was written by an Englishman from Devon.
HoaxFields, photos and lights
Things people find in fields, photographs and the night sky.
Crop circles
Patterns in grain fields are made by people, and the first makers explained how in 1991.
ExplainedCattle mutilations
Cattle found with parts cut away and no blood: the investigations point to predators and decay.
ExplainedOrbs in photographs
Round lights in flash photos are out-of-focus dust, pollen and droplets close to the lens.
ExplainedThe Hessdalen lights
Unexplained lights in a Norwegian valley have been measured. What they are is still being studied.
OpenThree promises
Fair to supporters
We state each claim in words its supporters would accept, and we put the best real evidence first.
A source for every fact
Each fact points to a numbered source. Facts we could not confirm are listed separately, not hidden.
Verdicts can change
Every case file shows when it was last reviewed. Send us a better source and we will update the verdict.