Most historians of the UFO subject would recognize its beginning in 1947 with Kenneth Arnold's sighting of mysterious flying "saucers" over Mount Ranier, Washington. However, similar descriptions of unusual aerial phenomena have persisted throughout history. Many--if not most--of these incidents represent natural phenomena observed by people in prescientific times, although their study today may be helpful in understanding the broader idea of UFOs and human attitudes toward them. 

This week on The Micah Hanks Program, after a look at the news we turn our attention toward what scientists over the years have had to say about aerial phenomena from classical antiquity that some compare to modern UFO reports, as well as extraterrestrial life, and even whether space explorers might have ever visited Earth in the ancient past. "What may surprise the serious student of the subject," wrote the late NASA scholar Richard B. Stothers in 2007, "is that, despite the numerous articles and books published by scientists on UFOs over the past six decades, almost no scholarly studies of the very early history of the phenomenon have appeared."

While some classical reports of aerial phenomena are indeed worthy of further study, even the famed astronomer Carl Sagan had once argued the statistical likelihood that Earth might have been visited in the ancient past by interstellar explorers... an idea he became increasingly wary of with the popularization of more dubious "ancient astronaut" theories. We look at how scientists have studied the question of Earth visitation and aerial phenomena in ancient times on this edition of The Micah Hanks Program. 

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here. 

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• NEWS: Millions of periodical cicadas to emerge in parts of US
• Here's The Real Truth Behind That Viral 'NASA Finds Parallel Universe' Story
• Scratching the surface: drones cast new light on mystery of Nazca Lines
• The Building Blocks of Life Are Left-Handed, And The Reason Could Come From Deep Space
• SPACE: SpaceX & NASA are ready to launch astronauts into space
• Colonizing Mars may require humanity to tweak its DNA
• PALEO SETI: SCIENCE AND THE SEARCH FOR ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS
• Micah's Telepath Column: "Paleo-SETI: Should Science Rethink the Idea of "Ancient Astronauts"?
• American Indian Oral Traditions and their Relation to the Paleo-SETI Community
• NASA: “Unidentified Flying Objects in Classical Antiquity”
• Carl Sagan’s “Direct Contact Among Galactic Civilizations by Relativistic Interstellar Spaceflight”
• Show artwork used for this week's episode appears courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Sign up today and get access to the entire back catalog of The Micah Hanks Program, as well as “classic” episodes of The Gralien Report Podcast, weekly “additional editions” of the subscriber-only X Podcast, the monthly Enigmas specials, and much more.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page

Music featured on The Micah Hanks Program includes songs composed by Caleb Hanks (The Clerk Chronicles), Decepticons (Dreamland, Start the Machine) and Micah Hanks. All songs are either in the public domain, Royalty Free, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, or are used with permission of the creators. Please note that some links to books and other items on this page may feature Amazon Associate links.