Testimony Data Project

Humans have long reported seeing many strange things. We put such sightings into categories, and over time many such categories have become normalized, by acquiring widely accepted explanations. These included eclipses, sea monsters, meteors, auroras, ball lightning, sprites far above thunderstorms, and sleep paralysis. But other categories remain strange, including ghosts, poltergeists, precognition, cryptids, and religious visions,For at least eighty years, a key category of strange sightings has been UFOs (= UAPs). Some have hoped to normalize this category entirely in terms of lies/hoaxes or honest mistakes re planets, planes, balloons, bugs, swamp gas, and secret development projects. But a subset of these sightings has stubbornly resisted such assimilation. Two other hopes for normalization have been A) random fluctuations may eventually show some very clear events, and B) careful record-keeping may let us eventually see clear patterns across many cases. Yet, alas, more clearer…