Aug 05 2008
An Unidentified Swimming Object
I’ve seen many a UFO in my life. Most of them were later identified. One of the more recent times occurred where I now live in central Florida. I was at the kitchen sink when I heard a tremendous “ZAP” and the sky brightened. Then came a “POP” and the lights in the house dimmed. Out of the corner of my eye I witnessed something fall to earth.
I walked outside toward the telephone pole adjacent to where the object had fallen. Not far away I found something lying in the grass, tinged with burn marks. Smoke hung in the air. Although the creature was small, its eyes were large and black–a sure sign of an alien if ever there was one.
And then it moved. The creature lived. After a few stunned moments it got to its feet and hopped to the base of an oak tree. It climbed to a safe height, rested, then made its way into the canopy and out of sight.
Shortly thereafter I noticed a surprising number of creatures, just like the one that fell to earth, living in my trees. It seems they only come down to taste the scattered seeds beneath our bird feeders, and to dig in my wife’s flower gardens (doing research, no doubt). When I walk outside to try to talk with them, they vanish. I don’t know if I’ll ever completely understand these semi-terrestrials, but we do share the same universe.
The creature in the above photograph began its existence in my own, personal universe as an alien creature. In fact, snorkeling is one of my favorite activities because I frequently encounter USOs–unidentified swimming objects.
Upon encountering a USO, I try to get as good a look as I can. Once back on land, I head for my fish identification guides. If I’m lucky, I can match my memory with a life-form in the book. Aha! A queen triggerfish! If I can’t match it, I hope to get a better look next time.
SETI is boring next to searching for and finding beautiful and bizarre, alien life forms here on earth. You don’t need a telescope and anyone can do it.
