Long history of extraterrestrial encounters

I heard a story recently on Coast to Coast AM about the famous World War I flying ace, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron.

The Red Baron has maintained a legendary reputation one hundred years later as one of the greatest pilots of World War I, having shot down a career total of 80 pilots during the conflict.

There is an extra aircraft that some accounts attribute to the Baron as well, but this one may not be of Earth.

The account is attributed to a fellow flier who accompanied the Red Baron on an early morning mission in the spring of 1917.

Fellow ace Peter Waltzrick recounted the early morning incident: "We were terrified because we'd never seenanything like it before. The Baron immediately opened fire and the thing went down like a rock, shearing off tree limbs as it crashed into the woods. Then the two little baldheaded guys climbed out and ranaway."

The "thing" Waltzrick was describing was a craft shaped like an upside-down silver saucer with orange lights according to the British website "The Mirror."

He estimated the saucer to be about 136 feet in diameter. He also said the craft "just appeared" in front of the squadron in a clear blue morning sky.

The pilots saw two occupants flee from the crash and vanish into the woods, and from the account they were not captured.

Waltzrick believed for the next 30 years the craft was an American aircraft since the United States had recently entered the war, so it was entirely possible it was some new technology.

The Roswell incident in the 1940s though changed his opinion.

When he read about the descriptions of the flying saucers others had seen since that encounter, he revised his account and decided the strange aircraft was a flying saucer. In his words, "So there's no doubt in my mind now that that was no U.S. reconnaissance plane the Baron shot down, that was some kind of spacecraft from another planet and those little guys who ran off into the woods weren't Americans, they were space aliens of some kind. You know, sometimes I wonder whatever became of those guys, anyway."

Many people believe flying saucers have only appeared since we took to the air ourselves at the beginning of the 20th century, yet there are anecdotes about UFOs well before the invention of the modern airplane. One of the earliest accounts of what appears to be a flying saucer appears in the Bible.

In the first chapter of the book of the prophet Ezekiel, he goes into great detail describing a vision of a wheel in a wheel sweeping in toward him like a "windstorm."

It is a fascinating passage that has been open to debate. Ufologists believe it is an accurate description of a UFO in biblical times while skeptics believe it is a description of something else, the throne of God.

According to the skeptic site "Ancient Aliens Debunked," Ezekiel's wheel in a wheel is actually a description of the throne of God.

The skeptical argument is simply that Ezekiel was a descriptive, specific writer. He meticulously documented the temple and other details about his life and environment.

According to Chris White, who wrote the rebuttal about the UFO, Ezekiel was using the Hebrew language to write, and he finds it hard to believe an intelligent man like Ezekiel would have needed to resort to imagery and metaphors to describe an alien spacecraft when the words he could have used existed in his language.

He believes based on descriptions in later chapters of Ezekiel that the vision is the throne of God, which is described in great detail later in the book. He mentions that ufologists tend to interpret the text of chapter one to make the idea of an alien spacecraft more palatable.

One specific instance is where he claims the proponents of the UFO theory claim the term "angel" used in that chapter was a generic reference to "heavenly energy," which they connect to a reference to an extraterrestrial craft.

White claims that other accounts describe the throne of God supported by angels with four wings and on wheels.

He points out this description is also found in the book of Daniel. He claims that other cultures also describe God's throne as being supported by angels with wings and on wheels.

He uses these external references along with ancient artwork throughout cultures that show this throne construction as proof of his assertions.

Whether this was a vision of the throne of God or an extraterrestrial craft, it is a great passage to read because of its rich imagery. What I find fascinating is how the object just appears in the sky, much like the Baron's UFO. This leads me to a conclusion that is not original but one worth considering.

Science claims we are one universe in a multiverse according to string theory.

It would follow then that other universes may be at different stages of evolution. I also recall some ufologists claiming the one strange fact about UFOs is there has never been a record of them entering or leaving our atmosphere.

Perhaps if these UFOs truly exist, they are visitors from another universe that phases into ours. This would explain the sudden appearance and possibly the terrestrial nature of the occupants when they are seen.

What do you think?

Till next time …