The mysterious events at Fatima on October 17, 1917 were one of the most mysterious events of that century. But now with the world building up to another event in the near future and people from several walks of life tapping into an intuitive impression that another mass event will soon be taking place for our generation, it seems it would be worth taking another look at the event and possibly expounding on some important key points. And what does this event and the witnesses who say they saw the Virgin Mary appearing before them have to do with the fusion between religion and the UFO phenomenon?
In 1917 when 70,000 people saw a vision including skeptics who believed they would see nothing, different witnesses reported different things. This is one of the key components to the event that is often lost to time. In their classic book, Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th century, Janet and Colin Bord revisit the Fatima experience and include some of the testimony of witnesses who saw the strange aerial phenomena. But while those who were religious claimed to see a human figure gliding across the sky (specifically the Virgin Mary) others stated that they saw only a ball of light that appeared to them to look like a flying saucer or ball of light. The incredible event would be recorded by believers and skeptics alike as an incredible and rare event. Assembled in the crowd were reporters, who expected to write about nothing more than the disappointment of the assembled crowd when the day passed and nothing happened. These witnesses too were caught by surprise when suddenly the sun itself seemed to roll across the sky and leave little doubt in their minds that something was happening that was beyond their ability to explain.
So the question becomes, if a massive UFO event were set to take place before a crowd of people, would some of those assembled see an advanced spaceship of alien origin while others saw a similar figure of religious significant to those at Fatima? And what mechanism in our brains changes objects that we see in the environment around us and transforms it into something that fits the paradigms we personally believe in? How many UFOs have been interpreted as angels or simply planes flying through the sky? And what can we do to ensure the objects we see flying through the sky are actually what we expect?
And it isn’t simply those from this century that transform images in front of them to fit what they are capable of understanding. When Columbus’ ships were seen in the harbor, many on the shore reported seeing men walking across the waves toward them but made no mention of the ships claiming they were simply walking on the water or riding on the backs of massive turtles. Of course these reports were not true. Columbus, though he was an experienced explorer had never ridden on the back of a massive turtle and could not walk on water (no matter how highly some historians think of him.) So what would we see if creatures from another world were to suddenly shatter our vision of the universe around us? Would we even be able to see that they existed if they didn’t interact directly with us?
