Unidentified Festive Objects

“We were up putting Christmas lights on the roof when suddenly we spotted a strange glowing object in the sky,” puts one UFO report from Christmas past, “It was an object with a sort of tow line attached to it, and it was trailing behind eight or nine other objects that seemed to actually be creatures with antlers attached to them.”

Of course a few pranksters come about to spread holiday cheer their own way, but it also creates a dialogue of Christmas as a holiday for Unidentified Flying Objects.

Of course the most famous UFO case to happen on Christmas occurred over 2000 years ago when three observers traveling reportedly spotted a glowing object in the distance and followed it for several days until it eventually hovered above a small manger.  Could the Star of Bethlehem actually been a UFO of one type or another?  How could a mere star point out so specific a location?  There are those who say the story was allegorical, but it may have been dealing with symbols commonly understood as fact by wise men, such as unidentified aerial craft.

Another, more recent report of UFO activity on Christmas happened over Aguadilla Puerto Rico when several observers spotted a mysterious craft shaped like an inverted saucer hovering on the horizon.  At first it was thought to be a satellite, but soon after the first witness spotted it, it began displaying maneuvers unlike anything anyone had ever seen, and certainly far surpassing the capabilities of any known craft at the time.  As crowds gathered to watch the mysterious object, soon binoculars and at least one telescope were brought out and they could more clearly see the shape of the object they had been tracking.

Five years later to the day, on Chrismas of 1982, a husband and wife were driving south on Michigan’s M-52 highway when suddenly a glowing object passed in front of them quickly.  The object was roughly spherical, and had several antenna sticking out of the back of it in a way very similar in description to the Russian Sputnik satellite.  The object floated in front of the vehicle at a short distance moving very quickly.  The couple occupying the vehicle quickly turned to each other shocked and asked one another what the object possibly could have been.  Both parties recalled it very specifically as being approximately two feet in diameter and moving in a straight line with no deviation in altitude or trajectory.  No conclusion as to what it could be was ever reached.  The couple also noted that the object had absolutely no impact on their vehicle’s radio or electronics as it passed by.

What is it about the holidays that seems to conjure up images of extraterrestrials and unidentified craft of alien origin buzzing us?  Is the sense of ambient magic in the air alone enough to spur on the association this time of the year has with aliens?  Or is there something more primal in the significance of this date that harkens to a time before history was written and great calendars became meeting places such as Stonehenge for a chance to commune with the travelers from beyond the stars?