A cultural phenomenon rapidly developed after an incident in Roswell, New Mexico back in 1947. As reported in the local newspaper, something crash landed on a rural patch of land outside the town. At first, it was reported it was a flying saucer that had spread debris that were being collected by military personnel from a nearby base. But when national news outlets ran the story and created both interest and some panic around the world, the government quickly changed the story. They tried to squash it by announcing that what crashed was a weather balloon and not a craft piloted by aliens from space. It is ironic that 76 years later, a weather balloon once again made national news. At least we have confirmed that this one was launched from China and not from a distant planet many lightyears away.

Here’s a quick astronomy lesson for those that may have daydreamed through high school. A light year is defined as the distance light travels in a year. That seems simple enough until you realize that it is nearly 6 trillion miles, a major burden for the Eveready battery bunny.

Following the Roswell incident people all over the world began saying that they had spotted unidentified flying objects, known in shorthand as UFOs. With a mixture of curiosity and panic, sky watching led to the government “shooting down” those sightings blaming them on everything from weather balloons to swamp gas.

Rumors circulated that the government was covering up the existence of alien sightings and encounters. In hindsight, they believed that our earthly population was not mentally prepared to accept that visitors from outer space were real.

There were many levels of the purported coverup. For years the government refused to acknowledge that it had a secret base known as Area 51. Eventually they had to admit its existence when people reported seeing strange aircraft flying around the base. Some former scientists who worked at the facility confirmed that they have worked on reverse engineering of alien craft to try to ascertain their propulsion devices. Allegedly, that was how we developed some of our stealth aircraft.

I think our leaders decided to find a way to make our citizens mentally prepared for the possibility that there would eventually be a documented and witnessed encounter with beings from another part of the infinite universe. Yes, you read that correctly. It seems impossible to comprehend, but it is believed that the universe is infinite. That increases the probability that civilizations far more advanced than ours exist.

So, perhaps it was decided to confide in certain well-known and respected citizens that “we are not alone.” Sharing some of our top secrets about what we have discovered might convince them to produce articles, tv shows and movies that make accepting the reality of visitors from afar easier to accept.

My theory is that they shared some out-of-this world secrets with one of our most respected film makers, Steven Spielberg. Of the many box office hits he directed, three of them delve into encounters with beings from other worlds. The movie “E.T.”, subtitled The Extra-Terrestrial, introduced a peaceful alien who befriended a human child. Later, he released “Close Encounters of The Third Kind” where flying alien crafts found a way to contact us with that melodic tonal music that is probably still in your memory, leading to a peaceful exchange of human subjects. His third venture into alien intervention is his version of “War of The Worlds.” I was fortunate to work on it alongside Tom Cruise in the scene where the mechanical beings from space violently emerged from the ground and began zapping us with lasers. Okay, so maybe not every eventual alien encounter will be enjoyable and well received.

Recently Mr. Spielberg was on television where he discussed the release of footage showing our military jets recording unknown flying objects that have speed, propulsion and maneuvering systems that are outside our proficiency. He then opined that it may prove that there are advanced civilizations in the universe. He even speculated, with a smile, that maybe the UAP, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, are visitors from our future who come to explore us.  He likened it to our archeologists who excavate ancient ruins to explain our history on Earth.

Meanwhile, I hope we “Live long and prosper” and “Nanu Nanu.”

Hudson Cooper is a resident of Sullivan County, a writer, comedian and actor.