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The quest to find intelligent life out in space is something that has captivated scientists and astronomers since we first looked up to the heavens, but today, there are many who believe that aliens have already visited us. If you thought that this phenomenon was limited to the United States, with its population raised on a diet of sci-fi films you should think again. India has its fair share of UFOlogists, and here are 10 instances, where people have claimed to have witnessed extra-terrestrial visits to India.
In April 2013, a video surfaced online showing an unidentified flying object hovering in the vicinity of the magnificent Taj Mahal, in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. If the sight of this white marbled wonder of the world wasn’t magical enough, the UFO certainly added to the mystery. While experts have written it off as a hoax, some still claim that the sighting was genuine.
In 2013, Major Sebastian Zachariah was vacationing with his wife, Divya Sebastian, in Kannur, Kerala, when the couple made an unusual discovery. They claimed to have captured an image of a UFO, whilst experimenting with the Major’s new HTC phone. The object was not visible to the naked eye, but showed up in the captures. Once again, the evidence was inconclusive, with astrophysicists refuting the claims and the couple insisting that the images were not a prank.
To UFO enthusiasts who believe that India has been visited by extraterrestrials, a report of unidentified flying objects by Indian Army soldiers could be construed as the most conclusive evidence to date. On 4th August, 2013, a border patrol force observed and reported over a 100 instances of UFO movements around the Lagan Kher Area, in Demchock, Ladakh. Many of these instances occurred over the preceding seven months.
2013 seems to have been a year of high activity for UFOs in India, with yet another sighting reported at the time. Pratyush Kumar, a Delhite, was vacationing with his family in Chikhaldhara, in Maharashtra, where he claims to have spotted the flying object. According to him, the object had a conical shape and radiated light. His family supported his claims and they insist that the object moved away very rapidly.
A vision of god or the achievement of inner peace may not be considered very untoward in Rishikesh city, but the sight of an unidentified flying object is certainly out of the ordinary. According to an eye witness, Rabda Banda a cylindrical or cigar-shaped UFO was seen in the sky, while a fierce thunderstorm suddenly raged all around. According to Scott C Waring, a UFO enthusiast and blogger, the object was very similar to one sighted over Nortre Dame, in 2011.
A local resident from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, claimed that he had managed to photograph a large-sized UFO, shaped like a flying saucer. According to the photographer, Rinku, he originally intended to take a picture of a truck that had collided with the pole, but noticed the large aircraft when he looked more closely. Rumors surfaced about panicking residents in the area, but strangely there were no other reports of the UFO, despite its colossal size.
In the summer of 2008, Bengaluru resident Afzal Khan, who lived in Jayanagar, noticed something unusual in the night skies. With the bright city lights the object was hard to discern, but he insists that he saw a group of lights in the sky, moving, in what he described as, a triangular formation. The speed at which the object moved was apparently too slow for it to have been an airplane. Fortunately, he managed to capture some images that even appeared in a few news publications.
In October 2008, inhabitants of Eastern Kolkata caught a glimpse of what may have been a UFO, near the E.M. Bypass. Hundreds of motorists and residents gathered in the area trying to capture an image and get a glimpse of the mysterious object that seemed to change shapes, while radiating a bright light, almost like a halo. Video footage was also captured on a handy-cam and was telecast on news channels. Because of the large number of witnesses this can be regarded as a genuine sighting, but according to the country’s leading astrophysicists it has a simple explanation. Although they found the phenomenon to be strange and interesting, they believe it can be attributed to the positioning of Venus in the night sky at the time.
The caves of Ellora are fascinating and mysterious to most visitors, but two tourists who were visiting the area claim to have made a discovery that was, quite literally, out of this world. According to Satyam Tallapalli K and Vijay Gujarathi A, they observed a huge UFO in the skies above Ellora. The flying object apparently vanished within seconds, but not fast enough to escape being photographed by them.
In October, 2015, one of the most interesting reports of a UFO was made from the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. What is notable about this particular case is that there were around 800 witnesses from 3 villages near the TRP petrol pump. According to eyewitness Mr Ijapada Chatterjee, the manager of a local mica mine, the object had a diameter of around 12 feet and had a grayish color. It descended to what may have been around 500 feet before making a rapid ascent and disappearing.
Whether you are a believer or a skeptic, there can be no denying that the cosmos we know is infinite and so there is a high probability for the existence of an intelligent life out there. What is questionable to many is whether extra-terrestrials have visited us or not.
