Close encounter
{{Short description|Event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object}}
{{other|Close Encounters (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Alien encounter|the former Walt Disney World attraction|Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter}}
In ufology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object (UFO) at relatively close range, where the possibility of mis-identification is presumably greatly reduced. This terminology and the system of classification behind it were first suggested in astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek's book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry (1972).{{Cite book |last=Hynek |first=Allen J. |publisher=Da Capo Press |orig-year=First published 1972 |date=1998 |title=The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry |isbn=978-1-56924-782-2}} Categories beyond Hynek's original three have been added by others but have not gained universal acceptance, mainly because they lack the scientific rigor that Hynek aimed to bring to ufology.{{Cite book |first=Jerome |last=Clark |title=The UFO Book |url=https://archive.org/details/ufobookencyclope0000clar |url-access=registration |location=Detroit |publisher=Visible Ink Press |year=1998}}
Distant sightings more than {{convert|500|ft|m|order=flip|spell=us}} from the witness are classified as daylight discs, nocturnal lights, or radar/visual reports.Hynek, 1972, 1998, p. 6 Sightings within about {{convert|500|ft|m|order=flip|spell=us}} are sub-classified as various types of close encounters. Hynek and others argued that a claimed close encounter must occur within about {{convert|500|ft|m|order=flip|spell=us}} to greatly reduce or eliminate the possibility of misidentifying conventional aircraft or other known phenomena.Hynek, 1972, 1998, p. 20; see also the program UFO Hunters episode "Alien Contact" aired on 23 April 2008 on the History Channel.
Hynek's scale became well known after being referenced in the classic sci-fi film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), which is named after the third level of the scale. Promotional posters for the film featured the three levels of the scale, and Hynek himself makes a cameo appearance near the end of the film.{{fact|date=September 2024}}
Hynek's scale
Hynek devised a six-fold classification for UFO sightings.{{cite book|author=Steven J. Dick|title=The Biological Universe: The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xd2-nYXa-HUC&pg=PA309|access-date=24 October 2011|date=28 December 1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-66361-8|pages=309–}}{{cite book |author1=Goldsmith |first=Donald |url=https://archive.org/details/searchforlifeinu00gold |title=The search for life in the universe |author2=Tobias C. Owen |date=April 2001 |publisher=University Science Books |isbn=978-1-891389-16-0 |pages=521– |access-date=2011-10-24 |url-access=registration}}
The six levels are arranged according to increasing proximity:
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Number !Title !Description !Notes |
| 1
|Nocturnal lights |Lights in the night sky.J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience: A Scientific Enquiry, Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 41. | |
| 2
|Daylight discs |UFOs seen in the daytime, generally having discoidal or oval shapes.J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience: A Scientific Enquiry, Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 59. | |
| 3
|Radar-visual |UFO reports that have radar confirmation—these supposedly try to offer harder evidence that the objects are real, although radar propagation can be occasionally discredited due to atmospheric propagation anomalies.J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience: A Scientific Enquiry, Ballantine Books, 1972, pp. 80-1. | |
| 4
|Close encounters of the first kind (CE1) |Visual sightings of an unidentified flying object, seemingly less than {{convert|500|ft|m}} away, that show an appreciable angular extension and considerable detail. | |
| 5
|Close encounters of the second kind (CE2) |A UFO event in which a physical effect is alleged; this can be interference in the functioning of a vehicle or electronic device, animals reacting, a physiological effect such as paralysis or heat and discomfort in the witness, or some physical trace like impressions in the ground, scorched or otherwise affected vegetation, or a chemical trace. | |
| 6
|Close encounters of the third kind (CE3) |UFO encounters in which an animated entity is present—these include humanoids, robots, and humans who seem to be occupants or pilots of a UFO.J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience: A Scientific Enquiry, Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 158. |See also: First contact (anthropology) |
= Bloecher subtypes =
UFO researcher Ted Bloecher proposed six sub-types for the close encounters of the third kind in Hynek's scale:{{cite book | title = The UFO Handbook: A Guide to Investigating, Evaluating and Reporting UFO Sightings | last = Hendry | first = Allan | isbn = 978-0-385-14348-6 | date = August 1979 | publisher = Doubleday }}{{Ordered list|Aboard: an entity is observed only inside the UFO.|Both: an entity is observed inside and outside the UFO.|Close: an entity is observed near to a UFO, but not going in or out.|Direct: an entity is observed—no UFOs are seen by the observer, but UFO activity has been reported in the area at about the same time.|Excluded: an entity is observed, but no UFOs are seen and no UFO activity has been reported in the area at that time.|Frequence: no entity or UFOs are observed, but the subject experiences some sort of "intelligent communication".
| list_style_type = upper-alpha
}}
Extensions of Hynek's scale
After Hynek's death in 1986, his colleague Jacques Vallee extended Hynek's classification system by two steps, specifically close encounters of the fourth and fifth kinds, as published in Vallee's book Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact (1990).{{Cite book |last=Vallee |first=Jacques |title=Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact |publisher=Anomalist Books |year=1990 |isbn=978-1933665290 |location=Charlottesville, VA}}
The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) immediately adopted the extensions to the classification scale and has used them ever since.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}
=Close encounters of the fourth kind (CE4)=
A close encounter of the fourth kind is a UFO event in which a human is abducted by a UFO or its occupants.[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/Whatre-close-encounters-of-the-first-second-third-fourth-and-fifth-kind/articleshow/41097626.cms "What're close encounters of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth kind?"] S.P.S. Jain. The Times of India. 22 March 2003. Retrieved 4 April 2014. This type was not included in Hynek's original close encounters scale.{{Cite book |title=The UFO Experience: A Scientific Enquiry |year=1972 |isbn=978-1-56924-782-2}}
Hynek's former associate Jacques Vallée argued in the Journal of Scientific Exploration that the fourth kind should refer to "cases when witnesses experienced a transformation of their sense of reality", to also include non-abduction cases where absurd, hallucinatory or dreamlike events are associated with UFO encounters.{{cite web |last=Vallee |first=Jacques |url=http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_12_3_vallee_2.pdf |title=Physical Analysis in Ten Cases of Unexplained Aerial Objects with Material Samples |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706200144/http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_12_3_vallee_2.pdf |archivedate=2010-07-06 |date=1998 |work=Journal of Scientific Exploration |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=359-375 |accessdate=2009-08-23 }}{{unreliable source?|date=February 2020}}
The film The Fourth Kind (2009) makes reference to this category.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}
=Close encounters of the fifth kind (CE5)=
As stated in Vallee's Confrontations (1990), a close encounter of the fifth kind is where an alien abductee receives some manner of physical effect from their close encounter, typically either injury or healing.
Several years after Vallee's classification updates, some preferred that a close encounter of the fifth kind instead refer to human-initiated contact with extraterrestrial life forms or advanced interstellar civilizations, claiming direct communication between aliens and humans. This alternate interpretation of what a close encounter of the fifth kind (ce5) should represent has been attributed to Steven M. Greer.{{cite book |author=Greer, Steven M. |author-link=Steven M. Greer |year=1999 |title=Extraterrestrial Contact: The Evidence and Implications |publisher=Crossing Point Inc |isbn=0-967-32380-0}} While technically not an extension of the Vallee scale that measures result-oriented data, this replacement of the originally coined CE5 classification has become popular in marketing human-initiated contact events.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}
In a CE5 event, individuals or groups use specific protocols to establish communication or interaction with extraterrestrial beings. These protocols primarily involve the use of contact meditation and use of sounds or signals. Close encounters of the fifth kind is also referred to as human initiated close encounter.{{cite book |author=Hernandez J.D. |first=Reinerio |title=Beyond UFOs: The Science of Consciousness & Contact with Non Human Intelligence (Volume One) |last2=Schild |first2=Rudy |last3=Klimo |first3=Jon |publisher=The Dr. Edgar Mitchell FREE Foundation |year=2018 |isbn=1-548-72116-6}}
=Close encounters of the sixth kind (CE6)=
This the term used to describe a sexual encounter between a human and an extraterrestrial species.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|1}}
Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
- {{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A965234 |title=Close Encounters with Extra-terrestrials |orig-year=19 May 2003 |date=25 April 2010 |work=h2g2 }}
- {{cite web |url=http://seancasteel.com/bryan.htm |title=C.D.B. Bryan of "Close Encounters Of The Fourth Kind" |access-date=2007-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070628080442/http://seancasteel.com/bryan.htm |archive-date=2007-06-28 |url-status=dead |last=Casteel|first=Sean}}
- {{cite web |url=http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/closeencounters.html |title=close encounters |access-date=2007-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205105405/http://daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/closeencounters.html |archive-date=2007-02-05 |url-status=dead |website=The Worlds of David Darling}}
- {{cite web |url=http://www.scifi.com/ufo/knowledge/hynek_class.html |title=Hynek Classification System |access-date=2007-04-12 |work=SCIFI.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321060401/http://www.scifi.com/ufo/knowledge/hynek_class.html |archive-date=2007-03-21 |url-status=dead }}
- {{cite web|url=http://ufo.whipnet.org/alien.races/close.encounter/?=rss|title=Defining a "Close Encounter"|date=Oct 22, 2007|last=Naisbitt|first=Michael|website=UFO.Whipnet.org|access-date=2009-11-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205071839/http://ufo.whipnet.org/alien.races/close.encounter/?=rss|archive-date=2011-02-05|url-status=dead}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.theblackvault.com/wiki/index.php/Close_encounter|title=Close encounter|website=The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project|access-date=2009-11-04|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618050425/http://www.theblackvault.com/wiki/index.php/Close_encounter|archive-date=Jun 18, 2008}}
- {{cite book |author=Däniken, Erich von |author-link=Erich von Däniken |year=1972 |title=Chariots of the Gods |publisher=Berkley Publishing Group |isbn=0-425-16680-5|url=https://archive.org/details/chariotsofgodsab00dn}}
{{Refend}}