All language subtitles for On.The.Trail.of.UFOs.S01E01.UFO.People.1080p.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

(Wind chimes)

(Beeping)

(Spooky music)

- I'm Shannon legro.

I host a podcast
called into the fray.

And for most of my life,

I've been capturing
history in a bottle.

No, not the history that we
all grew up learning about

in school or reading
about in the newspaper,

but the weird stuff,
the bizarre, the strange.

I collect eye-witness stories

of people who've
encountered the unreal,

and today begins my
own search for one of

the biggest questions
I've ever asked.

Are we alone?

(Exciting music)

So here's the deal,

unless you've been
blissfully living under a rock

for the last decade,

you're probably aware that
the world has gone crazy.

Politics, societal unrest,
poverty, global relationships,

it's all in flux.

Social media has
made it easier than ever

to express our
disdain for each other,

while television
news is a non-stop war

on any sense of well-being we
may have otherwise managed

to convince ourselves of.

Wars are being raged
across the middle east

while inner cities remain
an ignored battleground

on our home soil.

In the last year, the us Navy
admitted they were aware

of aerial phenomena
that remains unidentifiable.

Former members of secret
government-sanctioned organizations

who studied the ufo
subject have come forward,

positioning the phenomenon
as one of the go-to topics

of discussion for news
anchors, radio hosts,

and late-night talk shows alike.

Pop culture is full of aliens.

While television execs have
embraced the newfound popularity

by blanketing networks and shows

about men and women
hunting flying saucers.

Where ufo debates used
to rage in cavernous forums

hiding in the darkened
recesses of the Internet,

today, the verbal battles
erupt on Facebook and Twitter.

Somewhere in the middle
of all this newfound attention,

something has been lost.

I no longer see the
excitement over the unknown

that once inspired so
many to look up to the skies.

When the us government
is actively telling you

that ufos are real,

what's the sense in being
curious about anything?

(Static)

(Exciting music)

I don't consider myself a
ufologist or a researcher

or even an investigator,
I collect stories.

When I was just a kid, I
had something happen to me

that I found hard to
explain or rationalize.

I had no one to
really talk to about it.

I started wondering
if maybe there were

other people out there like me,

other people who had witnessed
something beyond the norm

who had no one they could
share their experience with.

That's what set me on
the path I'm on today.

I've been fascinated by
strange objects in the sky

for ages now,
since I was little,

and yet I've never
encountered one for myself.

Over the next year, I'll
be traveling the country

along with the documentary
team from small town monsters

in search of stories and
maybe a few answers

to some of my questions.

While there are a number
of spooky, creepy stories

about encounters with little
green men littering ufology,

it's not what drives me.

I'm driven by curiosity
and by a desire

to learn more about the
people who see these things.

People like Dan weiss.

- Nice to meet you.
- Good, nice to meet you too.

- So, I guess walk
us through the story

sort of from the beginning.
- Okay.

It's a warm summer
night, my sister Stacy,

she's a few years
older than I am,

she says, "let's go for a walk."

So we take a walk and we
go around the block here,

here's the house, we
just go around the block

and we go over
here, one street over,

and we start
headin' down this hill

and we can see Belgrade gardens

out here, to the,
you know, to my right.

And there's this big
tree lyin' behind there.

And suddenly we saw it,
and it's just like they describe

in books and videos, you know?

It's like a saucer.

And it's, it seems so
crazy, but this thing's huge

and it's comin' from the south,

it's kinda higher up on
the tree level, the tree line.

It's comin' from the south,
it's kinda moving to the north

and it's coming down
slowly as it goes.

Talking on the phone with
my sister Lindy last night,

you know, like I said, she
was so ecstatic about it,

like more into the
story than I was.

I said that it was
covered in lights, right?

I go, you know what it
actually looks like was

that ride at the fair
that's called the rotor,

you ever hear of that?

You get in, it spins super
fast and you stick to the walls?

I said that ride looked
like a spaceship,

because that's how they
designed it to look like,

so, you know, and it's
covered in lights, and she goes,

"that's exactly
what it looked like."

Put that on a winch
and threw it in the sky

for a few minutes, I don't know.

- Was there lights on, you
know, around the whole thing

on the top and down and
as well as underneath?

- No, I think it was, I
don't think there was lights,

at least from my point of view,

I don't think there were
lights on top or bottom,

I think it was just, you
know, you've got, just in the.

I think it was in
my field of vision

for six to eight seconds, so
it was relatively slow-moving.

And it had kind of
a humming noise,

like a light humming
noise, you know?

Just covered in lights.

It seemed so silly to be
covered in lights, you know?

Just everything is exactly
how people describe it,

seeing a ufo.

But I think what
gets me the most is,

whenever I've looked up
videos or images of ufos,

I really don't ever
see anything like I saw.

Usually it's like, you
know, the video will be like

a series of lights way far out,

like you can't see
any detail or anything.

And they're here
and they're gone.

But this thing was clear and
present and it was just (hums)

You know?

And it just slowly
moved below the tree line

and it was gone.

- Dan has been keeping
this story to himself

for almost 30 years.

In that span of time, the
cultural landscape has changed

in so many ways.

Pop culture has elevated
ufos into a position

where they're never
far from our minds,

and yet the reality of what
an actual encounter is like

has been ignored.

In the last two years,

the subject has been thrust
into greater prominence

thanks to major news stories,

an expanding lineup of
television shows covering the topic,

and a number of celebrities
and political figures

who have involved
themselves in the debate.

These days, few people are
looking to the skies, though,

to satisfy their curiosity,
and instead have turned

to personalities and
figures for answers.

A far cry from the earliest
days of ufo research.

But what brought us
to where we are today?

(Eerie music)

- You know,
thanks for doing this.

- Yeah, no problem.

Well, thanks for asking.

- And I'm gonna have my
phone out, but I'm not texting...

- Alejandro rojas is a journalist
who covers pop culture,

science fiction, and
outer space-based topics,

with a focus on
ufos and the search

for extraterrestrial life.

His focus at openminds.
Tv is to cover the full breadth

of the subject and to objectively
report on the latest news.

- How do you see, what's
the biggest sort of difference

between where the ufo world
or where the ufo subject sits

today compared to
where it was say like,

20, 30, 40 years ago?

- 20, 30, 40 years ago,
well 20 or 20 years ago or so,

when I first got into this,

it was kind of a
low point for ufos.

It wasn't taken as seriously
or covered as much,

not like today where we're in
a very, very unique situation

where the government's
talking about ufos,

the president has
been talking about ufos

in a serious manner.

The credibility level of the
subject is at a high point,

higher than it's
been in a long time.

(Beeping)

- David weatherly is located
in my hometown of Las Vegas.

He's a paranormal historian
who has written a number

of books on a massive
array of strange subjects.

He's extremely
knowledgeable about

the ufo topic and its history.

- Modern ufology,
and when I say modern,

I mean probably
the last 10 years,

has taken some very
curious twists and turns.

When we look at the
modern state of things now,

the paranormal in general
has become part of pop culture.

This is because of the
rash of ghost hunting shows,

ufo shows, you know,
that are on television.

So all of a sudden
we've reached a point

where all of these topics
become much more acceptable

and a bit less taboo.

What has happened in
the midst of this evolution

in recent years is
that not only has

the study of ufos, the topic
of ufos become something

that's culturally acceptable,
but a lot of other people

have come out into the
open in the midst of that.

We have an amazing
array of scientists,

of military officers,
law enforcement,

a whole range of people
who are coming forward

and either saying yes, I've
had an encounter or, you know,

there's something
much more to this topic

than meets the eye
and it bears further study.

(Beeping)

- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.

- Thank you.

- Ronald breiger isn't
just a ufo investigator,

he's a bona fide
rocket scientist

who has worked
for Douglas aircraft,

which became mcdonnell
Douglas prior to becoming boeing.

He was part of the
team that launched

the saturn Apollo
moon rocket and later,

his position as an
engineer made him aware

of radar pings for
unusual aerial phenomena

such as the Iran ufo in
1974 and the Phoenix lights.

Ronald was also employed
at a secure area in Nevada

which is tied to the infamous
area 51, known as s4.

Later, he would become
the state director for one of

the largest organizations
for looking into ufos,

the mutual ufo
network, or mufon.

- How do you feel about
the sort of change in ufology

from maybe where it
was like 30, 40 years ago

to where it is today, how do
you see the subject changing,

maybe in the public view?

- There's more acceptance
of the phenomena now.

We're getting back to
where it's a serious subject

and that may be because
of Reagan's mentioning it

seven times in speeches

and I think Bill Clinton
mentioned it a couple times.

- Do you think
that makes it easier

for witnesses to come
forward or, you know,

'cause of the ridicule factor
maybe being lessened?

- Yeah, as long
as it's not a ridicule.

I've had a lot of witnesses

who did not want
to talk about it.

They wanted to talk to somebody

that it would be kept
strictly confidential.

And that's why it was
so important for us

to maintain confidentiality.

- If there's one
characteristic that marked

the last 80 years
of the subject,

it was probably the way
experiencers have been greeted

with ridicule, consternation,
or been simply ignored.

In the earliest days of ufology,
many witnesses were met

with a genuine interest and
even excitement by family,

friends, and even
members of the press.

That changed very
quickly, however,

when a scientific committee
was formed at the behest

of the central intelligence
agency, who, more than anything,

wanted the subject of flying
saucers to simply go away.

This kicked off what
would become a pattern

for the government's
handling of the topic

for decades to follow,
and indirectly or directly,

may have helped form the basis

for the treatment of witnesses.

While the robertson panel
and subsequent projects

such as blue book did their
utmost to debunk reports

of unidentified objects,
they also helped to further

the false impression that
witnesses are few and far between

and more often than
not are just misidentifying

mundane craft or naturally-occurring
atmospheric conditions.

Despite their best
efforts, though,

people have learned that
strange aerial phenomena

are being seen around the world

by ordinary people
on a daily basis.

Dan weiss doesn't
seem afraid of ridicule,

but it's taken him
decades to understand that

what happened to him is
part of something much bigger.

- Is it important to you that
it's documented in some way,

or is it more like,
whatever, you know,

like I'm gonna have
it with me forever

'cause it's my story and...

- I think it's important
in so much as that,

it'd be nice to know
if there's anyone else

who saw something similar,
or if they do in the future,

you can point
back to this and say,

"okay, we've seen it before."

But...

I mean, that tree right there,

that big one that's takin'
up most of the view?

We could've been
right here, but...

- yeah.

- Maybe that tree, you
know, 25 years removed,

is just a lot, it'd
have to be, right?

Same with the big pine.

So...
- So it's straight ahead?

- Yeah.

- Can we pull into that
parking lot over there?

- Right on the corner there
was like a path where you go in.

- How did you all
feel about seein' it?

I mean, were you scared...
- I ran in the house,

like I said, we had come
around the, from over there,

we came back around the
road, ran into our older sister,

second sister that saw this.

She said, "yeah, I've seen it."

And we talked to
the neighbor of ours,

older yet, and he
had been jogging,

and he said certainly
he had seen it too.

I ran in the house, and I
remember my dad was on the couch

right in the main room there.

And I woke him up out
of his sleep and I said,

"you'll never believe
what we saw."

You know, of course you're
telling your 40 year old dad

that you just saw a ufo
and (laughs) He said,

"why did you wake me up?"

- Is that pretty much
really what he said?

- Pretty much, yeah.

(Mysterious music)

- Ryan sprague
is an investigator

and author who
lives in New York City.

Ryan and I started out
together as hosts on my show,

into the fray.

Eventually he
struck out on his own

and now hosts his own podcast
called somewhere in the skies,

which was also the title of
his first book on the subject.

Ryan was also featured on
a recent cw television series

about the paranormal,
but has since returned

to independently investigating
and researching ufos.

- For decades, ufo
researchers have been trying to

make what we do
validated, make it legitimate.

And we always went to
the government for that,

which is good and bad.

I always found it
fascinating that ufo people

never believe the government,

but the minute they
come forward and say,

"hey, ufos are real, we
acknowledge they're real."

We're so quick
to just accept that.

But the fact that the new
York times broke this story

and we found out that
there was a secret program,

we all thought it ended
with project blue book.

- It was this guy, Lou elizando,
who was investigating ufos

or researching them
at the Pentagon,

he was a career
intelligence officer.

He got hooked up with
people in the government

who have been working in the
paranormal arena for decades.

They were working
together to essentially

investigate ufos
for the government.

- Even us in the ufo
community had no idea

that this program existed.

And that they actually
brought evidence to the table

to show us these pretty
captivating videos, I thought.

The tic tac ufo, in specific.

- In 2004, outside of, off
the coast of San Diego,

there was an encounter by
the nimitz carrier strike group.

They were catching
on radar these objects.

At one point, they zero in
some jets on the objects,

one of the jets
approaches the object,

they saw some, you
know, water churning,

above that water was an object

he said was about 40 feet long,

it was white, smooth,
lozenge sort of shape,

he even calls it a tic tac,

it looked like a
giant, flying tic tac.

He maneuvered toward this thing

and this thing began
to match his maneuvers.

It was starting
to get behind him,

which is a position
you don't want

if you're a fighter pilot,

so he moved to get
in front of this object

and the object took
off at incredible speeds.

- The fact is, the government
has been actively involved

in the ufo game going all
the way back to the 1940's.

In 1952, project blue
book was the name given

to the air force-operated
study into the ufo phenomenon,

which was advised
by j. Allen hynek,

an American
astronomer and professor.

Blue book continued
into the late 1960's

before it was shuttered,

but it's theorized
that the air force,

along with other
branches of the military

and the United
States government,

continued
investigating the subject.

In 2017, Luis elizondo
confirmed these suspicions

by breaking his
silence on the existence

of the advance aerospace
threat identification program,

or aatip.

Elizondo left the secretive
government-sanctioned group,

went public about its existence,

and then joined
an enterprise called

to the stars academy
of arts and sciences,

which counted many former

and some current government
officials and scientific minds.

But the fact that to the
stars counted so many

political figures amongst
its ranks acted as a red flag

for many enthusiasts
and historians alike.

But there might be
more to this story

than simply a secret
government-sanctioned look

into whether or not little
green men are visiting earth,

and Greg bishop is just one
of the people who has reason

to question the existing
stories about aatip.

- Ttsa was formed in, I
believe, October of 2017?

They had a press conference.

Tom delonge, former
guitarist/songwriter from blink-182,

he apparently got in touch
with a bunch of people,

former and maybe
present government people,

military intelligence,
and for some reason

they saw something in
him and decided that maybe

they could form some
kind of organization

that would be a private ufo
study information-gathering,

basically a media empire.

To support itself so they
could do this ufo research,

that was their story.

- Right now, elizondo,

who worked for the
Pentagon investigating ufos,

he left and joined
this group to the stars,

ran by rock star Tom delonge.

- So now we have
a situation where, in,

gosh, in recent weeks even,

there have been all
of these revelations

from government officials,
we've heard about aatip,

we've heard about the fact
that the Navy is looking at ufos.

- They gather together
people from different parts

of the government,
all, I think all retired.

All in intelligence and
military intelligence

and some military.

The important part of their
mission that they stated,

I mean, it's totally public,
is they're trying to find out

what is going on
with the ufo subject

to see if any part
of the technology

or the apparent
technology can be exploited

for profit, defense, both.

And as far as anybody
knows, that's what they're doing.

I think they're doing
far more than that

and they're not
gonna talk about it,

but that's what everybody does.

You do anything, you don't
tell everybody anything,

all that you're doing,
because then you can't do your,

whatever you're gonna do.

- You know, their look at
some of these significant cases

involving military
accounts and so forth,

is really changing, I think,

how the public in
general looks at ufos.

And it's interesting to
me because, you know,

for years there's been a
disclosure movement, but come on.

If the government came
out tomorrow and said,

"we're going to disclose
everything about ufos

"in a press conference,
it's gonna take one hour."

Would you really believe
that they were doing that?

It's going to be
pretty fascinating

to see where things go from here

because I think there's
been so much attention

put on the topic of ufos now

that we've finally
reached a zenith point

where we can't really
go back, you know?

We can't suddenly
close the curtain and say,

"no, never mind,
nothing was going on."

They did that with blue
book, but it worked back then,

it won't work now.

(Mysterious music)

- So we have a celebrity
rock star heading up

what could very well become
the impetus for disclosure.

It's strange for sure, but
far from the weirdest thing

to ever happen to
the field of ufo study.

In my short time
involved in all of this,

I've come to see
a dramatic shift

in the way people react
to one another online.

Whether it's the number

of former government
officials involved

or the murkiness of what
their true agenda might be,

to the stars academy
is creating a debate.

But why debate the true
merits and motives of a group

of scientists, politicians,
and celebrities at all?

Isn't this simply
shifting the focus away

from where it should
be to begin with?

The further one wades
into the current state

of the ufo field, the
more it seems to me

that there is a disconnect
between the people

who have actually
encountered a ufo

and the personalities,
agendas, and gossip

that has built up
around the subject.

- The peer review
used to be people talking

to each other in journals,

now it's fighting
on social media,

that's basically (laughs)
That's basically ufology now.

At least most of it.

Just people yelling at
each other on social media

and arguing about stuff that's
probably not that important.

- The ridicule factor has
played a very large role

in keeping people quiet.

A large reason why they
don't at least publicly engage

in this sort of topic is
because they're afraid of

the ridicule factor and
this hurting their credibility.

And so often scientists
will remain anonymous,

and the issue with that is,

even though individual
scientists may be interested,

scientists are not the
ones with the big bank roll.

They're not the people
with all the instrumentation,

these are organizations
and institutions.

And those are the
people who have to wanna

be able to get involved
in order to, you know,

put all these resources
towards figuring something out.

- It's exciting.

I think for a lot of
us it's a new shift

in how the public,
overall, looks at ufos.

- What is that, that shift?

- I think the public's perception
of the ufo phenomenon

is now acknowledgement.

That ufos exist.

That had been a
question for so long.

Just getting the
government to say that,

they would never do that.

And then, boom, out
of nowhere it happens.

They said ufos exist,
now the question is, I think,

what are they?

Who's in control of them?

And most importantly, I
think, what do they want?

- You get an understanding of
what the phenomenon is doing

and what it's about
by dealing with people

that it's affected.

That gives you an insight
into what's going on.

Just being, just trying to
heal them and help them

and listen and be sympathetic,

that's a huge part
of the ufology thing

that nobody's
really talked about,

it's not argued about
on forums or anything,

but the element of, you
know, what happens to people?

How does it affect them?

And how do they, if they
need to, recover from it?

You know?

I wanna talk to them
about what happened later,

I wanna talk to them about
how it made them feel,

I wanna talk to them about
how it changed their lives,

and I wanna talk to them
about how they feel about it now

and if they've been
able to go on with life.

Because I think, one,
that helps the person,

which is the most important
thing, and two, like I said,

it gives you an insight
into the phenomenon

that you wouldn't
have had before,

and that oblique insight is
a lot more important than,

you know, to me
than what color was it?

How fast did it go?

What, you know,
what direction did it go?

Who cares about that stuff?

That could be interesting,
but we have tons of data.

Nobody's really
done anything with it,

at least that gives
us any answers,

so maybe the answers lie in
the interaction between people

and the phenomenon itself.

- Do you, even at your
own house, though,

do you still
sometimes look up and,

I mean, did it ignite any
kind of an interest in this

more so than maybe...
- Yeah, I'm always...

- You think you would've had?
- Yeah.

I'm always interested in,

I don't know if I have to say
space travel or something,

but I'm always
interested in space.

And I do look up in the sky
and I, she's crawling now.

I do look up at the sky and
say, wow, how cool would it be

if I could see something
like that again?

Hey, thanks for calling me back.

- Sure.

- So...
- Telling him how...

I'm a little unsure
of what I've seen.

How cool was it that
you had seen it too,

being older that, that
kinda reassured me

when I was thinking
i'd saw, like, you know?

- Yeah, I mean,
that makes sense.

- Would you have a second to
kind of tell me what you saw?

'Cause they're
actually recording too,

and I thought it'd be cool.

It makes the story
so much more credible

when you have someone
else telling it, you know?

- I had just gone for a
walk around the block

and I was by myself.

I was headed up the
road and I saw something

that looked very much
like a typical ufo with lights

and it was just a quick

something out of
the corner of my eye,

and I thought that's
crazy, that, you know.

But I couldn't explain
what else it was, though,

and I kinda shrugged it off.

And then you and Stacy
were walking towards me,

maybe three or
four minutes later,

and she was all worked
up and said that you guys

had just seen a ufo and I
said well, I saw something also,

but I, I, you know, I
don't know what it was,

but I laughed at the thought

that's kinda what
my thought was too.

And I was trying
to talk all of us

out of thinking
that's what it was

when a complete stranger
jogging by overheard us and said,

"no, she's right, and
you're right, I saw it also."

Well I immediately started
to, in my own head, you know,

my first reaction was,

what the heck was that
that looked like a ufo?

And then I thought to
myself, "you're an idiot,

"those things aren't real."
- Right.

- And I kinda laughed to myself,

but then when Stacy
was all worked up,

I started thinking we
really did see something,

but it is hard to
remember details.

You know, it's
been 25 years ago.

But it's something
that I've never forgotten

and occasionally I
have brought it up

and shared with my
friends that, you know,

there was this one time where
a few of us saw something.

- Right, so have I.

Do you ever, I mean, when
you look at the sky, are you,

'cause like, every
now and then I look.

Especially when I go past
this area I kinda think real quick

like, oh, it'd be cool if
I just saw something.

Or do you ever wonder if
there is something back there?

Like maybe there's like
some underground thing

where they keep
these things or do you,

do you think it was government
or do you, what do you think?

- No, I mean, late at
night, if there's a plane,

if you catch a
flashing light, it does,

sometimes it
triggers that memory.

Because planes at night
have different color lights

and that sort of thing.

- Well, thanks for letting
me talk to you about it,

I appreciate you
'cause, like I said,

without someone else's
testimony I'm kind of out here,

pointing at the sky and i'm
like, yep, saw it. (Laughs)

But when you have someone else,

especially someone
who was older,

especially considering I
was only nine years old,

it helps bring a
lot of credibility

to the story and everything.

- No, we all saw something, so.

I really couldn't be
certain what it was,

but we all saw
something that day.

- I think so too, all
right, thanks Lindy.

- Okay, no problem.
- Talk to you later.

- Okay, bye-bye.
- Bye.

(Tense music)

- I guess if there's one
thing I've learned so far,

it's to start putting the
focus back on the people.

Not just the people who are
investigating or researching,

but the people who
have had experiences

with something they
don't understand.

Lost in all the hype over Navy
tic tacs and media empires

are the witness experiences

and the motivations
behind the people

who look into these subjects.

This time, I'm not just
attempting to prove

to myself that ufos
exist, and for once,

I'm not simply
collecting stories.

I'm gathering data from as
many sources as possible

in as many ways as I can.

When it's all over, I
hope I can look back

at a year-long
trek across the us

and have some
answers to the questions

that so many people have
become too distracted to ask.

Coming up on the next
episode of on the trail of ufos.

- The oldest
sightings I'm aware of

are probably in the 1700's.

- There's lights in a
delta formation, like this.

And as just a pitch-black craft,

perfect equilateral triangle.

- The last report I received
was from a boeing crewman.

And so one of these moai
craft hovering over their tarmac.

(Exciting music)

(Suspenseful music)