Of course, it could just be a balloon. Famously, balloons don’t need a propulsion system to stay aloft and while they don’t “cruise”, they do drift in the wind. What’s more, it was only last week that a Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

And yet all of this comes at a time when UFO observations are being taken more seriously than they have for decades. In America, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence now issues reports on “unidentified aerial phenomena” or UAPs. The latest update, issued last month, summarises 366 “newly-identified” sightings. It concludes that over half of these encounters appear to be “unremarkable” — such as the 163 cases “characterised as balloon or balloon-like entities”. However, that still leaves “uncharacterised” UAPs which “appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities”. 

So that’s a US government agency openly admitting that something very unexplained is out there. Further, these “flight characteristics” — as described by US military observers — involve manoeuvres that exceed the known technology of any nation on Earth. 

As for the general public, a 2021 poll of Canadians found that 17% of respondents agreed that their government ought to have a “battle plan” to deal with a potential “alien invasion” — a further 32% were unsure. At least they now know Justin Trudeau’s policy on Johnny Martian: shoot first, ask questions later. 

My view is that we should treat UFO scares seriously if not literally. Previous scares have tended to coincide with the development of airborne military technologies, which people have every right to be afraid of. For instance, the flying saucers of the Cold War may not have existed, but nuclear ICBMs certainly did. 

Long before the golden era of UFOs, there was the now forgotten phantom airship scare of the 1890s. Again, most of the sightings may have been more imagined than real, but dirigible technology did exist at the time and would soon be used for the first aerial bombardments of civilian targets. 

Today, we have drone technology to worry about. Already a feature of 21st-century warfare, it might not be long before drones become a deadly terrorist weapon. So call us irrational, but we do have reason to look to the skies with fear. 

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Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.

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