In ufology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object (UFO). This terminology and the system of classification behind it were first suggested in astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek's 1972 book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry.[1] 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.[2]
Sightings more than 500feet from the witness are classified as daylight discs, nocturnal lights or radar/visual reports.[3] Sightings within about 500feet are subclassified as various types of close encounters. Hynek and others argued that a claimed close encounter must occur within about 500feet to greatly reduce or eliminate the possibility of misidentifying conventional aircraft or other known phenomena.[4]
Hynek's scale became well known after being referenced in a 1977 film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 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.
Hynek devised a sixfold classification for UFO sightings.[5] [6] They are arranged according to increasing proximity:
| 1 | Nocturnal lights | Lights in the night sky.[7] | ||
| 2 | Daylight discs | UFOs seen in the daytime, generally having discoidal or oval shapes.[8] | ||
| 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.[9] | ||
| 4 | Close encounters of the first kind (CE1) | Visual sightings of an unidentified flying object, seemingly less than 500feet 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.[10] | See also: First contact (anthropology) |
UFO researcher Ted Bloecher proposed six subtypes for the close encounters of the third kind in Hynek's scale:[11]
Close encounters of the fourth kind (CE4)
After Hynek's passing in 1986, his colleague Jacques Vallee extended Hynek's classification system by two steps, notably, close encounters of the fourth and fifth kind, as published in Vallee's 1990 book Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact.[12] The Mutual UFO Network immediately adopted this extension to the classification scale and has used it ever since.
A close encounter of the fourth kind is a UFO event in which a human is abducted by a UFO or its occupants.[13] This type was not included in Hynek's original close encounters scale.[14]
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.[15]
The film The Fourth Kind makes reference to this category.
Close encounters of the fifth kind (CE5)
As stated in Vallee's 1990 Confrontations, 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 contributed to Steven M. Greer.[16] 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.
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.[17]
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