Jon Holato

Yesterday France became the first country to open its secret files on UFOs after the national space agency announced a web site that documents over 1,600 sightings covering at least five decades. The web site, which will continuously be updated to accommodate for new sightings, gives surprisingly good detail about cases from those that are laughable to those that scientists still scratch their heads about to this day.

Of the 1,600 cases registered since 1954, nearly 25 percent are classified as “type D”, meaning that “despite good or very good data and credible witnesses, we are confronted with something we can’t explain,” said Jacques Patenet, the aeronautical engineer who heads the office for the study of “non-identified aerospatial phenomena.”

When asked questions about evidence of life beyond Earth, Patenet responded “we do not have the least proof that extra-terrestrials are behind the unexplained phenomena.” Although he did add ” nor do we have the least proof that they aren’t.”

The French field about 50 to 100 UFO reports every year, although only about 10% of those get on-site investigations. In other countries such as the US and Britain, data on UFOs is collected outside of the public eye, however information can be requested from the government under the Freedom of Information Act.

I think it’s pretty exciting that the French took the initiative on this one and cleared up a lot of speculation and potential paranoia. With all the conspiracy theories circulating around the globe, and the countless number of films and TV shows that have only fed the fire, it’s nice to actually be able to look at the data and see the truth for ourselves.

At the time of this post I have been unable to access the site, and reports are saying it has crashed multiple servers so you’re on your own with this one. I’ll try to update whenever I can access it, but drop me a note if you are able to get on it before me. The URL is: www.cnes-geipan.fr.