Today's Government UFO D/disclosure News begins with James Hibberd's funny—but pointed and grounded—satire. ATFLIR was designed for warfighting, not Hollywood blockbusters, and Hibberd is absolutely correct that a "Where's the Beef?" response (if that's not too dated a meme?) is warranted from all sides. We go to an "outside" critic for New UFO Files Offer No Answers – But Something Is Happening In The Skies. James Dwyer is a Lecturer at the School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania. His observations are apt, as is his concluding sentence: "What does seem clear is that governments are watching closely, and with significant concern." For example, try this article from the Kyiv Post: Senior Ukrainian Official Reports Armed Forces Sighted UFO, Publishes Video. Stefan Korshak outlines the situation, and points out the similarity between a Ukrainian video and one of the videos in the recent Pentagon download. This against a war-torn background where every "unknown"—whether from Zeta Reticuli or Russian provenance or elsewhere—can be a matter of life and death. And rather on the other geographic side of that ongoing human disaster, we learn the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary CONFIRMS They are Taking UFOs Very Seriously. Pavel Ibarra presents the translated remarks of Minoru Kihara, describes Japan's historical interest in UFOs, and offers some head-scratching statements from Japanese space historian Takano Jousen, who knew the late Apollo Astronaut Eugene Cernan. (WM)

A dumbbell-shaped crop circle was discovered on April 29 in Wiltshire, England, overlooking the ancient man-made mound known as Silbury Hill. The first known crop circle of 2026, its appearance was accompanied by the usual questions: Real or hoaxed? Human or alien? Then the Second Crop Formation of 2026 Found just a few days later in Wiltshire, England. A more elaborate design this time, (Do crop circle creators need time to "warm up"?), this formation was reminiscent of the Michelin Man from tire commercials. As much as one might want to pin it all on hoaxers, there were no bootprints or other evidence to indicate human intervention. For now, the usual questions go unanswered. (CM)

Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU) co-founder and Executive Board Member Robert Powell joins Martin Willis for a discussion on the recent Government file dump and SCU's upcoming Toronto conference. While some of the "gaps" and such may result from the urge to get something out asap, Robert deftly eviscerates this first installment. Check out Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies Finds PURSUE Release #1 Falls Short of Scientific Transparency. Robert also explains the SCU's mission going back even before the December 2017 revelations, and previews the organization's July 24-26 Annual Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For the extensive list of worldwide presenters, see Speakers. The Sol Foundation's Marik von Rennenkampff offers First UAP Files Offer Unexpected Insights | The May 2026 Sol Briefing. It's an excellent summary of the May 8th data drop. Note similarities in Sol Foundation conclusions with the SCU's "take." Also: Early Registration for the Society for Scientific Exploration's June 17-21 44th Annual Conference in Westminster, Colorado ends May 15th: Evidence & Encounters: Two Paths to Exploring the Unexplained. And also this year's "Contact in the Desert" will occur from May 28th-June 1st. (WM)

Greg Taylor provides a succinct summary of the recent release of UFO data, references John Greenewald's characterization as "another obstacle that is misdirection disguised as 'transparency,'” and posts a handy "Know Your UFO" visual aid from John E.L. Tenney. Incidentally, John Greenwald has a very usable assist as The Black Vault Launches Searchable UFO Files Release Archive. Looks like even we "IT migrants" will benefit from John's expert work on the "UFO Files Release #1 collection," which will be expanded as the data dumps proceed. Owing to Psicoactivo's Pavel Ibarra, another individual seems to rise to the general discussion as News Nation's Rob Jones Reveals the Name of a Current UFO Legacy Gatekeeper. Besides surfacing David A. Kozik, Pavel reminds us that "whistleblowing" of UFOs goes back to Donald Keyhoe, whose masterful biography by Linda Powell Against the Odds: Major Donald E. Keyhoe and His Battle to End UFO Secrecy is published by Anomalist Books. And Kevin J. Guhl has teased out for us What the Secret Pentagon UFO Files Reveal About WW2 Foo Fighters. So even the initial Federal data dump is yielding some useful results. (WM)

The EF5 tornado that carved a path through Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011, was the worst in recorded history. Amidst the horror and devastation, however, a message of hope arose as children came forth with stories of glowing, winged forms protecting them during the storm. Others described watching these beings take other people up into the sky. Whatever was going on, the people of Joplin were not alone. In other inexplicable news, A Woman Began to Dance Against Her Will. Other People Followed, and It Turned Deadly. In the summer of 1518, in Strasbourg, an apparent dancing plague began spreading throughout the town. Those affected would begin to dance, ceaselessly, until they dropped from exhaustion or died. This lasted the entire summer, resulting in approximately 100 deaths. Five hundred years later we still don't know what caused it with any certainty, but it seems likely that the prevalence of beliefs in curses played a role. (CM)

While much of the UFO-interested world pores over and comments about the rather disappointing start to the US UFO data dump, the Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU) reminds us that the UFO problem is and has been a truly worldwide phenomenon. We start our north-south peregrination with 1965 power outages and seemingly-associated dramatic UFO events, with IHU Director Scott Corrales adding a personal memory to the Mexico City proceedings. We journey to Central America proper for Nicaragua: UFO Sightings That Caused Alarm. Most of these more recent sightings seem identified as something less than perhaps expected, and the "close encounter of the third kind" that truly is alarming is really just a CEI "up real close." Now South America where in Bolivia: "A Hundred UFOs Crossed The Skies, Sightings and Mysteries" arise. We learn something about reported UFOs and locations of greater activity, groups studying the data, and how theories as to provenance and purpose echo those of other countries. We get some similar knowledge from the article Argentina: Ufology in La Rioja - A Growing Interest in Sightings. Here cattle mutilations are often linked with "mysterious lights," and a provincial mayor has contemplated initiating "UFO itineraries," a sure sign the topic has now become at least somewhat popular! (WM)

Veteran reporter Tom Rogan observes that the initial release of UFO-related material by Washington may not change the Universe, but it does prove the Government could have been much freer with such material for decades. And Rogan believes US Space-Program information on this subject should be especially regarded. Some in the speculative financial arena are listening, as Benzinga headlines Trump Releases UFO Files: Here's What Prediction Markets Say About The Existence Of Aliens. Maybe not earth-shattering, but it will be interesting to see whether anything changes there as the supposed "hits keep on rolling" from President Trump's PURSUE (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters) initiative. None of the "really good stuff" Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and colleagues want liberated has been published, but we find that 8 of the 46 UFO Videos Sought by Congress Appear in Upcoming Documentary Ahead of Their Official Release. That's largely due to the labors of George Knapp and Jeremy Corbell, the latter of whom features in a documentary that debuted Monday, Shane Galvin explains. And a very practical benefit from all this attention is emphasized by former air traffic controller and current commercial pilot Jason Judy in What Are You Afraid of? UFOs. (WM)

The Cold War era was a time of investigating every possible military defense strategy. Russia found itself seeking citizens that could help it find and maintain an upper hand through telekinesis, telepathy, and clairvoyance. Those believed to have parapsychological abilities were studied and tested by renowned soviet scientists in an effort to identify the physics that made them different. This brings us to The Uncounted Evidence: Parapsychology and the Limits of Physics. The challenge in examining parapsychology as something other than fringe is the the tendency of science to dismiss what doesn't fit into preexisting frameworks. Accepting that the concepts within parapsychology are real will require rethinking of "how consciousness operates, how information is accessed, and how time itself is structured." (CM)

A mixture of natural and human-made marvels. Last Tuesday night Canadian inhabitants were treated to a strange procession as a "jellyfish effect" probably from a SpaceX launch processed across their night sky. Andrew Kurjata has several pieces of footage from the rather beautiful display. Meanwhile, a Strange Green Light Filmed Twice in Hawaii Leaves Questions Open. While again most likely explicable—but perhaps not as a human-manufactured artifact—the phenomenon bespeaks wonders still unexplained. At first, the Mysterious Donut-Shaped Light Witnessed Right Across New Zealand Skies gives a "déjà vu" moment, but this is not the Canadian phantasmagoria, and its cause is probably owed to the Chinese. And while the Puzzling UFOs Filmed Flying Over Mexico City are almost certainly natural creature-aviators, the background scene of the Zócalo, the second largest Square in the world, is memorable. (WM)

Differing perspectives regarding the recent DoD UFO files release. Remarking the huge number of "hits" since the Friday release, Christopher Sharp notes serious weaknesses in what's been revealed as to origin and a "lack of analytical content." The possible "Gatekeeper" behind the gaps is named. A resultant complaint is The US Military Just Released a Bunch of UAP Files, But There's No There There. Ars Technica's Eric Berger finds the release unshockingly, well, unshocking. Raw Story says "The release was met with celebration from MAGA faithful," but has Donald Trump Roasted as 'Never-Before-Seen' Data Dump Berated as Another Epstein 'Distraction' by others, notably including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Tim Binnall is relatively upbeat as the Pentagon Releases Slew of 'Never-Before-Seen' UFO Files, Photos, & Videos, though thinking this just indicates "the 'powers that be' are as stumped by UFOs as everyone else." Skeptical astronomer Adam Frank so far spies nothing probative and says Just Show Us the Spaceships Already. Jeremy Corbell Reacts to Initial Release of UFO Files happily. Corbell allows the first download isn't overwhelming, and emphasizes we must see the information Rep. Anna Paulina Luna specifically required. European digital technology site TNW headlines The Pentagon Published 162 UFO Files on war.gov/ufo. Two-Thirds Are Redacted. The Government Says It Is Being Transparent. Alina Maria Stan contends "transparency without explanation" isn't "transparency" at all. Leon Panetta has the last word as the Former CIA Director Frightens CNN Anchor With Theory That UFOs Are Really Technology Used by US 'Adversaries'. (WM)

Philanthropist, media mogul and CNN founder Ted Turner passed away on May 6, and while we may have heard the news of his departure to the great hereafter, not everyone was informed of his obsession with the (believed) extinct Thylacine. In fact, while visiting Tasmania in 1983, he offered $100K to anyone who could prove the Thylacine still existed. Turner's legacy at CNN include an interest in cryptids, because the 24-hour-news channel was recently asking the question, Was Bigfoot Just Spotted In Ohio? Reported Sightings Stoke A Long-Running Hunt For Answers. It's a little surprising when a news outlet like CNN wants to cover Bigfoot news, but given the recent flap of sightings in Ohio, we can hardly blame them. It seems, however, that no amount of news reports can end the controversy. And that makes news. (CM)

And then we have the finer, more interesting points of the huge May 8th UFO data release. Acknowledging anger and disappointment within the UFO Community from the first tranche of records, Richard Dolan goes through some videos, sensing patterns in preservation with data available elsewhere, while observing "this is not Disclosure." An NBC News team headlines Pentagon Releases Declassified UFO Files Including Videos and Photos Held by the Government for Decades. It features documents and videos, usual comments from usual professional skeptics, and resident enthusiast Gadi Schwartz talking with Swedish astronomer Beatriz Villarroel about pre-Sputnik "lights in the sky." The War Zone's Joseph Trevithick writes The Newly Released Government UFO Archives Will Leave You Shrugging. The article offers many more of the really interesting videos, plus some pointed commentary. Alejandro Rojas focuses upon a subset of the booty in What NASA's Apollo Astronauts Actually Photographed — And Why It Still Matters. Rojas covers several photos and why they and their back stories are significant. He also touts a new Enigma Labs resource for these releases at Pentagon UAP Files. And with Can You Find the UFOs in These Newly Released Pentagon Videos? Gizmodo helpfully offers "every video released in the Trump admin's first big dump," plus a 1965 Gemini 7 audio excerpt. (WM)

The "newspaper of record" is not impressed by the UFO files released Friday by the Pentagon: "The initial files are murky images that show what could be anything." The documents, images, and videos were sourced from the FBI, the Department of War, Department of State, and NASA. More files are promised on a rolling basis. The files are posted at the Department of War website Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters. For a 41-minute rolling collage of the videos see CBS News' Here Are the Released Videos from Pentagon's First Batch of UFO Files. Space.com gives an 8.5-minute roll through all of them in a "supercut" at Pentagon Unveils Trove of Declassified 'UFO' Videos. How to See Them All.... Avi Loeb confers his team's initial impressions at Avi Loeb Talks UFO Disclosure, Interstellar Objects and the Search for Alien Life. Not enough data to learn much, but some interesting footage; hopefully better to come. And Pavel Ibarra gives perspectives from three most interested individuals in Tom DeLonge, David Grusch & Eric Burlison's Reactions to the UFO Files Drop. (PH & WM)

The crisis in academic research grinds on. Jane Kelly reports on a multi‑year effort to see how often published social‑science findings are actually replicable. When University of Virginia researchers examined thousands of papers in social psychology and attempted to replicate a sample of their findings, they were not especially surprised to find that only about half of the examined findings successfully replicated, even under generous definitions of success. At the same time, one might ask how far we should really expect studies of self‑aware subjects, who know they are being studied and cannot be fully controlled, to behave like repeatable lab phenomena in the first place? In a complementary development in the "harder" sciences, Markus Englund at the Science Detective reports on a project that scans published datasets for copy‑and‑paste anomalies: Scientific Datasets Are Riddled With Copy-Paste Errors. Using custom software on 600 biological and medical datasets, researchers identified 18 cases with duplicated blocks of values and similar patterns of likely manual error, roughly 3% of the sample, including data underlying a widely cited Parkinson’s study and other high‑profile papers. Many of these issues had gone unnoticed for years, despite the datasets being public and the papers having passed peer review. (JS)

In 2011, biochemist Rupert Sheldrake gave a public lecture at the University of Cambridge on “The Evolution of Telepathy,” which he now presents in both video and transcript form. He believes that “psychic phenomena … are an extension of biology” and this has led him to explore human telepathy. His lecture considers, among many examples, the phenomena of dog/human telepathy (see Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home). He notes also that many tribal cultures take telepathy for granted and use it in their daily lives. Sheldrake acknowledges, however, that these subjects are taboo among scientists, who not only mock research in this field, but also refuse to examine the data. Despite this blinkered prejudice, he believes that “if we just forget about those taboos and treat this as a rational scientific inquiry into natural phenomena … science will benefit.” (LP)

With Dr. Steven Greer's imminent "Whistleblowers and Disclosures" May 8th National Press Club event, we turn to indications the US Government may soon "unload" some information on UFOs. Christopher Sharp points out there's no doubt UFOs are real, and notes "The real question now is where they come from and what intentions they have." And in spite of the good faith of AARO's current Director Jon Kosloski, Sharp suggests AARO's very structure militates against full disclosure. Launching from this, Pavel Ibarra lists the Biggest CLUES That Some form of Disclosure Might Happen as Early as This Week. Pavel instances some AARO comments, invokes a pastor's comments second-hand about a meeting with other pastors about such a Disclosure, and sees a recent PBS article as important. Apparently Pavel was a bit premature here, but Daily Mail's Chris Melore has a fuller account about Religious Leaders Told 'Prepare Now' for UFO Disclosure to Unleash Bible-Changing Revelations. Pastor Perry Stone apparently first imparted this information on April 27, giving extra strength to a cogent observation made to us about Mainstream Media's apparent failure to spread this news. But Jason Colavito's heard about this, per his Pastors Claim Government Asked Them to Prepare for Fallen Angel UFO Revelation. He's not having any of this religious twist. (WM)

Here is another academically-floated paper tending not only to support but strengthen the work of Drs. Beatriz Villarroel, Stephen Bruehl, and others finding correlations between pre-Sputnik "transient detections" and nuclear testing. Alternative explanations based upon plate defects or cosmic rays for the Villarroel/Bruehl data are weakened. In honor of Representative Anna Paulina Luna's suggestions "concerning the interdimensional origin of the phenomena," Scott Corrales reprises UFOs and the Interdimensional Hypothesis. Corrales describes the 1994 meeting resulting in "The Project Delphos Manifesto," which aimed to map out a way to support "an interdimensional or paraphysical nature" behind a good amount of UFO sightings contra the "nuts-and-bolts ETH." Sagan's famous tesseract demonstration (see Cosmos - Carl Sagan - 4th Dimension) helps understand the concept of higher dimensions, but only somewhat. Corrales invokes a variety of researchers and examples to explore this "interdimensional hypothesis." In a recent presentation, Ross Coulthart joins (and extends, considerably, into psionics and consciousness) the possibilities fray with UAPs Aren't Technology, They're Something Else Entirely. And just perhaps all the preceding explains why (maybe) so few people really grasp, even partly, what's behind the UFO Phenomenon/a. See Pavel Ibarra's James Fox Talks Jay Stratton's Chilling Truth about the 'Big Picture' on UFOs. (WM)

A recent widely publicized report suggests that many hauntings could be caused by infrasound—from old pipes, no less—mucking with our perceptions and feelings, making us see things that aren't there and experiencing baseless fear. Well, that theory just may be bunk, according to Greg Taylor, because while findings indicate infrasound can make a person irritable, it hasn't been proven to cause feelings of dread, temperature drops, apparitions, poltergeist activity, sulphurous smells, and sounds/voices, which are often experienced in haunted houses. Meanwhile, Pathologizing Scientists May Try to Stigmatize Witnesses of the Spooky, according to Mark Mahin. After reading an article in the latest newsletter of the Society for Scientific Exploration, Mahin is left with "a very clear impression that the authors wish to stigmatize, pathologize and delegitimize certain types of witnesses of the spooky" by using the term "Haunted People Syndrome." Small wonder some witnesses are fearful of coming forward with their encounters and being told they didn't experience what they just experienced. Or that it's all due to infrasound. (CM)

Caitlin McCormack reports that Ohio has been a hotbed of Bigfoot sightings of late. Since March of this year, residents of the state have found numerous large prints that could only belong to a biped that was close to 7 feet tall. Actual sightings have been on the rise as well, with witnesses describing large, hair covered creatures that appear to have no neck. It's likely the recent hard winter brought an entire clan of Bigfoot into the area closer to civilization. It's not just in Ohio, either. Woman Stumbles Upon Sasquatch in Louisiana? While retrieving a bale of hay in her property, she surprised a large hairy biped that promptly took off, crashing through the trees and then running through waist-deep water. It seems this likely Bigfoot had been on the property for a while, as the dogs and cats had been unsettled for a number of days prior to the sighting. (CM)

More discoveries coming to light and informing our knowledge about the past include what might seem a non sequitur, but Christopher Plain clarifies how this fact matches with Greek and Egyptian temporal and cultural realities. Micah Hanks is on to something even bigger, as A Mysterious 4000-Year-Old “Lost” Writing System Has Finally Been Decoded, in a Modern “Rosetta Stone” Breakthrough. "An ancient Iranian mystery has finally been solved," says Micah, describing François Desset's process and "eureka" moment in cracking the Linear Elamite script puzzle. It is a remarkable achievement. Joshua Kumbani and Margarita Diaz-Andreu report about Rock Art, Dance and Ritual: What We Learned from Paintings in Zimbabwe. This intriguing article discusses how rock paintings may be classed into "dances for ritual, entertainment or special circumstances" -- such as pure "family fun" for adults and children. Ethnography, psychology, and acoustic engineering experts join with archaeologists in this endeavor. And Oguz Buyukyildirim covers yet another surprise as 10,000-Year-Old Plaster Floors at Motza Reveal a Lost Neolithic Technology Once Thought to Be Roman. In the small settlement of Motza about five kilometers west of Jerusalem, over 100 plastered floors demonstrate a particular kind of technology almost 8000 years before the previously-acknowledged Roman achievement. (WM)

Lesser-known, various possibly-UFO-related events from the Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU). Duplication of some paragraphs aside, this is a fascinating account of UFOs being associated with harrowing human experiences. Salvador Freixedo's "opening reflections" about how notorious some such occasions are while others don't get publicized are also apt. Something very much "up close and personal"—possessing interesting folkloric elements—is Salvador's Julio and the Magic Box. IHU Director Scott Corrales has a good closing observation about this particular tale. J.M. Garcia Bautista takes us to the Eastern Hemisphere with Spain: A Humanoid at Mazagón (1998). Hard to know what to say of this one. And "staying" in Spain only politically, José Gregorio Jiménez offers from the Canary Islands: Unidentified Objects Over Tenerife (2002). Investigated sightings of differing anomalous celestial displays reported by independent multiple witnesses at two locations on the island from nearly the same time and with some video recording in the second instance enhance this narrative. (WM)