Dan Aykroyd takes UFOs out for a spin

Reuters.com ^ | May 31, 2006 | Michael Conlon

[killjoy]

One occurred on Martha's Vineyard, he said, where he sighted "high altitude, glowing magnesium discs traveling at 20,000 miles an hour at 100,000 feet (30,480 metres). ... wing to wing, edge to edge."

Umm... how exactly did he see this? I guess he has spent all the money he made from movies buying high end optics.

[nralife]

Just heard him on Coast to Coast a few minutes ago.

And before anyone says anything, I just bought a new boom box, and was testing out the AM tuner when I bumped into that show... lol

[little jeremiah]

I'll go out on a limb and admit I saw a UFO around 1966 or 67. Night sky, waaaay out in the country, no lights around at all, no airports nearby. Saw a large, round, something or other with varied colored lights all around it, moving silently, rotating. Hovered, got closer, eventually went away very fast. No noise. It got pretty close.

Around that time I had another interesting experience, too. And no, I wasn't under the influence of anything.

[RandallFlagg]

I was driving back to Denver with my family from Dallas and we stopped in the Oklahoma panhandle to fill up the tank. I looked up and saw what looked like a gigantic locomotive in flames slowly cruising across the sky. I completely wigged out and called my Wife to see.

Turns out it was a Russian craft re-entering the atmosphere.

I also saw a neon blue meteor during the '98 Leonid shower.

[JohnnyZ]

Just heard him on Coast to Coast a few minutes ago.

Space Ghost, Coast to Coast?

[D-fendr]

Al Gore in ten years..

[jeremiah]

I have seen many strange things over the years, as me and my friends used to spend many nights sleeping under the stars. Anyone has a sighting, I take the report at face value. Of course many people lie or think an airplane is a UFO, but many people have seen them without a doubt. My uncle, who is one of the straightest people I have ever known, saw a landed craft in his back 20 acres one morning while feeding his hogs. It left landing marks, and completely freaked him out, along with his 12 year old daughter. He would never mention it to anyone, but his daughter did, and he would get all serious and tell her not to tell anyone. I saw something resembling the moon in the NW sky, it was very indistinct, but stayed around for 15 minutes or so. It was as big as a full moon, and we could see shapes not unlike crater formations, but it was too dim to be sure. Took pictures and one of them turned out even. What the moon was doing in that position, I don't know.

[little jeremiah]

I would bet money (if I ever gambled, which I don't) that whatever I saw was a UFO, unless the military has some interesting stuff that no one knows about. Silent? Circular? Rotating? Hovers?

Right around that time I woke up out of a sound sleep, totally wide awake, felt compelled to jump out of bed and look out the window. I saw out in the old barn (no electricity) a man standing in the door of the barn, with very bright light issuing from the barn. Unusual looking man, blond, dressed in white. I looked for a short time, then the light went dark.

Never told family, no clue who/what he was. We lived waaay out in the country, dirt road, no neighbors.

[garylmoore]

What I want to know is how did he know that it was traveling at 20,000 miles an hour at 100,000 feet?

[kenth]

Aykroyd said he has had two personal encounters with the unknown.

Not counting Chevy Chase's career...

[Atchafalaya]

He should have done Donna!

[kenth]

Turns out it was a Russian craft re-entering the atmosphere.

I remember that. We were out that evening, in Ada OK, and saw it. It was huge and throwing off sparks. It looked like it was going down right north of town, but actually went down in MN or MI, IIRC.

I've seen a few things before, a couple I've recounted on http://www.nuforc.org   We live here in the north GA mountains and we see a lot of military aircraft, quite often very low. Once in a while, usually at night, we'll see one that doesn't appear to be "published".

[WKUHilltopper]

And how he knew it was made of magnesium. What a goof...

[The Duke]

What I want to know is how did he know that it was traveling at 20,000 miles an hour at 100,000 feet?

Forget that - I want to know how he knew it was made of magnesium?

[Atchafalaya]

My experience: 1969 attending USL, studying with a classmate for a parasitology final. It is 2 AM and we are taking a break sitting out on his driveway in lawn chairs looking up at the sky. We see a "satellite" moving from our right to left looking North and comment on that fact. The object moves E to W like your basic sattelite until it was maybe 30 degrees to our left then it took a right (90) and headed north at a much higher speed and went beyond visual. We both sat up and said "did you see that"? We agreed that we weren't crazy or too fatigued. The object came from our right (E) heading left(W) and at approx 30 degrees to the (W) it took a 90 degree turn to the North, and with stunning speed disappeared. BTW Jerry and I both made A's on the final.

[ravinson]

I've never seen a UFO but I give Ackroyd credit for going out on a limb. No doubt the comedians will make him the punch line of their jokes.

[DeuceTraveler]

I saw that 'moon' also. I think it was sometime around 1990, give or take a couple of years. The center of the bottom was dimpled inwards and it seemed far off. It was like the moon was positioned in the wrong spot.

[Maurice Tift]

how did he know that it was traveling at 20,000 miles an hour at 100,000 feet?

  I'm sure he had a friend to triangulate and gauge the distance by coordinating via semaphore flags and then there were probably some mile post markers and he just had to count (1001...1002...1003)... and if he was MacGyver instead of Dan Aykroyd, he could have done the whole thing with a magnet, a bicycle spoke, some iron filings and a hockey ticket.

Then again, maybe he had one of those Major League Baseball pitch speed radar guns... :)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

One occurred on Martha's Vineyard, he said, where he sighted "high altitude, glowing magnesium discs traveling at 20,000 miles an hour at 100,000 feet (30,480 metres). ... wing to wing, edge to edge."

How, exactly, was this "observation" instrumented? I guess it's a sort of harmless diversion for a ditsy celebrity.