Print
Written by Keith Rowell
Last Updated: 02 January 2016

Facts. Facts. Facts. What is a fact? A fact is a true statement about the world. When you know a lot of facts about a subject you are said to be knowledgeable in the subject. Is there really any knowledge about UFOs? Are there really any facts about UFOs? Isn't it all a mystery? What do you believe and not believe about UFOs? For sure, we only want to believe true things about the world. Facts. And lacking facts, we certainly only want to have informed opinions about UFOs.

In ufology, there are lots of facts about UFOs. We will list some important ones here. But since it is a field of study where new knowledge is developed on a regular basis, new facts are continually added to the store of knowledge already produced in the last 60 plus years of UFO research.

What's Known for Certain?

So what do we know for certain about UFOs? To answer that important question, we have to figure out what certainty means. Here's a quick idea about certainty in knowledge. It is what we teach people in college courses. It is what is written down in textbooks. This is consensus knowledge in modern societies. (This "certain" knowledge changes over the years as scientists and scholars discover and learn more about the world, but this is a working idea of what certainty in knowledge is about.) Taking courses at your nearest college is a reliable route to understanding the best of scientific and scholarly knowledge.

But we've got a problem with UFOs. There are no regular college courses teaching you about UFOs at any colleges in America. (It is true, however, that every so often a community college professor might sneak in a UFO course, but this is unfortunately rare. Actually, this is not quite completely true. David Jacobs, a history professor at Temple University has taught a regular course about UFOs for a number of years now. But this is it as far as Oregon MUFON knows. You get the idea. Don't go to your community college, four year college, or university if you want to know the facts about UFOs.) Take a look at our Opinion page for more on why there are no regular college courses.

Some UFO Knowledge Is Almost Certain

Despite the academic world's refusal to study UFOs, there are still plenty of UFO facts known with near certainty. These facts were painstakingly developed by the diligent work of ufologists during the last 60 years. These facts are documented in their many books, articles, and documentaries. Take a look at our Resources menu on the home page for these sources of UFO knowledge.

A Few Important Statements

The following UFO statements are believed to be true by ufologists. But it is safe to say that no ufologist would say that all the statements below are true; after all, ufology is a developing and very controversial field of study.

Suppose the top 50 ufologists in the world got together and developed a textbook for teaching a course in ufology at a four year college. Oregon MUFON believes that the following statements would probably be in that textbook and would be taught as the best information currently available about UFOs. (This textbook would, of course, leave out the extensive knowledge of UFOs believed to have been developed in secret by the U.S. and other governments around the world in the last 60 plus years! Because that knowledge is still very secret and very closely held!)

The number in parentheses that follows each statement is Oregon MUFON's estimate of the percentage of ufologists who would agree that the statement is true.