Supposed sightings of UFOs do not only occur on today’s “World Contact Day”. Case investigator Danny Ammon then looks for a rational explanation – mostly with success.
Do you believe in extraterrestrials?” Danny Ammon laughs before answering. “That’s the wrong question.” Because he approaches the matter with the unknown objects completely differently. Contact with non-terrestrial beings doesn’t matter, some people are looking for that, especially on World Contact Day this Tuesday. Then they prepare to send messages into space using supernatural methods.
In contrast, Ammon’s methods are extremely tangible when he deals with reports of UFO sightings. In his free time, the medical IT specialist from Jena works as a case investigator for the Society for Research into the UFO Phenomenon. Case investigator – sounds like detective work. That’s a little, says Ammon. When someone reports a sighting, a standardized process follows “to collect core data as objectively as possible.” He prefers to speak of phenomenon than object – that is more neutral.
Important are questions like: When did you see it exactly? How was the weather? In which direction were you looking? Are there any photos or videos of it? Then it is time to check this information carefully and collect further data. Ammon weather databases and special websites on which flight movements can be tracked help with this. He then derives a working hypothesis from the information, something like: It was a helicopter.
“We always assume that a sighting can be explained conventionally,” says the 42-year-old. The working hypotheses were confirmed in more than 90 percent of the cases. Much to the delight of most witnesses: “We help them to classify what they see into their living environment.” Only in very few cases do Ammon and his colleagues notice that someone does not believe the conventional explanation – does not want to believe it.
That can be problematic. “Anyone who wants to speculate about UFOs should of course do so. It’s natural to worry about the unknown. It is worrying when UFOs are integrated into larger conspiracy narratives, which are often anti-Semitic and stir up hatred against people,” says historian Daniel Brandau from Freie Universität Berlin. He dealt with it in his research on the history of rocket technology in Germany.
Ammon also knows them all, the conspiracy narratives surrounding UFOs. He has read dozens of books and knows how easy it is to speculate, to whisper. “We see it as our core task to counteract this. With facts.” Speaking of which: what do they mean in cases where there is no clear, conventional explanation for an object sighting at the end? “Each case is fully documented and published. That which cannot be explained for the time being remains as it is.”
So maybe ..? Ammon laughs again. As a teenager, at the beginning of his UFO career, he believed in extraterrestrials. With the experience and perspective of an analyst, he says today: “In some cases, a piece of the puzzle is simply missing. Or maybe it was a phenomenon that we are currently unable to explain scientifically.” Alexandra Stober, dpa
