UFOs: Close Encounters

The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry (1972)

Dr. J. Allen Hynek (left) and Dr. Jacques Vallee

The term close encounter was coined by American astronomer and ufologist Josef Allen Hynek (1910 - 1986) in his 1972 book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. Hynek proposed three types of close encounter:

First Kind: Sighting of one or more UFOs at a distance of 500 feet lor less.
Second Kind: Sighting of a UFO with associated physical effects (e.g. heat, electrical interference, etc).
Third Kind: Sighting of an animated being (presumably an alien but not specifically defined as such).

Since Hynek's original classification several more types have been suggested, although these are not universally recognized:

Fourth Kind: Human abduction by an alien. May also include voluntary experiences.
Fifth Kind: Voluntary bilateral contact between humans and extraterrestrials.
Sixth Kind: Death of a human or animal associated with a UFO sighting. Cattle mutilations would fall into this category.
Seventh Kind: The creation of a human/alien hybrid, either by sexual reproduction or by artificial scientific methods.

In addition, ufologist Ted Bloecher has suggested seven sub-categories for close encounters of the third kind:

A: A being is witnessed inside a UFO.
B: A being is witnessed both inside and outside a UFO.
C: A being is witnessed in the vicinity of a UFO.
D: A being is observed without the presence of a UFO, but UFO activity is reported in the area around the same time.
E: As type D, but UFO activity is not reported in the area.
F: No entity or UFOs are witnessed, but the subject experiences some kind of communication.
G: Abduction (the same as a close encounter of the 4th kind).

A possible eighth sub-category:

H: An alien is injured, captured and/or killed.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Popular Culture

The phrase close encounters entered mainstream popular culture following the 1977 Steven Spielberg film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Thanks to this film, most adults in the western world associate the phrase with alien encounters, even if few people can actually define the encounter types.

taken from: "Paranormal-Encyclopedia.com"

http://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/u/ufo/close-encounters/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In ufology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object. This terminology and the system of classification behind it was started by astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek, and was first suggested in his 1972 book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry.^[1] He introduced the first three kinds of encounters; more sub-types of close encounters were later added by others, but these additional categories are not universally accepted by UFO researchers, mainly because they depart from the scientific rigor that Hynek aimed to bring to ufology.^[2]

Sightings more than 500 feet (160 m) from the witness are classified as "Daylight Discs," "Nocturnal Lights," or "Radar/Visual Reports."^[3] Sightings within about 500 feet are subclassified as various types of "close encounter." Hynek and others^[4] argued a claimed close encounter must occur within about 500 feet to greatly reduce or eliminate the possibility of misidentifying conventional aircraft or other known phenomena.

Hynek's scale achieved cachet with the general public when it informed elements of the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which is named after the third level of the scale. Posters for the film recited the three levels of the scale, and Hynek himself makes a cameo appearance near the end of the film.

taken from:  "Wikpedia"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_encounter