There are so many unusual fascinating wonders–on Earth and in the heavens above–that treat us to majestic visual surrealism from time to time. From meteors and bolides skipping across the Earth’s atmosphere like stones skimming the water of a lake, to the magnificent colored light shows produced by natural illuminations like the Aurora Borealis, natural light-shows produced in a variety of ways account for a vast majority of the wonders that take place in the hours between evening and sunrise. Take for instance the unique celestial display that occurred this past Wednesday night, creating a beautiful trail of colored lights in the night sky. In spite of its apparent cosmic appearance, the given explanation for this colorful apparition was, as described by Rick Stokes, news editor for The Anomalist, “a pisser”.

Indeed, though the luminescent trail in the sky may have looked like a mysterious celestial event, in reality it was only urine (may the parades of many a hearty stargazer be hereby peed upon). The strange glow, appearing in the night of Wednesday September 9th, was actually created “when astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery dumped the waste out into space,” reported Space.com recently. Though the circumstances for the event that created this cluster of phosphorescent pee weren’t all that common, there are a variety of other effects produced by natural phenomenon that are quite natural–even commonplace–and yet often appear to be something more anomalous.

Having studied UFOs for years, there are often things I see in films and photographs that leave me asking, “what the heck is it?” However, the vast majority of the time, the kinds of things some sky watchers have pointed out and called “unknowns” appeared to be little more to me than easily-recognizable natural phenomenon. For instance, earlier this summer I was in Burnsville, North Carolina, with about a half hour’s drive back to my home in Asheville, when I looked up and happened to catch a satellite passing directly overhead as I was getting into my car. My company and I stopped to watch the object, and growing slightly brighter in intensity as it moved steadily above us, the satellite created a single, bluish flash of light as it caught sun’s light, reflecting it brightly for an instant as it tumbled slowly through the heavens, then disappeared. Without having to say so myself, everyone with me (none of them particularly interested in UFOs or aerial phenomenon) acknowledged the object as a satellite, and we went on our merry way.

Incidentally, back in Asheville, several individuals had gathered for a UFO sky-watch, and within minutes of seeing the object myself, I began getting phone calls and text messages alerting me of a UFO some of the witnesses had seen. Fortunately, one of the folks who happened to catch a glimpse of the object was Mobius, a good friend and fellow researcher with the L. E. M. U. R. Paranormal Investigation team, with whom I have shared many investigations over the years. Mobius described what he saw, and though fleeting, his description seemed to match what I had witnessed a short time earlier in another town! Similar to my own impressions, Mobius too felt that the object had most likely been a satellite, due to the speed at which it moved, in addition to the lack of “course correction” the object displayed.

Granted, with our experience in night-time sky watching, the appearance of the satellite hadn’t been anything particularly unusual to our eyes. Still, it was interesting to hear the various interpretations others had given; ranging from the complacent acceptance that my company expressed, to the astonishment that some of the UFO watchers had shown in hoping that they had seen a true “unknown”.

As obvious as the appearance and behavior of satellites may seem, there have been many occasions where I have been shown videos of UFOs where the  object is said to “salute” or “signal” the witnesses with a bright flash. One such occasion took place recently at a UFO lecture Mobius and I attended together, and upon seeing a video where the alleged UFO craft “signaled” in this way, I was reminded instantly of the satellite catching the sun’s light as I had watched it drift overhead earlier this summer. This in mind, I looked over at Mobius, who was already shaking his head back and forth displaying the same sentiments. Who knows; maybe the object we were being shown was an alien spacecraft… but with what we’ve seen satellites do time and time again in the past, it certainly made it difficult for Mobius and I to understand why any experienced Ufologist wouldn’t at least take such obvious behavior into consideration.

On another occasion, I was shown video of an alleged USO (Unidentified Submerged Object) “communicating” with the witnesses close to shore. The folks who had made the video showed me night-shot camcorder footage taken from a beach and aimed at the ocean, where the distance between the horizon and the waves hitting the shore were all clearly visible. Close to shore, occasionally a tiny point of light could be seen, blinking intermittently. According to the witnesses, this had been some kind of UFO craft using phosphorescent lights to communicate with them. In addition to the small light in the foreground, a second light could be seen further in the distance along the horizon; this was said to be the “mothership”, from which the closer “signal” had been receiving direct communication.

Back in September of 2008, my brother Caleb, a friend and myself all headed down to Tybee Island, Georgia, for a weekend. We didn’t arrive until late in the evening, but we were so excited to be on the beach when we pulled up to the condo where we were staying that we immediately rushed out into the ocean–beers in hand–and marveled at the amazing starlight overhead. It was one of those amazing experiences, where the sky was so bright, beautiful, and unaffected by the ambient light of civilization that it would have been impossible not to see a UFO had it decided to appear; let alone any satellites, meteorites, or other phenomenon. Nonetheless, what caught our eye didn’t end up being airborne at all; instead, we were amazed to find that small, glowing bits of bio-luminescent matter were washing up on the beach. Amazed, I scooped a lump of sand into my hands with the tiny, glowing spot right on top, and starred at it. Was this the same sort of communication? Had an extraterrestrial presence launched a probe right at us, with it arriving safely in the sand I held between my own two hands?

However mystifying this notion seemed, in reality, the little luminescent object had been a variety of plankton that maintains bio-luminescent properties (follow this link to learn more). Indeed, my remembrance of this event instantly came to mind as I watched the intermittent blinking of what my hosts were telling me was a “UFO”. What I gained from this was fairly obvious; the benefit one gains from a knowledge base of things that can appear anomalous, when in fact they are quite ordinary, is immeasurable. However, this doesn’t mean that one can’t use a discerning mind to rule out the obvious (or dissect the not-so-obvious as well). As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most memorable sleuth said to dear Dr. Watson, “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

For this very reason, Chris McCollum, my brother and I participated in Joshua P. Warren’s annual UFO Event this past weekend, where the creation of our “flying gople” (i.e. a flying jellyfish) was well received. Based on our knowledge of how UFOs might be easily (or not so easily) faked, it is our belief that more discerning minds can be bred, and thus observers who are better able to determine when an “Unknown” is really, really an unknown.

Ah, there is a gentle art to knowing the various unknown, isn’t there? For more on this, below I’ve linked an excellent lecture Joshua gave at this year’s UFO Congress, where he discusses faking UFOs for the benefit of ruling out future hoaxes: