Growing up in the ‘90s, series like The X-Files cultivated an interest in the paranormal as well as entertained personal thoughts that such phenomena might actually be possible and true. Like Agent Mulder, my younger self was drawn to stories of alien encounters and the existence of extraterrestrial life. But as time went on and I went deeper into my other interests and passions, I moved on from my alien interests and eventually became unattached from it all. However, upon watching NatGeo’s new five-episode series, UFOs: Investigating The Unknown, it felt like all those dormant thoughts and emotions came rushing back to me.
As an adult, I now understand how hard it can be to share information and shed light on topics that have been kept out of serious discussions for so long.
UFOs: Investigating The Unknown does a fantastic job of walking through the American history of unidentified flying objects as well as how the government has responded and shifted its stance on the topic. It’s a timely series, not just because there’s been recent headlines about spy balloons, but due to new information involving a secret Pentagon UFO program.
Even for skeptics, the abundance of archival content, eyewitness testimonies, and expert interviews make for an interesting deep dive into this mysterious phenomenon, with reports from the 1940s up through the present day.
UFOs: Investigating The Unknown premieres on NatGeo on February 13, 2023.
UFOs: Investigating The Unknown Episode Descriptions
Episode One – SECRET PENTAGON UFO PROGRAM takes a deep dive into the government UAP program, which gives an inside story behind the 2017 story in The Times. This episode examines how the revelations challenge everything we thought we knew about UFOs and goes behind the scenes with stories from the Navy pilots who saw mysterious objects tracking their fighter jets.
Episode Two – GIANT UFO IN TEXAS revisits the mass sighting of the Stephenville, Texas, case with new interviews and perspectives. It examines why the once serious government effort transitioned to a PR campaign to debunk the phenomenon as nonsense, despite evidence to the contrary.
Episode Three – CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AT NUCLEAR BASES explores the challenging UFO taboo left in the wake of the U.S. government formally ending its UFO program and examines a years-long mass sighting known as the “Hudson Valley Wave.”
Episode Four – CITIZENS TAKE CHARGE looks at a range of citizens who took charge to make sense of continued UFO encounters, including dedicated field investigators, sighting repositories, obsessive conspiracy theorists and former government officials who have risked their reputations to speak out in favor of renewed government involvement.
Episode Five – GOVERNMENT BREAKS SILENCE examines the 2015 Navy pilot reports of strange encounters, the 2022 Congressional hearing following the latest developments around the historic 2021 intelligence report, and considers whether we are entering a new era of transparency and discovery about this mysterious phenomenon.
