When one reads historical or quasi-historical material from earlier times (B.C. through early A.D. years), they will find mentions (asides) that replicate UFO sightings or events of our time, the modern era.
Such asides are passingly presented, as if they are tangential to what's being related. But why are they mentioned at all?
For instance, in THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, "Volume II, The Huns and the Vandals" by Thomas Hodgkin [Folio Society, London, 2000] one will find, by scrupulous attention to the text, that odd (actual?) events are sprinkled throughout.
Some of the history presented comes from such activity of early monarchs as Che-Hwang-te who, following the Chow Dynasty - his the Tsin Dynasty - in the 3rd Century B.C. destroyed all the earlier histories to "cleanse" the past of corrupted stories, thus removing much that came from oral traditions, providing what may be considered a more accurate accounting of human (in this case, Chinese) historical accounts.
Other accounts come from sources such as the "Alexandrian Chronicles" composed during the reign of Heraclius about 630 A. D. but many of doubtful authority.
One can assume that they are sometimes reading rather accurate renderings of what transpired and is being presented as true history - one can assume - but then...
So what does one make of such things as this:
The Bishop of Tongers in Belgium, Servatius by name, implored God, amidst fastings and watchings and constant showers of tears, that he [God] would never permit 'the unbelieving and ever-unworthy nation of the Huns' to enter Gaul. Feeling sure in his spirit that this prayer was not granted [interesting intuition?], he sought the tomb of the apostle Peter at Rome, and there, after three days' fasting pressed his suit. The apostle appeared to him in a "VISION"...(offering no consolation whatsoever, which sent Servatius to his home, where he prepared for his death which, indeed, took place). [From Gregory of Tours, "Historia Francorum", ii.5] (Page 72 of Folio book)
Or this:
Meanwhile the consternation within the city of Orleans went on increasing, as the citizens saw their walls crumbling in ruin beneath the blows of the battering-rams of Attila [the Hun]. One day, when they were fervently praying in the church, 'Anianus said, "Look forth from the ramparts see if God's mercy yet succors us." They gazed forth from the wall, but beheld no man. He sais, "Pray in faith; the Lord will liberate you today." They went on praying; again he bade them mount the walls, and again they saw no help approaching... When their prayer was ended, a third time... they mounted the wall, and looking forth they saw from afar, as it were, "A CLOUD RISING OUT OF THE GROUND."
(Attila was foiled in his attempt to take Orl'eans) [From Apollinaris", Panegyric of Avitus, 328-356, CONSIDERED A DOUBTFUL AUTHORITY "] (Page 75 ff. in the Folio book)
While many of such account have a religious patina, but only because that is the mental patina of the times; what other frame of reference did early humans/historians/story-tellers have?
The question is why such interventions were interpolated in these "historical renderings"?
One reason, postulated by historical scholars, is that divine interventions were used to enhance the persons being remembered and, also, the person hoping they are remembered.
But is that always true? Is it possible that "visions" and "clouds rising from the ground" actually took place? After all, such inserts, as I've mentioned, are often peripheral to the stories, or subdued.
It's as if the intercession is just a minor adjunct to what has taken place, or is it the crux of the story?
How can we know? And how does this factor in to modern UFO accounts, which rarely, nowadays, has a true religious overlay?
Yes, technology has pretty much replaced divinity as the "deus et machina" of UFO reports but, still, there is a mystery why intrusions take place at all, "in situ", hallucinatorily, or even actually.
UFO interventions, even if just by sight - no encounters - helped the ancients (Moses, Alexander, Constantine, et al.) achieve whatever goals they had in mind.
Today, UFO interventions do nothing, but stymie fans of odd phenomena.
UFOs have become silly, either by our interpretations, or in reality.
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