UFOS AND ALIENS

UFOs And Aliens
By Preston Dennett
(from the series: Mysteries, Legends and Unexplained Phenomena
edited by Rosemary Ellen Guilley.)
The UFO phenomenon remains one of the most persistent and
perplexing mysteries of modern times. Encounters have occurred for
thousands of years, and today the activity is increasing, with reports
coming from across the world. Aliens and UFOs presents an exciting
history of extraterrestrial activity on planet Earth, starting from ancient
times to the present day. Included is a selection of some of the world’s
best-verified cases. You will read about famous sightings such as the
Washington National UFOs and the Mexico City sightings. We will
also explore cases of UFO landings and abductions, like the
Hopkinsville ‘goblins,’ and the Travis Walton alien abduction case that
inspired the hit-film Fire in the Sky. Did a UFO crash in the New
Mexico desert in 1947? Is our government studying UFOs in secret?
All this and more will be covered -- everything from infamous hoaxes to
physical evidence of alien implants. Are unidentified flying objects
real? This book presents the latest evidence and allows the reader to
decide.
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1. Ancient Astronauts
Chapter 2. The Sighting That Changed the World
Chapter 3. When UFOs Land
Chapter 4. Taken Onboard
Chapter 5. UFO Crashes
Chapter 6.Conspiracies & Cover-ups
Chapter 7. UFO Hoaxes
Chapter 8. Conclusions
Timeline
Endnotes
Further Research
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Ancient Astronauts
If there is one thing that ufologists are sure about, it’s that UFOs have
been visiting Earth for a long, long time. But the question remains,
exactly how long have they been here? This is not so easy to answer. It
seems that the farther back one looks in time, the more clues there are to
find.
To examine these clues, we shall have to travel back in time
thousands of years, to an era when humans were just beginning to learn
the basics of civilization, including construction, agriculture, writing,
and most importantly here – art.
Ancient ET Art
Numerous ancient stone carvings, rock paintings and mysterious
monuments throughout the world give hints that extraterrestrials may
have visited our planet in the distant past. For example, granite carvings
in Hunan, Asia show human figures gazing up at cylindrical objects
hovering in the sky on which other people are standing. These look
much like today’s UFO reports. The only problem is, these carvings are
dated around 45,000 BC!
Petroglyphs in Toro Muerto, Peru show figures with large
transparent helmets. These rock carvings at date at about 11,000 BC.
On the Tassili plateau in the Sahara Desert are sculpted rock
figures with large round heads, like helmets. These statues date back to
around 6000 BC.
Figures carved into rock in Lomoukai, Nambu Province in Africa
depict figures in what appear to be modern spacesuits. These carvings
are dated to around 4300 BC.
Another example comes from the Australian Aborigines.
Numerous ancient rock paintings depict short, robed figures with large
staring eyes and huge helmet-like heads, again the typical description of
an ET. These images are known to be 3000 years old.
More clues come from a wide variety of cultures. An early
Columbian artifact looks almost exactly like the space shuttle. A clay
sculpture from a pre-Japanese culture shows what looks like an astronaut
inside a pressurized spacesuit. Both these artifacts are at least 3000
years old.
Why do so many different cultures across the world create these
strange figures? Could they have been inspired by aliens and UFOs?
Interestingly, many early cultures have myths and legends about wise
God-like beings who came from the sky to teach humanity.
Then, of course, there are the mysterious places like Easter Island,
Stonehenge, the Egyptian pyramids and countless others. While some
researchers have speculated that extraterrestrials may have helped to
construct these mysterious monuments, most modern researchers believe
that humans built them. However, there are tantalizing clues that some
of these creations may have been inspired by visiting extraterrestrials.
One example that stands out above all the other places is a
mysterious desert plateau in Nazca, Peru. This 500 square mile volcanic
plateau contains a strange mystery. Nobody knows who made them, or
why, but on this plateau are hundreds of strange markings, which can
only be seen from high up in the air. Some are figures of animals
including a monkey, a spider, a whale, various birds; others are
geometric designs, patterns and lines.
These markings are more than 2000 years old, predating both the
Incan and Mayan empires. Therefore the question remains: who made
these markings that can only be seen from the air, and why? Could they
have been inspired by visitations of extraterrestrials? The Nazca
mystery remains unsolved.
UFOs in Ancient Egypt and India
Fortunately, there are more than just pictures and carvings that
show early UFO visitations. On an ancient Egyptian papyrus dated from
1504 BC is one of the earliest known written records of a UFO
encounter. It was written during the reign of Egyptian pharaoh
Thutmose III, and is now at the Egyptian museum at the Vatican. The
hieroglyphics were translated by Egyptologists and tell an amazing
story. One day a group of Egyptian citizens observed “a circle of fire
that was coming from the sky.” The people became frightened and
threw themselves to the ground. A few days later, the strange objects
were back. According to the document, “Now after some days had
passed, these things became more numerous in the sky than ever. They
shone more in the sky than the brightness of the sun, and extended to the
limits of the four supports of the heavens….Powerful was the position of
these fire circles.”
Ancient India also has evidence of UFO activity. They called the
objects, Vimanas, or sky-boats. Ancient Sanskrit texts more than 5000
years old describe these flying ships. Researcher Richard Thompson has
studied hundreds of such accounts and writes that the vimanas have
“many features reminiscent of UFOs.”
Biblical UFOs
Even the Bible may have possible extraterrestrial encounters. The
“Wheels of Ezekiel” in the Bible contains many parallels to modern day
UFO reports. The incident took place in 593 BC and appears in the
beginning of the New Testament. Ezekiel was alone when he saw a “a
great cloud with brightness round about it, and fire flashing forth
constantly, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming bronze.”
Ezekiel also observed strange wheels within wheels and other details
that sound very much like a machine. Researcher Josef Blumrich wrote
an entire book, The Spaceships of Ezekiel, theorizing that Ezekiel
encountered actual extraterrestrials.
Another example from the Bible is Elijah’s ascension in a “chariot
of fire.” Some researchers speculate that the chariot of fire is actually a
UFO.
UFOs in Roman Times
It wasn’t until Roman times that historians began to keep detailed
records of UFO encounters. Early Roman writer, Julius Obsequens was
one of the world’s first UFO investigators. He began recording strange
events in the year 222 BC, when two Roman consuls observed “a great
light, like day, at midnight, when three moons appeared in quarters of
the sky distant from each other.”
In 216 BC, he wrote of another sighting: “Things like ships were
seen in the sky over Italy…At Arpi, a round shield was seen in the
sky…At Capua, the sky was all on fire, and one saw figures like ships.”
Obsequens eventually recorded dozens of accounts, often referring
to the strange objects as shields, ships or burning torches.
Another early researcher was German scholar, Lycosthenes, who
recorded numerous UFO sightings over early Europe. The following
account comes from the year 457 AD: “Over, Brittany, France, a
blazing thing like a globe was seen in the sky. Its size was immense,
and on its beams hung a ball of fire like a dragon out of whose mouth
proceeded two beams, one of which stretched beyond France, the other
reached towards Ireland, and ended in fire, like rays.”
In the year 796 AD, “Small globes were seen circling around the
sun.”
And in the year 919 AD, “A thing like a burning torch was seen in
the sky, and glistening balls like stars moved to and fro in the air over
Hungary.”
Another sighting that cannot be easily explained occurred in 1168
AD when “A globe of fire was seen moving to and fro in the air on 20
March.”
Some of the accounts match up perfectly with today’s reports. For
example in the year 1290 AD, the abbot and monks at Begeland Abbey
in England observed a “flat, round, shining, silvery object” that flew
over the abbey, causing “utmost terror.”
UFOs in the Middles Ages
As history marched forward into the Middle Ages, accounts of
UFO sightings became more detailed. In 1322 AD: “In the first hour of
the night of November 4 there was seen in the sky over Uxbridge,
England a pillar of fire the size of a small boat, pallid and livid in colour.
It rose from the south, crossed the sky with slow and grave motions, and
went north. Out of the front of the pillar, a fervent red flame burst forth
with great beams of light. Its speed increased, and it flew through the
air.”
In 1387 AD, England experienced a wave of UFO activity when
citizens observed “a fire in the sky, like a burning and revolving wheel,
or round barrel of flame, emitting fire from above, and others in the
shape of a long fiery beam.”
On April 14, 1561, numerous residents of Nuremberg saw
hundreds of globes, cylinders and other strange-shaped objects flying in
darting patterns, as if fighting another. The sighting lasted about an hour
and was described by witnesses as a “very frightful spectacle.” An
unknown artist recorded the event in a woodcarving, which shows the
strange fleet of flying objects, including a few actually crashing to the
Earth.
On August 7, 1566, Samuel Coccius of Basel, England wrote that
at sunrise “many large black globes were seen in the air, moving before
the sun with great speed and turning against each other as if fighting.”
Coccius memorialized the event in a woodcarving, which shows about
forty objects filling the sky as stunned observers look on.
Many astronomers have seen UFOs. The famous English
astronomer, Edmund Halley – who discovered Halley’s comet – also
claims to have seen a UFO. In May of 1677, he and numerous others
observed a “great light in the sky all over southern England, many miles
high.” The light moved “with incredible speed, and was very bright. It
seemed to vanish and left a pale white light behind it. There were no
hissing sounds and no explosion.” Was this a UFO or a meteor? Even
Halley wasn’t sure.
On July 9, 1686, German astronomer Gottfried Kirch observed a
“burning globe” that was so bright “one could read without a candle.”
He used a telescope and estimated that the object was 30 miles up. After
eight minutes, the light disappeared. Kirch later learned that other
people eight miles away observed the same object earlier that evening.
Throughout the 1700s, the Gentleman’s Magazine of England
recorded numerous accounts, such as the following incredible sighting:
“In March, 1719, and again on 29 August, 1738, there appeared in the
sky over England at 3 pm in the northeast a glowing ball like a cone,
with a jet of flame at the rear….It was like a cone of fire, ending in a
sharp point, with a bright ball at the thicker end. The ball seemed to
burst and go away in a jet of flame.”
On January 2, 1749, three large spherical-shaped objects “like the
moon” appeared over Japan, causing widespread riots. The government
was forced to enact martial law to stop the panic.
During this time, several Renaissance painters created works of art
that contained images of typical flying saucers. In 2003 researcher
Matthew Hurley identified many examples. A fifteenth century painting
by Italian artist Ghirlandaio shows the Virgin Mary with a disk-shaped
object hovering in the sky. In the background a man points at the object.
Another sixteenth century fresco shows a figure inside a flying object
that is darting across the sky above a crowd of people.
UFOs in the 1800s
Sightings continued strong into the 1800s. In July 1868, residents
of Copiago, Chile observed an unidentified “aerial construction” fly
overhead. It was described as having shiny scales and making a noise
like a machine.
A dramatic account from the summer of 1883 was published in the
West German Magazine, Der Stern. According to the report, “All the
children and the teacher in the public elementary school at Segeberg,
saw in the sky two fiery balls, the size of full moons, traveling side by
side, not very swiftly, from north to south, on a clear and sunny day.”
In 1896, the United States experienced its first UFO wave when
residents across northern California reported seeing an “airship” in the
sky. The first sighting to gain widespread attention occurred on
November 17, 1896. As reported in the Sacramento Bee: “Last evening
between the hours of six and seven o’clock, in the year of our Lord
1896, a most startling exhibition was seen in the sky in this city of
Sacramento. People standing on the sidewalks at certain points in the
city between the hours stated, saw coming through the sky over the
housetops what appeared to them to be merely an electric arc lamp
propelled by some mysterious force. It came out of the east and sailed
unevenly toward the southwest, dropping now nearer to the earth, and
now suddenly rising into the air.” Several witnesses said they heard
voices. Among the many witnesses was the daughter of the mayor of
Sacramento.
Over the next week, the mysterious airship continued to appear.
Five days later, on November 22, 1896, dozens of passengers on an
Oakland streetcar observed an object that looked like a “wingless cigar.”
The object emitted beams of light and traveled slowly overhead. Again
the account became front-page news.
Before long, the wave spread across the United States, with
thousands of people reporting the strange zeppelin-like objects. In a few
of the cases, witnesses encountered human-looking people who were
dressed strangely and spoke unknown languages. Today, the mysterious
airship wave remains unexplained. Some researchers believe that the
sightings may have been the result of early undercover experiments with
dirigibles, zeppelins and other airships. And in fact, only one year later,
on November 3, 1897, timber merchant David Schwarz of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire invented and successfully flew an airship.
The LA Air Raid
The next spectacular UFO event occurred on February 25, 1942,
only a few months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Called the Los Angeles Air Raid, the ordeal began at 2:00 am when air
raid sirens warning of a possible Japanese attack sounded throughout the
city of Los Angeles, California. A total blackout was enforced, and the
military went into action.
The invader, however, turned out not to be Japanese, but
unidentified. Dozens of small objects moved in formation overhead
followed by a much larger globe-shaped object that hovered motionless
several thousand feet over Culver City. When the large object stayed in
place for more than five hours, the military converged underneath,
training their searchlights on the object. General Marshall ordered 1430
rounds of ammunition to be fired at the UFO. Incredibly, it sustained no
damage. As a result of the attack, however, five people died of heart
attacks and falling debris. The next day, the Los Angeles Times printed a
photograph of the UFO on the front page.
The military at first tried to deny the incident saying the objects
were balloons. However, Congress launched an investigation into the
event, determining that the objects were real, and were unknown. To
this day, the event remains unexplained.
Foo-Fighters
During the middle of World War II in 1943 and 1944 numerous
fighter pilots began to see what they called “foo-fighters” or small balls
of light that would follow their aircraft. At first, everyone assumed that
the balls of light were secret German weapons. However, German and
Japanese pilots also encountered the strange balls of light and thought
they were American or English secret weapons.
Strangely, the foo-fighters never attacked the planes, but would
instead fly behind them or whirl around them in curious patterns. They
appeared singly or in groups. The United States military and the British
military both launched investigations, but were unable to account for the
strange sightings.
The Swedish Ghost Rockets
Only one year later, the UFOs came back with a vengeance.
Starting in May 1946, Sweden and other northern European countries
were plagued by a wave of “ghost rockets.” Described as missiles,
spheres, fireballs, cigar-shaped and football shaped, these objects moved
in typical UFO patterns, moving at high speeds, darting at sharp angles,
and hovering or floating. By the end of 1946, more than 1000 reports of
the objects came from Sweden alone. The objects, however, were seen
all across Europe and even in Africa and India. By 1947, there were
2000 reports including a few explosions or landings. There was no
evidence, however, of any injuries to people, nor was anyone able to
recover one of the objects. The Swedish Defense Ministry launched an
investigation, believing that the objects were probably secret Soviet
weapons. Their research showed that at least 200 of the reports were
unexplained and “cannot be the phenomena of nature or the products of
imagination.”
We have now examined the UFO phenomenon from ancient times
up to 1947. Up until this time, mainstream society still had not faced the
possibility that our planet was being visited by extraterrestrials.
However, something was about to happen that would change everything.
Timeline of UFO Activity on Earth
(excerpted from UFOs and Aliens)
Prehistory. Cave art & sculptures depict UFOs and ET-type figures;
Myths in different cultures tell of wise beings who came from the sky.
BC-1890s. Early manuscripts, records and paintings show evidence of
unknown aerial objects across the world.
1896. Strange zeppelin-like airships are sighted across the United
States.
June 30, 1909. Huge explosion occurs over Tunguska, Russia: cause
unknown.
February 25, 1942. Los Angeles Air Raid; U.S. military shoots at UFO
as it hovers over Culver City, California.
1943-1944. Small balls of light called Foo Fighters are observed by
fighter pilots of World War II.
1946-1947. Sweden and nearby countries are plagued by wave of
“ghost rockets.”
June 24, 1947. Pilot Kenneth Arnold sights UFOs over Mount Rainier,
Washington, starting the Modern Age of UFOs.
July 4, 1947. UFO allegedly crashes outside of Roswell, New Mexico;
evidence is reportedly covered up by the U.S. military.
July 7, 1947. Edwards Air Force Base in southern California
experiences a wave of sightings directly over the base.
January 8, 1948. Captain Mantell fatally crashes his plane while in
pursuit of a UFO over Louisville, Kentucky.
July 25, 1948. Pilots Charles & Whitted nearly collide with a UFO
while flying from Texas to Georgia.
October 1, 1948. Pilot Gorman chases a UFO over Fargo, North
Dakota.
May 11, 1950. Paul Trent photographs UFO over McMinnville,
Oregon.
July 2, 1950. UFO hoax is perpetrated at Steeprock Lake in Ontario,
Canada.
August 15, 1950. Nick Mariana films several bright objects near Great
Falls, Montana; Analysis of the footage shows that they are unexplained.
August 25, 1951. A UFO wave sweeps over the town of Lubbock,
Texas.
1952: United States Air Force opens Project Blue Book, to collect and
study UFO reports.
July 15, 1952. Multiple UFOs are sighted over Washington DC.
August 23, 1952. Scoutmaster Sonny Desvergers is burned by beam of
light from a UFO in Florida, Everglades.
September 12, 1952. UFO lands in Flatwoods, Virginia; robotic figure
is seen.
November 20, 1952. George Adamski claims to make contact with an
extraterrestrial in Desert Center, California.
February-June, 1952. UFO lands at Brush Creek, California; small
dwarf-like ET observed.
January 1953. The CIA funds “The Robertson Panel” UFO study, which
recommends debunking the subject of UFOs.
March 22, 1953. Sara Shaw & Jan Whitley are abducted by gray-type
ETs into a UFO in Tujunga, California, but the case remains unknown
for twenty years.
August-October 1954. France experiences an intense UFO wave.
September 10, 1954. UFO lands in Quaroble, France, leaving physical
traces.
August 22, 1955. The Sutton family of Hopkinsville, Kentucky shoot at
dwarf-like ET.
October 7, 1957. First reported UFO abduction: farmer Antonio Villas
Boas is abducted into a UFO outside of Sao Paolo, Brazil (account not
released publicly).
November 5, 1957. A UFO with humanoid occupants is observed
landed on the beach at Playa Del Rey.
January 6 1958. Brazilian Navy photographs UFO over Trinidade
Island.
June 26-27, 1959. Dozens of witnesses observe a UFO with occupants
hover over a mission in Papua, New Guinea.
August 13-19, 1960. Northern California experiences a week-long
intense UFO wave; Witnesses include dozens of police officers.
April 18, 1961. UFO lands at Eagle River, Wisconsin; human-looking
ETs give farmer “alien pancakes.”
September 19, 1961. Betty & Barney Hill are abducted into a UFO in
New Hampshire, and become the first people to publicly report a UFO
abduction.
April 24, 1964. UFO lands in farmers field in Tioga, New York;
human-like ETs ask for fertilizer.
April 24, 1964. Police Officer Lonnie Zamora observes a landed UFO
and occupants in Socorro, New Mexico; UFO leaves landing traces.
September 4, 1964. UFO lands in Cisco Grove, California; robotic-like
ET traps hunter in tree.
January 30, 1965. Radio technician Sid Padrick of Watsonville
California is invited aboard a UFO by friendly, human-looking ETs.
June 4, 1965. Astronaut McDivitt films UFO outside Gemini IV
capsule.
August 3, 1965. Highway inspector Rex Heflin photographs a UFO
over Santa Ana, California.
December 9, 1965. A UFO allegedly crashes outside of Kecksburg,
Pennsylvania; military forces reportedly recover the object.
1965-1966. The town of Exeter, New Hampshire experiences an
intense UFO wave involving citizens, police officers and UFO
investigators.
March 18-22, 1966. More than 100 people observe UFOs in Hillsdale
and Dexter, Michigan.
April 17, 1966. Police deputies Spaur and Neff chase a UFO across
Ohio and Pennsylvania.
1966-1967. UFO wave sweeps across the rural communities in the
Uintah Basin in central Utah. At the same time, more than 100 residents
in the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia report encounters
with UFOs and a strange bat-like creature called “the Mothman.”
1967. The United States Air Force funds the Condon Committee to
conduct an official UFO study; Study is shut down after two years.
January 25, 1967. Housewife Betty Andreasson is abducted by graytype
ETs into a UFO from her home in Ashburnham, Massachusetts.
May 20, 1967. Stephen Michalek is burned by a landed UFO in Falcon
Lake, Canada.
October 4, 1967. Multiple witnesses observe a UFO crash into Shag
Harbor, Canada; Incident is confirmed by official documents.
September 9, 1967. First animal mutilation reported in San Luis Valley,
Colorado; Case involves the unexplained death of a horse.
December 3, 1967. Police Officer Herbert Schirmer is abducted into a
UFO by human-looking ETs in Ashland, Nebraska.
July 28, 1968. Official Congressional Hearings are held on the subject
of UFOs.
1969. United States Air Force closes down Project Blue Book.
October 1969. Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter sees a UFO over
Georgia while campaigning to become President of the United States.
November 2, 1971. UFO lands in Delphos, Kansas; UFO leaves landing
traces.
October 11, 1973. Fishermen Parker and Hickson are abducted by
robotic-like creatures into a UFO in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
October 18, 1973. Captain Coyne encounters UFO over Columbus,
Ohio.
October 25, 1974. Hunter Carl Higdon is abducted by human-looking
ETs into a UFO in Rawlins, Wyoming.
August 13, 1975. Sergeant Charles Moody is abducted into a UFO by
almost-human-looking ETs outside of Alamogordo, New Mexico.
November 5, 1975. Woodcutter Travis Walton is abducted into a UFO
and is missing for five days.
January 20, 1976. Three ladies are abducted by short humanoids into a
UFO outside of Liberty, Kentucky.
August 24, 1976. Four campers are abducted into a UFO while
canoeing outside of Allagash, Maine.
October 21, 1978. Pilot Frederick Valentich disappears after a close
encounter with a UFO off the coast of Melbourne, Australia.
December 26-29, 1980. UFO lands next to military base in Rendlesham,
England; official documents and landing traces confirm the event.
December 29, 1980. Three witnesses receive radiation-like burns from a
UFO over Huffman, Texas; unmarked black helicopters observed.
1982-1984. The Hudson Valley area of upstate New York
experiences a UFO wave involving large triangular-shaped craft.
December 11, 1984. MJ-12 papers are leaked to researchers, revealing
the alleged existence of a secret governmental UFO study group.
October 4 & December 25, 1985. Author Whitley Strieber is abducted
by gray-type ETs from his cabin in upstate New York.
November 17, 1986. The crew of a Japanese commercial Airliner
encounters multiple UFOs while over Alaska; objects are observed on
radar.
1987. Researcher Budd Hopkins releases his landmark book Intruders,
which claims that ETs are interested in human genetics.
1987-1988. A UFO wave sweeps across the small town of Wytheville,
Virginia.
1987-1992. Gulf Breeze, Florida experiences five-year-long UFO
wave; contractor Ed Walters photographs the UFOs.
January 20, 1988. The Knowles family of four is lifted up in their car by
a UFO while driving through Nullabor, Australia.
1989. Physicist Bob Lazar and others reveal the existence of Area 51
outside of Las Vegas, the alleged location of recovered flying saucers.
September 27, 1989. Dozens of children observe a landed UFO with
occupants in a field in Voronezh, Russia.
November 30, 1989. Linda Napolitano is abducted from her apartment
in Brooklyn, New York; Event is observed by outside witnesses.
1989-1992. Belgium experiences an intense wave of UFO activity
involving a large triangular-shaped object.
July 11, 1991. UFO is sighted by thousands of residents over Mexico
City, Mexico; dozens of people videotape the object.
June 13-17, 1992. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
holds a scientific conference to study the subject of UFO abductions.
1992-1994. The town of Topanga Canyon, California experiences a
two-year-long wave of activity involving the full range of encounters
from sightings to UFO abductions.
August 8, 1993. Kelly Cahill and several others are abducted into a
UFO by tall humanoid ETs in Victoria Australia.
1994. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Harvard Professor John Mack
MD releases his groundbreaking book Abduction.
August 8, 1995. Alien Autopsy footage is aired publicly; Most
investigators believe it was a hoax.
August 19, 1995. Dr. Roger Leir performs first of several “alien
implant” removal surgeries in Ventura, California.
January 20, 1996. UFO with strange occupants is seen outside of
Varginha, Brazil; Brazilian military allegedly captures two of the ETs
March 13, 1997. Huge V-shaped craft sighted by thousands of people
over Phoenix, Arizona; Object is filmed and photographed.
January 5, 2000. A large box-like UFO is seen by multiple police
officers moving over central Illinois.
March 5, 2004. Mexican Air Force uses radar and infrared photography
to detect several unidentified flying objects.