With our ever-growing list of major concerns ranging from climate change, pollution, corruption, terrorism, financial restraints, immigration, multiple health issues, and food and water security, who would for one moment imagine anyone being concerned or pondering the origins and nature of UFOs? I am no ufologist and have not yet come around to subscribe to any explanations being continually churned out by various official and unofficial sources from around the globe. But most sightings are undoubtedly facts, namely that unidentified flying objects were truly observed, irrespective of the inability to explain their origins or their nature.

We have all seen, heard, or read about UFOs sometimes. We have had investigations partially concluding that sightings were either fake, a big hoax, professionally altered or simulated, imagined, the fruit of hallucinations, or, well, simply inexplicable with our knowledge and rationality. The UFO phenomenon started way back in 1639, when the Puritans were the first to record strangely shining and moving lights in American skies. Over the years, UFO sightings have gone from conspiracy theories to serious government inquiries beyond the USA. From Europe to China, from Russia to Australia, government interest in UFOs is very real.

What about Malta? We have had our share of UFO sightings, and one day our national sovereignty and security may be at risk because of this phenomenon without our being aware.

On June 18, 1845, at 9:30pm, three mysterious glowing objects rose from the sea off Malta, a phenomenon some would today pass off as a UFO sighting.

In the summer of 1947, off the southern coast of Malta, fishermen witnessed a strange, apparently manned, object glowing brightly just above the sea’s surface when it submerged as swiftly as it appeared.

On June 24, 2007, a number of unidentified aerial objects were seen flying in formation over the Maltese coast late in the evening.

On a day in December 2009, an unknown, slowly moving object was spotted and filmed hovering over Siggiewi.

On a day in April 2010, during the daytime, an unknown object was filmed flying in the sky over Malta. Satellite images confirmed this.

On August 31, 2011, sometime in the morning, unknown lights that kept disappearing and appearing were recorded in the sky above Ghajnsielem in Gozo.

On April 11, 2012, at 12am, two UFOs were captured on film hovering over the airport. After a few minutes, they began to descend to the ground, whereupon they just vanished into thin air.

23 July 2012, 8pm: Zfort Ertfay quickly interrupted a brisk walk on the Qawra seafront in Malta when he spotted an unidentified flying object hovering over the horizon and took photos with his mobile phone. He was unable to make out what it was, except that it was triangular in shape, dark, and flying at high speed.

19th, March 2013, 6pm: A police officer claimed that he had caught an image of a UFO using a mobile phone on March 19 at 6 o’clock in the evening in Marsaxlokk. Like what is commonly described as an unidentified flying object, the said object caught by the phone’s camera appears to have an oval shape and a black colour. The scene was reported to be in the vicinity of the Delimara power station chimney.

On April 2, 2014, at night, a triangular-shaped UFO hovering in the night sky above Buġibba was witnessed by more than one person.

On August 5, 2014, sometime in the afternoon, a man sighted a midget-shaped flying object from his balcony in Birgu. The event lasted about three minutes.

On March 11, 2017, at 16:44, a croissant-shaped unidentified flying object was captured on film over the Marsascala area. It kept hovering for about 15 minutes and then just disappeared into the sea.

28th April 2020, 20:45: A perfectly aligned string of lights dotted the sky just above Żabbar for quite some time.

So what are we to make of these perplexing sightings? Recently, I found out that July 2nd of every year is marked as World UFO Day. Now could be a good time for us to start seriously addressing the unsettling and refreshing fact that we may not be alone. I believe we, and our government, need to face the possibility that some of the strange flying objects seen over our country that outperform the best aircraft in the world and defy explanation may indeed be visitors from afar, and there is plenty of evidence to support these UFO sightings.

UFO encounters are neither controllable nor repeatable, which makes their study extremely challenging. But the real problem, in my view, is that the UFO topic is taboo, even among the highest echelons of our government. UFOs are off-limits to serious scientific study and rational discussion, which unfortunately leaves the topic in the domain of fringe and pseudoscientists, many of whom litter the field with conspiracy theories and wild speculation. And in the meantime, our national security may be at risk.

The media amplifies the scepticism by publishing information about UFOs when it is exciting, but always with a mocking or whimsical tone and reassuring the public that it cannot possibly be true, even in the face of credible witnesses and encounters. Anything that enters our airspace that is not supposed to be there is a threat. If these were possibly tactical jets from another country that were hanging out up there, it would be a massive issue. But because it looks slightly different, nobody is willing to actually look the problem in the face. We are happy to just ignore the fact that these are out there, watching us every day, and, yes, the truth is out there.

But then, beyond the whole truth about UFOs, perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognise this common bond of mankind. I occasionally think about how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.