The public has been led to believe UFOs don’t exist. But they do

RT speaks to Ross Coulthart, the author of a new book, ‘In Plain Sight’, which records an array of mysterious UFO sightings around the world – and details officialdom’s extraordinary efforts to deny them or cover them up.

There’s been an explosion of UFO initiatives over the past 12 months, including the formation of the International Coalition for Extraterrestrial Research and the launch of the Galileo Project. And then there was the groundbreaking report by the Pentagon, in which it admitted there were incidents of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) that couldn’t be explained.
Yet a new book, ‘In Plain Sight’, by award-winning investigative journalist Ross Coulthart could be one of the most interesting developments yet. Coulthart has no reputation to uphold in the UFO community, but has long held a desire to tackle the big question: are we really alone?
“I’ve always been intrigued by the subject matter, mainly because there’s such a taboo attached to it. In journalism, there’s a real stigma,” he said.

“I can remember editors telling me, ‘Ross, we don’t do UFO stories.’ I did a lot of national security and defense intelligence-related stories. I’ve spent a large part of the past 30-something years covering wars, terrorist acts, and all the miseries of the world. And a lot of those contacts [I made]… when I asked them about UFOs, they wouldn’t dismiss it [ie, the idea they existed].”

Born in New Zealand, Coulthart was fascinated by the 1978 incident in which a cameraman captured footage of an object flying alongside a plane above the town of Kaikoura on the country’s South Island. Weeks later, the authorities attributed it to either the planet Venus or a reflection from fishing boats.

“As a 16-year old boy, it sounded plausible to me, so I didn’t think much of it,” he admitted. But, at university, Coulthart secured his first scoop by tracking down those involved, who assured him what they saw was a solid object.
Fast-forward to the 90s and he’d established himself as a journalist and was working on the Australian investigative TV show ‘Four Corners’. Following the conclusion of a day’s filming at an air force base, the crew was invited by their host to have a drink in the on-site bar. Recalled Coulthart, “After a while, he leaned forward and said, ‘Can I ask you a question? Why don’t you media ever do stories about UFOs?”

“I freely admit I laughed, and I said, ‘Because they’re bulls**t’. And he went, ‘No, they are not. I wish I could say who this chap was – he was a very, very senior official, one of the highest people in our military at the time.”

Hampered by the parameters of the mainstream media, he still managed to convince his bosses to do a UAP story in 2011 – but it was only because they’d sent him to London to interview a rock star who canceled and they were left with a hole to fill.
The public has been led to believe UFOs don’t exist. But they do