And when they do, officials may not be as quick to dismiss them as crazy. McKenna may have seen an extraterrestrial aircraft. Winnacott told his wife and children, but didn't think much about it until he read an article in the Post-Dispatch. Everybody starts looking up in the sky and seeing things, too. When people spot something strange in the sky, they first try to make sense of it, scientists said.
Witnesses apply what they heard about UFOs in the past and soon their perceptions become reality.
Then their stories usually sharpen with time and the truth gets lost, Baker said. Winnacott, along with a handful of other witnesses who reported UFOs this month, said he didn't really believe aliens have visited Earth. That stigma has largely dissipated. Winnacott said he never felt apprehensive about telling his story. Commercial airline pilots have taken their planes off course to avoid hitting things that later turned out to be the planet Venus or stars, experts said.