They’re balloons.
It’s a stain.
It’s Superman!
Is there anything social media naysayers won’t think of to dismiss new footage of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) flying over an overseas US air base in 2017?
Video of the mysterious floating object – dubbed the ‘jellyfish’ because of its dangling tentacle-like appendages – was published last week by investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp.
The release has since unleashed a flood of wild speculation among armchair debunkers. But there’s good reason not to dismiss this revelation so easily.
As a journalist covering UFO history, I regularly work with Corbell and Knapp, who have been behind much of the groundbreaking reporting in this field.
Knapp is a two-time winner of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow journalism award.
In 1989, he famously exposed the still-controversial allegations of Bob Lazar, who claimed he had been hired to reverse engineer alien technology at a secret Nevada location near a U.S. base – a facility that has become known as Area 51.
Corbell has also earned his place among the pioneering UFO reporters.
In 2021, Corbell published leaked footage of a spherical object – filmed by the crew of the USS Omaha – off the coast of Southern California. The elongated sphere is seen flying into strong headwinds before disappearing into the ocean.
Video of the mysterious floating object – dubbed the ‘jellyfish’ because of its dangling tentacle-like appendages – was published last week by investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell (left) and George Knapp (right).
The duo have now released six images of potentially unexplained UFOs over conflict zones in the Middle East.
For decades, the US government dismissed this journalism as a conspiracy, until in 2017 the Pentagon confirmed the existence of long-running secret programs studying these strange events.
In 2023, under increasing public pressure, Congress held its first hearings to investigate claims from ex-military pilots who testified under oath about their first-hand accounts of mysterious flying objects found around the world.
As more and more UFO evidence emerges, the government has no choice but to be more transparent. And it is in this spirit of openness that Corbell and Knapp are stepping forward.
They have no theories about what the ‘jellyfish’ UFO is, and – again – because no plausible explanations have emerged, others have rushed to their conclusion.
Some claim that the military-grade infrared images recorded from a surveillance hot air balloon show a smudge on the camera lens – perhaps bird droppings.
The ‘smudge theory’ was quickly dispelled by sleuths who zoomed in on the object and revealed it was spinning as it passed Al-Taqaddum air base in central Iraq in 2017.
A lens smear would show two dimensions. Only three-dimensional objects can appear to rotate on video.
Another suspicion was that the ‘jellyfish’ is a cluster of balloons. An infrared video expert, Dave Falch, has seemingly burst that bubble.
Falch, known for his in-depth analysis of such images, demonstrated through an experiment posted on his Twitter feed that latex balloons are not visible when viewed with infrared.
Some claim that the military-grade infrared images recorded from a surveillance hot air balloon show a smudge on the camera lens – perhaps bird droppings.
Another suspicion was that the ‘jellyfish’ is a cluster of balloons. An infrared video expert, Dave Falch, has seemingly burst that bubble.
Falch’s analysis is also supported by the accounts of anonymous first-hand military witnesses who reportedly spoke with Corbell and Knapp.
These witnesses, trained to distinguish between harmless balloons, surveillance aircraft and other potentially dangerous aerial objects, are still unable to explain what they saw.
The world has no concrete answers, which can be an uncomfortable situation for some. But if solving UFO mysteries had been easy, the US Department of Defense and Intelligence would not have found it necessary to create an entirely new unit in July 2022 – the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (ARRO) – to to investigate these.
UFOs exist. Get used to it.
There are things in our air, oceans and beyond the atmosphere that cannot be explained.
What the “jellyfish” UFO images don’t show is what witnesses reported to Corbell and Knapp: that the UFO allegedly descended into nearby Habbaniyah Lake for 17 minutes, then emerged from the water and accelerated rapidly at a speed of 17 minutes. 45 degree angle until it disappeared from the frame.
If these claims prove true, the “jellyfish” images will provide yet another sobering piece of evidence suggesting that the most powerful nation in history is not its most technologically advanced.
In 2021, Corbell published leaked footage of a spherical object – filmed by the crew of the USS Omaha – off the coast of Southern California. The elongated sphere (above) is seen flying into strong headwinds before disappearing into the ocean.
The duo have now released six images of potentially unexplained UFOs over conflict zones in the Middle East. (Above) A metallic sphere flying over an Iraqi city was reportedly captured on video by a US spy plane.
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe suggested as much last year when he admitted that the U.S. government has a responsibility to “investigate objects that demonstrate technologies that appear to defy the law of physics and capabilities that we, as the world superpower, do not have.” . ‘
The situation is so worrying that Five Eyes – the intelligence alliance made up of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States – has published a secret report on the increased frequency of UFO encounters, according to Corbell’s reporting.
Many in Congress, even Democratic Senatorial Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have demanded more disclosure. But it is worrying that some in the US government may be turning back the clock on secrecy.
Following the release of three UFO videos in 2020, the US Navy explicitly stated that it will not release any more footage due to “national security” concerns. This week, the Pentagon issued a statement about the “jellyfish” UAP, refusing to confirm or deny the authenticity of the video or whether it was reported to AARO.
The public should push harder for answers. Whatever the ‘jellyfish’ is, it is undoubtedly part of a broader discussion about transparency and trust.
As much as the doubters and government censors would like it to be a stain, the issue will not be swept away so easily.
Author Christopher Sharp is the founder/editor-in-chief of Liberation Times