A CONTROVERSIAL ACADEMIC PAPER recently shook up the study of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), previously known as UFOs, by looking beyond the most common explanations for flying saucers in the skies: aliens, robots, or drones. In their new work, three researchers from Harvard University and the University of Montana expand the possibilities of what UAPs could be—and whom or what they might contain.

Published in June 2024 in the journal Philosophy and Cosmology, the article generated plenty of attention with a title as lengthy as it was shocking: The Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis: A Case for Scientific Openness to a Concealed Earthly Explanation for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. The theories within the document’s 42 pages reject common pop culture explanations for UAPs in favor of new ideas ranging from the existential to the spiritual.

In their work, the team ponders if the strange objects and craft spotted in our skies could contain a form of ancient, highly advanced human civilization, predating ours, that has stuck around to observe us. They wonder if we’re seeing vessels containing an intelligent species that evolved on Earth apart from humans—such as possible intelligent dinosaurs who hide away from direct contact. Such ancient or non-human Earthly beings could reside somewhere inside the Earth or under the oceans, they say…