UPDATE - 5 Unexplained Mysteries

If you haven't already read it, begin by clicking the link below, then come back to this

5. The Hopkinsville Goblins

4. WOW! Signal

When making scientific discoveries, it is normal practise to apply Occam’s Razor; this says that one should always select the simplest hypothesis or the one that relies on the fewest new assumptions. If Occam’s Razor was applied to interpreting the WOW! Signal, it would prove the existence of aliens..

In the early 1960’s, The Big Ear Radio Observatory was built as part of the SETI project (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) and its job was to scan the skies all day and all night, and some poor soul has to read through all this data and see if anything unusual happened. And, for about 15 years, nothing did. 

Then, in August 1977, the signal ‘6EQUJ5’ was picked up. In a scale that usually ranges from 0 to 2 (where letters simply indicate the next number up; A=10, B=11, U=30), this was certainly out of the ordinary. It caused the discoverer, Dr. Jerry Ehman to write ‘Wow!’ in the margin where I may have instead written ‘OMGWTFBBQ?!?’

‘So what?’ I hear you ask, ‘It was probably just a plane or some dumb space rock.’

Perhaps, except the frequency that the signal came in at was 1420MHz. The exact same frequency as the oscillations of the hydrogen atom, and one with the fewest natural interferences. So, if an alien were to contact us, it seems this is a good frequency to transmit at. And because of this, it is an internationally banned frequency at which nothing is allowed to transmit. Hmmm.

Also, the region of space the signal came from is void of anything including satellites, aircrafts, planets, stars, etc and is technically considered to be ‘very fucking black indeed’. And the signal was transmitted at a very narrow bandwidth which means it is energy efficient as it will travel the farthest for the lowest cost. The signal only lasted for about 72 seconds and was never heard again. Even though they continued to search for it for many years until finally, the Observatory was demolished to make way for a golf course. Just goes to show how humankind values leisurely pasttimes over the search for greater understanding.

All these things are pretty overwhelming evidence in favour of alien contact; let’s just hope some scientists can debunk this myth so we can get on with feeling safe.

However, a brief search online will show you loads of papers in which scientists systematically and irrefutably dismiss all possible options, until being forced to consider the existence of ET, with sheepish remarks such as:

“I must conclude that an Extra -Terrestrial Intelligence might have sent the signal that we received as the Wow! source.”

Excuse me whilst I reach for my tin hat.