Part one of the 'New Year, New Worlds' series — exploring the history of UFOlogy, classification systems for sightings, and Maine's own UFO encounters from 1946 to the Allagash Abduction.
Welcome to the first installment of the five-part “New Year, New Worlds” series! In this episode, Aster takes the lead to explore the fascinating world of UFOlogy — the study of unidentified flying objects and the people who investigate them.
The episode traces the history of how humans have interpreted strange things in the sky, from ancient civilizations viewing celestial objects as messages from gods to the modern scientific approach. Aster breaks down the classification systems developed by J. Allen Hynek (of Close Encounters fame) and Jacques Vallée, whose matrix system categorizes sightings by type — anomaly, fly-by, maneuver, or close encounter — crossed with the effect on the witness, from simple sighting to physical effects, beings, reality transformation, or injury. This framework expands beyond just UFOs to encompass all of high strangeness.
The episode highlights key Maine UFO history, including a compelling 1946 report from South Portland where a woman felt an energy pull and watched a dark oval object accelerate impossibly fast into the sky. The centerpiece is the famous Allagash Abduction of 1976, where four men on a camping trip in the Maine wilderness experienced missing time, a bright light that followed their boat, and — years later under hypnosis — recalled terrifyingly detailed and corroborating accounts of alien examination. The episode also covers Project Blue Book, AARO, the Pentagon’s confirmed UAP videos, and the ongoing government disclosure efforts.
Paranormal 
