Jacob Sphatt never really believed in aliens.

“I was not really sure if I believed in UFOs or not,” said the senior studying civil engineering at Colorado State University. “But after this, there is no other explanation for it.”

According to Sphatt, he was letting his roommate’s dog out at about 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18 when he saw “a group of fluorescent green lights in the form of a chevron.” He saw the Chevron for about five to 10 seconds approximately four blocks south of CSU’s campus.

“There were five to seven lights in the formation and were first seen 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon,” Sphatt said. “I was looking south when I first sighted them and watched them move north almost directly overhead.”

The event was quick as the Chevron, which shifted into a straight line, started accelerating and gaining altitude, disappearing when it reached 40 to 50 degrees above the horizon looking north without making a sound, according to Sphatt.

“The lights appeared relatively small but much larger than a star,” Sphatt said. “The individual lights were round, with a hazy edge and appeared to be about 1/6 the size of the moon.”

Sphatt said he has a good understanding of directions, physics, optics and trigonometry, which allowed him to determine that this flying object was not a plane.

“I just know if it was something like a plane or something that low going that quick I would have heard something,” Sphatt said.

Sphatt urges others who may have seen the UFO to report their sighting to the National UFO Reporting Center. If anyone reports a similar experience, it will be compiled together in the database, making it a more relevant occurrence, according to Sphatt.

“I was totally coherent when it happened,” Sphatt said. “It was on a weeknight. I didn’t think anything crazy would happen, just letting the dog out before bed, and then I just saw it. My roommates were up, and I immediately told them about it, and they were just as freaked out as me. The guy that I reported it to said that they had been getting some common reports significant to that, not from the area necessarily, but it has been a common occurrence recently.”

Scott Christensen, an art professor at Colorado State University, has also experienced an alien sighting and encounter in 2014 and a sighting in October of 2016. After his first encounter, Christensen has dedicated a lot of time to researching aliens and UFOs. As an active member of the Mutual UFO Network, he attends conferences as well as contacts prominent researchers studying alien activity, such as Michael Salla of exopolitics.

“For me, it happened because of that direct encounter,” Christensen said. “It had just never been more than entertainment except since then, and even today, I have already been researching, every single day. That’s the biggest change.”

Christensen said this big change has made a significant impact on his life.

“My life got changed, and I was just in my backyard,” Christensen said. “I look at it from all these ways and think sometimes I just wish I could go back to before the accident. You get into things that are so beyond. Even the physics of what I saw is beyond.”

According to Christensen, his worldview shifted after his first encounter. He dealt with this change by being open to his family and fellow faculty members about his experience.

“I’m always willing to talk about it,” Christensen said. “And I don’t apologize for it, but what other people do with it is sort of open.”

Christensen displayed an exhibited featuring art he had created inspired by his UFO experience. He has made no effort to create an alien research group at CSU due to the complications that would bring up with the parents of students, he said. 

“Some people find it interesting to a point, but then I have to stop because they get to a point when they get uncomfortable, even my family,” Christensen said.

According to Christensen, when looking at the circumstances of his encounter, he takes note of other alien activity that has occurred in Colorado and surrounding states, including the Phoenix Lights phenomenon, Roswell UFO incident, cattle mutilation in the Colorado Springs and the location of the Air Force. Other states in the area are educating about alien activity on Earth, Christensen said.

“Arizona has had so much information about this,” Christensen said. “It is changing their education. If you went to the University of Arizona, you would find someone to talk to about UFO information. It would be open and accepted.”

At CSU, according to Christensen, there is no real community of people who are interested in the research of aliens. He goes to organizations such as the Mutual UFO Network, exopolotics.org and UFO.org to reach out to other people who have interest or experience with this phenomenon.

“Those have been great,” Christensen said. “I recommend joining an organization after an encounter or sighting because they are so helpful, and it does give you a way to find qualified information and evidential information.”

Sphatt said he wishes there were more of a community around alien encounters at CSU.

“I think a lot of people believe in aliens, and a lot of people have probably seen something too but just haven’t come forward or just don’t want to come forward,” Sphatt said.

Although Christensen’s research is mostly solitary due to the lack of community around it, he finds it to be a unique spiritual outlet.

“I think that’s why, in some ways, it’s this real inspiring research, but I just have this feeling that it just doesn’t go anywhere except for me,” Christensen said. “And, in some odd way, I am trying to use that for my own benefit in a very humble, private connection to the almighty grace. So it couldn’t come back to the more simpler thing that all of us have to deal with in some way.”

Through his extensive research, Christensen has drawn some possible conclusions about the future of “Earthling’s” relationships with aliens.

According to Christensen, disclosure, which he defines as the act of making secret information about aliens known, will be the “biggest event of the millennium.” Whether the information is disclosed by the aliens or by “Earthlings” is up for debate.

“It isn’t that disclosure isn’t happening; it is happening, but, along the way, there will always be these forces of non-disclosure, or disinformation, or misinformation or downright lies in order to keep it boxed up for some people who would not be able to accept it for whatever reason. When the aliens would want to disclose, then it happens. I could be a mouthpiece for folks who what to have this information out there.”

According to Christensen, there is some debate on whether the general public is ready for full disclosure of this information.

“I think there are definitely some facts that are not known by the general population,” Sphatt said. “I think the government is holding back some information probably.”

Historically, Hollywood, more specifically within the sci-fi genre, has served as a platform for artists to represent their creative take on aliens, Christensen said. This subtle integration into the culture is both helpful and detrimental to full disclosure.

“(Hollywood) helps us digest these things in a way,” Christensen said. “The difficulty is going to be taking the veil away from the sci-fi genre and just saying, ‘Well, this has actually happened.’ And then what?”

Sphatt advises those who want to learn more about aliens to be more aware of their surroundings, urging people to “keep looking up at the sky and off of their phones.”