Though relatively rare, reports of UFO crashes are perhaps not as uncommon as many might assume. At least two UFOs were reported to have fallen to Earth in 2006 alone, with two more such incidents ushering in the New Year. From South Africa, to Russia, to Iran, all of these reports have received national mainstream news coverage in their respective countries of origin, and all have been treated with utmost seriousness by local and national authorities.

These most recent incidents, though, are not isolated; indeed, they are but a small brush-stroke in a much larger picture. Terrestrial crashes of what are usually termed ‘Unidentified Flying Objects’ are hardly a new phenomenon – long before the famous ‘Roswell Incident’ of 1947 ushered in the modern UFO age, unknown aerial vehicles were reported to have crashed on many occasions around the world (see FT181:30–36 for another early example).