Yes. I said it. I will say it again.

The UFO Classification systems that J. Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallée created are obsolete. They are no longer useful or even adequate enough to categorize the continuous growth of UFO phenomena we are experiencing today.

This article will explain why I know this, how I came to this conclusion, and will explain the next level of UFO, Paranormal, and Psychogenic classification.

Let’s start at the beginning.

J. Allen Hynek

J. Allen Hynek – Courtesy of Paul Hynek

Josef Allen Hynek, was an American astronomer, professor, and ufologist. His primary degree was in astrophysics. He is best remembered for his work surrounding the UFO phenomena specifically for his scientific advice relating to the US Air Force’s projects Sign(Grudge) and Blue Book.

In 1972, Hynek published The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry in which he introduced the words “Close Encounter” to describe an event in which a person witnesses an Unidentified Flying Object. It is also in this publication that he introduced what is widely known as the “Hynek’s Scale”

This scale was adopted by the Mutual UFO Network and many other independent civilian data mining research groups around the world. It is still a staple in UFO culture today. So why change it?

One word. Insanity.

A word culturally described as the act of repeating the same method over and over again expecting different results.

We have been using this scale for 49 years, and are no further ahead than when Hynek was in his prime. Hynek set the bar so high, and so well that he inspired the ufology culture we have today, myself included.

I first learned his scale as a Field Investigator for MUFON Canada in 2015, 43 years after it was created. By then I had been a private investigator for 6 years, well versed in evidence categories and classifications in the “real” world. At that time, without knowing what I know now, I believed the scale was inadequate to measure my understanding of the phenomena.

Now, 6 years later I am writing this article with years of experience, research, and evidence to support why the change is required. I will come back to this later in the article. For now, lets focus back on the history for context.

This is Hynek’s legacy. However, just like most of everything in the world today, Ufology and its research have evolved. If we don’t evolve with it, Ufology, as it has been, will die.

The Hynek Scale

The name says it all. It is a scale that Hynek created to assist him in categorizing the phenomena he had reported to him at that time and within that period.

This scale was created 26 years after he worked with the US Airforce and was molded around his work experience. Essentially it was designed to make it easier for him to work and to explain the separation of similar events within the phenomena.

This scale, all though very beneficial to Ufology, was simply his opinion on how these events should be grouped and how they should be rated. An opinion, when backed with his research and evidence, echoed worldwide, and evidently inspired many ufologists today.

The scale is devised of a sixfold classification for UFO sightings arranged according to an increase of proximity. This classification was equally divided into 2 groups. Group A was relatively distant sightings and Group B was relatively close sightings.

Group A consisted of three classes: Nocturnal Lights, Daytime Discs, and Radar-Visual Cases,

Hynek Scale Part 1 – Courtesy of CUFOS

whereas Group B consisted of Close Encounters of the First, Second, and Third Kind.

Hynek Scale Part 2 – Courtesy of CUFOS

Once the event was classified, it received an evidence rating of 1 through 4. In sequential order, those types of evidence that Hynek considered at the time to be progressively built upon were: Physical Traces, Medical Records, Radarscope Photos and Photographs.

Hynek Scale Part 3 – Courtesy of CUFOS

It is important to keep in mind that at this time Hynek had access to information and assistance from the US government. Those records can still be obtained on the civilian side, however, it isn’t as easy as it was for Hynek, walking into work, making the request, then getting it within the same day. This was also a working scale not yet made public until 1972.

In 1973 Hynek founded the private organization Center for UFO Studies and served as the scientific director. CUFOS has two principal activities. First, it maintains a library and archives of UFO-related materials. These materials include books, articles, documents, and sighting reports. Second, the Center supports investigators with research materials.

According to an interview I did with Hynek’s son Paul on March 2 of this year, CUFOS is still actively investigating new reports under the directorship of Mark Rodeghier.

In this interview, I also asked Paul several other questions which I will include as we go on. One of which was asking his opinion on Jacques Vallée’s addition to the Hynek scale. Paul had answered:

“I’m ashamed to admit that even though I know Jacques quite well, I don’t know his scale. Does it have to do with reality transformation?”

Why wouldn’t he know this scale too well? Hmm..perhaps maybe because it was someone else’s opinion added on to his father’s legacy? I don’t have that answer, however, according to the CUFOS website bio for Vallée, his hypotheses were not well received among US ufologists.

Jacques Vallée

Jacques Vallée – Courtesy of ThinkingAllowedTV

Jacques Fabrice Vallée is a computer scientist, engineer, astronomer and ufologist. Vallée co-developed the first computerized map of Mars for NASA in 1963. Vallée is also an important figure in the study of UFOs, first noted for a defense of the scientific legitimacy of the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) and later for promoting the interdimensional hypothesis. (IDH)

Vallée was born in Pontoise, France in 1939, Vallée moved to the United States in 1962 and began working as a research associate in astronomy under Gérard de Vaucouleurs at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1963, Vallée relocated to Chicago, Illinois. He worked as a systems analyst at nearby Northwestern University while continuing to pursue non-institutional ufological research with his mentor, J. Allen Hynek, the chair of the University’s astronomy department.

By 1969, Vallée, publicly stated that the ETH was too narrow and ignored too much data. Vallée began exploring the commonalities between UFOs, cults, religious movements, demons, angels, ghosts, cryptid sightings, and psychic phenomena. His speculation about these potential links was first detailed in his third UFO book, Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers.

For reference, the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by extraterrestrial life or non-human aliens, or non-occupied alien probes from other planets visiting Earth.

The interdimensional hypothesis (IDH or IH), is an idea advanced by Ufologists such as Jacques Vallée that says unidentified flying objects and related events involve visitations from other “realities” or “dimensions” that coexist separately alongside our own. It is not necessarily an alternative to the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) since the two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive so both could be true simultaneously. IDH also holds that UFOs are a modern manifestation of a phenomenon that has occurred throughout recorded human history, which in prior ages were ascribed to mythological or supernatural creatures.

The Original Vallée Classification

The original Vallée Classification was comprised of 5 types and a variety of sub-types.

Type 1 was the observation of an unusual object, spherical discoidal, or more complex in form, on or close to the ground (no higher than tree height), which may be associated with traces – physical effects of a thermal, luminous, or mechanical order.

Type 2 was the observation of an unusual object with vertical cylindrical formation in the sky, associated with a diffuse cloud. This phenomenon has been given various names such as cloud-cigar or cloud-sphere.

Type 3 was the observation of an unusual object of spherical, discoidal or elliptical shape stationary in the sky.

Type 4 was the observation of an unusual object in continuous flight.

And Type 5 was the observation of of an unusual object of less definite appearance, appearing not fully material or solid in structure.

We can now see where Paul Hynek was coming from in his answer to my question above. Vallée’s scale was more focused on reality transformation and movement, whereas the Hynek Scale focused on proximity.

Two very different scales, from two very brilliant men, trying to find answers to the objects seen in the sky during, and after the Cold War.

The Current Vallée Classification System

The Current Vallée Classification System – Courtesy of CUFOS

This is Vallée’s attempt to unify his classification system with Hynek’s, and to incorporate those “psychic” or otherwise anomalous reports which he believes have a connection with the UFO phenomenon, and to regularize the classification system.

The keyword above is “attempt”. With Paul Hynek admitting very little knowledge of the Vallée Scale, and the Biography on CUFOS suggesting that Vallée’s ET and ID hypotheses were not welcomed by US Ufologists, it is highly plausible to suggest that CUFOS and the Hynek family acknowledge the ufological efforts of Vallée, but may not entirely be in support of his theories.

Further evidence might suggest this analysis of mine to be true, by the response from Paul Hynek when I asked him what the official relationship was between CUFOS and MUFON. His response to that question was

“Loose affiliates.”

I think it is safe to say that the relationship is just business, and CUFOS remains as solid as it was in its inception.

However, despite my informed opinion on the relationship, The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) has adopted the current Vallée classification scale and uses it as part of its field investigator training. The same system I was told to use when training new field investigators as the National Chief Investigator for MUFON Canada, and the Director of Field Investigator Training.

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