'It was a flying object that was unidentified': Former US President Jimmy Carter on his UFO encounter

Former US President Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday at the age of 100, once shared a striking account of a UFO sighting in 1969, though he remained skeptical about the existence of extraterrestrial life. The incident, which he recounted both before and during his presidency, continues to draw interest.

In a 2005 interview with GQ magazine, Carter recalled the incident, which occurred in southwest Georgia while he was preparing to speak at a Lions Club meeting.

Carter recorded his observations on a tape recorder and later documented them.

“There were about 25 of us standing around when someone pointed to a bright light in the sky,” he was quoted as saying by the New York Post. The light grew closer, stopped beyond nearby pine trees, and shifted colours from blue to red and back to white.

“It was a flying object that was unidentified,” he said. “But I’ve never believed it came from Mars. I know enough physics to know that vehicles can’t fly from Mars, look around, and then return," he added.

Despite his own sighting, Carter dismissed conspiracy theories about alien landings, including the infamous Roswell, New Mexico, incident in 1947. “I don’t believe in a cover-up of extraterrestrial visits,” he said.

During his presidency, Carter encountered an extraordinary CIA operation involving a psychic. While investigating Roswell, he learned the agency had consulted a Californian woman claiming supernatural abilities to locate a lost plane in the Central African Republic. “She gave coordinates while in a trance, and when we sent a satellite to that location, the plane was there,” Carter revealed.

Many US presidents, from Harry STruman to Donald Trump, have spoken about UFOs and alien theories. Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan, also claimed to have seen a UFO in 1974 while flying a Cessna over Bakersfield, California.