Is it the annual "silly season," just a matter of society gone catawampus, internet sensationalism, the folks at the fringe?

We speak here of "UFOs" and "aliens." They're in the news now on a constant basis. There is Hillary Clinton, saying that if elected she'll release files "flying saucers" (as some are described). There's her husband's former chief of staff, John Podesta, who publicly campaigns for more UFO awareness and an opening of the government files. There are mainstream news outlets, reporting on what used to be confined to UFO books and newsletters, also an occasional magazine article (they once made for a large spread in Life) or radio show.

We would never be so closed as to categorically state all that this phenomenon entails. They are chemerical. Quicksilver. No one can get a grip on them. Like bigfoot, like Nessie, there is no final evidence.

But they seemingly are all over the place.

To wit:

-- The New Zealand Stuff reported on June 16 that: "A brightly colored sphere filmed in the night sky near Christchurch this week joins a tradition, of mysterious objects seen in Kiwi skies, stretching back at least a century. Oisin Lavelle reported seeing and filming one sphere on Monday night and seeing three on Tuesday night. He watched the Monday night sphere for two hours before it sped away amid bursts of bright orange light.

-- TV station WEWS in Ohio reported on June 16 that "Cleveland might have its own X-File. An unnamed nursing student reported seeing a UFO above CASE Western Reserve University's School of Medicine at around 9:45 p.m. Friday, according to the YouTube channel Secureteam 10."

-- On June 8 Click-On Detroit said that: "A Detroit woman says everybody thinks she's going crazy -- but she is standing by what she saw hovering above her home on the evening of Friday, June 3. In the video, Oliver claims she has seen the same light in the sky several times before, but finally captured it on video. In the video, Oliver claims she has seen the same light in the sky several times before, but finally captured it on video. Oliver tells Local 4 the video didn't do it justice; that she could see more detailed, colorful lights."

-- On June 13, the London Daily Mail reported that "Mysterious footage of a �UFO� hurtling past Jupiter has rocked the space enthusiast community. The video shows Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, and three of its 67 moons. Suddenly an unknown object appears to move across the planet in a diagonal direction."

-- From Atlas Obscura on June 13: "The industrial Swedish town of Norrk�ping, nestled along an inlet of the Baltic Sea, was once known for its booming textile industry. Now, decades after outsourcing muffled the city�s industrial buzz, Norrk�ping is known primarily as a quiet student town, dotted with repurposed factories and the snaking waterways that interweave them.

"In such surroundings, it seems strange to find the world�s largest open UFO archive. Yet there it is, just a five-minute tram ride from the city center."

Indeed it is. Let us obviate ridicule: even the CIA has recently released files pertaining to this stuff.

No question, some is imagined, some is clearly hucksterism (recent photogtaphs of flying saucers are obvious hoaxes, some is explained by various natural or satellite-like objects (see also: space junk). But we'll admit that there is a percentage, no necessarily microscopic, that are hard to slough off -- but that at the same time seem, in certain places, like possible spiritual phenomena -- luminosities that remind one of all those orbs folks capture on cameras (some moisture on the lens, some difficult to explain).

Could it be that there is an outbreak from the spiritual world -- deceptive spirits -- or really, is it possible that extraterrestrials might be ready to make a major move? Or that there has been a shift in a paradigm?

This is really exercising the belief system.

Whatever they are or are not, whatever is or isn't, the sheer volume of reports, of late, indicates something afoot. The question as always -- the time-honored conundrum -- is what that something is.

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