The so-called alien encounters were reportedly captured in recently-released video footage showing tests of the Soviet RDS-220 hydrogen bomb. Tested on October 30, 1961, as an experimental verification of calculation principles and multi-stage thermonuclear weapon designs, the bomb remains the most powerful human-made explosive ever detonated.
However, self-appointed UFO expert Scott Waring believes the video actually chronicles two encounters with aliens.
Waring took to his UFO Sightings Daily blog to speculate about his dubious claims.
He said: “I was watching the recently declassified Russian video of the testing of the Ivan RDS-220 hydrogen bomb when I noticed two mysterious moments in it.
“First, I noticed that at 27.36 [minutes] into the video we see two pilots in the cockpit of a bomber and on the dashboard in the centre of the window is an alien grey bust.
“Perhaps this is some aircraft instrument that accidentally used a head, neck and shoulder of an alien grey, but who knows?”
The UFO hunter then proceeds to announce an even more bizarre claim – that the video inadvertently captured an encounter with an alien craft.
He said: “At 40:20 [minutes] on the far right, I noticed the cameraman on the plane was watching the cloud forming after the explosion.
“He then wandered off pointing the camera off the right at a mysterious anomaly.
“That is what the world really wants to know.”
However, there is no evidence alien life has ever visited Earth and the video only depicts a fast-moving cloud.
Instead, Mr Waring’s discoveries are most likely a product of pareidolia.
Pareidolia describes the tendency to see shapes and patterns, like faces, where they do not exist.
NASA said: “Pareidolia is the psychological phenomenon where people see recognizable shapes in clouds, rock formations, or otherwise unrelated objects or data.
“There are many examples of this phenomenon on Earth and in space.”
