A rural area of India experienced a UFO sighting in 2002 my Grandfather remembers hearing about from his colleague who was living in India at the time.  In an interview with my grandpa he describes what his colleague remembers from the incident:

Interviewer: “How did your colleague hear about the UFO sighting?”

Informant: “He was was working in Mumbai at the time and so he didn’t see the UFO himself but most of the country heard about it.  They were all terrified that the Muhnochwa was going to come after them next.  He told me he heard it was spotted in Uttar Pradesh and that people there reported that it looked like a UFO but it was this thing they named a Muhnochwa that beamed red and green lights and swooped down from the sky trying to scratch people with its huge talons”

Interviewer: “Did he know anyone who saw the Muhnochwa?”

Informant: “He knew people who knew people who claimed they saw it and were scratched by the talons, and that’s where the chaos started.  People started panicking over something that only a handful of people claimed to see and there had been no other spottings since that incident.  People started taking preventative measures such as holding sermons to ward away evil and staying up all night to stand watch.  People stood around bonfires all night looking for the mysterious creature but it never showed again.”

Interviewer: “Why aren’t the people still worried about a potential attacks?”

Informant: “The police were able to convince the people that the attack was just a rumor, but I guess we’ll never know.”

Analysis: My Grandfather believes that life outside Earth is entirely possible which is why the story has an ominous tone because nobody is really sure what happened.  The only facts are that the country quickly turned to chaos when an unknown threat was detected and the community that was directly effected banded together to help solve their alien problem.  They turned to religion first to protect themselves, and then gathered weapons and fire to protect the community if another attack happened.  UFO sightings are not uncommon even today, but it’s the way in which communities respond to them which reveals most about that certain group.  I particularly like this piece of folklore because I too believe that life outside of Earth is possible and like to entertain the possibility.