One thing that has always amazed me is the amount of mass-produced useless crap lining the shelves of home decorating stores that exist for the sole purpose of filling empty space that you don’t have enough interesting or useful stuff to fill. (Maybe that’s just because I am a guy, I don’t know.) There is just something about seeing a piece of kitsch fresh off an assembly line in China sitting on someones coffee table or bookshelf that makes me die a little inside. If you’re like me and have an interest in UFOs (or know someone who does) then these UFO boxes made by 24 Carati are just the cure. Crafted from iron (which, coincidentally, is said to be useful in repelling paranormal entities – an added bonus if that is a type of “visitation” that you are trying to avoid), the boxes are available in three sizes ranging in price from $60 to $250. Functional, easy on the eyes and a little quirky, these UFO boxes are a “home accent” that is a step above anything that you’d find in your local big box stores.

24 Carati @ The Makers Market [via Boing Boing]

Many people believe that UFO visitation is by no means a recent phenomena. Some point to the Bible and other historical documents as containing clues to the presence of UFOs in the past In fact there are numerous references to flying chariots in the Bible and in the parlance of time “chariot” simply meant a means of conveyance not the ancient vehicle we think of today, making biblical UFOs a real possibility. Perhaps the best clues that our ancestors witnessed the same phenomena we see in our skies today is in their art.

One famous example is “the Madonna and Saint Giovannio” a 15th century painting generally attributed to an artist at the school of Filippo Lippi where, what we would call a UFO, can be clearly seen over the Madonna’s left shoulder (pictured above). XFacts has an excellent listing of similar instances of UFOs appearing in art dating back as far as 12th century and beyond (and where most of these works can be seen today). At first glance (especially if you are looking at only one image) it is easy to dismiss the “UFOs” as the result of the paintings being incorrectly interpreted with modern eye, but when you look at the consistency of how these “unidentified painted objects” are depicted it makes you wonder what these artist from different times and cultures saw that influenced them to include these objects in their art. Take a look for yourself and let us know what you think in the comments.

Ancient UFOs @ XFacts.com