Of course they are real. People have seen things, with the naked eye, backed up by either large numbers, photography, or various sesning systems. A couple million people can't all be wrong. And 99% of them can be identied.

It's that 1% that defy logical (and sometimes farfetched) explination that makes the whole thing so interesting. I've seen things that I sure as heck can't explain, and I have a stronger than average in aircraft AND astronomy.