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UFOs ON THE INTERNET (Investigator 84, 2002 May) Recently I got an e-mail with a picture of a cow being beamed up to a flying saucer. Certainly, if you want to believe that aliens are spying on us, the Internet has plenty of material. Many websites on
UFOs
rehash dubious UFO
encounter stories and dubious flying saucer images of past decades.
There
are websites about:
Many websites
obtain
newer, unverified
material from one another and re-issue it uncritically so that it makes
the rounds.
Pictures are
plentiful.
Some are hilarious
like the cow being beamed up. Most are photos of fuzzy or shiny shapes
in the sky. You can view scores of public domain images at:
www.protree.com/pufo/ufo
One of the
easiest ways to
produce a picture
of an alien spacecraft is to cut out a picture from a magazine and
paste
it on a glass pane or window behind which is the sky or ocean or other
background, and photograph it. This gives you a convincing photo and a
negative to prove its genuineness.
Nowadays we have
powerful
image-editing programs
with which you can produce UFO images on the home PC as realistic as in
Hollywood movies. Therefore photos of UFOs or of supposed aliens – no
matter
how impressive they look – are by themselves worthless evidence.
Some websites
suggest that
aliens constantly
interfere in events on Earth and even blame recent disasters on
interfering
aliens. Others are more investigative. For example:
www.parascope.com/nebula.htm A 1968 report by
the
University of Colorado
supported the US Air Force conclusion that there is no evidence of
alien
visits or interference on Earth. This research – "Scientific Study of
Unidentified
Flying Objects" – is on the website of the National Capital Area
Skeptics:
www.ncas.org/condon
The best
evidence, if we
had it, would be
"Direct Physical Evidence". A report of this title on the website shows
that no evidence uncovered was immune to mundane explanation.
The US
Government has
released many documents
dealing with possible flying saucer encounters. Forty are on the US
National
Security Agency website:
www.nsa.gov/docs/efoia/released/ufo.html
The home page
says:
The documents
listed on
this page were
located in response to the numerous requests received by NSA on the
subject
of Unidentified Flying Objects. In 1980 NSA was involved in Civil
Action
No. 80-1562, Citizens Against Unidentified Flying Objects Secrecy
v.
National Security Agency. Documents related to that litigation are
marked with *.
The documents, however, do not prove much. FBI files
released under
the Freedom of Information
Act are at:
You'll find
information on
Animal/Cattle
Mutilation, the Majestic 12, Project Bluebook, Roswell, and
Unidentified
Flying Objects. Project Bluebook
investigated over 12,600 UFO sightings
of which 700 remained unidentified – the site gives a year by year
numerical
breakdown.
Operation
Majestic 12 is a
document dated
November 18, 1952 which says in part, "Operation Majestic 12 is a TOP
Secret
Research and Development/Intelligence operation responsible strictly
and
only to the President of the United States." Someone made it public in
1988 leading to much speculation in UFO magazines. The FBI investigated
whether the document was still classified. The investigation ended in
August
1991 after discovering "that the document was fabricated" and was
"completely
bogus".
A useful website
is: It includes a
list of over
480 books on UFOs
with reviews of most of them. Many of the reviews, however, are too
accepting
of claims made. Inside The Flying Saucers (G Adamski, 1955),
with
its claims of humans living on every planet, and cities and rivers on
the
far side of the Moon, is described as "a little bit too bizarre".
That's
about as critical as it gets.
There are also
websites
about "abductees"
– not cows but humans. Some probably got their inspiration from the
book
One in Forty – The UFO Epidemic (P Dennett, 1996). The title
"One
in Forty" refers to the author's estimate that 1/40 of Americans – that
would be about 7 million – have been abducted.
Skeptics explain
alleged
alien kidnapping
of humans either as hoax or by psychology and psychiatry. If you're
worried
you can get insurance against abduction at:
www.ufo2001.com.
The home page
says:
Since 1987 The
UFO
Abduction Insurance
Company has boldly gone where no Insurance Company has gone before and
offers the perfect policy for anyone who thinks they have Everything
Covered.
A Lifetime
Premium costing
$19.95 covers
you for $10 million. The benefits include medical and psychiatric care
and sarcasm protection. A $20 million double indemnity clause covers
trauma
resulting from aliens requiring conjugal visits or from aliens eating
you.
The St
Petersburg Times
(1997 February)
– which is reproduced on the website – reported there was a successful
abduction claim by a policy-holder in 1990! Successful claimants are
paid
$1 per year for 10 million years.
Mike St Lawrence, the president of the Florida-based Company, is an accountant who also runs The Future Life Insurance Company. This offers $10 million reincarnation compensation – $20 million if you return as a lower form of life. So what's the probable verdict – are aliens out there? Recently the
British
Flying Saucer Bureau,
the world's oldest UFO research organization, suspended its activities.
Furthermore, no ufologist has produced evidence that's convincing to
skeptics
– no item of alien manufacture for example or scientific breakthrough
of
alien origin. And according to
Bob
Rickard, editor of Fortean Times,
the wide use of camcorders should by now have led to convincing footage
if aliens were visiting.
(BS)
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