BOULDER, Colorado -- The 37th
annual Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) symposium is being held July 14-16 in nearby Denver, attracting throngs of believers, the downright curious--as well as upright skeptics
and debunkers.
The
symposium's title is the drawing card: "Unconventional Flying Objects: The Best
Evidence". The three day gathering features a potpourri of UFO discussion - from
border crossings of the third kind, UFO crash retrievals, and triangular UFOs
to the alien
agenda and ethics of contact. Also add in reports on the physical evidence for
UFOs.
There
is no doubt that UFOs are here to stay, agrees John Schuessler, MUFON's
International Director at the group's headquarters in neighboring Morrison, Colorado. "We see no drop in
UFO reports," he told SPACE.com, but added that some of the characters
in the UFO arena muddy the waters...a lot.
All-volunteer cadre
Schuessler
said MUFON is devoted to help unravel the UFO saga and set society straight on
the prospects of possible visitors from afar.
"MUFON
is working diligently to improve the data collection process, train workers in
the field, and improve the credibility of documented evidence," Schuessler
explained. "We have approximately 350 volunteer consultants and research
specialists with good scientific credentials. At the present time we have
more than 450 trained field investigators throughout the U.S. and have another 800-plus in the training process. That is pretty good for an
all-volunteer cadre."
There
are issues to wrestle with, Schuessler pointed out, in sorting through UFO
sightings.
"We
have found that a lot of the scientific-sounding responses given to cases in
this field are often nothing more than opinions by well-credentialed
individuals that have actually done no field work," Schuessler noted. "They
give their answers in a way that makes them seem like they actually know what
they are talking about when in fact they are doing nothing but debunking based
on their own beliefs. That happens on a regular basis and many people
believe them. Science is not well served when this happens," he said.
Continuing mystery and controversy
There
is something of potential importance within the UFO mystery, and it is two-fold,
according to Don Berliner, a longtime UFO investigator and an independent
aviation/science writer. He also is Chairman of the Fund for UFO Research,
located in Alexandria, Virginia.
First
of all, there are the detailed descriptions from veteran airline and military
pilots of objects seen at close range in broad daylight.
"These
were said to have been solid, metallic-looking objects with sharp edges and
simple geometric shapes that were completely unlike any known aero-spacecraft,
and displayed performance--extreme speed within the atmosphere, violent
maneuvers and spectacular acceleration--that was even farther from the norm,"
Berliner told SPACE.com.
Secondly,
there is the "excessive zeal" shown by the U.S. Air Force when claiming to have
solved the UFO mystery, Berliner suggested. "Statistics were manipulated,
intelligent adult witnesses were treated like naive children, explanations were
fabricated, scientific theories were twisted to fit, information known to have
been false was released to Congress and the public, and portions of witnesses'
testimony were ignored when they clashed with prepared explanations."
All
of these claims, Berliner added, can be supported with quotes from Air Force
documents, letters, reports and public statements.
Still,
there are many UFO sightings that deserve to be chalked up to more
down-to-Earth explanation, Berliner said.
"Most
reasonable persons, no matter what their conclusions, agree that the great
majority of UFO reports are easily explained as misidentified conventional
phenomena. It is the remaining five to ten percent that constitute the
continuing mystery and controversy," he concluded.
Digging in for the facts
George
Knapp, an investigative reporter for KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada has been
diving into the UFO enigma for nearly two decades. He senses there's a big-time
story worthy of shoe leather and digging in for the facts--but are we any closer
to resolving the UFO question?
"No,
not at all, not even close," Knapp told SPACE.com. "UFO researchers have
compiled a vast treasure trove of information, including photos, videos,
eyewitness statements, government documents, and physical traces from alleged
landing sites, along with radar reports, and a lot more. Much of this
evidence is compelling and has withstood the knee jerk, almost
perfunctory, and unscientific 'explanations' that are routinely tossed out by a
small but reliable cadre of diehard debunkers."
After
nearly 60 years of research by well-meaning but under-funded individuals and
organizations, there is only one point on which all of the researchers can
agree, Knapp suggested. "An elusive, unknown intelligence is operating
within our midst. If we assume for the moment that some UFOs
represent an 'alien' civilization, we still can't answer the three basic
questions--Who are they? Where are they from? Why are they here? Anyone who
has a definitive answer to those three questions is either a liar, a
huckster, delusional, or one of 'them'," he said.
Cracking the case
So
what's it going to take to get to the bottom of the UFO phenomenon?
Knapp
has some observations on the matter:
- Time and Death: When the current generation of
scientists dies out, a new generation of scientists will include at
least a few mavericks that challenge outdated dogma.
- Independent Media: With the growth of cable networks,
Internet news sources, satellite radio, and other less-centralized
information outlets, the power of the mainstream media organizations will
diminish. These alternative information sources will have objectives that
are far less conservative and less stodgy than the current corporate
behemoths.
- Political change: This is the last and most unlikely
change that will occur, but it could be the most significant. If the
science establishment gets more serious about UFOs, and if that causes the
mainstream media to be more even-handed, it is conceivable that political
figures will feel more secure about jumping in.
Unproven theories
Backed
by years of his UFO sleuthing, Knapp said the sheer size and complexity of the subject
is daunting.
"Unproven
theories abound," Knapp continued. "We are pretty sure the visitors are ETs...or
inter-dimensionals...or time travelers from our future...or manifestations of
the collective consciousness. We also know they are benevolent guardians, evil
reptilians, harvesters of souls or genetic materials, angels from heaven,
demons from hell, or maybe androids dispatched by incomprehensible super-beings. It's
a proven fact that they are here to help us, teach us, or eat us, or mate with
us, or mess with our heads, or save their own species while they carve up
our livestock, doodle in our wheat fields, and befuddle our most sophisticated
technology."
Are
UFOs driven by teenage pranksters on a joyride through the cosmos, Knapp
questioned, or perhaps anthropologists from a parallel universe, modern
manifestations of pixies and leprechauns, or pragmatic politicians from Serpo--a planet of Zeta Reticuli--who have cut a deal to
trade advanced technology for the unfettered opportunity to abduct and
traumatize certain unfortunate bloodlines?
"Take
your pick," Knapp said.
advertisement
