Well, if you think that I have said implies that anyone who thinks he or she has seen a UFO is an idiot, or crazy or stupid, then it is clear that you haven’t read very carefully. In any event, what you may think I have implied is your interpretation, based on your own preconceived set of ideas.

There are intelligent people who have reported UFOs, and many more who have seen things in the sky that they couldn’t explain, but refused to jump to the unfounded conclusion that they were alien spacecraft or some kind of manifestation of alien or other-dimensional life. However, there are many who report sightings as UFOs, expecting them to be extraterrestrial and who in turn completely reject any other hypothesis. Don’t misinterpret me here: people who make reports like this without any evidence other than something they sighted in the sky, are NOT being rational and logical. They might be highly logical in other circumstances, but accepting the existence of something without evidence is not the logical approach. In some cases, such people can become highly irrational, illogical and untouched by reason. I am not implying anything — I have stated it outright — but I am stating my opinion based more on logic than on emotion.

In everyday life there are many things we believe without specific proof — that this apple is not poisoned or that snakes taste like chicken — but we do so through experience or by trusting whoever or whatever source said it. I true apples in general because I have never eaten a poisonous one yet, and a trusted person told me that snake tastes like chicken. (I have never personally eaten snake, nor do I intend to do so.) In most cases like this we accept some idea because it is relatively unimportant and just simpler to believe it. But quite the contrary with UFOs, as many people rightly claim that if true, extraterrestrial visitations to our planet can have profound impact. Because of such potential importance, we should not in my opinion accept the concept on faith or based on the so-far flimsy evidence.

I cannot say categorically that everyone who has reported a UFO encounter is wrong, any more than I can say that anyone who reports a leprechaun is looney. I cannot logically prove that either leprechauns or alien-life UFOs are not real. That’s why I rely on the test of evidence, and frankly there is no widely studied or accepted evidence of either.

There have always been topics originally unaccepted or scorned by science and/or the public in general, which ultimately turned out to be true or at least partially true. Consider Aristarchus’ concept of a Sun-centered Cosmos, or the reports hundreds of years ago of hairy ape men in Africa. Despite long-engrained ancient ideas about the Earth’s supposed centrality, we now know without doubt that the Sun is the center of the solar system, though not the Cosmos; and of course it is a good bet that the ape men reported by early explorers in Africa were in fact gorillas. So when evidence comes forth, science changes and embraces it. But in more than 60 years in the spotlight in an increasingly technological world, the UFO phenomenon has not produced a single un-fakable piece of physical evidence. True, I have seen some photos and old film that it seem rather hard to imagine that they had been faked, but that is simply not good enough proof.

There are lots of fun and interesting stories out there about close encounters, abductions, little bodies in Area 51 (or wherever), but such stories do not constitute acceptable evidence.

And I am sorry, but witnesses *can* be mistaken and especially when confronted with something they don’t understand, often are wrong. This has been proven time and time again and is why science in particular requires good corroborating evidence rather than blindly accepting a person’s word.

If you or anyone else chooses to think that UFOs are evidence of alien life, or any of the other associated ideas, fine. That’s your choice, but you should admit that it is a belief based on unproven ideas, not hard evidence.

LS

Joseph Capp
UFO Media Matters
Non-Commercial Blog

I just don’t know what you saw, and without evidence more solid than an eyewitness account, no matter how detailed the report is and how honest you are, there is nothing further I can say.

Larry S.

However — and please correct me if I am wrong, because I certainly have been wrong about things in the past — I suspect that you do not have any evidence other than your description. We can all become very convinced about things we have experienced, but studies have shown that our memories and our perceptions are not always very correct.

I do not know what you saw or experienced. As such, I cannot tell you what it was. I can only form an opinion based on my experience in dealing with folks who have reported similar things. My experience is that no one has every supplied a single shred of scientifically verifiable evidence. My opinion — and take it for whatever it is worth to you — is that what you saw likely was a misinterpretation of some natural phenomenon. But I do not know. You may be the soul of honesty and observational prowess, but unless you have undeniable physical evidence, your report is baseless from the standpoint of science.

Note that I did not say that your observation was worthless or that you did not observe what you said you observed. But what I am saying is that science demands evidence, and that a verbal description is not acceptable evidence. I do not know what you saw. I was not there. As such, I will remain skeptical that it was anything other than a natural or manmade phenomena — or a misinterpretation of one of these.

Larry Sessions

Carl, I assume you have that X-Files poster in your room, “I Want to Believe”? That’s great if you do, but you will of course forgive the rest of us who are pursuing a more scientific approach. I bet I’m a “denier” too, since I ask questions and remain skeptical.

Carl, I assume you have that X-Files poster in your room, “I Want to Believe”? That’s great if you do, but you will of course forgive the rest of us who are pursuing a more scientific approach. I bet I’m a denier too, since I ask questions and remain skeptical.

Can you provide an exact time of observation? (I’m not sure if the 10:30 p.m. stamp here is your time or when it was posted, server time). I would also need to know how long you observed it, and approximate how much it moved. Where was it relative to the horizon (how high above the horizon) and in what direction (east, northwest, what)? Without more specific information it is impossible even to give a guess.

Larry S.