UFO Hunters have come to town

[Travis]

Filming wrapped up recently on what will be the season premier of the History Channel show UFO Hunters. It was filmed in my locality and focuses on a video tape that was filmed about 7 miles from my house. It is was of an object called the "Sonora Triangle."

Clips and witness report here. (http://www.ufocasebook.com/sonoramultipleobjects.html)

I'm not too hot on the show as they tend to stray from skepticism fairly easily but it is nice to have something other than Mythbusters (though I do love Mythbusters) being filmed up here.

[FramerDave]

The show's no better than Ghost Hunters. Good for nothing better than a few laughs and to have a look at Ted Acworth. Pity, he's too smart and cute to be caught up in such nonsense.

[Tumblehome]

Watching the videos, I just saw some bright lights in a dark sky and didn't think anything of them until the guy referred to them as "glowing objects". Then I got, like, rilly a-scared...:rolleyes:

[Travis]

Watching the videos, I just saw some bright lights in a dark sky and didn't think anything of them until the guy referred to them as "glowing objects". Then I got, like, rilly a-scared...:rolleyes:

You weren't actually expecting an alien spacecraft were you?;)

[Tumblehome]

Hey, give an exotic name to a mundane object and you never know what could happen. It's twoo. :)

[Astrophotographer]

UFO hunters is worse than most shows because they try and act scientific in order to present their point of view. UFO proponents love that kind of mumbo-jumbo. Case in point was the Roswell segment. Some guy browsing around the desert finds a lump of something and claims it probably came from an alien spaceship crash. So they had it analyzed. It was just a bunch of melted plastic (they used the term "high density polyethelene"). In order to make it sound like they had something, they then state that HDPE was not around in 1947 and therefore this is mysterious. Of course, the omit the part that it originally was picked up off the ground in the last few years and they had no idea when it actually got there or how. I am sure it will enter Roswell folklore as a piece of alien spaceship.

[makaya325]

UFO hunters is worse than most shows because they try and act scientific in order to present their point of view. UFO proponents love that kind of mumbo-jumbo. Case in point was the Roswell segment. Some guy browsing around the desert finds a lump of something and claims it probably came from an alien spaceship crash. So they had it analyzed. It was just a bunch of melted plastic (they used the term "high density polyethelene"). In order to make it sound like they had something, they then state that HDPE was not around in 1947 and therefore this is mysterious. Of course, the omit the part that it originally was picked up off the ground in the last few years and they had no idea when it actually got there or how. I am sure it will enter Roswell folklore as a piece of alien spaceship.

Why doesnt roswell go away?

[Myriad]

Posts from here were off-topic and uncivil, and have been moved to AAH. Please try again, remembering this time to attack the argument, not the arguer.


Not as mod: makaya325, it might help if you could clarify your question a little. As far as I know Roswell is a town, and it is also a popular story. Before asking why either of those don't "go away," perhaps you could start by explaining why anyone might expect that either of them would "go away"?

Respectfully,
Myriad

[Travis]

UFO hunters is worse than most shows because they try and act scientific in order to present their point of view. UFO proponents love that kind of mumbo-jumbo. Case in point was the Roswell segment. Some guy browsing around the desert finds a lump of something and claims it probably came from an alien spaceship crash. So they had it analyzed. It was just a bunch of melted plastic (they used the term "high density polyethelene"). In order to make it sound like they had something, they then state that HDPE was not around in 1947 and therefore this is mysterious. Of course, the omit the part that it originally was picked up off the ground in the last few years and they had no idea when it actually got there or how. I am sure it will enter Roswell folklore as a piece of alien spaceship.

Leaping to unsubstantiated conclusions is what turned me off of them as well.

[Travis]

Update!

It seems this episode will be airing in mid March instead. Also, it seems that we have more people in the area that have seen, and taking pictures/videos of, UFO's than I would have thought. It seems they will be coming back for another episode at some point next season.

[tyr_13]

The show's no better than Ghost Hunters. Good for nothing better than a few laughs and to have a look at Ted Acworth. Pity, he's too smart and cute to be caught up in such nonsense.

I'm sorry, that's wrong. It's way worse than Ghost Hunters. At least on GH, they point out a ton of things that aren't ghosts and say a lot of places aren't haunted, even if they do other stupid things like say some places are haunted.

I've only once seen UFO Hunters say, "nope, complete fake." Plus, they jump to insane conclusions that are easily contradicted.

[jhunter1163]

I hadn't seen this program before, but HC ran a six-hour marathon of it today so I watched three episodes. I then wrote to HC and demanded my three hours back. This program is awful. Chock-full of speculation, cherry-picking, ignoring obvious answers, and breathless "confirmations" of UFO wackjobbery. :jaw-dropp

[tyr_13]

I like the one where they found nothing in a well but a snake and that confirmed the alien crash story.

[Travis]

It seems they think "Absence of Evidence" is evidence.

[LTC8K6]

Possibly the worst show that was ever aired...

[Travis]

Possibly the worst show that was ever aired...

Worse than My Mother The Car or Baywatch Nights?

[jhunter1163]

I hate how they dismiss obvious contrary evidence. Like in the Roswell episode, they keep showing photos of a guy holding what is obviously a sheet of Mylar, but then rely on two old-coot eyewitnesses to say it's something else (acetate sheeting I think), which they then breathlessly intone "wasn't used on the Project Mogul balloon!"

Reminds me of a certain knot of wackjobs who used to post in the 9/11 subforum.

[Astrophotographer]

I hate how they dismiss obvious contrary evidence. Like in the Roswell episode, they keep showing photos of a guy holding what is obviously a sheet of Mylar, but then rely on two old-coot eyewitnesses to say it's something else (acetate sheeting I think), which they then breathlessly intone "wasn't used on the Project Mogul balloon!"

Reminds me of a certain knot of wackjobs who used to post in the 9/11 subforum.

Actually, the photo I think you are referring to is of Jesse Marcel SR taken in 1947. The materials were simply paper backed aluminum foil. However, their little test with Jesse Jr. (who stated he never saw the memory foil in previous testimony) and latest pop-up witness Fulford (who did not start telling his story until very recently - over twenty years after the story was out about the memory foil), was highly flawed IMO. Fulford and Marcel already state they saw something unearthly in the debris. So, they were not going to look at the aluminum foil (which they so nicely crumpled up and was not paper backed) and state that was what they handled 60 years ago even if it was what they handled.


UFO hunters is the worst. Their scientist has to be some guy that got his degree in a cracker jack box because he is just plain gullible or just so greedy to be on the show, he is willing to say or do anything for the paycheck.

[LTC8K6]

Worse than My Mother The Car or Baywatch Nights?

Well, I won't admit to watching either of those...

[Travis]

Well, I won't admit to watching either of those...

I will confess to watching a few episodes of Baywatch Nights when it first came out. Trust me that it was as bad and corny as people say it was.

[jhunter1163]

UFO hunters is the worst. Their scientist has to be some guy that got his degree in a cracker jack box because he is just plain gullible or just so greedy to be on the show, he is willing to say or do anything for the paycheck.

I agree completely. There was nothing approaching real science in any of the three programs I saw. They did use some scientific-type equipment, and used big sciency words, but any time any outside scientist was about to say something to undermine their predetermined conclusions, the UFO Hunters people would cut him or her off. That's not real science to me.

[shayes666]

I hadn't seen this program before, but HC ran a six-hour marathon of it today so I watched three episodes. I then wrote to HC and demanded my three hours back. This program is awful. Chock-full of speculation, cherry-picking, ignoring obvious answers, and breathless "confirmations" of UFO wackjobbery. :jaw-dropp

Yeah, I just watched an episode of UFO Hunters tonight and your description above hits the nail on the head.

[Travis]

Truth be told though I would like an actual skeptical and scientifically minded show on UFO's.

[Astrophotographer]

Truth be told though I would like an actual skeptical and scientifically minded show on UFO's.

Ahh....There is the rub. Nobody wants to see a mystery explained. They want to see a mystery kept a mystery. It sells better. Man bites dog sells better than dog bites man every time.

I agree that a good group of skeptical investigators looking at UFOs as well as other items would be nice. The BA mentioned a show that may be in the works in his blog. I just hope it gets picked up.

[desertyeti]

About 10 years ago in Wyoming there was a spate of UFO activity near where I lived. Some friends and I grabbed shotguns and beer and staked out the prairie in an attempt to bring one down.
We were not smart.
And we never saw anything out of the ordinary.
Even with all the beer.

[Travis]

If you would have been drinking grain alcohol you would have had plenty of UFO's to shoot at.

[Drudgewire]

Yeah, I just watched an episode of UFO Hunters tonight and your description above hits the nail on the head.


Yeah, I watched for the first time last night too. "This guy has a piece of iron in his leg. Look, it responds to a magnet. It's unlike anything I've ever seen."

http://www.lethalwrestling.com/upload/rollbarf.gif

[desertyeti]

I plan to try licking some toads next time.

[Travis]

The episode is on tonight. It seems I used to go to church (back when I went to church) with someone interviewed for the program. I don't know if they'll end up in the episode though.

[tyr_13]

I feel like filming myself and my brother watching one of those episodes and putting it up on youtube.

[Travis]

I almost laughed when Bill was shown the little toy plane from 1500 years ago and the first thing he thinks is that he has evidence of time travel! His hypothesis that aliens can mine gold while in flight was pretty good too.

Something they didn't mention was that the so called "Triangle Alley" is anchored by Beale Air Force Base at one end and Edwards Air Force Base at the other. One is where spy planes are based and the other is notorious for helping test them. Yet, somehow, aliens is seemed to be more plausible for weird things in the sky.:rolleyes:

[RoboTimbo]

I feel like filming myself and my brother watching one of those episodes and putting it up on youtube.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 style? Cool!

[Astrophotographer]

To be honest, I don't think I can sit through a complete show without gagging. I keep taking the remote and switching over to "Family guy" repeats or something else that makes me laugh. At least I can tell myself that Peter Griffin is fake! I can't believe Bill Birnes is an actual living person. Can anybody be that gullible? Maybe Bill Birnes is Peter's long lost brother.

[tyr_13]

I almost laughed when Bill was shown the little toy plane from 1500 years ago and the first thing he thinks is that he has evidence of time travel! His hypothesis that aliens can mine gold while in flight was pretty good too.

Something they didn't mention was that the so called "Triangle Alley" is anchored by Beale Air Force Base at one end and Edwards Air Force Base at the other. One is where spy planes are based and the other is notorious for helping test them. Yet, somehow, aliens is seemed to be more plausible for weird things in the sky.:rolleyes:

I was thinking about the USO show where the guy's plane got shot down with beams of light and they thought that if they found the seatbelts in tact and the windshield not broken, it would be proof that the aliens, who shot them down, saved the one man, but not his cousin. "The seatbelt should be ripped and I went through the windshield" or the damn seatbelt and the windshield did their *********** jobs. "If the windshield isn't blown out, how did he get out of the sinking plane?" THROUGH THE DOOR! "Why can't he remember getting out of the plane?" If only we had something to explain why the guy can't remember what happened immediately after he sustained a concoction edit:concussion .

Yeah, Mystery Science Theater style. That would work. Thanks for the idea RoboTimbo.

[Travis]

I was thinking about the USO show where the guy's plane got shot down with beams of light and they thought that if they found the seatbelts in tact and the windshield not broken, it would be proof that the aliens, who shot them down, saved the one man, but not his cousin. "The seatbelt should be ripped and I went through the windshield" or the damn seatbelt and the windshield did their *********** jobs. "If the windshield isn't blown out, how did he get out of the sinking plane?" THROUGH THE DOOR! "Why can't he remember getting out of the plane?" If only we had something to explain why the guy can't remember what happened immediately after he sustained a concoction.

Yeah, Mystery Science Theater style. That would work. Thanks for the idea RoboTimbo.

I hate suffering concoctions. Almost as much as suffering concussions.

[tyr_13]

I hate suffering concoctions. Almost as much as suffering concussions.

Those too. I'm thinking that a concoction was what actually sent this plane to the deep.

[Travis]

Also, what the hell was Bill talking about when he mentioned conclusive proof of an Army officer sending himself into the future 20 years ago?

[tyr_13]

Also, what the hell was Bill talking about when he mentioned conclusive proof of an Army officer sending himself into the future 20 years ago?

Yeah, I like how the other two guys just kind of glossed past that, as if not ignoring the crazy makes the crazy go away.

[Astrophotographer]

I DVR'd it and watched it in about 20 minutes. I just scanned past the craziness but I did see the part where Bill Birnes said about the army officer sending himself into the future. He was just throwing all sorts of bizarre stuff out there and then saying, "it's possible". The skeptic should have said, "sure it is possible but it is possible you are about to turn into a cupcake". The likliness of both are about the same. I am not sure what they were thinking about the little trinket. Did they go get an expert on ancient artifacts? No, they went to some ancient astronaut whack job for their expertise. From what I understand this is supposed to be a representation of a flying fish (I have also heard butterfly and bird). No mention on the show of a competing interpretation. Yawn.......same old UFO hunters. Other items of humor:

1) The lights on the triangle that the UFO hunter missed were said to be some form of propulsion by the independent analyst who examined the video tape. Huh???? How did he figure that out. My guess is it was an aircraft where sunlight was reflecting off certain parts of the aircraft.

2) The night watch. The skeptic had to break out his cell phone to figure out the night sky! Gee, I guess planispheres are out of fashion. Everything has to be electronic. You would think he would have looked up some basic astronomy before he went out skywatching.

3) Bill Birnes is plain looney tunes. No theory is too wacked. The aliens are looking for gold???? Goodness....there's gold on that there earth!! He IS Peter Griffin's brother!

[Travis]

Yeah, I like how the other two guys just kind of glossed past that, as if not ignoring the crazy makes the crazy go away.

Yeah they called him on the gold mining craziness but didn't even seem phased by this. To quote Hurley from Lost, "um, what?"

Did they go get an expert on ancient artifacts? No, they went to some ancient astronaut whack job for their expertise. From what I understand this is supposed to be a representation of a flying fish (I have also heard butterfly and bird). No mention on the show of a competing interpretation. Yawn.......same old UFO hunters. Other items of humor:

I was thinking a toy model that some innovative soul had just been ahead of their time in aerodynamics. I mean anything but a time machine.:rolleyes:

2) The night watch. The skeptic had to break out his cell phone to figure out the night sky! Gee, I guess planispheres are out of fashion. Everything has to be electronic. You would think he would have looked up some basic astronomy before he went out skywatching.

I will give them credit for at least checking it out.


3) Bill Birnes is plain looney tunes. No theory is too wacked. The aliens are looking for gold???? Goodness....there's gold on that there earth!! He IS Peter Griffin's brother!

I think he is just testing people to see how much crazy crap he can make up before someone smacks him.

[tyr_13]

Wow, this model of a bird looks like a plane? How could that be besides time travel? It couldn't possibly be because planes look like birds.

Yeah, the aliens are coming here for gold, and that's why they run CashforGold.com. Never mind that it would be easier and faster to mine the gold from the rest of the solar system if they don't want humans to see them.

[AtomicMysteryMonster]

I saw the Dulce Base episode last night and boy is my mind blown by stupidity. First of all, the fact that Birnes can support a story about a hidden base full of aliens based on drawings of alleged photographs and video is just amazing. Never mind that it's easy to make up a story, make some drawings to go with it, and lie about having footage. Unsurprisingly, they failed to mention the alleged advanced weapon that was smuggled out along with the other "evidence" and that the man who originated the Dulce Base story was a nutcase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_Base).

And then there's the cattle mutilation. I'd bring up the various natural explanations noted here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_mutilation), but since one of the sources is from a government study, I'm sure it'd be rejected as being disinformation.

Although I'm open to cases where human beings are behind some of the mutilations, that one guy's story about finding evidence that linked it to the government makes me extremely leery about his credibility. As if the "black helicopter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_helicopter)" pictures weren't enough. Seeing as how the government could just buy cows to do research on and therefore avoid anyone finding out about their experiments, why bother harassing ranchers? As for the supposed fetus he showed pictures of, my best guess would be a calf with holoprosencephaly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holoprosencephaly)

It looks like an upcoming episode is going to touch on the Gulf Breeze UFO sightings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_Hunters#Season_three). Who wants to bet that none of the evidence for hoaxing and misidentifications noted on Astro's site will be mentioned?

[tyr_13]

I only half watched the episode, but even that let me hear some crazy rationalizations. "He wouldn't take us over there. This is a different people, with different ways." That's right, there is evidence helping to prove the tale that the locals are telling you, and they know where it is, and one of them is giving you a tour of the area, but he won't take you over there to show you, because he's a native American? Dude, he won't take you over there because it isn't over there! He's lying. I have a golden book from god, in this hat, but you can't see it. Believe that one too?

The locals are messing with you! Congratulations, UFO Hunters, you're a bunch of morons who only think the government lies.

[Astrophotographer]

Who wants to bet that none of the evidence for hoaxing and misidentifications noted on Astro's site will be mentioned?

I wager that they will not mention any of it. However, they will make it appear that somebody planted the model in Ed's old house. I see another chance for Ed to show up on TV (and maybe Maccabee as well) to peddle his books/videos. He hasn't made any that I am aware of in ten years. I foresee a new wave of UFO sightings in Gulf Breeze!

Good book on Mr. Ed is "the war of the words" by Craig Myers. He was an investigative reporter from Pensacola and he actually Investigated. His conclusion: Ed was a smart guy and could fool a lot of people but he did not believe him. BTW, Myers is the guy that went to the Menzers and exposed the story about the model. According to Ed and Bruce, he was tipped off about the model. Myers denies this and said there is no way he was tipped off. He was just doing good investigative journalism.