Mail Call and UFOs

[Bikewer]

I'm a big fan of the "Old Gunny"; the irascible master sergeant that does the History Channel's "Mail Call" military-history show.
Last night, on the opener for the new season, they toured the Wright-Patterson air museum. An impressive show, including an update on the restoration of the famous Memphis Belle B-17.

Ermey devoted about 10 minutes of the show to the UFO phenomena, providing a funny-but-accurate recreation of the Roswell incident, mention of Project Blue Book, and a pretty good overview of how popular culture and Cold War fears fueled the imaginations of many.
His conclusion....Total bunk.

[coalesce]

Who's going to argue with him?

HOO-RAH!

Michael

[Big Les]

There's only two kinds from the JREF forums... which are you, boy? :D

[Dinsdale Piranha]

There were also a couple clips of Michael Shermer on the show debunking some of the Roswell myths.

[Comsat Angel]

Is that R Lee Ermey?
Not the sort of chap you'd argue with, really ... but I support his conclusion.

[Cleon]

And Are You Allowed To Believe In Flying Saucers, Private Pyle??!?!?!

[xuout]

Does this qualify as a UFO? If you want, you can see it by entering coordinates: -30.510746, 115.382404 in Google Earth

[l0rca]

This is a good time for me to ask: what is the Roswell story, and what do we know about it as skeptics?

I've heard my uncle rant about it before, but he wasn't detailed, and I never took enough interest to actually find out what it is.

[Carnivore]

The wikipedia entry is pretty good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident

[l0rca]

Yeah, I read it right after I posted that. I'm generally not fast to conclude, but by conclusion here is that the situation was taken ludicrously out of proportion. It's so new age it's unbelievable.

[Carnivore]

The book by Charles Berlitz and William L Moore helped sensationalize it. Charles Berlitz was the guy who popularized the Bermuda Triangle "mystery" in his extremely credulous book about it.

[TsarBomba]

Does this qualify as a UFO? If you want, you can see it by entering coordinates: -30.510746, 115.382404 in Google Earth

The photo is from Western Australia, and shows a triangular fenced area with different vegetation than the surrounding outback (probably due to different grazing patterns). There also appear to be some natural gas wells operating, but the resolution isn't good enough to really tell what they are. So, yes, if UFO stands for Unidentified Fenced Outback, then yes, it is a UFO.

[Bikewer]

A few years ago, when the Project Mogul information was finally declassified, Skeptical Inquirer did a series of very detailed articles on Roswell. I don't know if they are archived online, but I believe you can buy any of their past articles.

[Miss Whiplash]

Try to find a copy of The Roswell report case closed : The Declassified Evidence - The Complete United States Air Force Report. At the end of reading all the reports, it was obvious Roswell was a little fish story that grew.

[Astrophotographer]

This is a good time for me to ask: what is the Roswell story, and what do we know about it as skeptics?

Plenty of skeptical resources on the subject.

My web page tries to be rather comprehensive http://members.aol.com/TPrinty/rwell.html

The USAF has both reports on line:

the 1994 report concerning what was found on the Foster ranch by Mack Brazel (http://www.gl.iit.edu/wadc/history/roswell/Report/index.html)
the 1997 report concerning the alien bodies stories (http://www.gl.iit.edu/wadc/history/roswell/roswell.pdf)

The CSICOP article can be found at http://www.csicop.org/si/9507/roswell.html

Additionally, The Roswell files (http://www.roswellfiles.com/)is another good source of information.

If you want to look at the other side of the coin, you can read David Rudiak's site (http://roswellproof.homestead.com/)where he tries to explain how it was a real crashed alien spaceship.

[Michael Redman]

Ermey not only concluded it was bunk, and gave air time to Shermer, ridiculed the believers, and pointed out the obvious financial interest of those in Roswell who perpetuate the myth.

It was a wonderful moment, shockingly unexpected from the History Channel.

[J. Arthur Hastur]

I love Mail Call, and this was an especially good episode. I particularly appreciated the footage of the testing of the various flying saucer like US moon lander proto-type thingies.

It would be easy to think those were something else if you happened to see them floating down to earth at the end of their balloon!

[Belz...]

The photo is from Western Australia, and shows a triangular fenced area with different vegetation than the surrounding outback (probably due to different grazing patterns). There also appear to be some natural gas wells operating, but the resolution isn't good enough to really tell what they are. So, yes, if UFO stands for Unidentified Fenced Outback, then yes, it is a UFO.

:D

[Big Les]

Ermey not only concluded it was bunk, and gave air time to Shermer, ridiculed the believers, and pointed out the obvious financial interest of those in Roswell who perpetuate the myth.

It was a wonderful moment, shockingly unexpected from the History Channel.

Oo-rah! Do you know, I think I've had a dream along these lines...

Definitely be checking this out when it arrives over here.

[Cello Man]

Ermey not only concluded it was bunk, and gave air time to Shermer, ridiculed the believers, and pointed out the obvious financial interest of those in Roswell who perpetuate the myth.

It was a wonderful moment, shockingly unexpected from the History Channel.

No joke. I can't really watch that channel with any regularity now. Having "The UFO Files" on your channel tends to diminish your credibility, especially since it's presented with zero skepticism. Looks like the History Channel may be shooting itself in the foot.

[J. Arthur Hastur]

Personally, I like shows like 'The UFO Files' it helps me to understand what these people are thinking. Although, it's hardly History.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

The wikipedia entry is pretty good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident

From that page:
(Brazel is the guy who found "it")
Brazel told the Roswell Daily Record that he and his son saw a "large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tinfoil, a rather tough paper and sticks."

Just what a Mogal balloon and train was made of.

[Foster Zygote]

I saw an interview with Ermey once. He wasn't "in character" and was talking about being a drill instructor. He said something like "You're not really mad at this kid, but you want him to think you are". He talked about the performance aspect of it and how a drill instructor is positioning himself so that everyone else can see him too and hear the same lesson when "chewing out" some errant recruit. It was interesting to see him just being himself. Though I've heard from people that have worked with him on set that he's funny and quite a character. I loved him as the bats**t coach in Saving Silverman.