"Every generation of humans believed it had all the answers it needed, except for a few mysteries they assumed would be solved at any moment. And they all believed their ancestors were simplistic and deluded. What are the odds that you are the first generation of humans who will understand reality ?" — Scott Adams.
Michael Shermer is the editor of “Skeptic Magazine” and the new version of Phil Klass. His smug, one dimensional answers to complex phenomena seems to satisfy the dead scientists, those who’s imaginations and insights have all but been lost. So it was with some amazement that while watching a new program on Travel Channel, “Paranormal Challenge” whose face pops up as a judge?…you guessed it- good old Dr. Shermer.
The show is hosted by Zak from the “Ghost Adventure” Series. This seems to be a spin off show for the summer. They take two actual paranormal investigative groups and put them inside a famous hunt and judge them on history, teamwork, equipment and of course evidence.
They usually have three judges from well known and respected fields in the paranormal community who decide along with Zak which side wins.
So what was the good doctor doing there? Did he come with an open mind to be an objective judge?….NAH! He came to set the competing groups up with a lie. See the idea here… according to Garp …OH, I mean Dr. Shermer, is that you tell the groups different false tales filled with scary details about a certain rooms in the haunt. Then you can watch and see how these investigators will be influenced by the false flags. Anyway, to give you a taste, here is a video of the part in the show that deals with Michael Shermer. After the video I have some comments including a “hats off” to Dr. Shermer.
It is easy to spout all types of easy answers and throw a great deal of data at something and announce a mystery is solved. It is quite another to put your ideas in motion out of your head and in the real world to test them. Here Dr. Shermer failed because any good paranormal investigative group worth it’s salt should be aware of power of suggestion.
I give credit to Mr. Shermer for being honest and saying he found them objective and that he gave an EVP a 4 or 5. That was fair. But unless Dr. Michael Shermer is willing to go the whole nine yards and spend an overnight in the most haunted places in America (take your pick) then it will still be subjective opinion. Because, just like in the UFOs experience, getting up close and personal with a ghost is a life changing experience.
[Video clips and extreme close-ups of Cesar’s video below]
Condolences to the family and friends of Budd Hopkins, a great, determined, honest
Investigator, who now has all the answers to the phenomenon he so passionately wanted to understand. UFOMM - NY UFOMG
"I'm a little bit apologetic about this because obviously, when I was in MoD, I had to play this game myself…"We used terms like UFO buffs and UFO spotters -- terms that mean these people are nut jobs…” Nick Pope how the MOD degrades UFO witness testimony.
What is the primary goal used against any investigation of UFOs? The primary goal is to make it dismissible…unworthy of a second look. The skeptics will imply in their dismissals that any serious consideration of the UFO subject is more than laughable- it’s crazy. Another more powerful tactic is finding quick easy explanations, thereby allowing the story to die a quick death. This has been used since Roswell.
Recently, I put up a post on a video given to me by Cesar, a family man in the Bronx. A local investigator and some blogs including Discovery TV and Reality TV quickly came forward with a simple solution. “It was a blimp.”
Yankee Stadium is close to Cesar’s house and blimps have been known to fly
at nights during Yankee home games. There was a double header at the Stadium September 26 2010 the night he videoed this object. Cesar witnessed his object from the street first and then videoed it from his apartment. Cesar claims, and I believe him, that he has witnessed blimps at night around the games and, “this was no blimp”.
When I first looked over Cesar’s video, a blimp did come to mind. The lights were familiar but the way it acted seemed to be different It would pivot and rotate and the lights would blink on and off in very strange patterns. Then it did something very unusual for a flying object: it turned its lights off in a area teeming with air traffic. Also, there weren’t any blimp running lights which are used to show the blimp. Through out the whole video I never saw the shape of a blimp, although I did see the shape of a triangle. While the video was sent to my friend, a scientist, to look over, I let another scientist I knew who happened to be in town visiting a local lab take a look at it. His first reaction was a blimp because of the light pattern and the way it moved. But, as he studied it closer, he also was intrigued by its actions. When he took the video home to study it further he also couldn’t explain the object away as a “blimp”. It was weird and I agreed. My scientific friend on the west coast also could not find a easy explanation as to what this was. One explanation, that it was a secret UAV guarding the stadium because of 9/11. But if this object flew for two hours in the middle of all that air traffic turning its lights off and on it posed more danger than any terrorist threat. Also, it never really got close to Yankee Stadium.
I predicted when I put it up on You Tube I would be called names from the bottom feeders but I had hoped the UFO community out there would show some respect for Cesar. As I have said Cesar is a good man and acted at all times with dignity and honor. Unfortunately some blogs quickly found an answer and Cesar’s case was sent to the either.
Many were rude. What bothered me even more was the dismissive attitude about the whole affair and attempts to make Cesar invisible. I remember Cesar asking “Why don’t they ask me? It wasn’t a blimp.” In many ways he was treated as if he were a hoaxer.
The practice of dismissing a UFO object out of hand because it seems to have the same lights as another type of aircraft only to find out later they were wrong is over documented in the history of UFOs.
In all of this I wondered what we really thought about the regular UFO witnesses.
Do we really see them as flesh and blood human beings, or more as a source for data? How many potential good UFO reports are discarded by cynical investigators because an easy explanation could be made to fit. This is very serious because if the public who see these objects ever gets wind of how some are treated inside the UFO community the future of UFO witnesses coming forward at least publically could easily be reduced.
I have been battling fatigue issues because of my throat, but when I felt better I followed up on the blimp explanation. I learned that there were two blimp companies that fly “Airships” over Yankee Stadium: the “Airship Management Services” which handles all the blimps except Goodyear which handles it’s own. They both responded and here are copies of their emails:
Airship Management Services
to Joseph
show details
July 18
Dear Mr. Capp,
No, unfortunately we did not have an airship over Yankee Stadium in September 2010.
Kind regards,
Megan Slocum Airship Management Services, Inc.
Two Soundview Drive
Greenwich, CT 06830 USA
Tel: 1-203-625-0071
The other Company was Goodyear who took some time to get back to me:
Hello Joseph,
Sorry for the delayed response. We have a busy season traveling. We have checked our records for the date indicated and it was revealed that we were not above that stadium that night.
Thank you,
Andrew Boushack
Base Administrative Assistant
Goodyear Airship Operations
"Spirit of Goodyear"
841 Wingfoot Lake Rd.
Mogadore, OH 44260
Phone: 330-796-8151
I feel the way UFO witnesses are treated by some inside the UFO community, even those who believe UFOs are alien craft, is disgraceful. Most of us know there are UFO craft. We know they fly in the air. Many of us have witnessed these craft in the daytime clearly. But to listen to many out there, all clear photos or video of UFOs are fakes. So we are to believe, everyone putting clear close up photos of UFOs are hoaxers. How are judgments made on these photos? They are based on evidence that would be thrown out in court in any type of case. This is the circle we find ourselves in. We have a constant battle with very little actual investigation, an attitude of finding quick answers with very little respect for witness intelligence.
We are quick to come to the defense of witnesses with military and professional backgrounds but the common witness, the people who see most of the UFOs in the world, are basically treated like liars and fools, especially if they have clear video.
With tactics like these being used every day by some inside the UFO community, including what I call “jaded investigators” and the ridicule of the media, UFO witnesses don’t have a chance in hell of getting the respect many of them deserve. I also resent the rationalization that we need to be “over careful” because of hoaxers. If you are a UFO investigator and you prejudge UFO witnesses as probable hoaxers you need to get out of the business. I rather bruise my ego a little with fakes and still investigate what seems obvious than to miss something because I was prejudice.
We have sixty plus years of investigating this phenomenon. Can anyone claim that we have gained any ground? The idea that we have investigative sacred cows and some movements that don’t even make sense representing us, who by the way, must never be criticized, adds to this problem. This scientific jaded approach hasn’t worked and we have not one visionary to change it. Unless these beings show themselves we will insure that the next 60 years bring us no closer to the holy grail of UFO indisputable proof. I will ask here how many seasoned or new UFO witnesses felt they are or have been treated unfairly by any UFO organization?
Note: ( I know my blog has been not updated lately and that is because I was ill due to complications from my throat radiation. Now I am doing better with some hope for the future with new experimental procedures. I have been very fortunate in this life thanks to the creators and hope to continue for some time. Thanks to everyone who asked about me.)
