Debunking The Debunker's Domain on Flying Saucers

          The First "Flying Saucer" Sighting - Kenneth Arnold

Mt. Rainier, Washington - June 24, 1947

Robert Sheaffer - The Debunker's Domain

Martin Kottmeyer's article The Saucer Error explains how the very idea of a "flying saucer" is based upon a misunderstanding of what Arnold said he saw. But since people thought that Arnold had said he'd seen a saucer, then by golly, saucers were what they reported seeing! (Article excerpted from The REALL News, Volume 1 No. 4.)

http://www.debunker.com/arnold.html

OH, REALLY? BUNK!...

UFO SIGHTINGS FROM BIBLICAL-ERA ANTIQUITY THROUGH THE YEAR 1879



ANCIENT UFOS... GIVING DEBUNKERS HEADACHES SINCE BEFORE BIBLICAL TIMES...



UFO Japanese Mystery! Female ALIEN In A flying Saucer?
LookNowTV Presents The Japanese UFO Legend Of UTSURO-BUNE. This UFO Mystery is legendary! What do you think? Utsuro-bune (うつろ舟 'hollow ship'?), also Utsuro-fune and Urobune, refers to an unknown object which allegedly washed ashore in 1803 in Hitachi province on the eastern coast of Japan. Accounts of the tale appear in three texts: Toen shōsetsu (1825), Hyōryū kishū (1835) and Ume-no-chiri (1844).

According to legend, an attractive young woman arrived on a local beach aboard the "hollow ship". Fishermen brought her inland to investigate further, but the woman was unable to communicate in Japanese. The fishermen then returned her and her vessel to the sea, where it drifted awayJoin us while we Take A Closer Look!

The book Return to Magonia: Investigating UFOs in History documents, in no uncertain terms, a disk shaped object seen by multiple witnesses in 1665 Germany. Listen to the author describe the details starting at the 30:47 mark here.

The 1941 Cape Girardeau Missouri UFO crash incident, which now is supported by declassified documents, was also described as a saucer shaped craft. 

It was April, 1941 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Around 9:30 p.m., Charlotte's grandfather, Reverend William Huffman, got a call about a plane crash and was asked to help. "When they got out there, it wasn't a plane crash at all. It was a saucer, was how he described it," says Charlotte...  

We got validation by going to the archives in Washington D.C. And to see a top secret declassified document that stated that there was in fact a crash retrieval in 1941 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, for me, I have not forgotten holding that paper in my hand and realizing that my family's story was real, was solid, and for me was just an answer to a long time question.

http://www.disclose.tv/news/declassified_document_about_1941_crash_retrieval_in_cape_girardeau/130312

Allied forces had experienced occasional radar locks on and even aerial pursuits with unknown lights ever since the end of the war; there was a significant case involving an RAF chase across the North Sea to Holland in January 1947. There were various sightings  made by US military personnel during the next few months, and intelligence staff at Hamilton Field in California began a secret evaluation. As many of the objects - or lights, as they really were - were round or disklike in nature, the term "flying disk" was applied fairly early in the process...

One impressive case from Japan occurred at Itazuke on 17 December 1956. Two aircraft were performing a combat exercise to test their new radar setups, with one jet acting as a target as the other sought an intercept. Suddenly, a strange blip appeared on the screen and the intercepting aircraft was scrambled to investigate. The pilot saw a huge fuzzy glow ahead, where the radar had indicated. As the fighter screamed towards the object, it clarified as a golden disk shape and the aircraft radar was inexplicably blocked by a mass static. The UFO then shot away at phenomenal speed and the radar system returned to normal.

Another case of a most disturbing nature occurred on 9 June 1974. A Japanese Air Force Phantom was sent to intercept a radar target assumed to be a Soviet spy plane. The two-man crew locked onto the object with their radar but then were struck by the unknown aircraft and forced to eject as their plane split apart. One pilot survived, but the other died when his parachute was destroyed by burning debris. According to the survivor, Major Shiro Kubota, the other object they intercepted was no aircraft but a glowing red disk with windows on its edge. This made an instant reverse in direction as the Phantom armed its gun to shoot it from the sky. The UFO then flew straight at the jet, clipping its wings as it made a hasty escape and thus leading to the tragedy. 

-Excerpts from the Little Giant Encyclopedia of UFOs

This investigation into the British records has established that six months before Kenneth Arnold's sighting, the RAF had logged its first official report of an "unidentified flying object." Furthermore, by July 1947 when the first sightings of "flying saucers" were made in the USA, the Air Ministry remained unable to explain the intruder it had logged in January of that year. This implies that an exchange of intelligence on "unidentified flying objects" between the USA and UK began in 1946-47 with the ghost rocket and ghost planes.

http://www.nicap.org/reports/470116northsea_shough4.htm

There is no doubt that disk shaped objects have been seen by a great many honest, sober, and mystified men and women. The objects have been tracked by ground-based and airborne radar and have been photographed by still and movie cameras in black and white and color. The craft have been observed to hover, move straight up or down, and accelerate and maneuver at speeds far beyond the capability of any known airplane...

Here is a classical description from "William of Newburgh's Chronicle" of a flying saucer seen in England toward the end of the 12th century:

"At Byland, or Begeland Abbey (the largest Cistercian abbey in England), in the North Yorkshire Riding, while the abbot and monks were in the refectorium, a flat, round, shining, silvery object ["discus" is the word used in the Latin account] flew over the abbey and caused the utmost terror."  

[Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack", p.185]

http://ufoevidence.org/documents/doc154.htm

Flying Saucer-Like Objects Photographed Prior to the Kenneth Arnold Sighting

http://ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures.html



Click Pic to Enlarge

1870 - Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. This photo is dubbed, "the oldest UFO photograph ever taken." This item was the subject of bidding at ebay in 2002, when finally the photo was purchased for $385.00 by Samuel M. Sherman, who was the president of Independent-International Pictures Corp.  

This was originally a "stereo" photograph. Certainly it was difficult to manipulate photos at that time, and remember, there were no flying objects then; at least, not from this world. Thanks to a reader, we now have the original "stereo" photo.

1927 - Oregon. Taken in Cave Junction, Oregon. There is some question as to whether the photo was taken in '26 or '27, but nonetheless, if this is an authentic photograph it is incredible. Reportedly snapped by a volunteer fireman.

1929 - SlideWard - Colorado Ward Sawmill, April - This incident is retold by the photographers daughter: "This photo was taken by my father Edward Pline at the sawmill in Ward where we lived at the time. I think it was 1929. I was about six years old then. My father was there to photograph the sawmill for some reason or another, and as he was taking the photo, he described a 'terrible thunderous bellow,' and a large round thing as big as a very large boulder that moved through the air above them. You can see it in the picture.

"None of the sawmill workers saw the thing in the photo, but they all heard the sound and felt the ground shudder. Later in my life I tried researching the incident at the County Historical Society, but I did not find any references to it. My father passed on a few years after the incident, and I have not found any surviving sawmill workers from that time." Hetty Pline

1932 - St. Paris, Ohio. This picture was taken of a man named George Sutton near midday, May, 1932. We can see that it was in 1932 from the license plate on the automobile in the photo that accompanied this shot.

The unidentified flying object in the picture could not have been a street lamp, simply because there were no street lamps at the time. There are no power poles or power lines visible anywhere in this picture. This picture shows a vintage automobile.

The owner of the photo album says there were no electric street lights along this road in those days. Nobody has been able to account for the dark object seen over Sutton's left shoulder in this photograph.

1942 - Los Angeles, California. Only a few months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on the 25th of February 1942 at 02:25 AM, alarm sirens installed in the event of another invasion began.

Unknown flying objects are seen and announced in the sky of the city. A blackout is declared and the anxious, terrified inhabitants follow the instructions by turning all their lights off.

At 03:16 AM, anti-aircraft guns open fire on the unidentified flying objects coming from the ocean, and projector beams are searching the sky. Witnesses observe small objects flying at high altitude, of red or silver-plated color, moving in formation at high speed, and untouched by the AAA salvos.

This large object was hit by many AAA projectiles, according to the reports. The anti-aircraft defence continued to shoot at UFOs without results.

This is one of the most famous UFO photographs ever taken.

1942 - Washington D. C. October 29. This was taken above Washington, D.C. An object at the very right of the frame was initially thought to represent a high-wing monoplane flying down and right from the upper left-hand corner.

It appears to be too fast for the shutter, its configuration is more disk-like and it is followed by an exceptionally long dark streak (this extends back and upwards to the top of the frame) that is normally associated with jet aircraft.

1944 - England - This UFO was photographed over England in 1944. Source: "The X Factor" magazine issue 53 (Marshall Cavendish publications).

No other information is know about the photograph at this time.

Best Evidence - McMinnville UFO case (1950)

Click Pics to Enlarge

http://www.thelivingmoon.com/49ufo_files/03files2/1950_McMinnville_UFO_Case_Oregon.html

Kenny Young, UFO Investigator vs. Skeptics

Anomaly Response Network

Objective UFO Investigator Kenny Young discusses his thoughts on the "skeptical" point of view.

One of the Most Compelling UFO Videos Ever Filmed

Skinwalker Ranch

Retired Army Colonel John Alexander was part of a group researchers and scientists who investigated reports of cattle mutilations and other strange occurrence at Skinwalker Ranch. The ranch is located southeast of Ballard, Utah, and was previously known as the Sherman Ranch. For years stories of cattle mutilations, sightings of UFOs, orbs and bigfoot, among other paranormal events, have been reported on the ranch.





Related:

*NEW* STRANGE CASES OF MISSING PEOPLE 411 (2015)

Dr. J Allen Hynek Admits Astronomers do see UFO's ! (1977)

freeenergy4everyone

Dr. Josef Allen Hynek ( May 1, 1910 - April 27, 1986 ) was Chairman of Department of Astronomy Northwestern University , professor, and ufologist. He is perhaps best remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as scientific adviser to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force under three consecutive names: Project Sign (1947-1949), Project Grudge (1949-1952), and Project Blue Book (1952 to 1969). For decades afterwards, he conducted his own independent UFO research, and is widely considered the father of the concept of scientific analysis of both reports and, especially, trace evidence purportedly left by UFOs. Also his book called The Ufo's Experience a Scientific Inquiry 1972.

Flying Saucers with Stanton Friedman

The following is a great interview with Friedman, in which a great deal of time is devoted to discussing the UFO debunkers, or the as he likes to refer to them, the "noisy negativists."

Paranormal Legends

A flying saucer (also referred to as a flying disc) is a type of described flying craft with a disc or saucer-shaped body, commonly used generically to refer to any anomalous flying object. In 1947 the term was coined but was later officially supplanted by the United States Air Force in 1952 with the broader term unidentified flying objects or UFO's . Early reported sightings of unknown "flying saucers" usually described them as silver or metallic, sometimes reported as covered with navigation lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly, either alone or in tight formations with other similar craft, and exhibiting high maneuverability.

While disc-shaped flying objects have been interpreted as being sporadically recorded since the Middle Ages, the first highly publicized sighting by Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947, resulted in the creation of the exact term by U.S. newspapers. Although Arnold never specifically used the term "flying saucer", he was quoted at the time saying the shape of the objects he saw was like a "saucer", "disc", or "pie-plate", and several years later added he had also said "the objects moved like saucers skipping across the water." Both the terms flying saucer and flying disc were used commonly and interchangeably in the media until the early 1950s.

Stanton Terry Friedman (born July 29, 1934) is a professional Ufologist who resides in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He is the original civilian investigator of the Roswell incident. He studied physics at the University of Chicago and worked as a nuclear physicist on research and development projects for several large companies. He is a dual citizen of Canada and the U.S.

Related:

Stanton Friedman vs Phil Klass on Nightline

The X-Conference : Debunking the UFO Debunkers - Stanton Friedman LIVE

UFO Debunkers: Irrational, Uninformed and Ignorant 

Interview With Stanton Friedman - Debunking the Debunkers

Stanton Friedman vs. Dr. John Alexander - IUFOC 2011 UFO Debate

UFO Cover Up Revelations! MJ12 & ET Quarantine - Stanton Friedman & Dark Journalist

UFO Conference (2014, October) STANTON FRIEDMAN 

Stanton T. Friedman Presents Flying Saucers and Science 

Stanton Friedman Discusses Stephen Hawking & SETI

Debunking Is Destructive and Extreme Skepticism Is Not Helpful

Written by Keith Rowell
oregonmufon.com

One of Oregon MUFON's missions is public education, and to understand UFOs, it is very important to understand what sources of UFO information you are using. Some sources promote real understanding and some do not. Oregon MUFON believes that UFO information coming from debunkers and extreme skeptics is not helpful in understanding UFOs. In fact, it is particularly destructive of a good understanding of UFOs. Thus, we focus some of this web site on the debunkers and extreme skeptics. You need to know your sources.

Controversy Means Emotion

The UFO has been controversial from the very beginning of its history. Controversial things naturally involve the emotions, and where there is an excess of emotion there is likely to be an excess of fuzzy thinking. Using your rational faculties tends to be somewhat more difficult when you are in the grip of passion. We all have the picture of the cool, calm scientist or scholar doing his or her work in quiet dedication in the laboratory or study. There is a reason for this picture. It is by and large accurate. Scientists and scholars can certainly be passionate, but when they are doing the work of rational analysis leading to understanding and new knowledge, they are not using their emotional side. They can get passionate in defending their work. But this is after the fact of rational analysis.

MUFON Dedicated to Rational Analysis of UFOs

MUFON and Oregon MUFON are dedicated to using rational analysis to understand the UFO. We seek to follow the norms of rational inquiry. We strive to understand the UFO with a dispassionate application of logic and reason to the information and evidence we develop. We strive to avoid logical fallacies in our reasoning. And we strive to treat the subject and the people associated with it with the respect they deserve as simply another part of human experience to be examined and explained if possible. We strive to be skeptical (because that is part of rational analysis and thinking), but not extremely skeptical and certainly never debunking.

Debunking Is Destructive

We avoid debunking because debunking means that you already have your mind made up about a subject. To the debunker, the subject is already understood and needs to be minimized, belittled, ridiculed, and even destroyed if possible. Obviously, MUFON is not out to debunk the subject it is trying to study by scientific and scholarly means.

Extreme Skepticism Is Not Helpful

Extreme skepticism leads to the dismissal of a subject before the subject has been adequately surveyed to see if it has any merit for further study. Extreme skepticism can be used as a protective mechanism so that certain subjects are never looked into. It implies a particularly pernicious form of prejudice. How can you know if a subject is unworthy of study if you do not spend enough time with the subject to take its measure? Extreme skepticism tends to prevent you from ever making this very important initial survey of a subject to evaluate its potential for worthiness of your attention.

Truth is impervious to attitude. It cares not what you think. It cares how you think. Truth just is. If you don't apply the norms of academic (or otherwise rational) thought, then the truth, as far as rational inquiry can know the truth, will forever elude you.

MUFON and Oregon MUFON reject debunking and extreme skepticism as having any value for promoting a true understanding of UFOs and related subjects.

See A Guide to Debunking and Extreme Skepticism for more on this important topic.