Ufo Research: Truth Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

“What is truth?” Thanks to inclusion in the Bible of a confrontation between Pontius Pilate and Jesus Christ, this question or answer is possibly the most famous statement ever made on the subject. Pilate’s definition of truth was whatever suited his agenda. That definition is still used for the same purpose by many today.

The subject of UFOs and Aliens may or may not reach the eternal importance of the argument between Pontius Pilate and Jesus Christ depending on who you talk to, but the search for the truth about them receives the same manipulation. For example, when UFO Organizations meet for conferences and symposiums, they often hang banners that say, “The Truth is Out There” or “Searching for the Truth.” But what truth are they looking for?

I was an avid reader of books about unidentified flying objects, extra-terrestrials and other paranormal phenomenon as an adolescent. When I began my own paranormal research and investigation as a teenager, I decided to be as objective as possible. The truth I was looking for was less theory and more facts. Facts are objective until we decide to interpret them.

Today, many UFO researchers view the phenomenon as a buffet table. They pick and choose what they decide is credible and throw out the rest. Their search for the truth only includes those facts that they can or will accept. I can’t tell you how many important cases came my way (and still do) because others in this field simply turned their noses up at the source or nature of the information.

I am not going to tell you that I initially appreciated, believed or even liked some of the cases or individuals that I have investigated over the years. I am also not going to tell you that everything reported to me always turned out to be true. Instead, I’ll tell you that it is a mistake to prejudge information based on some pet theory or desire to retain a certain image for yourself or your organization.

Sometimes I believe that the original mainstream UFO organizations invented the idea of political correctness. Blasted by the press and scolded by scientists, most decided that if you can’t beat them, join them. They began to pander to reporters, journalists, scientists and skeptics. And not just pander.

It wasn’t long before the notoriously skeptical, often wishy-washy and always ideologically-driven scientific community became the litmus test for UFO evidence credibility. If a scientist could not find a way to fit the facts of any given case into some current scientific theory or model, it didn’t exist. The truth became whatever they said it was and the only information accepted the mainstream UFO research community was that which survived scientific sifting.

I am not the kind of person that believes there are no absolute truths and that life is one big grey area. However, I also believe that science is a long way from understanding the nature of those truths, being able to interpret them as a formula on a chalk board or reproduce them in a laboratory. Science is what we think we know about our existence. It provides a means for us to discover and use certain principles for better or worse. It should never be considered a final authority to judge what we believe to be true.

Most scientists ignore facts that go against their grain of established beliefs until those facts can no longer be ignored. It is process of knowledge and information forced one way or another by the whims and egos of academics. It’s Investigation by Debunking. Instead of proving something exists, let’s prove it doesn’t and whatever remains is worthy of consideration. It is, literally, backward thinking and exclusionary research.

Investigating paranormal or supernatural events requires something more than Debunking. It requires the ability to admit that not everything is always as it seems and sometimes things occur that are beyond our ability to immediately comprehend them. One of the greatest lessons that I have learned as a result of paranormal investigation is that anything is possible.

When I first began to investigate the Philadelphia Experiment, I was warned not to take it seriously by most in the field of UFO investigation. Although witnesses were few and scattered and the information seemed spurious, not all the news was bad. While denying that it ever occurred, the Office of Naval Research began an investigation in 1957 which involved people that became aware of it and the information they possessed. It’s always been my belief that if you wanted to find a buried bone, you should follow the dog that buried it.

While it’s possible that the ONR was simply unaware of the experiment and decided to take a look at the matter, it’s unlikely. Investigations on that level were not initiated without careful consideration and approval from superior officers in charge. The government interest in the Philadelphia Experiment was reason enough to begin following their trail. Part of that trail lead to Morris K. Jessup, an author and amateur astronomer that ended up dead under suspicious circumstances. And that was just the beginning.

The Philadelphia Experiment was said to have somehow involved UFOs and Aliens from the very beginning. Allegedly began as a World War II Navy Project to demagnetize ships against mines and make the vessels radar invisible, it progressed to a point where a ship became invisible, opened a door in hyperspace, traveled through time and returned. Alien contact was made somewhere along the way and their technology was eventually included in future projects based on those original experiments in the 1940s.

Despite the ONR interest, suspicious death of Jessup, alien involvement and other factors that made the experiment worthy of investigation, most in the establishment UFO research community chose to ignore it. I believe that choice was based largely on the opinion of scientists that lined up dozens deep to explain why it was simply wasn‘t possible to conduct such an experiment in the early 1940s. Today, many scientists are no longer arguing over the possibility of invisibility, time travel and mind control, they are busy arguing over which theory about these concepts makes the most sense and how much it will cost to build the equipment they will need to prove it.

Because they have placed their trust in shaky science, we have ended up with useless Ufology. Over the past thirty years I have witnessed various establishment UFO research organizations embrace cases with dubious photographic evidence and very little witness credibility simply because they couldn’t find a way to recreate the photos in a controlled environment. When these cases ultimately fell apart or someone found little UFO models in a garbage can, all UFO and paranormal researchers suffered a serious loss of credibility.

While embracing what seemed like obvious hoaxes to experienced UFO investigators, these same mainstream UFO research organizations and the individuals that hover around them where quick to denounce almost every government whistleblower that came along and all the cases they brought with them. The Roswell UFO Crash is a good case example.

In February of 1978, Jesse Marcel placed a phone call to a UFO researcher associated with several mainstream UFO research organizations. He told the researcher that he had seen and handled wreckage from the Roswell event. Marcel was certain this was not simply material from a weather or radar balloon. Little was done about this for a year until an author that knew the UFO researcher dug up some old news clippings about Marcel in February of 1979. At that point, the researcher took a more serious interest in the case.

The author was Bill Moore who ultimately published The Roswell Incident. He completed the manuscript for the book without having ever visited Roswell. It’s important to understand that Major Jesse Marcel was an intelligence officer directly involved with the Roswell UFO Crash. He had been making the claim that the Roswell material was not conventional since 1970. I can say with great surety that if I had been made aware of these claims, I would not have ignored them or waited until someone gave me a grant to investigate them.

Up until Marcel’s revelations about the possibility that a real Alien Spacecraft crashed near Roswell, NM, in 1947, the establishment UFO research community considered the matter case closed. They apparently accepted the government version of what happened and looked at the story as a legendary non-event that had been resurrected by a passing mention in a book by Frank Scully long after the incident actually occurred.

History repeated itself in 1997 when retired Army Colonel Philip Corso came forward and told his own story about the Roswell Crash. Corso was not just some guy off the street. Despite amazing credentials, the media portrayed him as just another UFO witness with a story that went against the government version of what happened.

Instead of immediately coming to Corso’s defense, most in the establishment UFO research community were slow to react and still fussing over a 1994 government statement which provided another one of many explanations for Roswell. This time high altitude balloons with crash test dummies were blamed for the UFO crash story. The only problem was that such tests weren’t actually conducted until years after the 1947 UFO crash. Corso probably had no idea that the only way to get noticed by mainstream Ufology was to make his story known to them first. Because he didn’t, their pundits attacked.

The Corso book was said to nothing more than a retelling of facts, theories and information already provided in books published by (you guessed it) researchers and authors associated with mainstream UFO research organizations. Of course the only ones that probably saw it that way were the pundits. From their standpoint, Corso should have contacted them, told his story and allowed them to write the book.

U.S. Government Whistleblowers like Robert Lazar, John Lear and Bill English all received the same treatment by the mainstream UFO research organizations. That treatment ran the gamut from being almost completely ignored, to barely tolerated to being largely discredited. Lazar had impressive academic credentials and was the former employee of a major government contractor, while Lear was an experienced Pilot with government connections and English had an impressive military background.

The truth is out there and we’re not going to find it by ignoring evidence or individuals that do not fit our agendas, belittling witnesses that happen to contact other UFO organizations or attempting to debunk evidence before we investigate it. The truth is only elusive to those who fail to understand that facts are objective under we try and shape them to fit our needs.

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