'Unexplained' Cases—Only If You Ignore All Explanations
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SI Mar Apr 11 final_SI new design masters 1/26/11 2:16 PM Page 57 REVIEWS] mands—and cryptozoology deserves—far ‘Unexplained’ Cases—Only If more than brief anecdotes from anony- mous eyewitnesses. One drawback of the You Ignore All Explanations book (especially for anyone wishing to use it as a resource) is the lack of references or even an index. Especially in a book with ROBERT SHEAFFER chapters that are often collections of vari- ous reports on various monsters, an index would have been invaluable. With its limita- hile UFO believers have held for UFOs: Generals, tions in mind, the book is definitely worth a look for cryptozoology enthusiasts. Wdecades that “disclosure” is just Pilots, and Government around the corner, the modern disclo- Officials Go on the sure movement is savvy enough to re- Record alize that “disclosure” needs a little By Leslie Kean. THE OTHER SIDE: A Teen’s Guide to Ghost push. On May 9, 2001, Steven Greer’s Harmony Books, Hunting and the Paranormal. Marley Gib- New York, 2010. ISBN: son, Patrick Burns, and Dave Schrader. Disclosure Project held a press confer- Houghton Mifflin, New York. 2010. 112 pp. 978-0-307-71684-2. ence at the National Press Club in Paperback, $10.99. A recent addition to the Washington, D.C., featuring twenty 335 pp. Hardcover, explosion of ghost books people who have made claims of a $25.99. aimed at teens, The Other widespread government conspiracy to Side deems itself a practi- fesses (a bit disingenuously) to be ag- cal guide to ghost hunting conceal the existence of extraterrestrial and the paranormal. Often visitors. After a brief flurry of sensa- nostic on the question of whether they the book’s authors are re- tionalist news reports, the mainstream are extraterrestrial. freshingly candid about news media simply ignored what Greer Of the COMETA report, she says: the ambiguous nature of paranormal inves- and his pals had to say, and nobody fol- “All conventional explanations of some- tigation in general and ghost hunting specif- lowed through on it. The Disclosure thing natural or man-made had been ically. “No one is a paranormal expert,” they eliminated by the authors and their asso- note in the introduction. “There are a multi- Project folks expected that enterprising tude of paranormal investigators with differ- news reporters would follow up on their ciated teams of experts, and yet these ob- ing philosophies on how to investigate. No leads, blowing the whole supposed gov- jects were observed at close range by pi- one can truly say that his or her methods ernment UFO conspiracy sky-high lots, tracked on radar, and officially are better than anyone else’s. Not even we through diligent investigation. How- photographed.” Really? Among the CO - can.” (I would argue that those investigative META cases supposedly having no pos- methods that actually solve mysteries are ever, it didn’t happen, because no expe- self-evidently better than others.) The book rienced reporter believed there was any- sible explanation was one at Laken heath, covers a variety of claims for ghosts, rang- thing in the UFO conspiracy claims United Kingdom, in 1956—but this case ing from orbs and EVPs (electronic voice worth following up on. is the subject of Chapter 21 of the 1974 phenomena, supposed ghost voices) to Enter Leslie Kean (pronounced book UFOs Explained (Random House) safety during investigations. The authors, by the famous UFO skeptic and late all well-known personalities in the ghost- “Kane”), a reporter for Public Broad - hunting world, actually provide some pretty casting Service station KPFA in Berke- CSICOP fellow Philip J. Klass. What sensible advice, for example knowing your ley, California, widely known as the rad- does Kean say about Klass’s demolishing surroundings, seeking permission to inves- ical radio voice of the Peoples’ Republic of the “evidence” presented? Nothing. tigate a supposedly haunted location, and of Berkeley. Leslie Kean is the reporter Klass’s name does not appear in the understanding how your equipment works. I the Disclosure Project has been waiting book’s index. Kean writes a chapter on was pleasantly surprised to find other bits of investigative wisdom, including not wear- for. She says her initiation into the ranks “The Roots of UFO Debunking in ing reflective clothing, shiny jewelry, or of UFO proponents occurred in 1999 America,” but she does not even mention hard-soled shoes—all of which can create when she was given a copy of a French Klass, the late astronomer Donald Men- false-positive “ghost evidence.” Other parts UFO report called COMETA, which is zel, or CSICOP or anyone associated of the book (e.g., casting spells to protect usually described as a report commis- with it. To her, it’s all the fault of the gov- from evil spirits) keep the woo-detecting needle pinned firmly on the B.S. side. The ernment: the United States Air Force sioned by defense officials but was in authors (who call themselves “skeptics”) fact written by a private group. Like (USAF) and especially the once-secret are clearly operating on a different set of Bentham upon reading Hume, the 1953 Robertson Panel of the Cen tral In- principles and assumptions than CSI-affili- “scales fell from [her] eyes,” and she telligence Agency. ated investigators do. The Other Side is defi- suddenly realized the reality of UFOs as Another COMETA “unexplained” nitely a mixed bag, but it’s somewhat more unknown flying vehicles. She has no event is the RB-47 case of 1957. That skeptical than one might expect and is use- ful as a primer in understanding ghost in- doubts whatsoever that the government case fills Chapters 19 and 20 of Klass’s vestigation from a “believer’s” perspective. is hiding something really big from us 1974 book. Kean tells us that Jimmy concerning UFOs, although she pro- Carter “had his own UFO sighting in — Benjamin Radford Skeptical Inquirer | March / April 2011 57 SI Mar Apr 11 (PL) _SI new design masters 1/21/11 11:00 AM Page 58 1969, before he became governor of in the sky. Soon reports of UFOs were to a star, but bigger and brighter.” This Georgia.” What she does not tell her coming in from all over the region. was almost certainly Jupiter. The object readers is that it has been known for Many of the UFOs were reported as tri- allegedly induced failures in the air- over thirty years that Carter’s “UFO” angular, and it was widely assumed that craft’s electronics. This case, also a was in the same position as Venus (see the U.S. was testing some kind of secret COMETA “unexplained,” is the sub- my analysis of the Carter sighting in aircraft—over Belgium! Jets were sent ject of Chapter 11 of Klass’s 1983 book Chapter 2 of my UFO Sightings: The up in pursuit, but no solid radar or visual UFOs: The Public Deceived (Prome theus Evidence [Prometheus Books, 1998]). contacts were established. In fact, despite Books). Klass, an authority on avionics Kean also likes a list compiled by an- widespread sightings, by the time the (“aviation electronics”—in deed he is other French UFOlogist, Domi nique Belgian UFO craze was over, the only credited with coining the term), de- Weinstein, consisting of 1,305 “cases for provided “evidence” was a single blurred scribed known issues with the F-4’s which adequate data is available to cat- color image. The photo unfortunately avionics that could likely cause the egorize the [objects] as unknowns.” shows nothing in the background that problems Jafari reported. UFO skeptic and CSI fellow James can be used for analysis. A second similar case from 1980 is Oberg glanced at that list and quickly Kean is sensitive to the criticism that described in the chapter “Close Com - pulled out ten cases that he knew were there ought to have been much more bat with a UFO,” written by Comman - caused by Russian space launches (see photographic evidence, given so many dante Oscar Santa Maria Huertas of Oberg’s “UFO Book Based on Ques - sightings. She lamely suggests that the Peruvian Air Force (Ret.). Neither tionable Foundation” at www.msnbc. “twenty years ago, cell phones and rela- Kean nor any of her contributors evince msn.com/id/38852385). tively inexpensive, consumer-level dig- any familiarity with the classic 1948 There seems to be a pattern here. It’s ital and video cameras were not yet in Lieutenant George F. Gorman “UFO easy to tout UFO cases as having no use” (true, but we had plenty of film dogfight” documented in USAF Proj- conventional explanation as long as you cameras) and also that the dearth of ect Blue Book files, in which this North completely ignore everything that’s photos “was likely due to the effect of Dakota Air National Guard pilot ap- been written to the contrary. Surely even infrared light around the UFO, which parently played cat-and-mouse with a radical Berkeley reporters must actually can cause even such an object to disap- lighted weather balloon known to have investigate controversial claims—and pear altogether in a photograph,” which been launched nearby ten minutes ear- sometimes even interview the token if true suggests that burglars can disap- lier (in Donald Menzel and Lyle G. Republican to get an opposing view— pear from surveillance cameras by car- Boyd, The World of Flying Saucers, Dou- even when they already “know for sure” rying an infrared light. She ignores a bleday, 1963). There is no reason to sus- what the answer is. I cannot imagine skeptical analysis showing that the po- pect that the “UFO dogfights” in Iran what caused Citizen Kean to forget her licemen’s original UFO was reported in and Peru were very different.