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Mail Call and UFOs

Bikewer

Penultimate Amazing
Bikewer
Joined
Sep 12, 2003
Messages
13,242
Location
St. Louis, Mo.
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.
 
There were also a couple clips of Michael Shermer on the show debunking some of the Roswell myths.
 
Does this qualify as a UFO? If you want, you can see it by entering coordinates: -30.510746, 115.382404 in Google Earth
 

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

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
l0rca said:
This is a good time for me to ask: what is the Roswell story, and what do we know about it as skeptics?
Click to expand...

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
the 1997 report concerning the alien bodies stories

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

Additionally, The Roswell files 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 where he tries to explain how it was a real crashed alien spaceship.
 
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.
 
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!
 
richorman said:
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.
Click to expand...

:D
 
Michael Redman said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Michael Redman said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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