Space Out
by Scott Hardie on July 16, 2007
As Denise suggested I do, I've gotten partway through the Unsolved Mysteries set on UFOs. (link) It's not my favorite topic, but the show is entertaining no matter what it covers, and they put on a good show. The problem is that most of it is so hard to believe. If I can debunk the claims in my own mind before they even trot out the obligatory skeptic near the end of the segment, they're not very good. For instance, one segment deals with four campers who claimed to be abducted in northern Maine and years later had nightmares about being naked and experimented on by little gray men, and under hypnosis they all corroborated each other's stories despite being asked not to contact each other. In the commentary, the show's creator says over and over how convincing this story was and how it's one of the most credible the show ever had, and I wonder how low the standard had to be for him to say that. A quick review of the evidence:
Their story at the campsite was full of rich details about camping. So? That's what I would expect out of four men who enjoyed camping. How does good detail in one part of the story prove that another part of the story, which incidentally is lacking in detail, is true?
Under hypnosis, they told identical stories. What is it with pseudoscientists? First there are ghost hunters who claim to have proof of hauntings when a psychic says she feels "a presence" on site, as if one implausible form of pseudoscience validates another. Now UFOlogists are turning to hypnosis for proof? Good luck convincing any skeptics with that approach. But the thing is, even if we hypothetically assume hypnosis is real, what's to stop these men from concocting their story together and discussing it until the details were right among all four, then sitting down with a hypnotist and resisting the mesmerism but pretending to be in a trance? Hypnosis proves nothing.
The men passed polygraph tests. Again: Fake pseudoscience that doesn't prove anything in general doesn't prove your fantastical claims. Polygraph machines don't actually indicate truth or falsehood, they indicate what we believe are symptoms of nervousness. These men spent a decade telling their friends and families about their "encounter" before any testing. After repeating a made-up story hundreds of times, do you think they were nervous about it?
I love ghost stories and so the Unsolved Mysteries ghost set was a treasure, but deep down I don't believe any of it is true. With UFOs I'm less inclined to believe, but I still appreciate an entertaining show, and this was one of the best of its kind. I hope to see the series resurrected again someday with another host.
One Reply to Space Out
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
Illinois-a Will Destroy Ya
Today, I was asked to jot down some memories of living in Illinois. I thought about a topic and wrote: Some of what I miss most about Illinois is the delicious, filling food. Loose meat sandwiches at the Maid-Rite in Peru, chocolate shakes at the Steak ‘n Shake in Normal, deep-dish pizza at Pequod’s in Lincoln Park, monte cristo sandwiches at the Sunrise in Macomb, horseshoes at the Field House in Springfield, pecan waffles at the Waffle Company in Mt. Go »Rolling Revisionism
In all of the coverage of the execution of Danny Rolling, I keep reading that he was "Florida's most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy." (link) Umm... Doesn't anybody remember Aileen Wuornos? Go »Where the Hell I Have Been All Year, Part III
This is a long story of interest only to friends of mine and people who really want to spend fifteen minutes reading about my life, but I've been promising to reveal this secret for the better part of a year and the time has come: Kelly Lee and I were a couple again this past spring. I kept it secret because A) it was difficult to tell the friends who had supported me during her breakup that we were dating again and B) for the duration of the relationship I didn't know where it was going and I wanted to know this before I said anything. Anyway, this story is solely my point of view and may not be fair to hers. Go »DMV Mystery
My last car, a 1996 Mercury, was registered in my mother's name, so every year in December (the month of her birthday), the registration sticker would be delivered to her at her house and she'd have to pass it to me to put on the license plate. No big deal. A few months ago, I bought a 2007 Dodge in my name, though she co-signed the credit application since I had no credit history. Go »The News is Scary
Sixth-grader admits stabbing ducks with pencil. Does anyone else read this and think, this kid will grow up to be Jeffrey Dahmer? Vegan parents guilty of murder. Go »
Denise Sawicki | July 16, 2007
Yeah I am not a believer either. My theory on that camping story was that the hypnotist suggested/concocted the story himself to get the stories to match up. I don't really know anything about hypnosis but it seems plausible that he could give them false memories by talking about the story while they are in a dreamlike state. I would have found it somewhat more believable if they all had different hypnotists, but like you said they could have all agreed on a story ahead of time.
Some of the other stories were even dumber of course, such as the one about a woman who was lying in bed trying to sleep when she saw a tiny UFO come in the window and she woke up with her cancer cured. I mean having her cancer cured is interesting enough, but it doesn't strike me as a UFO story. If she was lying in bed don't you think she might have fallen asleep and had a weird dream?