Scientific skepticism, UFOs and the flying saucer myth

Extraordinary claims that are testable ought to be tested and that is the basis for scientific skepticism: extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. A personal interest of mine is an attempt to understand the notion that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are actually alien space ships. It seems to me then that one ought to be able to find some physical evidence that aliens are visiting the Earth - and yet, apparently, there is none, nothing alien.

If you hear or read that somebody has seen an alien space ship, be sure to enquire by what means it was determined that it was (1) a space ship and (2) alien.

UFO Skeptic's Toolkit

First a little background reading:

Alien Nation (Karl Mamer)

UFOs and Aliens (Stephen Wagner)

Timetable of UFO mythology (after Curtis Peebles)

The Condon Report - more that you wanted to know about the UFO phenomenon

My own essays and commentary:

My personal UFO FAQ file.

" Through the looking glass" , personal observations on why people believe.

A plea for scientific thinking.

" Stupid UFOlogy Tricks", a commentary on the arguments used to justify a belief in alien visitations.

A few words about physical evidence, what it is and why it is needed.

My reaction to the Sims / VernonClark physical evidence claim. Russell VernonClark's retraction.

Three fatal mistakes that UFOlogy has made.

UFOlogy - a religion or "science entertainment"?

Some articles skeptical of alien visitations and related phenomena:

MJ-12: a proven hoax and the background for "Dark Skies"

Abduction by aliens: Article (by Benjamin Leblanc, in French); James Gleick on John Mack; NOVA programme - Kidnapped by UFOs?; Fantasy Prone Personalities (Joe Nickell); The Birth Memory Hypothesis (Alvin Lawson); Hopkin's Napolitano Case ("Witnessed") ( J. J. Stefula, R. D. Butler, G. P. Hansen)

The crash at Roswell: July 1994 Air Force report on a supposed UFO crash; GAO report on the document trail; Summary of June 1997 Air Force report; Skeptical Inquirer article (Dave Thomas); Analysis by Kjetil Kjernsmo; Cecil Adams and Paul Davids debate; Roswell or Bust and Did Aliens Really Land? (Time Magazine); Kal Korff takes on the Roswell myth

The Roswell Alien Autopsy film: Stuff I collected from USENET; CSICOP says it's a hoax (but can they prove it?); Truly Dangerous FX company explains how it could have been faked on the cheap; Skeptical Inquirer article (Joe Nickell); A Surgeon's View (Joseph A. Bauer)

Ancient astronauts: The theories of Zecharia Sitchin; Why Ask Why the Pyramids Were Built? (Marcell Graeffé); The age of the Sphynx; Fingerprints of the Gods (Paul V. Heinrich); The Dogon and Sirius B (Jay Ingram)

Space probes supposedly shot down by aliens: Mars Observer; Phobos II

Claims of alien activies: The Mars face (Mike Malin); pareidolia and the face on Mars (Robert Todd Carrol); The Marfa "Mystery" - Headlights of the Damned? (Scott LaRoche); Crop circles; Cattle Mutilations; Bentwaters/Lakenheath 1956 - two famous radar/visual cases (Michael Hofmeister); CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs (Gerald K. Haines)

Unsortable and sundry: The Drake Equation - "thousands" of alien civilizations? (Angie Feazel); Screen Memories - Science Fiction Film and UFO Mythology (Mark Pilkington); Comet Hale-Bopp and the Saturn Like Object (Russell Sipe); Robert Lazar corner - a UFO reverse-engineer? (Tom Mahood); The Philadelphia Experiment - making a warship disappear (Benjamin Leblanc); The Photon Belt and Pleiadian aliens - huh? (Clare Williams); The law making contact with aliens illegal - passed in 1969, hint, hint (Ken Jenks); How to fake a UFO - please do not try this at home (Roel van der Meulen); The FBI UFO files - mutes, MJ-12, Roswell, UFO sightings

Links to other pages

Real science

Searching for Extrasolar Planets

Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Life on Mars? (FAS) (New Scientist) (Case Western)

Mars Global Surveyor Face page (NASA)

Seti@home A free screensaver that looks for signals in real radio telescope data

UFO pages with a skeptical bent

Robert Sheaffer's Resources on UFOs - Skeptical to the Max! Robert covers a number of topics in depth, such as the NASA shuttle "UFO video", Jimmy Carter's UFO sighting, the Travis Walton abduction story ("Fire in the Sky"), and Erich von Daniken's ancient astronaut theories.

The UFO entry in the Skeptic's Dictionary

UFOs and Flying Saucers (Bill Latura)

UFO-Sweden - over 2000 level-headed nordics

The UFO Page

UFO paper at the First International Virtual Conference on Mad Science

Skeptical pages of a more general nature

The New York Area Skeptics offer a downloadable tutorial explaining the difference between science and pseudo-science.

Rational Examination Association of Lincoln Land - and an archive of their excellent "REALL News"

Donna Kossy's Kooks Museum

The James Randi Homepage

Russell Turpin's "Characterization of Quack Theories"

The Skeptic Tank - A gold-mine of skeptical files for the asking.

Science and the Art of Skeptical Thought (Mike Kohary)

Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims Of the Paranormal

Fortean (which I take to mean part-way between skeptical and believing)

MSNBC UFO Front Page - Bill Gates working the UFO gold mine

Fortean Times Online - covering anything strange, including UFOs

UFO World - don't really know what to make of this page, but it should provide a stern torture test for your browser!

Saucer Smear magazine - shockingly close to the truth! All the gossip about the major players in UFOlogy

A list of UFO pages at the site of the "70 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time". Check out the entire site!

UFO folklore (Dan Geib) - this site chronicles the latest developments in UFO mythology.

A UFOlogical Who's Who

Westm@n UFO Central - another site that attempts to stay current with the latest developments

... And some of the better advocational UFO pages

(Trying to keep an open mind here ... )

James Easton's UFO page - the best of the lot

ExoScience

The Fund for UFO Research

MUFON home page - for true believers only

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