As you know, UFO is an acronym for Unidentified Flying Object. This simply means that you don’t know what the thing in the sky is. The key words here being “don’t know”. This is when a lot of people fall for the ad ignorantium fallacy which is the argument from ignorance and simply put means that you don’t know what it is therefore you do know what it is. That’s when you say “I can’t identify the thing in the sky, so therefore it must be an alien spaceship.” Wrong. You don’t what it is so therefore you don’t know what it is. Get it? Good because I’m getting repetitive. It might be an alien spaceship but it could also be (and likely is) many other things. Planes, clouds, earthly lights, stars, balloons, satellites, birds, etc. Many sightings and pictures have simply been the work of industrious hoaxers.
I want to talk about a recent hoax that took place in Morristown, New Jersey on January 5, 2009. Joe Ruddy and Chris Russo decided to conduct a little social experiment. They wanted to show just how unreliable eyewitness reports were in such a situation. Plus perhaps also discredit some of the so-called UFO experts who do nothing but manage to encourage the credulity of the masses. So on the night of January 5th, Joe and Chris trekked to a secluded field with their supplies and got to work. They inflated five 3” balloons with helium and released them into the sky. They attached flares to the balloons with fishing line fifteen seconds apart from each other. All was dutifully filmed and documented. The effect was immediate and extensive. Numerous 911 calls were recorded and the media went crazy with stories of the strange lights in the sky that according the witnesses “didn’t appear to be manmade” and “were moving fast, holding formation, and then moving in three different directions.” The Hurley family was sought after by the media since Mr. Hurley was a pilot and therefore a credible witness and they gave many interviews describing what they saw that night. Then the UFO "professionals" got wind of the story and that's when things got interesting. The History Channel's show "UFO Hunters" featured the Morristown UFO as their main story and the lead investigator of the show, Bill Birnes, declared with confidence that the lights were not created using flares or Chinese lanterns. Now Birnes seems like a smart man having written over 25 books so you'd think he'd know better than to be fooled by two amateurs with balloons and fishing line. The original launch was followed by three more on January 29, February 7 and February 17. Each time gave the UFO story more credibility. You can see reactions from the public in this video made by Joe and Chris. To be fair, the Morristown police did originally call foul and saw the hoax for what it was. This made no difference to witnesses or Birnes however. I think it's irresponsible of the so-called professionals to simply throw their lot in without proper investigation. Birnes was wrong about Morristown and that should call into question every case he has ever investigated.
The bottom line is people will simply believe what they want to believe and there's not a whole lot that can be done about that. Sadly, credulity will persist despite our best efforts.
Comments
No doubt that despite the clear and admitted hoax, the incident will enter the long list of UFO events that 'prove' alien activity to the credulous.