Ufology What Happened ?

[oskar]

Just been remembering the good times in ufology & how things were at an all time high regarding UFO's i reckon it would have been the mid 90s here in the UK almost every high street newsagent had 4/5 diffrent ufo magazines on the shelves the Sightings tv show was on every week day on Sky (i used to record it religously) book shops & libararies had larger sections on UFO's Crop Circles were at a record high the Alien Autopsy footage came to light Roswell became so popular the U.S. military published 2 reports Bob Lazar put Area 51 ON the map it was as if we were being primed for some kind of Disclosure as Ufology was no longer the subject for geeks & nutters & in fact it seemed as if you were the odd one out if you couldnt get your head round the fact that there must be life out there & then all of a sudden it stopped what happened ? why did it stop ? i'd like to know your thoughts guys cheers Oskar

[Jurgen]

That is just how things go. Call it a hype. This is how it goes with all things that are popular. Goes for fasion, music, computer games, etc etc.
Some people like us keep hanging around though, like the people that still wear their hair as if it were the 80s...

Most people move along after a while and get bored with discussing the same old stuff over and over again. Don't you get bored with the whole phenomenon at times?

[starman2003]

IMO UFOlogy is never dull. I haven't lost interest in decades. But the phenomenon itself goes in cycles. There are flaps with many sightings and much excitement, and times of relative inactivity. I can remember back in 1972, as a kid, how I missed the UFO excitement of the '60s. But then 1973 came along..

[David Andrew]

Hi oskar,
I'm probably going to get razzed for this but here goes. Ufology on the whole cannot accomplish anything else. UFO research, while still fascinating at times, is really nothing more than "info-tainment" anymore. Sightings of what might actually be anomalous technology or craft(s) has been steadily dropping over the last decade. I actually had a top director in MUFON admit that to me at a conference a few years back.

There have been a few well publicized cases over the last ten years but on average sightings of interest have dropped drastically. Ufology has become it's own worst enemy again because no one is really speaking out against all the crap that's being spread around. By that I mean, for every one photo of something that might actually be anomalous technology you have a hundred more out there that are just blurry pictures of bugs, birds, balloons, airliners, etc. Even MUFON has released such images to the public with no disclaimers on the images.

I think if it could be defined then, ufology's highest goal would be to prove that some of the objects seen might be ET or ED craft but, ufology does not have the means to accomplish this and I don't think it ever will. Don't get me wrong, there are quite a few people who are still doing some good research or, at least attempting to. Unfortunately the "giggle factor" is creeping back into ufology and many researchers have taken a step back from the subject over-all.

[nutsandbolts]

I think UFOLOGY is a legitimate scientific study. Having said that, there seems to be no central standard by which cases are evaluated. By that I mean the subject needs resources and equipment (labs, image equipment, codified procedures, and a world database of research)

The evidence needs to be collated into one place, so all researchers can access the same information.

I think an international sky survey needs to be taken, using the above systems. Ive seen some very good Near IR footage of interesting flying objects. I would also study in the UV spectrum.

Spectral analysis can also be taken of the light coming from the object. Known light sources have a "known" finger print. Perhaps a genuine UFO is using non terrestrial light generation methods.

Also frequencys of sound lower and higher than human range, should be collected.

Thermal fingerprints of the object could also be taken.

But, all this is quite expensive. It would require automatic tracking rigs, and sophisticated motion tracking software.

Im sure you are aware of Hessdalen, and the results obtained there.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CspCz8DVr7Q

[Mac 5]

nutsandbolts wrote:

I think UFOLOGY is a legitimate scientific study. Having said that, there seems to be no central standard by which cases are evaluated. By that I mean the subject needs resources and equipment (labs, image equipment, codified procedures, and a world database of research)

I agree, as an ex field investigator for both Bufora and Mufon I found resources and experts to be in short supply. Standards do vary from group to group. 99.9% of everything needed to investigate came out of my own pocket. That's o.k. if your dealing with just the one case, but, sometimes if your dealing with two or three things start getting expensive.

The evidence needs to be collated into one place, so all researchers can access the same information.

I think an international sky survey needs to be taken, using the above systems. Ive seen some very good Near IR footage of interesting flying objects. I would also study in the UV spectrum.

It would be fantastic if all data and cases were collated in one place it would save alot of time, I can't see it happening any time soon though, again the problem is money! Some groups are useing I.R. equipment here in Hampshire.

Spectral analysis can also be taken of the light coming from the object. Known light sources have a "known" finger print. Perhaps a genuine UFO is using non terrestrial light generation methods.

I started a topic on this soon after joining UFO Evolution, here's a link:

U.F.O. Spectrographic Analysis
Mac 5

This one may interest you also:

Is The Colour Of The Beam Important ( 1 2)
Mac 5

Also frequencys of sound lower and higher than human range, should be collected.

Thermal fingerprints of the object could also be taken.

But, all this is quite expensive. It would require automatic tracking rigs, and sophisticated motion tracking software.

All very good ideas !

Im sure you are aware of Hessdalen, and the results obtained there.

They had some great kit, I think the army helped them out a little though.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CspCz8DVr7Q[/quote]

[nutsandbolts]

Thanks Mac, ill check out your links

[Wilhelm]

Originally Posted by oskar

why did it stop ?

It's most likely because everyone's been barking up the wrong tree since the Airship flap of the 1890's.

100 years; We know just as much today about these things as they knew then.

Also, internet culture. If you wrote a book in the 1970's about Joe Blow's awesome UFO sighting and the flap over Anytown, USA, and it were interesting, people would eat it up. But now, with the internet, we could go do our own little investigations and find out that "Joe Blow" is just an idiom that Americans use to denote an ordinary member of society, and that Anytown, USA isn't even a real place.

[VISITOR]

Ufology Today ? Hijacked by Govenment Sponsored, Dis-Informationists, Debunkers ( Who probably won't even admit that the Sun is the Center of our Solar System ) and Psuedo-Sceptics.
The Media, in general, have to take a share in the blame. When News is scarce, or totally uninteresting, there has been instances of certain sections of the Media running articles etc. directed at Ufology which have more than a " tongue in cheek " slant to them. The Media appear to feel that there is nothing wrong in running various subjects without them fully reserching their stories. Innuendoes and Half-Truths are rife amongst certain elements of the Media.
Muddying the waters appears to be the way to go to achieve their aims.

[Skeptical]

I think there is real research still being done out there but it is being done very quietly. As I noted in another thread, Ted Phillips has 24/7 surveillance set up in an area of Missouri he calls Marley Woods. This area has been experiencing ongoing UFO activity for years.

Ted chased sighting cases for years, always hoping he could find an area of ongoing activity where real scientific processes could be applied. Marley Woods appears to be such a place. He is extremely tight-lipped about the research and his findings. He only noted cryptically that the findings have changed his views regarding the nature of UFOs.

When I interviewed Ted about 18 months ago, he did tell me about some of the Marley Woods lights. He described them as small and spherical (maybe the size of a beach ball in some cases). They appeared to be under intelligent control (although I'm not sure what that means - after all, a bird or bat are under intelligent control). he also mentioned that they did seem to exhibit EM effects (enough to scramble cell phones and such).

NARCAP (lead by Dr. Richard Haines) is also struggling to do research that will stand-up to scientific scrutiny. He put together the definitive report on the 2006 O'Hare sighting (which the FAA ignored). Oddly enough, NARCAP just released an exhaustive study on spherical UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomenon). He takes the approach that these objects are a potential threat to terrestrial aviation.

The problem with serious research is that it requires serious, qualified researchers and serious money. UFOlogy seems to suffer from a dearth of both. MUFON is the largest and perhaps best financed organization in the US. Yet, according to an article I read recently, it has very little capital with which to bankroll investigations and research. As a result, they depend on locals who may mean well but have little or no training in real scientific method.

S