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UFOs should definitely be studied
further. "We' re talking about the
possibility that our planet has been
visited by intelligent beings from
other parts of the universe," says
Harder, "and if that's the case, it
would be the greatest news in
human history. Now if there is even
a two percent chance that it's true,
then it seems worth it to spend a few
million to find out if it's true."
Has there been an increase in the
number of reported ·uFO sightings
since the release of the movies
Star
Wars
and
Close Encounters of the
Third Kind?
EsteBe Postol , adminís–
trator of the Center for UFO Stud–
ies, maintains there has been very
Little change in the number of new
UFO reports. "Whíle we have not
had a noticeable increase in
new
sightings," Postol told
The Plain
Truth,
"we have had a defioite in–
crease in reports of
old
sightings."
Postol contends that increasing pub–
líe awareness and acceptance of the
UFO phenomenon has meant indí–
viduals are now more willing to
come forward and tell of their UFO
experiences. On the average, the
Center receives between three and
fifteen reports daily.
One spin-off of the increasing in–
terest in UFOs is a stepped up cam–
paign to get the White House or
perhaps NASA to launch a new in–
vestigation-"this time without the
cover-up."
Debunkers Unconvlnced
But UFO debunker Phillip Klass re–
mains unconvinced. After spending
thousands of hours analyzing al–
leged UFO encounters, Klass has
concluded that the strange phenom–
ena people describe are a com–
bination of honest misperception,
distorted sensationalism, and out–
right hoaxes.
He cites, for example, the highly
publicized "craft with ten large
square windows, brilliantly illumi–
nated from inside the object," that
many observers reported watching
on March 3, 1968. Actually, claims
Klass, the "strange craft from outer
space" was a Russian rocket disinte–
grating as it fell to earth as a man–
made meteor.
On the other hand, the famous
case of a UFO landing outside a
Kansas farmhouse was actually, ac-
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1978
cording to Klass, a hoax designed to
generate publicity-and hopefully
sorne money-for a family in finan–
cia! difficulties.
And the sensational case ofTravis
Walton, who claimed to have been
abducted by five-foot-tall UFO–
nauts which looked like "well-devel–
oped fetuses"? Klass concludes it
was just another hoax and points
out that Walton was an admitted
"UFO freak" who had talked pre–
viously about the possibility of
being abducted by a UFO.
Klass has a standing "$ 10,000 of–
fer" for anyone who can actually
An unfulfilled religious
longing, a contentless
mysticism in a skeptical
but still deeply
spiritualistic age.
demonstrate that UFOs are from
outer space. And the
Nationa/ En–
quirer
newspaper is now offering $ 1
mi
Ilion for such proof.
What of the well-publicized sight–
ing by President Carter? On the eve–
ning of January 6, 1969, the then
Govemor of Georgia, Jimmy Car–
ter, reported seeing a single "self–
luminous" object "as bright as the
moon, " which reportedly ap–
proached and then receded severa!
times. Mr. Carter told the Tnter–
national UFO Bureau in Oklahoma
City that the UFO was in the west–
ern sky, at about a 30 degree eleva–
tion. Mr. Carter was unable to
explain the mysterious object.
But according to Robert Shaeffer,
a member of the UFO Sub–
committee of the Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of
the Paranormal, what Mr. Carter
actually saw was the object that has
generated more UFO reports than
any other: the planet Venus.
"Venus," says Shaeffer, "is not as
bright as the moon, nor does it ac–
tually approach the viewer, or
change size and brightness, but
descriptions like these are typical
of misidentifications of a bright
planet.'' Shaeffer points out that at
the time of Mr. Carter's sighting,
Venus was a brilliant evening star,
nearly one hundred times brighter
than a first-magnitude star. More–
over, Carter's estímate of a 30 de–
gree elevation matches almost
perfectly the known position of
Venus which was in the west-south–
west at an altitude of 25 degrees.
Concludes Shaetfer, "Mr. Carter's
report demonstrates that the eye–
witness testimony of even a future
President of the United States can–
not be taken at face value when in–
vestigating UFO sightings."
Astronomer and exobiologist Carl
Sagan is equally skeptical. "1 have
no quarrel with those who see un–
identified flying objects," observes
Sagan. " lt is only when they are
identified that I sometimes have
misgivings. As long as people are
credulous and soft-minded, and as
long as their wishes determine their
beliefs, there will be a market for
myths and prevarications dressed
up in the robes ofscience."
Saucerlan Salvatlon?
Scientists today generally believe
there is a high probability of life on
other planetary bodies beyond our
solar system. In accepting the evolu–
tionary hypothesis that life on earth
arose from random combinations of
molecules (which presumably ulti–
mately produced man himself), it
has become fashionable, even chic,
to believe there must be many
abodes of intelligent creatures
throughout the universe.
Few scientists, however, accept the
idea that UFOs represent visitations
by extraterrestrial beings. "We are
sympathetic to the view that life may
exist on many planets scattered
throughout the universe," state the
late Dr. Donald H. Menzel and Dr.
Ernest H. Taves in their recent book
The UFO Enigma.
"But it does not
follow that our earth is being visited
by extraterrestrial spacecraft." Ac–
cording to Menzel and Taves, the
tremendous distances involved mean
that interstellar travel would be enor–
mously difficult for any would-be
space travelers, "no matter how ad–
vanced."
But if scientists are optimistic
(Continued on page 38)
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