The World's Greatest Hoaxes

In the 1960s, Barney and Betty Hill claimed they were pursued by a glowing UFO through parts of New Hampshire. This first reported incident of an alleged alien abduction in America. Even UFO buffs eventually found their increasingly outlandish claims hard to believe.

The World's Greatest Hoaxes | LiveScience

Does Benjamin Radford even know any "UFO buffs?" I know lots of them, probably hundreds, and I can't think of one that believes the Betty and Barney Hill story to be a hoax nor do I know of any evidence pointing to it being a hoax. Just because someone's story seems outlandish, it doesn't mean they are lying.

How to Talk to a UFOlogist (if you must)

UFOlogists claim that they have tens of thousands of UFO sightings, as if this is a good thing, but Shostak notes that this actually argues against UFOs being ET, because to date not one of these tens of thousands of sightings has materialized into concrete evidence that UFOs = ETIs. It’s counterintuitive, but more sightings equals less certainty because with so many saucers zipping around we would have captured one by now, and we haven’t.

Apparently the governments of the world share their secret knowledge with Shostak and he knows things the rest of us don't -- like we have never captured a spaceship.

He also knows that people who write fiction can't be taken seriously when they write non-fiction. Guess I will throw away all my Sagan books -- except the fiction.

Skepticblog » How to Talk to a UFOlogist (if you must)

Debunkery 101: Dan Aykroyd Hawks Plastic Skull Vodka and Claims to Have Seen UFOs

True believers are delighted that a celebrity has come out of the closet, and declared that he has seen UFO's. But a has-been actor who is reduced to hawking vodka packaged in a plastic skull doesn't exactly have a lot of credibility.

Only a UFO true believer would point to a UFO hoax as proof that there are real UFO's out there. The Ghostbusters star must be drinking from that cheap plastic skull of vodka, how else can we account for his twisted logic?

I'll buy Akroyd as a big screen ghostbuster, but I seriously doubt that he has seen any UFO's when he wasn't drunk or high.

Most of the UFO sightings are like the hoax that Akroyd alluded to: Two dudes attached flares to helium balloons and presto, instant UFO's.

Friends and neighbors the giant Pillsbury Dough Boy from Ghostbusters will come to your house selling Avon, before you see a real UFO.

Robert Paul Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating. Contact him by writing to NewsBlaze.

Dan Aykroyd Hawks Plastic Skull Vodka and Claims to Have Seen UFOs

I have read a lot of really insulting articles, but this one has to make the top ten.

First, a comedic genius is called a has been actor. Yes, as though the only reason he isn't in dozens of movies anymore is because he is no longer A-list, not that he prefers to do other things or possibly has made enough money that he doesn't care to work his ass off doing movies.

Of course, next is the oldest debunkery rule in the book -- if someone claims to have seen something strange just accuse them of being drunk or high. Does he accuse Ronald Regan and Jimmy Carter of the same? No doubt he would if he thought it would stick.

Yes, another debunkery rule -- make sure to accuse someone of only caring about making money. He does plenty of that just in the title of the article, hawking plastic skull vodka. In the mind of the Debunklicans anyone who actually may be making some money is obviously lying about everything. Even if that money isn't being made from Ufology. Never mentioned is the fact that skeptics/debunkies make money spewing their De Bunk.

As someone who has seen strange things flying about while not being drunk or high -- I find this insulting. It is insulting mostly in it's common, dull and dumb assumptions made by someone who has obviously not investigated the subject. Someone who doesn't realize there are thousands of videos, photos and even military documented sightings of UFOs. Someone who really is so uninformed that he shouldn't be worth my time to comment on, but it is a dull rainy day.