UFOs Remain Elusive Despite Decades of Study
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by Leonard David June 27, 2019 (livescience.com)
• The Mutual UFO Network, or ‘MUFON’, celebrates 50 years of UFO investigation and research. Based in Irvine, California, the all-volunteer, nonprofit organization has endeavored since 1969 to be the ‘refuge seeking answers to that most ancient question, are we alone in the universe?’ The answer, very simply, is no.
• Jan Harzan has been the executive director for MUFON since August 2013. “I’ve seen these craft. I know they are real,” he told Space.com. “I can’t tell you where they’re from. …But they are advanced technology.” Harzan continues, “We have over 100,000 UFO cases in our files … and it’s growing. We currently have worldwide over 500 certified MUFON field investigators that go out and look at each one of these cases.”
• A MUFON Science Review Board consists of scientists with degrees in physics, chemistry, geology and electrical engineering. Their work experience includes NASA, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and France’s national space program, CNES. The MUFON Board reviews the best cases and strongest cases that cannot be identified as any known object.
• Nearly 34% of reports coming into MUFON can be identified, be they aircraft, rocket launches, satellites, drones, astronomical events, or even Chinese lanterns. For example, Google’s Project Loon uses high-flying balloons to bring Wi-Fi internet to rural areas. It has repeatedly prompted UFO reports. “But on the other hand,” says Harzan, “when you read some of the reports – we call it the 5% – one out of twenty – that are incredible observations by very articulate and credible people, you get about 5% of cases that are so rock solid.”
• Harzan says that these extraterrestrial beings have advanced physics that we don’t yet understand, and which our current science is incapable of understanding. “I personally believe,” says Harzan, “once we do, we’ll be out there doing the same thing that they are doing. We’re probably 20 to 30 years away from being the aliens.”
• Former UFO investigator for the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence, Nick Pope compares the UFO community, and the MUFON subset, to a “broad church” – a group of people who have a range of different views, yet bound together by a common interest. As in the UFO community, MUFON has had its disputes and feuds. Pope maintains that “None of this detracts from the fact that [MUFON] provides a valuable service to UFO witnesses, with field investigators looking into the sightings, sometimes turning up a conventional explanation and other times simply giving perplexed witnesses someone with whom to engage.”
• “MUFON is clearly at a disadvantage,” Pope says, “given that most of their members are nonscientists.” But he doesn’t think this is necessarily a problem. MUFON provides the necessary day-to-day business of investigating UFOs, with interviews, evidence gathering, tracking down leads, and double checking facts. “Scientific advice should be sought when necessary – for instance, if a soil sample needs to be checked for radioactivity,” Pope said. “I don’t think we should get too hung up on whether or not MUFON as a whole is sufficiently scientific.”
• It is becoming harder to weed out and identify “real” UFOs, Harzan admitted. In 1987, MUFON fired two investigators who labeled some MUFON-endorsed Gulf Breeze photos as a hoax and disavowed their report. This caused a stir in the organization. In 2017, MUFON lost a number of experienced investigators when they invited proponents of the breakaway “secret space program” to participate in its symposium panels in Las Vegas. Robert Sheaffer, a leading UFO skeptic says, “MUFON proclaims its dedication to the scientific method in UFO investigations, but it seldom lives up to that ideal.”
• Sheaffer also points to MUFON providing cases for the producers of the TV series “Hangar 1”, which premiered in 2014 on The History Channel, which was “almost universally panned by serious UFO investigators for its sensationalist approach. “However, it too has been extremely successful in bringing people into MUFON,” said Sheaffer.
• [Editor’s Note] I like this Jan Harzan. Harzan says that no, we are not alone. He isn’t afraid of allowing for an extraterrestrial explanation. He reports that “nearly 34% of reports coming into MUFON can be identified”, therefore 66% are not identified. And that “5% – one out of twenty – are “incredible observations by very articulate and credible people.” “Rock solid.” I agree that MUFON is no less a valid UFO organization than the “scientific” organizations such as SETI, or academic institutions such as Harvard, Oxford and the Smithsonian Museum. In fact, I prefer these citizen investigations and tend to trust their reports. These are people who are motivated by getting to the truth, and they are not likely to be bought off or influenced by Deep State agents. On the other hand, the aforementioned organizations and institutions are an obvious front for the Deep State, predisposed to refute and deny any existence of extraterrestrial UFOs at all.
In July, the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) celebrates 50 years of investigating and promoting research on the unidentified flying object phenomenon. The all-volunteer, nonprofit, science-based organization has endeavored since 1969 to hunt down answers about baffling vehicles of unknown origin.
Based in Irvine, California, MUFON makes its credo clear-cut on its website: “Our goal is to be the inquisitive minds’ refuge seeking answers to that most ancient question, ‘Are we alone in the universe?’ The answer, very simply, is no. Whether you have UFO reports to share, armchair UFO investigator aspirations, or want to train and join our investigation team, MUFON is here for you. Won’t you please join us in our quest to discover the truth?”
After five decades, has there been any scientific pay dirt in studying UFOs? Are we inching closer to the truth that is perhaps out there?
Share the data
Jan Harzan is MUFON’s executive director, manning that post since August 2013.
“I’ve seen these craft. I know they are real,” he told Space.com. “I can’t tell you where they’re from. I don’t know if they are ours or belong to somebody else or whatever. But they are advanced technology.”
The world needs to understand UFOs, Harzan said. “This is real. We’ve got to put the data out there and share it. We have over 100,000 UFO cases in our files … and it’s growing. We currently have worldwide over 500 certified MUFON field investigators that go out and look at each one of these cases,” he said.
A MUFON Science Review Board (SRB) consists of scientists with degrees in physics, chemistry, geology and electrical engineering. Their work experience includes NASA, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and France’s national space program, CNES. The SRB reviews the best cases from the year to identify the strongest cases that cannot be identified as any known object.
Big leap
Assuming that weirdness in the sky represents an alien visitation is a big leap. But who knows?
Nearly 34% of reports coming into MUFON can be identified, be they aircraft, rocket launches, satellites, astronomical happenings — even Chinese lanterns (small hot air balloons made of paper) or the proliferating number of military, police and citizen-run drones of all shapes and sizes. For example, Google’s Project Loon, which uses high-flying balloons to bring Wi-Fi internet to rural areas, has repeatedly stirred up UFO reports.
It is becoming harder to weed out and identify “real” UFOs, Harzan admitted.
“But on the other hand, when you read some of the reports — we call it the 5%, one out of 20 — that are incredible observations by very articulate and credible people,” he said, “you get about 5% of cases that are so rock solid.”
Old beliefs
Harzan said that the No. 1 stumbling block to advancement as a civilization is holding on to old beliefs. Is our science even capable of understanding what UFOs truly represent?
“We have to be able to let go of some old beliefs, because maybe the way we think the universe works isn’t how it really works,” Harzan said. “I personally believe that these are extraterrestrial beings that have advanced physics that we don’t yet understand. And once we do, we’ll be out there doing the same thing that they are doing. We’re probably 20 to 30 years away from being the aliens.”
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