Unsealed Alien Files... Seriously?

(Blogger’s Note: Yes, I know that UFO stuff is not science fiction, but I also know that when I provided programs on the Roswell UFO case, the room was packed. Hardcore science fiction fans are interested in UFOs and there is a proliferation of UFO programing on cable television. I hope to provide some perspective about that in this arena.)

While searching for something interesting to watch, I stumbled across a program called Unsealed: Alien Files and my only comment is, “Seriously?”

This is one of the reasons that we have trouble getting science and journalism to take UFO reports seriously. It is one of the reasons that so many people have so little time for UFOs or who believe those seeing UFOs are deluded. This program, in the guise of a documentary, was filled with every half-baked idea, every conspiracy theory associated with UFOs, and every lousy piece of evidence available. It was horrendous.

What surprised me was that some very respectable people… Nick Pope and John Greenwald to name but two… were on it. In fact, the program that featured Pope and the UK’s investigation of UFOs made some sense and provided some interesting evidence. It was clear from that program that a serious UFO investigation had been conducted by England’s Ministry of Defence and that UFO information had been hidden in classified files by the authorities there.

But in another episode (they showed four in a row but luckily I was only exposed to two and a half) explained how Dwight Eisenhower, while president, had met with alien creatures.* It suggested that most of the alien races were up to no good but that one seemed to be aiding the human race. We were told that the Reptoids have a shape-shifting capability which means they can appear to be human, and that the greys have a treaty with the US to allow for animal mutilations and human abduction… Oh, and I don’t want to forget the big gunfight in the hidden base at Dulce, New Mexico in which dozens of US service members were killed.

All this told as if it were proven fact. They even had some in the form of a newspaper article about an underground complex found in the middle of Los Angeles. We know it was a newspaper article because it said, right on the screen, “actual newspaper article.” Of course it didn’t provide a date for the article or the newspaper, but we saw it anyway with no way to check.

We learned that UFO researchers believe this or that, but the UFO researchers are never identified. We learn, for example, that if what researchers believe about human history is true, then there is evidence for this alien infestation. Of course, we’re not sure exactly who those UFO researchers are or what those things about human history are and we know that if the first part of the statement is false, then so is the conclusion based on it.

There really isn’t much to say about this series. It is based on paranoia, the lies of some people who claim intimate knowledge of these clandestine events, and every rumor that has ever been spread inside the UFO community. This is the sort of thing that I have fought for a long time. People claiming military records and credentials who don’t have them, stories that can be checked through documentation such as the Foo Fighter incident centered around the USS New York that don’t check out, and the other nonsense that circulates through the Internet. If we are ever going to learn the truth here, we must clear away the nonsense around us. Unsealed: Alien Files just piles it deeper and deeper and makes the job harder and harder. We really don’t need this.

*To support this Eisenhower visit they used a picture taken by Ella Louise Fortune near Holloman Air Force Base in October 1957. They claimed that Eisenhower met the aliens there for the second time in October 1957 but those paying close attention realized that the UFO expert talking about this event was talking about something that took place in 1964, or long after Eisenhower left office. Clearly the documentary producers were attempting to link the Fortune picture with the Holloman UFO landing, but the dates simply don’t track for those of us who have been around longer than ten minutes. This just gives an additional insight into the quality of the program… Oh, and I believe the Fortune picture is actually of a lenticular cloud…but that is a discussion for another time.

(Note: I hesitate to mention this, but Unsealed: Alien Files can be found on the Destination America channel on Thursday nights. I thought some might like to see how bad a UFO documentary can be but tune in sparingly because we don’t want to encourage them.)