Section 1: Introduction
I’d like to see ufologists focus on the best UFO cases, rather than get
distracted by each new blurred photograph or fantastic story that comes
along.
So, what are the “best UFO cases”?
That is a rather difficult question to answer…
Ufologists regularly complain that skeptics fail to address the best UFO cases.
On the other hand, skeptics frequently complain that “believers” refuse to nominate the best cases.
If UFO proponents wish to persuade scientists to examine the evidence for the alleged objective reality of UFOs, then it is not unreasonable to expect
those UFO proponents to make serious efforts to identify the material which the scientists should focus upon.
Unparticularised suggestions to read the “UFO literature” or “witness
reports” are simply poor advocacy, given the relevant mass of material
and the variability of its quality. Scientists and skeptics are only
human. They will keep going as long as the initial material gains their
interest. If (as many UFO-proponents claim) they wish to encourage
serious study of UFO reports by scientists, why not refer them to the
best
material to get their attention?
One online debate about UFOs and aliens began with one individual
asserting that it is “obviously true they are out there". When
challenged to
state the facts in support of his statement he responded in the
following way: "try googling UFO reports and sightings etc....and any
decent site
that comes up on google or any other search engine for that matter will
be my facts" (see Footnote 1).
Unsurprisingly, the skeptics involved in that discussion did not find this suggestion very helpful or persuasive.
It is not merely those new to ufology that make such statements to
skeptics. When asked to provide evidence for UFOs, the astronomer and
famous
ufologist J Allen Hynek would respond sarcastically “Where do you want the truck to stop?” (see Footnote 2).
Various ufologists have produced lists of their best cases. There are
also several lists which represent (or at least have been said to
represent) a
consensus of leading ufologists on this issue. I’ll consider several of
those lists in a separate series of articles.
As an alternative approach, however, I thought that it might be
interesting to find out which UFO cases are most frequently discussed in
books about
ufos and SETI.
If ufologists wrote books solely with the objective of presenting the
best available evidence, then the most frequently discussed cases would
be the
ones that the most authors regarded as the best cases.
About four or five years later, and having been through 963 UFO and SETI
books noting each discussion of various UFO cases, I have now drawn up a
list
of the “Top 100” cases based on the frequency of discussion within this
(relatively large) sample of books.
The results may be compared to a “Top 100” music chart based on the number of sales of a CD.