![]() ![]() As befits the subject-matter, the story will open on a conspiracy. 50 calibre cannons into the retreating doughnut shaped object from a thousand yards? Or, is it finally proof when he sticks to his story regardless of threats of court-martial? To accept something as extraordinary as the extra-terrestrial origin of UFOs, the burden of proof must be set very high indeed, but is there a point when the parameters for setting that evidentiary burden are themselves recognizably outgrowths of something other than truth seeking or rational thought? What is that ‘something other’? This paper will examine the UFO story, the undeniable presence of a widely observed but unidentified aerial phenomenon, and official and unofficial responses thereto. But, what constitutes proof? As Captain Ruppelt asked, is it proof when radar detects a UFO above New Mexico? Is it proof when it is then intercepted by a jet pilot, or proof when the pilot unloads his. Those who take such tall tales literally may seek out material like Ruppelt’s to confirm their false beliefs through a cognitive process of motivated reasoning – ‘it must be, and therefore it is, so here’s the evidence’ – but common sense dictates that all such material be ignored or ridiculed because ‘it can’t be, and therefore it isn’t, so there can be no evidence.’ Caught in the middle of this tug-of-war are the hundreds of thousands of witnesses to an ongoing aerial phenomenon that has left them in search of an explanation that is something more than “motivated rationalization.” It all boils down to proof. But how could this be a true story, as Ruppelt, a decorated Second World War veteran and former head of a USAF project to investigate UFOs, would purport? It is common knowledge that UFOs are myths, the stuff of fantasies and campfire yarns. ![]() Ruppelt’s The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (1956). In the summer of 1952 a United States Air Force F-86 jet interceptor shot at a flying saucer.” So begins the most authoritative but widely ignored snapshot of the early contemporary history of the UFO phenomenon available, Captain Edward J.
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