I have noticed as I get older that my opinions toward things have changed completely.  I used to believe in the existence of ghosts, alien abductions, and lake monsters.  Now I am very skeptical of such stories and I tend to think they're all bullshit for the most part.   Why do I feel this way?  Simple.  Most, if not all which we define as factual and true contains objective (not subjective) EVIDENCE.

Alien Abductions:


Earlier tonight, Amy and I were watching a movie called "Fire in the Sky" which is based on a supposed true story.  This movie used to really creep me out about the possible existence of UFOs abducting and performing experimentation on people.  However, while watching the movie tonight, all sorts of red flags went off leaving me to believe the whole Travis Walton story was made up as a pure publicity stunt.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Walton_abduction

"Since the beginning of the modern UFO craze in 1947, an elaborate mythology has developed concerning alleged extraterrestrial visitations. ``Flying saucer" sightings (typically involving misperceptions of such mundane phenomena as meteors and research balloons) began to be accompanied in the 1950s by reports from ``contactees," persons who claimed to have had close encounters with, even to have been transported to distant planets by, UFO occupants. By the 1960s came reports of sporadic ``abductions" which have proliferated in correlation with media interest. (Indeed, by interaction between claimants and media the portrayal of aliens has evolved from a multiplicity of types into the rather standardized big-eyed humanoid model.) While evidence of alien contact has often been faked--as by spurious photos, ``crop circles," and the notorious ``Alien Autopsy" film--few alien abduction reports appear to be hoaxes. Most seem instead to come from sincere, sane individuals. Nevertheless, not one has been authenticated, and serious investigation shows that such claims can be explained as sleep-related phenomena (notably ``waking dreams"), hypnotic confabulation, and other psychological factors. As is typical of other mythologies, the alien myth involves supernormal beings that may interact with humans, and it purports to explain the workings of the universe and humanity's place within it." -Joe Nickell (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal)

Ghosts:


A couple of weeks ago I was watching the Travel Channel.  The episode I watched was discussing haunted hotels.  At first the show was somewhat entertaining; even the eyewitness testimony of supposed strange events was interesting; however, once the staff of these hotels started fully explaining exaclty who the ghosts were, their histories; and motivations for haunting the places, I felt my "bullshit" detector go off.  It is one thing to discuss a freak occurrence or strange phenomenon, but to fully explain the phenomenon and the entity's intentions without ANY supporting evidence is fucking absurd.  Unless they have interviewed the ghost personally, how can they so arrogantly make such unfounded statements?  To jump to conclusions by filling in the blanks of an event without any proof makes the event itself look less credible and the storyteller look like a complete fraud.  Needless to say, I filed that episode in my head under the "fiction" section. 

I would like to go to any haunted place and spend the night.  I will bet a million dollars I would NOT witness anything strange (unless my mind and nerves were on edge in fear of seeing such things, in which case the experience would appear to be something occurring in my mind rather than something external and observable by others). 

Ouija boards:


Penn & Teller did an excellent "Bullshit" episode on Ouija Boards.  In the episode, a group of Ouija Board believers were using a board to contact a particular ghost.  All was going well for the group; they would ask questions, they would move.... er I mean the ghost would move the pointer via the groups hands to spell out certain words or move the pointer to the "yes" or "no" section of the board.  In order to see if perhaps the individuals in the group were moving the pointer sub-consciously (or purposely), the group was blindfolded and the board turned around.  If it was indeed the GHOST making the pointer work, he/she/it should have no problem doing so regardless if the group is blindfolded and the board turned.  The result was disastrous.  The pointer would either move to a blank spot on the board (where the "yes" or "no" section was previously located) or spell out non-existent words.  This was a pretty good indication that the participants were the ones actually controlling the pointer.

      
  

Spence, I too have always wanted to sleep in a haunted house or go tape record a cemetary at night! Let's plan a night and do it!

Want to know what really drives me bonkers? All those documentaries on Dinosaurs where they have CG animals and spend the entire show documenting the movements and motives of the animals. Who the hell knows what dinosaurs did and why? One can specutlate but PA-LEESE for the love of God don't speak to me like its fact! Christian will tell you that five minutes of that bull shit and I have to change the channel.

That could be fun! Cemetaries at night can be spooky! hehehe!

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