Debunkers are a tenacious breed. While they assert that people who see UFOs are mentally diluted, visually impaired, or downright crazy they dream up some of the most ludicrous theories to explain away, sometimes mass, UFO sightings. Here’s a collection of 5 far-fetched explanations dreamed up by debunkers to dismiss UFO sightings.
It is important to note here that we are not necessarily talking about skeptics. While debunkers claim to be skeptics, and skeptics at times do debunk, we’re referring here to those agenda-driven debunkers who simply dismiss anything and everything UFO related out-of-hand.
1. Rendlesham Forest UFO Encounter
In December of 1980 in Suffolk, England three U.S. Air Force personnel were dispatched from the RAF Woodbridge base to investigate strange lights seen in the area of the nearby Rendlesham Forest. As they entered the forest the light descended into and then darted among the trees, eventually coming to a stop. When the three servicemen arrived at the location they discovered a “craft of unknown origin”. They examined the craft carefully and as thoroughly as possible. One of them touched the craft and took extensive notes about it’s appearance including drawing strange markings and symbols found on it’s hull.
Debunker’s Claim: Light from the nearby Orfordness lighthouse is to blame for the event.
2. 1991 Mexico Eclipse Mass UFO Sighting
During a solar eclipse in 1991 many folks in Mexico turned their eyes toward the sky to witness the astrological event only to get an added bonus: a UFO. Guillermo Arragin, a reporter, and James Maussan, a journalsit caught the metallic object on video. When their video aired on TV a week later thousands of people called in to report seeing the same thing and many actually sent in their own videos of the object. Video of the object shows it clearly below the clouds, moving, and possibly emitting some sort of energy behind it causing a visual “wave” to appear.
Debunker’s Claim: Probably just a misidentification of the planet Venus.
3. 2010 Xiaoshan Airport UFO in Hangzhou, China
In 2010 around 8:30pm a UFO showed up on radar at the Xiaoshan Airport. Soon after, it was spotted in the sky above the airport by numerous people including official airport personnel, citizens, and even pilots who were in flight near by at the time. After the UFO promptly disappeared, service was suspended at this major airport for almost an hour causing the delay of 18 flights and some 2,000 people being stranded while an extensive aerial search ensued.
Debunker’s Claim: Merely the reflection from an aircraft was the official explanation.
4. White Sands, New Mexico Military Police Encounter
This is actually part of a larger 1957 UFO “flap” that involves many sightings across several states. In this particular event two military policemen on a routine patrol of the White Sands missile range encountered an egg shaped UFO 75-100 yards in diameter roughly 50 yards above a bunker. Two days later a similar UFO was spotted by another patrolling policemen who witnessed it climb upward at a 45 degree angle, sometimes stopping. About 17 hours later a high altitude engineer who worked at the base spotted an egg shaped UFO while driving from New Mexico to Texas. The UFO made a dive out of the sky and crossed the highway in front of him. Many more sightings occurred during this flap by civilians and qualified military personnel.
Debunker’s Claim: According to the USAF, the sightings were most likely either Venus (again!) or the Moon, which “was in [the] general direction of the second patrol’s observation.”
5. 1966 Michigan UFO “Swamp Gas” Flap
This list would not be complete without the grandaddy of all absurd debunker claims. In 1966 hundreds of people, including seven policemen and sheriff’s deputies from Livingston and Washtenaw counties saw an unidentified object maneuvering through the sky. Over the next several days UFOs continued to be spotted by people throughout the area. In some reports, such as one from patrolman Robert Huniwell, objects would descend close to the ground within 500 yards of witnesses. In response to the growing fervor the U.S. Air Force sent in Project Blue Book astronomer and UFO expert Dr. J. Allen Hynek to investigate. After a rigorous investigation that lasted all of 2 hours and 45 minutes he declared the mass UFO sighting to be caused by none other than…
Debunker’s Claim: SWAMP GAS! Needless-to-say, the people who’d spent their entire lives in the area and knew how swamp gas does, and does not, behave (as well, by now, something about how UFOs behave) were a little less than satisfied with the good doctor’s conclusion.
