December 5, 2022
This article engages with a particular UFO related phenomenon – circular burn marks which appeared on a number of individuals who claimed to have witnessed a UFO.
Free Article: Skeptical Inquirer November/December 2022
Discussion:
- After UFO researcher Jaques Vallée was confronted with the hypothesis that the strange marks found on a UFO witness could be from a hairdryer, he presents an argument for why the hairdryer hypothesis is inaccurate. What were his reasons and were they convincing to you? Why or why not?
- Vallée claimed that he was reluctant to “expose” any individual case because it may have the potential to discourage honest witnesses of more complex cases from coming forward. What are the merits of this argument, if any? Have your group discuss how they think individual cases should be handled and why.
- Debunking an individual case is often seen as being synonymous with attacking the broader argument. West pushes back against this and says that “sometimes it’s just a hairdryer, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t being visited by aliens.” How might skeptics frame their arguments against individual cases in such a way as to leave open the door for the broader argument to remain true?
– Can you think of any circumstances where it would be inappropriate to leave this possibility open?
Important Citations:
West (2022) – The Global Cross-Hair Enigma That Looks Like Hair Dryer Burns via Metabunk
About the Author:
Mick West is a writer, investigator, and debunker who enjoys looking into the evidence behind conspiracy theories and strange phenomena and then explaining what is actually going on. He runs the Metabunk forum, tweets @mickwest, and is the author of the book “Escaping the Rabbit Hole”.