The Ufo Verdict: Examining the Evidence

by Robert Sheaffer

Book Overview

If youre only going to have one book on UFO's this is the one. -- Sky & Telescope This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879751460
• ISBN13: 9780879751463
• Release Date: January 1981
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

THE FIRST BOOK BY ONE OF THE MAJOR UFO CRITICS

Robert Sheaffer is a writer and researcher, who writes a column for "The Skeptical Inquirer" journal, and was a founding member of the UFO Subcommittee of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). Along with Philip Klass and Kal Korff, he is one of the preeminent critical researchers of UFO phenomena (the more so since Klass's 2005 death). This 1986 book begins with an examination of President Jimmy Carter's purported UFO sighting (Carter saw Venus, Sheaffer concoludes), then proceeds to examine "The UFO Movement," "The Photographic Evidence," "UFOs at Exeter," "Those Mysterious 'Men in Black'," "Radio Messages from Space," and more. Sheaffer observes pointedly, "Not ONE piece of UFO evidence, either soft or hard, has yet been presented that could not easily be produced by prosaic earthly natural forces or technology. No one has stepped forward with an extraterrestrial calculating machine, a space helmet designed for a spherical head, the body of an unknown creature, a high-technology device of unknown purpose and design, or a sample of an obviously artificial chemical element unknown to earth." He criticizes the Betty and Barney Hill "abduction," noting that "the most significant fact to be noted about the hypnosis testimony is that Dr. Simon (who did the hypnosis) himself does not believe it." Concerning the famous "incident at Exeter," Sheaffer writes, "if one of more mysterious craft were in reality lurking in the area for several months wouldn't it have been seen by more than a few scattered witnesses? Would not dozens or hundreds of people see it at the same time? Wouldn't several independent photographs of it be obtained?" However, he also notes that researcher Philip Klass "now believes that the phenomenon of ball lightning plays only a minor role in the overall UFO picture." Sheaffer has written a more recent UFO book since this one Ufo Sightings: The Evidence, but his first book remains of interest to anyone interested in the UFO phenomena.