by Lawrence George

Created on: October 26, 2009   Last Updated: January 19, 2010

UFOs exist, in the sense that there are frequently objects seen in the sky that cannot be identified. But are there spacecraft from other worlds in the skies over New Mexico, or anywhere else? No. And it pains me to say that because I've always wanted there to be, ever since I was a small child.

The first problem we have is that the amount of evidence that can be relied on is tiny. Much of the photographic and video evidence that once seemed compelling has been debunked. From the Adamski footage, to the Gulf Breeze flap (see

http://www.theironskeptic.com/articles/gulf/gulf.htm ), to the Roswell autopsy footage, over the past fifteen years computer analysis has shown much of the visual evidence to be faked.

The Roswell autopsy saga is illustrative of the whole UFO subject. Ray Santilli, the man who claimed to have bought this footage from the cameraman himself, insisted for over ten years that it was genuine - even when asked directly on TV. He refuted claims he was a liar repeatedly. Then, a couple of years ago he admitted that it was faked but that he'd done that because he'd lost or destroyed or whatever the original, "real", footage: then he made a film (Alien Autopsy) about the whole process, starring two light-entertainment celebrities from here in the UK. What a shambles, from start to finish.

Then there is the physical evidence: people with burns. People with "implants" - tiny hunks of metal they claim were inserted into their abdomens. RAF or USAF documents detailing the encounters of pilots with "something unidentified". Only this third category is worth anything. However, we have seen the MJ-12 documents, which were held for many years to be genuine, debunked, and much of the Air Forces' documentation on this subject consists of transcripts between high-altitude pilots and ground staff. They are evidence of nothing except that the pilot saw something he was not sure about.

The amount of evidence to build any case on is therefore laughably small. The Trent Farm photo of 1950 is still one of the best UFO photographs around, in that it hasn't been conclusively debunked. It's still blurred, dark and difficult to tell where or how large the object is.

Unless you want to take this whole subject on faith, it just falls apart. There is simply no strong evidence that the strange things people do see in the skies have anything other than natural or man-made explanations. Frankly, there is precious little weak evidence either.

But the real problem is physical

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