Lets get it
done - an Encyclopedia of Australian
UFOs
Something to get done
- a challenge for the Australian UFO community
(a draft concept for consideration)
Science progresses by the collection and
assessment of data.
Hypotheses to
explain the data are considered and if they are verifiable then viable theories
can emerge.
In UFO research that scientific perspective
has had a variable history. The quality
of data varies enormously, with much of it falling far short of what might
reasonably constitute scientifically evaluated UFO data.
In an article in “Frontiers of Science” (an
interim publication in the journey of IUR (the International UFO Reporter)
May-June 1981, Dr. J. Allen Hynek identified the problem.
Hynek wrote, “Here we come face to face
with the charge that after thirty years of dealing with UFO reports we still
have no really convincing “hard data”, i.e. parts of a UFO, unimpeachable
residues from soil samples, unequivocal evidence that a UFO caused damage to
animate or inanimate matter. Yet the
fact is that we do have large amounts
of such evidence … I grow livid when such charges of “no data” are made. After years of frustration without the funds
to pay for adequate laboratory and other professional work, I bristle at the
lack of understanding on the part of scientific skeptics, who wouldn’t get to
first base without well-funded research projects with staff, travel and
laboratory facilities …”
“All we have are abortive, often amateurish
attempts at data gathering, data analysis, and feeble attempts at laboratory
studies (on a charity basis, of course), all of which dwindle into inconclusion and frustration … It is my
contention that “hard” data may well have been present in many UFO cases but
their discovery and definitive establishment has repeatedly gone by default for
lack of professional (funded) treatment.
It has always been the case of “too little too late,” necessitated by
the use of volunteers bolstered only by their unselfish devotion to the pursuit
of an overwhelming mystery,” Hynek concluded.
Dr. Hynek lived to see the beginnings of
some “thorough, professional study” in the work of GEPAN, specifically the
Trans-en-Provence UFO landing physical trace case of January 1981. Indeed, given access to the GEPAN files, at
the direct invitation of the French government, he found all of the GEPAN cases
to be very well investigated.
In my column "Science and the UFO controversy" I highlighted how the
GEPAN organisation (in the form of its current incarnation GEIPAN) hosted a
workshop to discussed optimal ways to improve investigation and the acquisition
of viable UAP/UFO data. All of these
tools should be taken up by UFO groups, where practical, as it will improve the
quality of the data we have and help us to assess further the rich data already
collected.
The creation of an encyclopedia of UFO data
arranged chronologically helps the assessment of the UFO data particularly if
it is accompanied by rich social data and historical context. This sort of material provides insights into
the methodology in the past, contemporary with the time of investigation. We can then use the benefits of experience to
reassess the data and make more informed assessments.
Correlations in the data can be better
assessed over long periods of data.
Correctly assessed data can be important scientific finds if they have
been correctly assessed and the patterns established are consistent over a large
body of data and a lengthy period of time.
Apart from the obvious benefit of
displaying all the data amassed by groups over a long period of time it helps
reveal the impressive work of those who have gone before and appropriately
acknowledge their legacy. The benefit of
a large historical cross-section of UFO data gathered by as broad and
comprehensive range of players can equally assist the interpretation of data
and patterns.
John Hanson and Dawn Holloway have created
just such a broad encyclopedia in their impressive book series “Haunted Skies –
the Encyclopedia of British UFOs”. As of
November 2014 Volume 10 has just emerged.
I have volumes 1 to 9 and they all contain a rich picture of the periods
they cover with sightings data, investigator and group data, social history and
occasional correlations with oversea cases.
Having access to this rich cross-section of raw data and original
material provides interesting insights not only in the nature of reports being
received but also how they were investigated, or sometimes how they were not
investigated. They also reveal the ebb
and flow of sightings data reinforcing the broad picture of flap cycles and the
spread of types of cases such as close encounters versus more distant reports.
What is even more impressive is that John
Hanson and Dawn Holloway have achieved an impressive level of assistance and
contributions from a lot of different groups and individuals.
Their series of books provide a good
template of what could be achieved here if the right sort of cooperation can be
achieved. A lot of data has been lost with old groups that have ceased to
operate and where researchers have withdrawn from the field or passed away.
There are helpful tools for assisting the
preservation of UFO data.
An important
example is the
“Proceedings of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop”
which took place in 1999.
I participated
in that workshop by contributing a section on “Australian Ufology” and an
introductory look at my collection and an assessment of what was available in
Australia.
The proceedings are available
on line
http://www.project1947.com/shg/proceedings/shgproceed1.pdf
Keith Basterfield’s extensive cataloguing
activities also provide a useful guide for the development of an encyclopedia
series, where his summary entries can be flesh out with whatever original data
can be located.
The closest comparison to the
Hanson/Holloway British encyclopedia series is the one volume compilation “The
Jarrold Files” put together by Ufologist magazine editor Robert Frola back in
1990. While billed as based on “the
sightings record collection of UFOR (Qld), it was more comprehensive than that
drawing on case material and occasional social history, news clippings and
broader research reviews from various parts of the Australian UFO community. It covered up
to 1979.
Robert Frola and
Daniel Sims have been
working at creating a more extensive series tentatively titled “The Almanac of
Australian UFO Sightings” and have indicated that they are planning a first
volume that may take us up to the end of 1944 or perhaps 1946.
This will be an ambitious series and I felt
it would benefit immensely if broader assistance, cooperation and contributions
can be provide by all UFO groups and individual researchers across Australia.
More recently I learnt that Larraine Cilia
and Dominic McNamara had had contact with John Hanson and Dawn Holloway and
gotten permission to use their title “Haunted Skies” of their envisaged
Australian encyclopedia series. While
it would be interesting to see different takes on the same type of project – an
encyclopedia series on Australian UFOs, I suggested to both parties that a
cooperative and shared venture would possibly work better. I described what
Robert Frola had achieved with the one volume of The Jarrold Listings. Given that listing, the AUFORN database which
also reflect the work of a cross-section of Australian researchers and groups
and that Robert and Daniel have already begun, Larraine agreed it would be
useful to discuss a cooperative venture.
I firmly hope that a cooperative venture to
produce a multi-volume Australian UFO encyclopedia series can be achieved. I would certainly assist and contribute to
that sort of team effort. I look forward
to this exciting project moving forward with the hope that an extensive measure
of full group cooperation can be achieved, which would reflect a great level of
maturity and evolution of inter-group relations. We are a big country and no one group or
individual can easily achieve this big and important project. It may be that a more efficient way to
achieve that goal is to develop a broad task force that can develop strategies
to achieving the end result.
Perhaps what is needed is an Australian UFO History Group modelled on the UFO History Group that produced the mammoth book "UFOs and Government".
Good luck with this important project. You
have my support. Now, lets get it done – an Encyclopedia of Australia UFOs.
