Sheaffer’s “Psychic Vibrations” column has appeared in the Skeptical Inquirer for forty years. His new book, Bad UFOs, is available through his blog, BadUFOs.com. His website is www.debunker.com.
A lot of UFO excitement has been stirred up this election year, mainly due to Hillary Clinton’s statements that if elected, she will release all of the government’s UFOrelated documents (unless they compromise national security). Also, her campaign manager, John Podesta, is a well-known, active UFO proponent (see this column, May/June 2016) and has even filed a Freedom of Information request concerning an alleged UFO crash in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, in 1965. That “mystery” was solved long ago: what was seen in Kecksburg (and many other towns) was in fact the well-documented Great Lakes Fireball of December 9, 1965 (http://www. debunker.com/Kecksburg.html). But don’t try to tell that to Podesta or other UFO true believers; they won’t listen.
Steven Bassett is the executive director of the Paradigm Research Group (PRG) based in suburban Washington, DC. His organization regularly holds press conferences to tout its supposed “UFO evidence,” such as that Citizens’ Hearing on UFO Disclosure in 2013 (http://goo.gl/LHUCRW). Bassett is the only registered “alien disclosure” lobbyist in the United States. Interestingly, all other lobbyists in Washington seem to be laboring on behalf of groups that can be shown to exist.