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Lesley

Grey Matter

2.19.8

Look up Scooby, it's the Mystery Space Machine!

Have you heard of John Lenard Walson's space machines? Chances are that if you frequent Rense.com or keep up on Ufology or conspiracy news you have. Otherwise you likely haven't. We aren't talking about Stephenville here, this is not a story picked up by the mainstream.

The short story is that Walson claims to have invented some sort of gadget that improves his telescope resolution and that he discovered some stars were actually large structured objects, mystery space machines, which he took photos of and video taped.

While I have linked to Rense and Walson's photos and articles at my blog The Debris Field, I never commented on them because the story seemed fishy to me from the start. I can't point to any certain thing that made me feel that way, I just did.

Then on Feb 11th the blog Forgetomori, they came out with an article debunking the entire Walson story, or seeming to, perhaps Walson can explain away such things but he hasn't yet.

It has come to my attention that some consider Forgetomori a debunker blog. I have never really gotten that feeling about it. Yes, they did some debunking on Walson, but they also had some very good evidence. It wasn't done like most debunking blogs that give speculation instead of evidence. Example: Those who try to pass off anything seen in the night with large eyes as only an owl, when there is no real evidence that is what it was. Excuses like weather balloons, plasma balls, hedgehogs and on and on, with no real evidence. That is what most debunking blogs consist of. Enough about that.

Regan Lee writes at Orange Orb:

I just wonder at the expended energy in continuing a saga like this. What's the payoff for him/her/them? (I suspect there's more than one person involved.)

That is always a good question. According to the Forgetomori article:

Let us start from the trivia. "Walson" intended to sell his footage, involved himself with fellow mystery sellers, but they ended up fighting. You can check some of the public name-calling here. Millions of dollars, Spielberg and such are things involved.

But did he or them do it with that intention? Given the track record of such things making big money, which except for maybe alien autopsy is zero, I can't imagine that was the goal from the beginning. Who knows though, maybe these people were stupid enough to think you could get rich by just selling DVD copies?

Then there are some who think the entire thing was a disinformation program. I don't see what that would have accomplished, but I suppose anything is possible.

Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that hoaxes are normally concocted for attention. I know it is hard to believe that some people are so desperate for attention that they would want it for something entirely fake and that will probably be found out as a fake, but really there are people like that. Look at the things people will do to be on TV. Do they want to be on TV to express their deeply held beliefs or somehow make the world a better place? No, they want to be on TV for attention and they will suffer any humiliation to get that TV time and attention.

Aside from the perplexing question of why some humans enjoy creating such hoaxes there is the perplexing reactions within Ufology.

Most people, myself included think it is sad that such things happen, but since we know and expect such things it is really no big deal. Life goes on.

Then there are those who get really bent out of shape about hoaxes. I mean downright angry.

Normally the latter are people who are new to Ufology and haven't observed these hoaxes over many years. Some of the older people get bent out of shape about it, but not many.

UFO hoaxes are as old as Ufology. Hoaxes and frauds happen in all types of research and in all aspects of life, not just Ufology. Certain people who use examples of a few well known hoaxes (I don't think the mystery machines will ever be in that category) to not believe in UFOs, bigfoot or anything esoteric, would find some other excuse if that one were unavailable. Hoaxes are not their true reason for not believing UFOs exist.

Besides that, when we become too concerned over people who don't want to believe or too worried about things that we think are hindering their belief, we become fundamentalists. I think it is Greg Bishop who calls certain people fundamentalist skeptics, they are the skeptics who aren't really skeptical, they feel it is their duty to convince everyone that such things as UFOs do not exist and feel everyone should believe as they do.

Maybe I am weird, but I don't care about people not believing in UFOs, or anything else for that matter. Sure the fundamentalist skeptics are annoying, but I certainly am not on a mission to convert them or anyone else. I do not feel it is my duty to convince anyone of anything and I don't feel hurt or angry if they aren't interested or think all of Ufology is silly because ufos don't exist. It especially doesn't bother me if they use hoaxes as their excuse for thinking that way because it shows me that they are not even interested enough to check out all the evidence before making up their minds.

Hoaxes come and go, most of them entirely unknown to those outside Ufology. They may muddy the water a tiny bit for a short time, but they really aren't anything to get upset over. They don't hinder getting to the facts for anyone who is truly interested in Ufology and therefore willing to take the time and really they are pretty easy to spot from the very start.

To wrap up, I have say that in a sick sort of way I enjoy the hoaxes. As I said, they are normally pretty easy to spot and there is just something fascinating about them to me. That someone would take so much time and effort to create faked images and come up with some elaborate story that they must know will eventually be found out as a hoax is totally fascinating in a weird way. Someone actually put a lot of time into writing those horrible and long Serpo entries. Amazing! Humans really are fascinating creatures. In that example fascinating in a pathetic way, but fascinating nonetheless.

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