Chasing UFOs - National Geographic

[Muadib]

Considering the restraints placed upon makers of such shows, I actually thought UFO Hunters was good. They got out and investigated some cases, performed experiments and importantly, kept a skeptic on the team.
Really not a bad effort and I think Bill Birnes got treated a bit harshly over it.

Really? I think if he did, he deserved at least a little of it. He definitely came across to me as stubborn, dogmatic, and ready to jump to conclusions at the slightest idea that something may have happened. He was a classic example of "I want to believe" mentality at work. That being said, I didn't think the show was terrible, they definitely had some good episodes. It was head and shoulders above this Chasing UFO's garbage, that's for sure.

 

[SPX]

I've made my thoughts about UFO Hunters known in the James Fox thread, but yeah, it was a vastly superior show. And I miss it.

 

[SPX]

That whole business with the alien mask in the window a couple of weeks ago actually hurt

I actually thought that was one of the best bits. They showed that it would be quite easy to duplicate--or come close to duplicating--Romanek's video without putting much effort into it at all. Good work there, in my opinion.

Someone also needs to tell me what, if anything in that show, was actually filmed in the San Luis Valley. I think the closest they got was Salida. Seems rather dishonest as they were advertising about odd events in the SLV.

Apparently that's just the way it's done. If I ever create a UFO show then I know I'll need to have some sort of deception in there regarding the San Luis Valley. It's a tradition now.

 

[SPX]

Really not a bad effort and I think Bill Birnes got treated a bit harshly over it.

Bill Birnes. Hmm. . .

That guy believes EVERYTHING is UFOs. I wouldn't go so far as to call him a crackpot, but he's the kind of guy where you have to make sure that you filter everything he says through a reality prism.

 

[RenaissanceLady]

I knew the series was bad but it never would have occurred to me that this was because NatGeo was working with the CIA. Such is the theory being promoted by Robert Hastings on UFOChronicles.com:

As I noted in my last article, given the extremely biased and propagandistic treatment of the UFO subject one consistently finds on Nat Geo, it might reasonably be argued that the network has been working behind the scenes with the CIA to debunk the phenomenon.​

​

This is not some paranoid fantasy. Indeed, the history of the agency’s covert efforts to spin or suppress UFO-related stories, utilizing its contacts in the news and entertainment media, is now well-documented. The policy resulted from the findings of the CIA’s 1953 Robertson Panel, which explicitly recommended using the mass media to debunk UFOs in the interest of national security. Journalist Terry Hansen’s excellent, scholarly book, The Missing Times: News Media Complicity in the UFO Cover-up,

just republished as an e-book, details the agency’s decades-long use of the television networks, among other organizations, as tools to disinform the American people about the UFO reality.​

​

I'm rather new to the topic of UFOs and am completely unfamiliar with Robert Hastings. Does anyone have any insight into this?

 

[SPX]

Well I'd certainly say I have my doubts about the CIA having any involvement in NatGeo programming in general or Chasing UFOs in particular.

BTW, I noticed that no one has even bothered to discuss the last two episodes. I'm watching last Friday's right now. It actually has some really interesting footage at the beginning of the episode that reminds me quite a bit of David Biedny's personal account of when he was a kid in South America.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

did they not conclude it was some balloon-spewing thing that is no secret? they recreated the footage or compared it with another one or something and satisfied themselves it was nothing UFOish. I have seen all the shows.

I get the reference to David Biedny's Caracas sighting, although I got the impression from David that it was a huge zeppelin/cigar shaped deal that dwarfed the few discs (saucers) it deployed. The thing in Ufo Hunters does indeed seem like a large tube-shaped object who's purpose is to 'deliver' smaller classic UFO craft but the footage looked more like balloons or something - at no point did I buy it as unexplainable.

I can't believe that in the 70's, in a city like Caracas, there were not stacks of people with cameras round their necks? Surely someone must have tried to take a photograph? We can live in hope but.......Never heard whether David managed to get someone to check the newspapers from the time in Venezuela, the hope being that it was a reported and published event. That could easily lead to the I.D's of other eye witnesses still alive?

 

[SPX]

did they not conclude it was some balloon-spewing thing that is no secret? they recreated the footage or compared it with another one or something and satisfied themselves it was nothing UFOish. I have seen all the shows.

I hadn't finished the episode when I made my first post, but they did decide that there were enough reasons to believe it wasn't non-terrestrial to move on. I've never seen anything release balloons like that, but like 95% of this stuff, I do assume it's something explainable. I just can't explain it personally.

I get the reference to David Biedny's Caracas sighting, although I got the impression from David that it was a huge zeppelin/cigar shaped deal that dwarfed the few discs (saucers) it deployed. The thing in Ufo Hunters does indeed seem like a large tube-shaped object who's purpose is to 'deliver' smaller classic UFO craft but the footage looked more like balloons or something - at no point did I buy it as unexplainable.

I can't believe that in the 70's, in a city like Caracas, there were not stacks of people with cameras round their necks? Surely someone must have tried to take a photograph? We can live in hope but.......Never heard whether David managed to get someone to check the newspapers from the time in Venezuela, the hope being that it was a reported and published event. That could easily lead to the I.D's of other eye witnesses still alive?

I think your concerns are valid, but I doubt Biedny (and his brother) just imagined the whole thing or made it up. He certainly seemed sincere when telling his story. All I can say is that I wish I was there.

And yes, I have wondered what's up with the hunt for the newspaper articles. I'd like an update on that. It doesn't seem like it would be too hard.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

And yes, I have wondered what's up with the hunt for the newspaper articles. [Biedny sighting claim] I'd like an update on that. It doesn't seem like it would be too hard.

You're right, it isn't hard. I've spoken w/ a number of Latin American country investigator/ufologists and not one has uncovered any major reports from the summer of '75 or '76. In fact, Venezuela was relatively quiet in the mid-'70s. No major events were found that made newspaper headlines because they were seen by thousands or even hundreds of people. Kinda makes you go hmmm. Maybe he dreamed it up (?)

 

[Goggs Mackay]

Mind you Chris, David only speculated on the numbers of people who he thought must have seen the same event. But we all know that often most people are not looking up at the sky. For instance, I may see a UFO video shot during the day over London but I wonder how many people saw the same thing but did not bother reporting it?

Add to that the absence of mobile phones and video cameras in mid '70s South America and really there might not be that many people who saw the event, let alone report it. But for sure, if it is going to be anywhere it should be in the local newspaper. If David can remember the rough date it should be easy to visit the newspaper offices and look at back issues which in the past were put onto microfiche, tho probably all scanned nowadays.
One point though, perhaps there was a story in a newspaper but does that newspaper even exist still? It may have gone bust or anything.

Something that always intrigued me about David is that he claimed a couple of other UFO sightings that in his words, 'he is never going to tell anyone about' due to the extreme of freaky nature. I would love to hear what that was supposed to be about?

I think Ryder from Chasing UFOs is hot too Chris but when she does a single set piece to camera she sounds so serious - like an army drill instructor or something! Did anyone see what Jaime Mussan showed them - claiming DNA results were this and that? The first instant I saw the body of the creature I thought 'small primate' or possibly some marsupial-type creature. At no point did it even look like it might be alien! By the look of James Fox' face, you'd think Jaime had just pulled out the frozen grey-foetus from the X-Files! (Though I really like James, who on balance I think is good for Ufology. At least he is trying to get things made/done and anyone who has worked in TV will know exactly how strongly hands can be tied in an effort for ratings over quality.) I'd like to see Steven Spielberg make a serious UFO doc!

 

[SPX]

Kinda makes you go hmmm. Maybe he dreamed it up (?)

I agree that there's some hmmm action going on here, but didn't his brother come onto the show once and back David up?

 

[Goggs Mackay]

I agree that there's some hmmm action going on here, but didn't his brother come onto the show once and back David up?

Can you imagine the outcome if it turned out all David Biedny's UFO experiences were totally phoney? I don't think that is the case and by heck, did David give hassle to other people about lying and making shit up. It would be unbelievable to think he made the story up. His brother is corroboration - I know my brother would not get involved in a B.S story about a UFO but maybe that's just my family.

Anyway, as far as I know David has not made any money out of it - he's not a Stan Romanek blatantly scamming the field (the more I think of that alien in the window footage I just cringe. Yes, despite acting in a way for centuries that implies the UFO occupants do not want direct contact with us at this juncture, some 'Grey' decided to go have a look in the Romanek's kitchen. Perhaps Stan or Lisa are michelin-starred chefs in disguise and the Greys are after ze' secret recipe! Non?)

No, personally I firmly believe David saw something in the sky that day with his family and it was very out of the ordinary, and as such, very unlikely to have been a misidentified cloud or balloon etc all the usual gang in the chinese lantern brigade of floating lights.
Considering I don't know David is guilty of anything I have to initially give him the benefit of the doubt until shown otherwise.

(I wonder how many genuine UFO sightings might be missed in China, cos the locals think the lights are only lanterns - so they look away, uninterested?)

 

[SPX]

Can you imagine the outcome if it turned out all David Biedny's UFO experiences were totally phoney? I don't think that is the case and by heck, did David give hassle to other people about lying and making shit up. It would be unbelievable to think he made the story up. His brother is corroboration - I know my brother would not get involved in a B.S story about a UFO but maybe that's just my family.

David Biedny is a peculiar cat, but I never pegged him as a liar. Like you say, it's not like he has tried to profit from his experience in any appreciable way.

If there was no corroboration, I would at least think that he THOUGHT he saw something. But I do remember the episode where his brother basically said that he was quite young at the time but he did remember the incident, and he seemed quite sincere as well. So that leads me to believe that something strange really happened.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

exactly, and if true it was a pretty monumental sighting, as these things go I think?

 

[Randall]

David Biedny is a peculiar cat, but I never pegged him as a liar. Like you say, it's not like he has tried to profit from his experience in any appreciable way.

If there was no corroboration, I would at least think that he THOUGHT he saw something. But I do remember the episode where his brother basically said that he was quite young at the time but he did remember the incident, and he seemed quite sincere as well. So that leads me to believe that something strange really happened.

You can listen to DB over here on Angry Human. I've exchanged a few emails with him and let's just say that I don't think the show's name is entirely coincidental.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

I've known that for a long time. David was never shy of voicing his opinions, which is one the things I liked about him being co-host. At turns he was wise to angry to childish to indifferent but usually interesting!

 

[Randall]

I've known that for a long time. David was never shy of voicing his opinions, which is one the things I liked about him being co-host. At turns he was wise to angry to childish to indifferent but usually interesting!

Agreed. I figured some people here would know about DB's show on Rockland, especially the regulars like yourself. I posted it up mainly for the others that are still getting acquainted with the forum.

 

[SPX]

David actually strikes me as vaguely unstable, and I don't mean that in a mean way. Just a matter-of-fact way.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

Agreed. I hope this is not coming across DB bashing cos that is not my intent at all. I have lots to be thankful to David Biedny for and that's a fact.

I did listen to an Angry Human episode but it was a bit Alex Jones for me in tone. With most people I prefer the mellower side!

 

[SPX]

Oh, I thought David was great as a Paracast host. Chris is, too. They are very different and now the show, while the same, is also different. I can't say that one is better than the other.

I still go back and listen to those old episodes sometimes because I am in the mood for that old style. But seriously, if you're so pissed all the time that you feel compelled to name your radio show "Angry Human," then that's just not healthy.