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Why do we focus on old cases?

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Yak

Yak

Paranormal Novice
I'm currently listening to every episode of The Paracast from its inception in 2006 and there has been something that has been bothering me. We have all these cases of paranormal events going on to this day yet, we still focus the majority of our energy on Roswell the Majestic 12 and cases pre 90's. I'm not saying these cases aren't interesting but, they have been talked to death. A common topic coming up lately where I'm at on the Paracast is how the younger generation isn't into this topic, Gene and David wonder why this is. I can tell you why, because there is no information being discussed on current cases everyone is too wound up on what they heard about 20-40 years ago.

My point is just about everything has been said that can be said about the older cases, and the speculation is getting out of control on a lot of these subjects. Many of these “investigators” are assuming one thing, and then speculating something else out of that assumption thereby creating a poorly researched report and trying to pass it off as fact and not theory. I feel researchers are spending too much time on these older cases and things are getting out of control.

I want to hear more about cases like the one that got me interested in UFOs.
One of the cases that got me interested into UFOs (I'm 24) was the O'hare sighting in 2006. 2006 - O'Hare Airport UFO Sighting

Here you have a case of dozens of witnesses that saw an object hover and shoot off into the clouds, how did the FAA respond? It was just a weather phenomenon...

I know I'm probably one of the younger posters here but I feel like speaking about old cases all the time makes the research community lose credibility in my generation’s eyes. We view the majority of investigators and shams trying to make a buck on their book that has been written about to death.

Anyways if anyone has some local cases such as the O'hare one I posted please feel free to share I love reading about current 90s+ cases.
 
I think it's because the old cases haven't been solved yet. Yes, there are plenty of new, or newer ones, but the old ones haunt people still because we have yet to solve them, and they have since become the stuff of legend. Just my two cents, which in our current economy is worth about half a cent...
 
Yak said:
I'm currently listening to every episode of The Paracast from its inception in 2006 and there has been something that has been bothering me. We have all these cases of paranormal events going on to this day yet, we still focus the majority of our energy on Roswell the Majestic 12 and cases pre 90's. I'm not saying these cases aren't interesting but, they have been talked to death. A common topic coming up lately where I'm at on the Paracast is how the younger generation isn't into this topic, Gene and David wonder why this is. I can tell you why, because there is no information being discussed on current cases everyone is too wound up on what they heard about 20-40 years ago.

My point is just about everything has been said that can be said about the older cases, and the speculation is getting out of control on a lot of these subjects. Many of these “investigators” are assuming one thing, and then speculating something else out of that assumption thereby creating a poorly researched report and trying to pass it off as fact and not theory. I feel researchers are spending too much time on these older cases and things are getting out of control.

I want to hear more about cases like the one that got me interested in UFOs.
One of the cases that got me interested into UFOs (I'm 24) was the O'hare sighting in 2006. 2006 - O'Hare Airport UFO Sighting

Here you have a case of dozens of witnesses that saw an object hover and shoot off into the clouds, how did the FAA respond? It was just a weather phenomenon...

I know I'm probably one of the younger posters here but I feel like speaking about old cases all the time makes the research community lose credibility in my generation’s eyes. We view the majority of investigators and shams trying to make a buck on their book that has been written about to death.

Anyways if anyone has some local cases such as the O'hare one I posted please feel free to share I love reading about current 90s+ cases.
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I think that is an interesting point that yak brings up and something that I have thought about but didn't dwell on.

I will mention this though, the situation he talks about is not necessarily paracast specific. One could say that about the whole field, hell even modern events like the ones that gene mentioned, o'hare et al, is getting a little long in the tooth. Although I have yet to take time to do so, my guess a quick head count of all the books/papers on ufo literature of the past few years, would lean heavily on the events of past decades and centuries even, and thus, being that the paracast...like other shows...gets its talking points from the authors of these papers and books it would stand to reason that the older events get brought up a lot.

Being that I'm not part of yaks generation...I am a tail end baby boomer...I cant really comment about that part of generational distrust (maybe 30 years ago I could) but I certainly don't agree that anything is getting out of control. In fact I'd say given the conditions of reports and experiences and how little change (except maybe the make up of the occupants) is involved the older ones are just as revelent. Until the older events get filed away in the "solved" box :rolleyes: why not make use of a valuable resource. I'm tempted to offer up something pithy like maybe to understand the present one has to understand the past, but I won't :) furthermore I don't think anything will ever be understood excerpt that we are dealing with a heck of a mystery which is probably the intended affect. As to why the talk about older cases seems to be the norm, perhaps it's because people paid more attention then. There are a lot of distractions these days but having said that, I wonder if it's not unusual to wonder if we are distracted as a society then it seems like the phenomena would start taking it up a notch because I don't think it likes being ignored.
 
The percentages of new cases to old is very distorted.
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There a different reasons for that. All I can do is tell you how I feel about the ones I understand.

One big reason is that, whether you're a believer or a nonbeliever, if you're into the paranormal, you're probably, at least, a little bit of a nerd. I don't mean that in the derogatory sense. Though I may have no interest in Star Wars or Star Trek, I'd consider myself a nerd in several areas. I'm a music nerd, for instance. I read journal articles for fun. I'm a gaming nerd to the point that I work on building games for fun, hoping to turn it into part of my living. I'm a bit of a design nerd. I also have an on-again-off-again interest in comic books. I'd say all of that qualifies me as a nerd. A borderline inappropriate degree of interest in any particular subject is all it takes to make somebody a nerd. Part of that heightened degree of interest in subject matter, that makes a nerd a nerd, is a love of and desire to memorize lore.

Lore is a huge part of the paranormal field. As such, the older cases, in some sense, become more interesting and/or important than the new cases. The speculation built around them becomes its own lore. It's all part of what makes it fun to talk and read about.

Another reason has been addressed, in that the older cases remain unsolved. It makes no difference whether or not they can be solved -- some would argue many of them actually have been -- it's just tied to a general human desire to know. Again, the speculation around trying to figure out the unknown plays into the lore aspect.

The last, and most obvious, reason I can think of, is the fact that there are thousands of old cases, but only a handful of interesting new cases. If these shows focused only on the new stuff, which often hasn't yet been thoroughly investigated by the trusted names in the paranormal community, there would be scarcely little to talk about. To be honest, and speaking as a nonbeliever, I think this has a lot to do with the fact that these types of sightings and events are much more readily explicable today than they were in the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. The average person walking around on the street today is more informed. Watch YouTube videos of the Russian Meteorite -- people knew what they were looking at 90% of the time. In the 50's or 60's, that might have been a UFO crash. If someone says that's a UFO crash, today, we call them an idiot. It's a different world than the one where most of the paranormal lore comes from.
 
".. Lore is a huge part of the paranormal field. As such, the older cases, in some sense, become more interesting and/or
important than the new cases. The speculation built around them becomes its own lore. It's all part of what makes it fun to talk and read about..."

A very good point and to those who would think that these cases are/were the 20th century version of ancient lore and that they could be an extension of that lore this would have been a great time to be in the field, it's like a new paradigm had been realized. It's been rather staid and static since then (my opinion) excerpt maybe with the previously mentioned point about the physiology (?) of the occupants.
 
ProphetofOccam said:
I think this has a lot to do with the fact that these types of sightings and events are much more readily explicable today than they were in the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. The average person walking around on the street today is more informed. Watch YouTube videos of the Russian Meteorite -- people knew what they were looking at 90% of the time. In the 50's or 60's, that might have been a UFO crash. If someone says that's a UFO crash, today, we call them an idiot. It's a different world than the one where most of the paranormal lore comes from.
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This is a good point! I also didn't mean to imply its just the Paracast that is doing this. I read many UFO journals and websites, it's just a trend I've observed.
 
"..I think this has a lot to do with the fact that these types of sightings and events are much more readily explicable today than they were in the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. The average person walking around on the street today is.more informed. Watch YouTube videos of the Russian Meteorite -- people knew what they were looking at 90% of the time. In the 50's or 60's, that might have been a UFO crash. If someone says that's a UFO crash, today, we call them an idiot. It's a different world than the one where most of the paranormal lore
comes from..."

Yet, if this were the case, if it just comes down to a more knowledgeable and rational public.wouldn't it be tempting to "explain away" these older cases as well ? In other fields we have applied todays knowledge to events that occured some time ago and have generally accepted that rational even though the actual witnesses have passed on. This doesn't seem to be the case in ufology.

I'm am wondering if it had less to do with knowledge and more to do with paranoia and helplessness when it comes to general security. Certainly these feelings would embellish overall sentiment about the phenomena.

Initially in the russian meteorite there was people that very quickly jumped on the ufo bandwagon most of which appeared to have fallen in a lake and is not immediately salvageable for study leaving open some questions i.e. " a lake? How convenient" which gives it all the makings of a good mythology for this and future generations.
 
Yet, if this were the case, if it just comes down to a more knowledgeable and rational public.wouldn't it be tempting to "explain away" these older cases as well?
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It could. I think it would come down to opinion. There are many old cases that I feel have adequate, mundane explanations, explanations that might have been the initial reaction in modern times, that the paranormal community reject. So many years have gone by, and so few evidence collection methods were available to the people of those decades, that the undisputed truth is actually impossible to discern. These disputed cases might have leaned more toward the mundane explanation had people been more informed about that kind of stuff and equipped with megapixel cameras and the internet. It would definitely give a lot more credence to the truly inexplicable cases in the archive if some of these questionable cases were cleared up on week one.

As far as the Russian meteor being called a UFO, the only people taking that seriously are people who are about as informed and savvy as the people from the previous decades to which I was originally referring -- the willfully ignorant and the lunatics. Nobody with a level head and an interest in the paranormal takes that kind of thing seriously, anymore. However, in those previous decades, with no video reference, no internet and less in-depth science education, observers would be left to their own devices and sci-fi drenched imaginations. Nobody could review what was seen in 30's-70's and call out the ignorant and the lunatic on their mistake. Without that ability in this situation, what do you think would have become of the people crying UFO and their stories?
 
its also important to know your history in any subject to see where we have come from and progressed in ufology(ie.nada haaaaaaaa).
whats been done, said and seen, what has been thought of before in terms of hypothesis. Listening to the past shows is a good way to be up to speed in a linear ufo narrative, the idea is to get a good overview and to take in the various sense data prescribed to a given situation in order to test hypothesis. Once you hear cases which seem to contradict and corroborate you realise its all a waste of time and your back to square one again!

it is an interesting time though as more people are giving up the ETH and nuts n bolts hypothesis as the witness testimonies and various data doesn't fit entirely. This paradigm shift might be in itself part of the phenomenon.
 
I think it's important for any young newcomer to inform themselves of early encounters/incidents. It is my opinion that WWII and more specificly, the atomic testing- caught the attention of someone or something. I often wonder, if not for "splitting the atom" -would this phenomenon exist as it does today?
 
Yak said:
I'm currently listening to every episode of The Paracast from its inception in 2006 and there has been something that has been bothering me. We have all these cases of paranormal events going on to this day yet, we still focus the majority of our energy on Roswell the Majestic 12 and cases pre 90's ... My point is just about everything has been said that can be said about the older cases, and the speculation is getting out of control on a lot of these subjects. Many of these “investigators” are assuming one thing, and then speculating something else out of that assumption thereby creating a poorly researched report and trying to pass it off as fact and not theory ... I want to hear more about cases like the one that got me interested in UFOs ... I know I'm probably one of the younger posters here but I feel like speaking about old cases all the time makes the research community lose credibility in my generation’s eyes.
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You're not alone in your frustration. That's why I started USI, and I can tell you that we have a lot more armchair critics than people who want to do any work. So if you have a genuine interest in UFOs, and you want to see some progress, then I would encourage you to sign up and become part of the solution.
 
Older or more recent. I think we go where ever the cases are.

Though there seems to be some nostalgia going on. I can't fault Gene for that. I don't believe that more recent cases were omitted because of that.



Prophetoccam- Did you see the video of the Russian meteorite that seem to show an object hitting or penetrating the meteor? Maybe a last ditch effort to break it up into smaller pieces before impact. Interesting footage that seems to show more going on than a meteor simply falling to earth.
 
I checked out two similiar cases, 30 years apart- both in around the Ohio/Pa border. In '66, two Ohio cops spotted a saucer shaped craft. They gave chase, as other officers witnessed the same craft. The object would "slow down" and wait for patrol cars to catch up- when this "parade" crossed into Pa, word got out to Pa authorities- the disk finally took off when jets were scrambled to intercept. This event inspired the "chase" scene in the movie Close Encounters. Jumping to 1996, I believe not far into Pa- a triangle was spotted in a small town- Police officers drove to the top of a parking garage/building to get a better view, when the object sent down a beam of light causing the officers to scramble to their cars. This object was hanging around for hours- according to witnesses. No intercepting of military jets -a detail that makes me wonder how involved the military might be with many of these triangle craft. I don't have the book with me now, so I don't have any specific details (place/times) on this 2nd case.. but thought it an interesting "recent" case. I'll post later this evening on that.
 
ufology said:
If you have a genuine interest in UFOs, and you want to see some progress, then I would encourage you to...become part of the solution.
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Few are called to do field work and even fewer actually make it happen. Its a fact of life, it sucks, but we are saddled w/ too many people w/ too much else to do in their lives. W/ cable TV, texting, video games and work-related stuff, there's little time for the average Joe to get out there and dig: make the phones calls, visit the event sites, interview the witnesses, do the research, get yourself up2speed, etc. It's a sad fact, but it's true: Most people simply don't have the time or the drive to really get out there and do the work!
 
I agree but often I am wanting to discuss some old cases, just not the 'classic' old cases. I would love a show that is solely about good, well documented cases that don't seem to get the publicity of the Roswell's or Gulf Breeze's etc.

Also, I am constantly harping on about UFO sightings on AnonymousFO.com - UFOs, alien and ovni, news, and reports. Find out what are ufos, a site that rounds up the best videos on the web, every week. They try as much as possible to weed out obvious fakes and in my non-expert opinion they do a job. Just take a look at some of their 'best of' vids and there really are some utterly fantastic UAP's/UFO's on camera - problem being, I believe that the research starts and ends with the videos.
There are new cases all the time, but it seems not the people or will to go out and investigate. If there were any bloody UFO's to be seen where I live I would investigate myself but it genuinely is a very cloudy place here and there just doesn't seem to be much chance to see any UFOs that might be around my area. I mean, if I google 'Aberdeen' and 'UFO' I get zip!
 
What the heck is that Stan Gardon guy's secret anyhow!? :D Actually, if you listen to the man, still after all these years his enthusiasm is absolutely contagious. His level of enthusiasm and zeal paints a portrait of someone that just got bit by the UFO and paranormal research bug 3 weeks ago. Then as you keep listening you realize that he himself has amassed enough first hand collected information for 3 life times. I have a friend like that. His name is Brad. I have never met ANYBODY with the energy and drive that this guy has. His thing is primarily old cars and live rock music. I think the guy has slept all of 18 hours over the last 20 years. Just go go go go GO, and then he's goes some more. Works 2 jobs, sees 4 concerts a week, interviews EVERYBODY from Billy Gibbons to Ronny James (rest his soul) Dio, flies here, flies there and then plays Frisbee golf with Black Sabbath on their latest reunion tour. I get worn out just thinking about what he's been up to. The point being here is that the type of person that the job requires to do such a high level of thorough, arduous, and in the long run consistent, interviewing, research, and documentation, is as rare as the events are themselves. Their energies and perseverance an anomaly unto itself. I mean, other than those with large inheritances like John Keel, where the heck do these people get their money from anyway? Oh that's right, they work two jobs. :p

I mean take a look at Nick Redfern or Brad Steiger...these people must write books in their sleep. Yet, year after year, they keep right on rockin'.

But on point, in focusing on the classic cases, hopefully we do FAR more than just getting stuck in the rut of doing so. Hopefully we can build new discovery serving constructs based on the various ages of investigation and subsequent hypothetical considerations. It's a challenge of the ages with respect for the phenomenon, and a damn fair bit of fun too.

There really is no reason we cannot focus on contemporary cases. The UFO reporting data base is rife with a constant new influx of up to date, somewhat well documented cases, but certainly we can only expect a small percentage of those cases to hold a candle to the classics in terms of a measurable depth and uniqueness. After all these classic cases all in all only represent a tiny fraction of those cases and reports put forth in their original time frames.
 
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