|
| Vicente-Juan BALLESTER OLMOS, Richard W. HEIDEN | Introduction | 9-18 |
|
| Leonard S. NEWMAN | Foreword | 19-22 |
|
| | I. Case Studies |
| Vicente-Juan BALLESTER OLMOS | Memory Games: A False Recall Episode | |
| | Abstract: The event under study appears to be of an exceptional nature. Though initially undefined
by the witness, it was later purported to correlate with a more than modest UFO sighting that
occurred in the middle of the Spanish summer and that remained unexplained due to lack of
information. Subsequent telephone and e-mail interviews with the witness over the years revealed
astonishing new sighting data. A press search yielded an unexpected solution to one part of the
witness’s account. Analysis of the narrative suggests that the event is consistent with a false
memory incident. |
| Tim CALLAHAN | The Phoenix Lights: The Fallibility of Human Perception and Memory | |
| | Abstract: : The Phoenix Lights, which appeared in the night sky in Phoenix, Arizona on March 13,
1997 were perceived by several onlookers as the leading edge of a large V-shaped flying craft,
which flew directly over their heads. The witnesses described the unlit portion of this UFO as
obscuring the stars above it as it passed, slowly and silently. These witnesses were, for the most
part, reputable and they were not suffering from any delusions; nor were they suffering from sleep
paralysis or any other temporary psychological disruption of either their cognitive or perceptual
abilities. However, videos taken of the lights show them appearing one at a time, hovering close
to the western horizon in a ragged line, then winking out one by one. Research carried out by
psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, as well as by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simmons, among
others, demonstrates the subjectivity of both perception and memory. Shared experiences of an
unusual event are often transformed into a coherent dramatic narrative. Despite admission on the
part of the United States Air Force that the lights were military flares dropped by parachute and
the disconfirming videos taken in 1997, belief that the Phoenix Lights were the leading edge of a
huge UFO remains strong 25 years after the incident. |
| James T. CARLSON | Missile Flights and Fantasies | |
| | Abstract: Discusses the numerous disconnects between very consistent witness confirmations
alleged by a single individual and the very inconsistent claims presented by that individual over
an extended period of time. The case study involves an incident in which UFOs reportedly
interfered with the status of nuclear missiles within multiple silos and squadrons at Malmstrom
AFB in the State of Montana, United States of America. These differences later proved to be the
key factor proving the falsity of the claims, because they ultimately provided sufficient cause to
interview all of the witnesses separately — a resolution that was impossible to assert when the
case was first described due to the anonymity of the witnesses discussed. Anonymity should
always provoke doubt. |
| Peter HUSTON | Meeting the Abductees: Betty Hill, Richard Price & Others | |
| Alexander G. KEUL | Investigating Ball Lightning Eyewitness Report | |
| Eric MAILLOT, Jean-Michel ABRASSART | Very Close Encounter with a UAP in Levitation | |
| Claude MAUGÉ | The Raël Rael, UFO Contactee and the Last Prophet | |
| Craig R. MYERS | The MUFON-ian Candidate: The Gulf Breeze UFO Case as Political Contest | |
| Joe NICKELL | The Pascagoula Abduction: A Case of Hypnagogia? | |
| James OBERG | Misinterpretations of Fireball Swarms from Satellite Reentries | |
| Susan J. PALMER | When Testimony Becomes Testament: The Case of Raël, UFO Prophet, and the Question of Witness Reliability | |
| Gary P. POSNER | The Legendary Cash-Landrum Case: Radiation Sickness from a Close Encounter? | |
| Tim PRINTY | The Weinstein Catalog: Ufological Bullion or Fool's Gold? | |
| Josè RUESGA MONTIEL | The Changing Case of Próspera Muñoz: An Abduction Remembered Over 41 years? | |
| Wim VAN UTRECHT | Lunar Terror in Poland: A Doctor's Dilemma | |
| Nigel WATSON | On The Credibility of the Barney & Betty Hill Abduction Case | |
| Robert R. YOUNG | Metamorphosis: Claimed Witness Accounts of the Great Lakes Fireball Of December 9, 1965 | |
|
| | II. Psychological Perspectives |
| Thomas D. ALBRIGHT | On Eyewitness Reports of Extraterrestrial Life | 241 |
| Jorge CONESA-SEVILLA | Close Encounters of the "Other" Kind: On the Psycology of "Alien Abdcutions" | 257 |
| Oliver DODIER | Dissociation and Alien Abduction Allegation | 266 |
| David FORREST | Alien Abduction: Takeaways | 275 |
| Christopher C. FRENCH | Hypnotic Regression and False Memories | 283 |
| Stanley C. KRIPPNER | Aliens, UFOs, and Personal Schemas | 295 |
| Hélène LANSLEY, Thomas RABEYRON | Clinical Approach to UFO Sightings and Alien Abductions | 299 |
| Claude MAUGÉ | Manuel Jimenez and the Perception of UFOs: Hypotheses and Experiments | 313 |
| Subhash MEENA, Surabhi DAS | Cognition and Memory Distortion Behind UFO Testimonies | 331 |
| Giulio PERROTTA | Clinical Evidence in the Italian Phenomenon of Alien Abduction | 339 |
| Scott R. SCRIBNER, Gregory J. WHEELER | From "I Witnessed..." to Established Hypothesis: UFO Cultures and Contexts | 355 |
| Matthew J. SHARPS | Forensic Cognitive Science and the UFO Phenomenon | 368 |
|
| | III. On Witness Testimony |
| Manuel BORRAZ AYMERICH | UFOs: The Role of Perceptual Illusions in the Endurance of an Empirical Myth | 387 |
| Thomas E. BULLARD | Calibrating the Instrument: How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony? | 402 |
| Ricardo CAMPO PÉREZ | Bizarre Accounts: Remarkable Missile Sightings from the Canary Islands in the 1970s | 419 |
| Luiz Augusto L. DA SILVA | Some Considerations About the Behavior and Reliability of UAP Eyewitnesses | 433 |
| Marcel DELAVAL | UFO Myth Propagation Before the Arrival of Social Networks | 440 |
| Richard F. HAINES | Witness Reliability: Accuracy - Reliability of Pilots - Personal Honor | 447 |
| Jochen ICKINGER | Memories Are not Documentaries: The Weakest Link in the Chain of UFO Evidence | 454 |
| Ulrich MAGIN | Thress Simple Tests of Eyewitness Reliability | 467 |
| Daniel MAVRAKIS | Reliability of UFO Witness Testimony in Extreme Close Encounters: "Abductees" and "Contactees" | 472 |
| Richard NOLL | Satanists, Aliens and Me | 488 |
| Xavier PASSOT | The UFO Testimony Reliability from 2000 GEIPAN Reports | 497 |
| Julio PLAZA DEL OLMOS | Data are Worth a Thousand Accounts | 504 |
| Cláudio Tsuyoshi SUENAGA | The Objectivity of Witnesses and the Subjectivity of Testimonies | 513 |
| Luise WHITE | Aliens Are Good to Talk With | 524 |
|
| | IV. Empirical Research |
| Carles BERCHÉ CRUZ | Alien Delusions: Some (Real) Clinical Cases | 531 |
| Stephanie KELLEY-ROMANO, Amy BADFIELD DOUGLASS | Memory Distortion in a Social Judgement: People who Report Contact with Aliens are More Susceptible | 537 |
| Hans-werner PEINIGER | It Was as Large as the Full Moon | 551 |
| Hans-Werner PEINIGER | When a Fire Balloon Transforms in a UFO | 556 |
| Michael RADUGA | Bedtime Alien Abduction Stories: A Checklist to Detect its Dreaming Nature | 562 |
| Raoul ROBÉ | Fantasy Imagery and UFO Testimonies | 570 |
| Jean-Pierre ROSPARS | Abilities and Limitations of Eyewitnesses Assessed on Atmospheric Entries of Meteoroids and Artificial Satellites | 585 |
|
| | V. Anthropological Approach |
| Ignacio CABRIA | Inside a Spaceship: Cognitive and Social Adpects of an Alien Contact | 605 |
| Frédéric DUMERCHAT | Alien Big Cats and UFO Testimonies: Similarities and Questions | 615 |
| Carlos REIS | Belief in Aliens and the Imaginary: A Transdisciplinary Approach | 632 |
|
| | VI. Metrics and Scaling |
| Vicente-juan BALLESTER OLMOS, Miguel GUASP | Measuring the Subjectivity of UFO Testimony | 651 |
| Marc LEDUC | The Reliability of the UFO Sighting Story | 656 |
|
| | VII. Epistemological Issues |
| Félix ARES DE BLAS | On The Fallacy of the Residue | 673 |
| Leonardo B. MARTINS | Scientific Case Studies: Research Guidelines for Dealing with the Lack of Reliability of UDO/UAP Testimonies | 681 |
