 In an interesting turn of events
a trio of famous professional skeptics and debunkers have turned tail and
run away after being challenged to prove their accusations that the Billy
Meier UFO case is fraudulent. The parties include well-known magician and
debunker the "Amazing" Randi, Vaughn Rees, Projects Coordinator
for CFI West in Los Angeles and Michael Shermer, science writer and skeptic.
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- It all began in February of 2001, when I met with Mr.
Rees and showed him several of Mr. Meier's 35mm photos of UFOs as well
as several 8mm movie segments of these objects. Mr. Rees promptly declared
that the material was simply an "easily duplicated hoax." He
accused Mr. Meier of faking the remarkable light effects displayed by one
UFO on the film by "scratching it with a pin." I then challenged
Mr. Rees to duplicate one of Mr. Meier's photos and one of his film segments.
Mr. Rees accepted and stated that he would do it with the same kind of
equipment, a 35mm camera and an 8mm movie camera.
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- Several months later, having received no items from Mr.
Rees, I invited him to forgo the cameras and use computers, digital effects,
Photo Shop any technology that he had access to in order to produce the
items. (I also suggested that, if he wanted to be sporting about it, Mr.
Rees should use one hand since Mr. Meier only has one himself.) In February
of 2003, at an expo in Los Angeles, Mr. Rees told me that he was waiting
for a new photographic lab to be finished at CFI West so as to finally
produce the photos. I reminded him that Mr. Meier never had any such lab
and that, in a two-year period, Mr. Meier had taken literally hundreds
of photos, some with up to four UFOs in them.
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 A few months
prior to that I had written to Michael Shermer, who is also a contributor
to Skeptic magazine, and presented information to him on the Meier case.
Without any examination of the evidence Mr. Shermer offered a sweeping
dismissal, claiming that he knew "little children" who could
create great faked UFO photos.
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- Just recently, I wrote to Mr. "Amazing" himself,
in hopes that there was something of substance to these skeptics instead
of mere blustering and braggadocio. I challenged him to look at the Meier
material, including the wide range of prophetically accurate information
(such as Mr. Meier's warning, in 1995, of the recent attack on Iraq), and
debunk it if he could. (It should be noted that Randi is a famous debunker
known for his supposed $1,000,000 offer to anyone who can actually prove
a paranormal claim.)
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- All Randi could offer was a comment about how a "child"
could "see through the farce" and his own claims that Mr. Meier
never published any prophetically accurate information! Not only was Randi,
like Mr. Shermer, seeming to rely on children for expertise in this matter,
he was, without knowing it, making Mr. Rees' efforts look pathetically
inept, coming up as less competent than achild. Additionally, it was obvious
that Randi, like Mr. Shermer, had absolutely no knowledge of Mr. Meier's
material and was dismissing it out of hand.
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- When I challenged him further, by emphasizing CFI West's
failure to duplicate Mr. Meier's evidence, Randi's final response was even
more "amazing". "So what value is duplication?" "CAN
MR. MEIER PROVE HIS CASE? NO. Case closed."
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- I wondered if this was the kind of science Randi had
in mind when he once stated, "Science is best defined as a careful,
disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of
the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and
always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence.
What's left is magic. And it doesn't work."
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2 Frames from Meier's well known UFO images. Skeptics
have suggested Meier used elaborate miniature trees to achieve such shots.
The controversy of his images continues to this day.
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- But, just when I thought it couldn't get any more bizarre,
I received an email from a Mr. Andrew Harter, also an associate of Randi's.
And just what did Mr. Harter have to add to the mix? "A back issue
of Skeptic magazine has photos made by 10 year olds that are just as good
as anything Mr. Meier ever made. There's your proof." Oh no, it was
the children-as-special-effects-experts defense again (and further humiliation
for Mr. Rees and CFI West!) Plus, while Mr. Harter's confidence was almost
admirable, he hadn't sent even one photo from these anonymous, precocious,
prepubescent prodigies to back it up.
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- I felt like I had just pulled the curtain away from the
wizard(s). Suddenly, I was the skeptical debunker dealing with fringe type
wackos who make wild claims and then refuse to provide any evidence to
substantiate them!
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- It appears that the effect of the Billy Meier UFO case
on the professional skeptics has been similar to pouring drain cleaner
down a clogged pipe. At first you may get strange stuff boiling up and
then some messy, smelly things get flushed away. Maybe, with these clowns
and illusionists being shown for the posturing charlatans they are, the
Billy Meier UFO case will finally be judged on its own significant merits
and not by prejudiced, non-scientific, sectarian cults such as the "professional"
skeptics.
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