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Forgive me if this has been discussed, but I did a quick search and didn't see a thread or even a post on it.

You'd think as often as Scouts go camping, there would be more cases of Scouts reporting sightings of UFOs. There was a famous (at the time) case in 1952 from West Palm Beach, FL of Scoutmaster Sonny DesVergers claiming to have been "attacked" by a UFO (see, for example, https://www.nicap.org/bhoax.htm). The Air Force investigator concluded that that particular case was a hoax. What got me thinking about Scouts and UFOs was a recent episode of "Project Blue Book" on the History Channel titled "The Scoutmaster" which was very loosely based on the DesVergers case.

So has anyone here seen a UFO in the woods? Did you report it to the authorities? If so, were you believed? Was there any follow-up?

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Having spent the teen Scout years in 29 Palms in the fifties and sixties, I heard a lot of interesting stories and saw some odd things in the sky.  But, even though I slept on our porch during the summer and watched the sky for hours, I never saw something that could not have a fairly simple explanation.  On the other hand, there were a few pretty bizarre light activities that were obviously NOT from the marine base activity, mostly out over Joshua Tree and should I suggest it, the direction of Giant Rock. 

On backpacking trips I have definitely seen a meteor shoot along the horizon, and scouts were weirded out by things at times that were a little unusual, though not impossible to suggest a cause. 

But, I for one am not so egotistical as think that we mere humans are the only possible "intelligent (?)" life in the universe.  After all, I am sure I am not the only one to have noted that photos of the extreme depths of space and the edge of our own galaxy is like looking at a closeup of our own eye's depth.  So, perhaps there are bigger and deeper eyes into which we may sometime stare.   (play Outer Limits)   is?HF9fji73EMeq7Ttlnov8dZ5PFsnX2MiB4aTLTZiQ0Bs&height=238 

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It is quite likely that life exists somewhere else in the vast universe, and is equally likely they have not visited us.

In the unlikely event some super species has found us, and is advanced enough to travel to our little speck of stardust will surely be advanced enough to observe us undetected.

Over the ages unknown celestial events have been explained by humans as gods, or the supernatural and now aliens. Over time we have learned the planets are not gods, eclipses and comets are not "signs", the auroras are not spectors. We humans have a tendency to invent other beings as a way to end our ignorance.  It is arrogance really.

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Why does someone have to be egotistical to be skeptical? Many atheists believe in other intelligent life. Being skeptical of other intelligent life existance is egotistical; being skeptical of gods existence is, what?

Man by nature seeks answers. But wouldn’t seeking answers base on a vivid imagination be considered egotistical? The History station lost my respect long ago when it started promoting UFOs as real. As a history nut, I just wanted to learn more history as presented by facts.

Barry

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I guess it depends on what you mean by a UFO. If you mean it in its literal sense, ie something in the sky you can’t explain then yes. I once saw something green zoom across the sky. And I’ve never read anything that explains what it was. However I don’t believe it was an alien. It was probably just one of the more rare types of meteor or similar that occur from time to time.

 

If by UFO you mean something I suspect to be alien life then certainly not. And I would be very surprised if this planet has ever been visited given what we understand about the speed of light and the distances involved.

 

thats not to say I don’t think life is out there. Given the mind boggling scale of the universe I think it more likely than not that life (whether intelligent or not) is out there. I just doubt we’ve ever encountered it.

 

If we did though.... I’ve never been one to hang on the word of the 24 hour news channels. But if the headline tonight were we’ve encountered life elsewhere.... I don’t think you could tear me away!

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54 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Why does someone have to be egotistical to be skeptical? Many atheists believe in other intelligent life. Being skeptical of other intelligent life existance is egotistical; being skeptical of gods existence is, what?

Man by nature seeks answers. But wouldn’t seeking answers base on a vivid imagination be considered egotistical? The History station lost my respect long ago when it started promoting UFOs as real. As a history nut, I just wanted to learn more history as presented by facts.

Barry

Now Barry, you need to stop poking us with your stick of rational reasoning.  Some of us are fragile you know😩.

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Days after Apollo 11 lunar landing on July 20, 1969, our returning Philmont contingent stopped at the Air Force Museum which was adjacent to Wright Patterson AFB.

As impressive as all the displays were (B-36, XB-70!), I wanted more -- Blue Book. I asked every officer I saw on the museum grounds for a real tour of Wright Patterson. 

At the end of 1969, the Air Force terminated Project Blue Book at Wright Patterson. If pesky scouts, like me, were a contributing reason, it was redacted from their final report.

That is as close as I came to UFO's in scouts.

:)

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1 hour ago, skeptic said:

Now Barry, you need to stop poking us with your stick of rational reasoning.  Some of us are fragile you know😩.

You have no idea how often my family has said that.

My son wants to put on my gravestone “Death makes complete sense”.

I’m not sure if that’s true.🤔

Barry

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6 hours ago, Eagledad said:

Why does someone have to be egotistical to be skeptical? Many atheists believe in other intelligent life. Being skeptical of other intelligent life existance is egotistical; being skeptical of gods existence is, what?

Man by nature seeks answers. But wouldn’t seeking answers base on a vivid imagination be considered egotistical? The History station lost my respect long ago when it started promoting UFOs as real. As a history nut, I just wanted to learn more history as presented by facts.

Barry

I agree. THC is no longer about history but about entertainment.

I had high hopes for "Project Blue Book" when I first heard about it, but after watching a couple of episodes, I was sorely disappointed when they decided to go all "X-Files" on me.

As if sticking to the facts wouldn't have been interesting enough.

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The "Scoutmaster" is wearing blue corded garrison cap and a blue "Merit Badge" sash ?  Copyright infringement avoided?

Yes, I will admit to seeing (and NOT hearing, that was significant to me at the time)  a UFO more than once in the night sky.  No , I did not report them (to whom?) . The instances were not threatening in any way, but even with my aviation experience, I could not account for the sights.  No time to get a camera up, no time to do anything except say "look at that !" to my companion....

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Researched them. But never saw evidence in the field. All flying objects were identifiable.

As to the likelihood of extraterrestrial life (especially the intelligent kind) ... well so far the only creatures producing measurable signals of their existence to far parts of the universe are homosapiens. Life in general here seems to produce an oddly oxygen rich atmosphere, but it's hard to tell who would have the tech to see it if they haven't even built tech of leaky radio signals. It's equally possible, however, that they did build that tech years or epochs before we were even able to receive and translate it. They have since learned (for reasons known only to them) how to not spill traces of themselves into the "great beyond."

So, until more evidence is gathered, the notion that there's something out there has the same odds of being true as the notion that we are very much alone.

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17 hours ago, SSScout said:

The "Scoutmaster" is wearing blue corded garrison cap and a blue "Merit Badge" sash ?  Copyright infringement avoided?

Yes, I will admit to seeing (and NOT hearing, that was significant to me at the time)  a UFO more than once in the night sky.  No , I did not report them (to whom?) . The instances were not threatening in any way, but even with my aviation experience, I could not account for the sights.  No time to get a camera up, no time to do anything except say "look at that !" to my companion....

Just FYI, I watched the episode and I believe the kid in the pics is the SPL (although in the episode, they never identified his rank or office). The SM is not included in the pics I posted because none of the online pics show him in uniform.

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