Skepticism about Selected Paranormal Events_____ 105
Five Selected Events
I. The Project Blue Book Investigation
The major criticism of this report is that it dismissed certain hard-toexplain cases about either alien beings or their technology. Incidents that were
hard to explain were not included in the report or were frivolously dealt with,
while those that were easy to explain were included. These charges are made by
J. Allen Hynek, a consultant to Project Blue Book and the author of The UFO
Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. In his 1972 book, Hynek explained his reversal
of support of the findings in Project Blue Book. In both his book and the Condon
Report and UFOs., Hynek (1969, pp. 1-6) was critical of definitions (pp.l and 2)
and methodology (pp. 5 and 6) used by Dr. Edward U. Condon, the principal
writer of much of the report. For example, regarding the above criticisms in the
report and the overall conclusion of the report, Hynek (1969, p.2 of 6) stated:
There are other, more provocative statements buried within the
report. They do not support its overall conclusion that UFO
studies do not offer a fruitful field in which to look for major
scientific discoveries. Examples are such comments as
“unidentified after analysis,” or “conceivable but unlikely misidentification wit [sic] birds, aircraft, etc.
Moreover, and with regard to the famous Condon Report (i.e.. The Scientific
Study o f Unidentified Flying Objects, a 1968 report by Dr. Condon (Director of
the University of Colorado Project), Hynek (1969, p.l of 6) said:
It is unfortunate that, almost certainly, popular history will
henceforth link Dr. Condon’s name with UFOs and only the
arcane histoiy of physics will accord him his true place and
record his brilliant career in contributing to the understanding,
with mathematical elegance, of the nature of the physical
world. These contributions UFOs cannot take away from him,
even though his work with this problem is analogous to that of
a Mozart producing an uninspired pot-boiler, unworthy of his
talents.
Hynek (1969, p. 1 of 6) went on to say that:
While devoted in the large part to exposing hoaxes or
revealing many UFOs as misidentification of common
occurrences, the book leaves the same strange, inexplicable
residue of unknowns which has plagued the U.S. Air Force