Wednesday, April 23, 2008

UFO Hunters on History Channel

I've been enjoying History Channel's new show "UFO Hunters" for some weeks now, shown on Wednesday nights. The program displays a blend of openmindedness and skepticism that is unusual for television shows. We've had our share of UFO shows that start out with fresh information in the first part of the show only to debunk that same information in the second half. But UFO Hunters is different. Headed up by Bill Byrnes of UFO Magazine, the show features a cast of believers and skeptics who go to different locations around the world each week to research past and present UFO mysteries. You'll never know exactly what they'll find in the various locales they visit, and in some cases, like the Rendelsham Forest/Bentwaters case in England in 1981, they found new eye-witnesses who contributed valuable information. My favorite part of the show is when they attempt to recreate weird effects experienced near UFO encounters with experiments producer Jon Tindle. In one case they were able to stop an engine in the lab with a strong, directed magnetic field duplicating the experience of UFOs affecting aircraft and car engines. In another, they temporarily disabled a personal computer with a blast from a Tesla field coil, showing how a UFO could theoretically disarm the control panel of a fighter aircraft. Some of the more interesting cases they have looked at include Catalina Island in 1980, Iran in 1976, and the recent Stephenville, TX sightings last January. The History Channel is to be commended for putting together such a fresh, educational, and fascinating TV show.