TWILIGHT OF THE SKEPTICS

The Real Reason Skeptics Object to UFOs

Ufology demands healthy skepticism, but some take it so far they rebel against the fact that scientific anomalies can and do exist.

Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, where a flying saucer was spotted in November 2006.

Let’s revisit the Chicago O’Hare UFO, because there’s an important lesson here that offers insight into professional UFO and “alien” skepticism.

It came to me as an epiphany of sorts, related to the debate Robert Sheaffer and I had last year about the O’Hare UFO, and once I understood it, it became clear how it pretty much applied to many in the skeptic community, which assures us — they are adamant on this point — that all of these crazy UFO sightings and stories have a perfectly good explanation.

Even though they all don’t.

‘A spinning disc’

For about 15–20 minutes late on the afternoon of Nov. 7, 2006 over United Airlines Gate C17 in Concourse C, a spinning, grey disc was observed by pilots, ground crew, mechanics, and other witnesses. Because of how it was positioned over the airport, it was not visible from the tower. It did not appear on radar.

Witnesses described it variously as between six and 24 feet in diameter — an actual flying saucer. Some said…