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Message: [QUOTE="Get a Job, post: 3299754, member: 9775"] I want to state at the top that I am not an expert in any of the topics involved in this discussion. If I make a claim, it is an opinion or educated guess unless I cite a source. The premise that reports are the same across the world and over time is not true. Whether you are talking ghosts, aliens, or other paranormal phenomena, you will read widely varying claims. Granted, there are many elements that are common to numerous reports, but this is hardly evidence that the reports must be true. People have been discussing things they don't understand for thousands of years, and many memes have become part of the collective consciousness. I suspect this accounts for most of the commonality of reports. Another factor that leads to similar accounts from observers is that they witnessed a real event that is completely natural and/or man-made. It only goes awry when people begin to attribute causes that are not backed up by evidence. This is likely the case in many/most reports of UFOs. Indeed, a lot of UFO sightings are quite credibly and unspectacularly explained after the fact. Slightly off topic, but still relevant: I think people tend to underplay the possibility that many claims made in reports of paranormal experiences simply didn't happen. People often flat lie, or, even when they believe what they say, they can be mistaken or reporting a hallucination. For me it comes down to: What is more likely? That our planet is infested with spirits and aliens, or that people lie, hallucinate, and make false attributions to real (non-paranormal) occurences? [/QUOTE]

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