Uploaded April 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Robert Sheaffer, one of the leading skeptical investigators of UFOs, will discuss the history of the phenomenon (including an update about a famous case, now solved), recent news, and possible future directions. He'll recall his mentor, colleague, and friend, Philip J. Klass (1919-2005), generally considered the top skeptical UFO investigator of his time. Klass was a founding member of CSICOP (now called CSI, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), was one of the original conveners of NCAS in 1987, and was an important long-time mentor to the organization. Also, what was it like to be a skeptic in the Washington, DC area in the 1970s? Sheaffer can speak from personal experience.
Robert Sheaffer is a writer with a lifelong interest in astronomy and the question of life on other worlds. The author of UFO Sightings (1998), his latest book is Bad UFOs (2016), which is also the name of his blog that casts a skeptical eye on claims about UFOs. He was a founding member (with Philip J. Klass and James Oberg) of the UFO Subcommittee of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and was a longtime fellow of that organization. Mr. Sheaffer is also a founding director and past Chairman of the Bay Area Skeptics, a local skeptics' group in the San Francisco Bay area. He has appeared on many radio and TV programs, and his writings and reviews have appeared in such diverse publications as OMNI, Scientific American, Spaceflight, Astronomy, The Humanist, Free Inquiry, Reason, and others. His "Psychic Vibrations" column in Skeptical Inquirer kept readers informed of weird developments in the "science" of UFOs, psychic research, cryptozoology, etc from 1977 to 2017. Mr. Sheaffer lives near San Diego, California, having most recently worked as a data communications engineer in Silicon Valley.
Views expressed in this presentation are those of the presenter and not necessarily those of the National Capital Area Skeptics (NCAS).
Robert Sheaffer, one of the leading skeptical investigators of UFOs, will discuss the history of the phenomenon (including an update about a famous case, now solved), recent news, and possible future directions. He'll recall his mentor, colleague, and friend, Philip J. Klass (1919-2005), generally considered the top skeptical UFO investigator of his time. Klass was a founding member of CSICOP (now called CSI, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), was one of the original conveners of NCAS in 1987, and was an important long-time mentor to the organization. Also, what was it like to be a skeptic in the Washington, DC area in the 1970s? Sheaffer can speak from personal experience.
Robert Sheaffer is a writer with a lifelong interest in astronomy and the question of life on other worlds. The author of UFO Sightings (1998), his latest book is Bad UFOs (2016), which is also the name of his blog that casts a skeptical eye on claims about UFOs. He was a founding member (with Philip J. Klass and James Oberg) of the UFO Subcommittee of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and was a longtime fellow of that organization. Mr. Sheaffer is also a founding director and past Chairman of the Bay Area Skeptics, a local skeptics' group in the San Francisco Bay area. He has appeared on many radio and TV programs, and his writings and reviews have appeared in such diverse publications as OMNI, Scientific American, Spaceflight, Astronomy, The Humanist, Free Inquiry, Reason, and others. His "Psychic Vibrations" column in Skeptical Inquirer kept readers informed of weird developments in the "science" of UFOs, psychic research, cryptozoology, etc from 1977 to 2017. Mr. Sheaffer lives near San Diego, California, having most recently worked as a data communications engineer in Silicon Valley.
Views expressed in this presentation are those of the presenter and not necessarily those of the National Capital Area Skeptics (NCAS).
