UFO Hunters Review - an Embarrassment to UFOlogy

By Charlette LeFevre and Philip Lipson
Seattle UFO Paranormal Group
2/6/08

If one thought UFO Hunters on the History Channel defined UFO researchers, rest assured they do not.

Aside from a basic recounting of the story of the Maury Island Incident, the first show of this series is about how four guys can do a shallow job of not only research but investigating. But perhaps that was their intent, to disinform by embarrassing themselves and the field of UFOlogy.

The best that can be said about the new UFO Hunters show on the Maury Island sighting was that they used interesting fonts and had a few decent graphics.

The spokesmen for the show, Bill Birnes and his geek gang basically got overly excited by trivial matters such as diving into the frigid waters of Puget Sound to collect ordinary rocks, and finding airplane parts that had already been found and reported upon six months earlier by the Seattle UFO/Paranormal Group.

What they neglected could fill volumes. There was hardly a mention of Kenneth Arnold whose sighting over Mt. Rainier is when media coined the term “flying saucer” and his investigation of the the Maury Island incident. There was also no mention of Fred Crisman, a key character and witness to the case who had a notorious background in CIA matters and had been linked to the Kennedy Assassination.

Unfortunately, the “UFO Hunters seemed to focus on a “gee-whiz” approach, pretty much neglecting the importance of the story which had featured the first appearance of the Men in Black, involved one of the first disinformation campaigns by the military and a mysterious informant to the local papers and much more. There was no mention of the work of Maury Island researcher Kenn Thomas and no interviews with any persons who have historically studied the case.

If they were going for ratings, they failed there too. A few reenactments would have helped. But understand obviously the show was about them, not the history and obviously this was low budget.

Instead we get to hear Pat Uskert’s complain about his dive into the cold water’s of Puget Sound for a futile look for slag along the miles and miles of Maury Island’s shores. His dedication though is steadfast as he states the importance of the case and that “No stone should go unturned”. I can only imagine Bill Birnes yelling at Pat to keep looking until he comes up with something!

One diver, with no information or indication where the slag is, no sonar data as reference, sifting through the rocks with his hands. What are the chances he would find evidence of slag that may or may not have been dumped sixty years ago? But behold, Pat surfaces with a quarter size black rock for the crew!

Easily mistaken for evidence we later see Ted “Mr. MIT” Acworth stating this is only igneous rock as he casually tosses the rock from hand to hand. No chemical spectrometer lab testing needed for this sample! No siree!

Its nice to know fine upstanding graduates of our finest Universities using their utmost skills in making such academic assessments.

I am left to consider if Ted is making a slight dig at Pat. Perhaps but
it is possible that Pat Uskert is still diving in Puget Sound as he “..overturns every stone”.

If you knew nothing about Maury Island, and were half asleep by the TV, they might have finished the job for you, along with providing a couple scenic pictures of Puget Sound.

Not surprising, the show failed on many levels. There was little information, no entertainment, and boring participants who they themselves did not seem to enjoy their roles. But I guess after hearing Bill Birnes bark so much, I guess I too would be annoyed.

Our recommendation is check any case first hand with material in books and on the internet - it will be vastly more rewarding.