Like a numb seamstress using a blunt needle, truly a case of missing the point.
...or Why Dave Furlotte Challenged Us.


Although we were not told and have only recently discovered it, it appears that Mr. Dave Furlotte challenged us on our rebuttal to his editorial from a while back.


For those that don't remember, (see above) Mr. Furlotte went on the air and gave "his take on" the state of the mired-down terrible nonsense that is modern UFOlogy.  According to Mr. Furlotte, the biggest issue in UFOlogy today seems to be the horrible problem with UFOlogy being sent to the darkened cellars of other nasty little bits of study called "The Paranormal".  This put it in the realm of ghosts, werewolves, bigfoot, Elvis sightings and all...  He went on to say that UFOlogy is head an shoulders above these dread tabloid topics because UFOlogical witnesses are "better" witnesses to events...


To quote the latest from Mr. Furlotte, he had "spoke(n) about how Ufology was being watered down by being lumped in with some of the lesser credible items of parapsychology in such a way that it muddies the reports and thereby places them in a category of disbelief".


Although, we too do not put too much stock into the idea that "The King of Rock and Roll" is still wandering the face of the planet, in his latest rebuttal (click here to read this), Mr. Furlotte made it sound like we were the never-ceasing protectors of this one phenomena as he was misinterpreted about a cover-all paranormal slam!


Mr. Furlotte missed a couple of key points of our editorial.


#1: He did not simply "slam" Elvis Sightings in his original editorial, he slammed everything non-UFOlogical.  Please re-read his original comment and maybe let us know if we're wrong here.


#2: We agreed with him that having to go to the local bookstore's "Occult" or "New Age" section to find the latest UFO book (or, as we pointed out, ghost book, crypto book, etc.) was not too great but, explained that this was because, to small establishments, "Weird Stuff" (which the "masses" see UFOs, ghosts and cryptozoology) is weird stuff... Much like history is history and as much as we *all* kvetch over having to push a seemingly unrelated book out of the way to get to *our* book, it works the same way for a historian trying to get a book on The War of 1812 when they have to push away the book on Vietnam to get to it.  Mr. Furlotte seemed to think this 'issue' only affected UFOlogists. (We pointed out that we're sure "Occultists" and "New Agers" probably feel the same way having to push the UFO book out of *their* way to get to *their* book!)


Mr. Furlotte's bookstore, should he ever own a normal(?) one would be one of the most concise yet, one has to wonder... Sure, UFOlogy would have it's section but would he have separate sections for Cryptozoology? Ghost research?  Crystals? Would his historical section be as concise as we (both authors are amateur historians) would want to see it with separate categories for all?  Would his "Educational Section" be separated? Goodness!  Mathematics and Science could have entire floors of the bookstore to themselves!


#3: The concept of "valid witnesses" is just wrong.  All witnesses are valid in one way or another.  They may not be all pilots and police officers but, it doesn't make their report any less important. Also, he made it sound like pilots, military people and police officers *only* saw UFOs and none of that "other" claptrap which is honestly, laughable.


#4:  Mr Furlotte also said that because of these other awful studies and books, the sceptdebunkers like CSICOP and *real* science were shunning UFOlogical studies... which, in our opinion, is like saying "You!  You are all lesser beings!! Bow down to the Great Ones!" when it comes to being taken seriously... Ribbit.


So, Mr. Furlotte strikes again and this time, it's more Elvis jokes and granted he included one (only one) serious question...


We had mentioned in our first editorial about this that many other "Paranormal" events coincide and could possibly be related to UFOlogy.  Mr. Furlotte, with much gusto and much mocking of Elvis and Twinkies, said "Oh yeah? Where?"


Well to deny the possibility of  paranormal or "psychic" components within some UFO cases is to deny *all* cases that involve what is known in the UFO community as "high strangeness" and to indeed deny any connection to UFO abduction reports some which are very similar to poltergeist cases!  Perhaps Mr Furlotte is very selective in his research or simply needs to read/learn more about these cases.


So you see, Mr. Furlotte, like it or not, you might just have to eat those Twinkies after all. Yes, Virginia, there might just be a relationship between some elements of UFOlogy and other realms of the paranormal too!


What's even more interesting is Mr. Furlotte's willingness to state about shady psychics, Elvis sightings and the like... which, as we all know, never does anything this heinous happen in UFOlogy!


Whoops... let's look in this back yard, shall we?


Lessee... one lounge singer who sleeps with reptilians, one purple-robed lawyer, one dead alien in a freezer, one fellow that thinks that the royal family are devil worshiping, baby eating, reptilian aliens, the self-professed "worlds greatest psychic" and lawsuit bringer on UFO Watchdog is also here!  My, what a nasty backyard indeed! One might clean it up before one starts commenting on other's.  Just a though, mind you.


But, again, that's just our take on it.


To his credit, Mr. Furlotte did admit that the volume of evidence about Crypto and Ghost Research does justify study of their own, he still manages to come across like those other muddied types of study are lesser than *his*.  Right now, it would be nice to hear if Mr. Furlotte still believes if the other studies of the paranormal still are a "drag" on UFOlogy, if he still feels the same way about bookstores, if he still feels that UFO witnesses must be of a certain calibre are they consistently "better" witnesses of equal calibre that witness non-UFO unexplained phenomena and lastly, does he truly put Cryptozoology and the study of Ghosts and Hauntings in the same bed as Elvis sightings?  One wonders if The King would be amused... I guess Mr. Furlotte can ask him when he buys his snack-cakes at the Seven-Eleven.

Once again, the opinions expressed are those of the authors Sue Darroch and Matthew J. Didier and do not necessarily reflect the views of either ParaResearchers Of Ontario nor The Toronto Ghosts And Hauntings Research Society.

Rebuttal as always is welcomed...........