UFO HUNTERS - Dark Presence

History Channel - Original Air Date: 10/29/09

According to Bill, UFO reports of orbs are increasing worldwide.  The show plays some video, but it's the usual blurry lights in the sky -- and some seem to behave like flares.  A guest investigator, Ted, rules out "earth lights" because of the duration of some sightings at "Site X."  He believes the orbs can harm plants, livestock, and perhaps even people.  He also thinks they have malicious intent.  The team gets the usual type of witness stories from cops and other people.  They bring in a UFO light expert, who opines that some video is not flares or other known lights.  From Phoenix, they go to Kokomo, IN, for more orb reports.  A MUFOn member says orange balls of light (OBOL) have been seen for years; he believes the balls are intelligent.  A witness describes seeing orbs and then having them haunt her dreams.  The group and a local paranormal group set up IR cameras to try and catch something - theorizing orbs give of IR and therefore may be attracted by it. (?!) They claim to have caught "orbs from the spirit realm" with this technique previously.  (Seeing their examples, I think they need to become better acquainted with the limitations and quirks of their photographic systems; which is to say, I ain't buying.)  But all they find during this stakeout is dust, stars, and aircraft.  No surprise there.

After gathering many stories, the UFO-H team goes to Phoenix for more poking around.  A woman named Christine believes orbs are dark presences that lurk around archeological sites; she's photographed some.  But her "orb" photo in a thunderstorm looks like another camera glitch to me - probably some kind of reflection.  She also claims to have heard voices when she saw an orb.  (For me, this does not add to her credibility.)  She woke up on her couch, believing it to be a dream until a neighbor reported seeing the same thing.  Jeff Willis feels he has a relationship with the orbs he photographs; the show describes him as one fo the best known UFO videographers in the US.  But his orb photos look like flares and balloons (as in the Mexico hoax -- see UFOs Over Earth), to me; I find anyone with such frequent encounters suspicious.  When Jeff's footage is analyzed, the "expert" thinks that some lights are generated by a single triangular craft; but the analysis makes me doubt this "expert's" objectivity and expertise.  He suggests connecting the orbs to local petroglyphs.  They head out with the publisher of Ancient Times -- which sounds like another pseudo-science magazine -- to look for connections at local ruins.  This "expert's" analysis of the glyphs quickly convinces me that he knows little of archeology or art history; he seems just another buff of the supernatural, looking for science to hang his theories on.  He believes the orbs are extra terrestrials and were misinterpreted as divine by the native Americans.

Kevin points out that there are a lot of theories here, but no science; he hopes that in the next 50 years, we may figure out this phenomena.  He explains the increase of videos and pictures because of the increase of people having cameras with them (as in phones).  Bill concludes that events are "quickening," and we had better shape up and pay attention or face the consequences.

One of the consequences, it seems, might be the cancellation of this show (see note about the "wrap up" in the "Area 52" episode).  If this is the end, I suspect it will be because week after week, this show has presented very similar stories but very little actual evidence or investigation.  Ghost Hunters is pretty much the same from week to week, but at least they have a set of pseudo-scientific standards that they apply to the evidence they gather -- rather than just jumping to the wildest conclusions, which has been this show's forte.  Though I signed a petition to save it, I won't be surprised if UFO Hunters has crashed (somewhere near Roswell) at last.