Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

The discovery that there are other intelligent beings in the universe — and, as a corollary, that life and intelligence can and has evolved at locations other than Earth — and that, moreover, these beings are visiting Earth on a semi-regular basis in spacecraft that seem to defy the laws of physics as we now know them, would unquestionably rank as the greatest discovery in the history of science, and most definitely is an extraordinary claim. Therefore, in order for me to accept it, you must produce extraordinary evidence.
What might this evidence be? For one thing, the aliens themselves. Not some story where someone says that someone says that someone says that they saw aliens, but the actual physical aliens themselves, where I and other trustworthy and competent scientists and individuals can study and communicate with them.

The burden of proof is on the positive. If you are making an extraordinary claim, the burden is on you to produce the extraordinary evidence to prove that you are correct; the burden is not on me to prove that you are wrong. Furthermore, you must prove your case by providing the direct and compelling evidence for it; you can't prove it by eliminating a few token explanations and then crying, “Well, what else can it be?”

In summary, I consider it likely that there are advanced alien races somewhere “out there,” and I remain open to the possibility that, unlikely as it may seem, one or more such races could be visiting Earth. But if so, where are they? If they possess the technology capable of traveling interstellar distances, then they are so far ahead of us that there can be no reason for them to be afraid of us. If they wish to hide from us, they could do so easily; if they don't wish to, then they have no need to play games with us and only show themselves to a few unwitting individuals. Let them reveal themselves to humanity at large, to our scientists, and to me…’’

Alan Hale
Astronomer Alan Hale is co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp, director of the Southwest Institute for Space Research in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, and author of Everybody's Comet: A Layman’s Guide to Comet Hale-Bopp.

By Alan Hale

Labeled Phenomena One and Phenomena Two by a man who spent several years recording and logging thousands of hours of NASA space shuttle transmissions, this historic footage and the story that lay behind its discovery can now be revealed.

On March 11, 2000, in front of an assembled audience of UFO enthusiasts and the media, evidence was presented that would appear to indicate the existence of, not one, but two types of unknown extraterrestrial life forms.