The author, who does not believe in bigfoot in the slightest, uses this information to cast doubt that there is any validity to the UFO phenomenon either. But how do we read this information? If bigfoot and UFO sightings are so well correlated, this suggests a relationship. How would this fact be explained?Graph from FreakonomicsThe relationship is strong and positive. States with more U.F.O. sightings also have more Bigfoot sightings. In fact, six of the top ten U.F.O. and Bigfoot states are the same: Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Alaska, Wyoming, and Colorado. Two states, Washington and Oregon, are among both categories’ top five.
UPDATE: Taking a look at some of the reactions to this on the NYT blog, I ran across some startling things. One commenter said:
Maybe one should become slightly less sure that Bigfoot is not real, bumping up the subjective probability slightly on the thought that Bigfoots travel in UFOs (possibly as pets) and that goes a long way toward explaining away the lack of physical evidence (they don’t leave much behind).And another said:
The commonality of these witnesses is gullibility, ignorance, and a desire to be someone more important than they are. What the states with high incidences of “sightings” have in common is high incidences of the aforementioned human.What's most startling is that there were any comments like the first one, and that there weren't more like the second.
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14 comments:
Honestly I'm not buying at all a correlation between bigfoot/UFOs. If people want to explore that, more power to them. I just can't. I truly feel if bigfoot is a real flesh and blood creature, there's nothing paranormal about it. As far as i'm concerned bigfoot is a mammal, not from another dimension or from "outer space" for a lack of a better term. This is coming from someone who has seen a UFO.
I don't want to go there either, but we may be lead there by the evidence. I can't see where foreclosing one option or another does us much good, though. I'm going to keep taking evidence whatever it looks like to me right now. Who knows how the future will prove out?
It might just be an eerie coincidence, but did you notice a CP making a comment on that blog?
How could I be in two places at once? Flying saucer, I suppose. ; )
Many assumptions ahead watch your step. Let's go with the idea that Bigfoot is a pet or passenger of the UFO guys. Let's also assume that the commonly reported aliens "the greys" are what Bigfoot is familiar with. I wonder what would happen if you placed a costume of one of "the greys" out in a research area with your camera trap ready and waiting. Maybe this has been tried, I don't know. If not familiarity maybe curiosity (because it doesn't look like us) would bring Bigfoot in.
"Anonymous" has made some sensible assumptions and arrived at a practical attempt to get good information. Nice! grammy
That is a quite an interesting idea anonymous, although I must say if we take a step back it does sound completely absurd! :)
I'm not on board the UFO/Bigfoot idea either but from a scientific point of view, Anonymous' idea is well worth a try - if for no other reason than to begin ruling out UFO involvement.
Without an R-squared value to go by, you can't actually see how well the correlation between the two variable fits. All the graph does is give you a regression line, without telling you how well it fits the graph mathematically and statistically, which is what really matters.
ALSO, it is important to remember that correlation does not equal causation.
I reckon this is a fluff piece, done for laughs.
Ok, I didn't get most of that. It's like you're speaking a different language! But I do read you on the "fluff piece," and I don't think that's the way the text reads. His final paragraph and question to his readers would be different if it were a joke, since it's at least arguable that he expects his readers to be educated in economics and statistics and all. He shouldn't be asking them what they think of it without a "tell" to let them know he thinks its a joke.
And consider these paragraphs:
"Could the tools of economics help us get to the bottom of the U.F.O. phenomenon? That’s what fellow economist Claudia Williamson and I are hoping in our latest project that uses economics to analyze the American flying saucer phenomenon.
We’re still in the early data-collecting stages of our project; but in doing so we’ve come across an intriguing pattern."
Sounds like they are doing something more than a fluff piece. I doubt they expect to bolster the case of either UFOs or bigfoot, but if they are going to be legit at all, they have to be unbiased.
"Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Alaska, Wyoming, and Colorado."
Now what do all of those places have in common? Large areas of low population density and lots of wilderness, hence much less light pollution. Lots of people spending time outside hunting, fishing or making a living outdoors. Maybe I'm on the wrong track...
So, if there is a correlation between Bigfoot and UFOs, then there should also be a correlation between individual Bigfoot "hotspots" and UFO sightings.
Many of you are Bigfoot researchers who spend a lot of time in certain places, investigating sightings. Do your favorite research places have a disproportionate number of UFO sightings? Have there been ANY recent UFO sightings near your favorite research places?
Obviously all this is anecdotal, but it would probably be easy to take BFRO's maps of Bigfoot sightings in specific states, then plot out UFO sightings in those same states, and see if there was a pattern.
That's a good question. I consulted the MUFON Case Management System and found that, for the last five years at least, there are no UFO reports in the two counties that contain my research area. In contrast to this, there are 13 UFO reports in the county where I live (and there are no credible bigfoot encounter reports here). Since I live outside of Washington DC, which has long been a UFO sighting hotspot, I'm not surprised about the sightings here.
I also found 6 reports near Richmond for this time period. It looks like the big cities are producing a good number of the UFO reports in Virginia.
With bigfoot, it's the rural areas, not the big cities (though we did have the one case outside Richmond).
So my research would not suggest a relationship between UFOs and bigfoot. But I know of a couple other researchers (in different states) who do have bigfoot sightings in the same area as they've had UFO sightings too.
Perhaps the reason there appears to be a correlation is an emotional one from the public. The same types of people who would report a bigfoot would also report a UFO.
I believe that a lot of areas that appear to have greater squatch activity is simply because they have more active researchers.
I bet you if you did a study of ghosts and bigfoot you would also find an apparent correlation
I'm willing to try the little grey guy as bait...any volunteers to wear the costume?
:)
Actually you folks gave me a great idea for a future game cam project. A little different but the thought was sparked here.
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