Talk:Gulf Breeze UFO incident

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This article has been mentioned by a media organization:

Susan Gerbic (13 January 2023). "Behold the Power of Wikipedia". Skeptical Inquirer.

WikiProject class rating[edit]

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 16:11, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Edit Revert[edit]

I reverted the edit by 199.91.37.33 because it was unsourced and the edit comment indicates that it was original research. Rodney420 (talk) 14:27, 5 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This is a rather small article. There were some problems with it regarding factuality which I fixed but it does remain unsourced. Gingermint (talk) 06:38, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Gulf Breeze UFO Hoax[edit]

During the Gulf Breeze sightings of '87, Larry Lee Laughery and family discovered that the sightings were a hoax and then had a local news agency visit their home to prove it. VHS tapes that recorded the purported sightings revealed backgrounds and other artifacts that led to the conclusion of a UFO sighting hoax. This information was provided by Jeremy Eli Laughery. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 37.231.237.134 (talk) 17:45, 8 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The Ed Walters UFO sightings have never been proven as a hoax. Over the decades, several outside parties crusaded to prove it was a hoax, but their evidence is highly questionable. Just the idea that Ed Walters would "accidentally" leave a UFO model in his former home (when his whole life was immersed in the UFO controversy) is ludicrous. If he was an unprincipled and highly-skilled hoaxer (who continued to maintain his innocence), you would think he would keep his hoaxing secrets under lock and key, rather than leaving a whole intact UFO model in his attic. The fact is, although various "debunkers" have carried out a smear campaign on Walters for years, they have NEVER been able to duplicate the stereoscopic, triangulated photos and footage that Walters captured using MUFON's own elaborate photographic equipment. Charles Austin Miller (talk) 10:42, 18 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Your opinion is noted but not relevant. We go with what WP:RS say instead. --Hob Gadling (talk) 07:24, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

And your opinon is noted but not relevant. We go on living in the real world. 176.20.209.155 (talk) 08:24, 13 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Rewrite[edit]

I will attempt to rewrite this from stub to something brilliant. Or maybe just something less than brilliant but at least complete. I choose this off the stub list from WikiProject Skepticism stubs and had not heard of it before. I have written other UFO related Wikipedia pages including the Luis Elizondo page. I also see that currently this Wikipedia page has only two citations. One from Robert Sheaffer writing in Skeptical Inquirer. I have used Shaeffer's work for other UFO pages (you can't avoid it as he is the expert) and also I write for Skeptical Inquirer and some people say that means I have a COI. So I'm stating that here and it is also on my user page. The edits I make once I'm finished should be looked at with this in mind. I have never seen a UFO and think it would be amazing if there were life visiting Earth from outside our planet. If you have anything you want to add to the Gulf Breeze Wikipedia page before I finish the rewrite, please ping me here so I notice and can include in the rewrite. Sgerbic (talk) 05:19, 3 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Just a note to future researchers - this story is told between two rival newspapers mainly in the years 1987-1989. The Gulf Breeze Sentinel was first to publish Walter's photographs and the Pensacola News Journal mostly published more critical articles that had a angle that slighted the gullibility of the rival paper. I went year by year from 1987 to 2022 (April) and pulled up over thirty good citations from the News Journal and various articles from elsewhere. I could not find one article from the Sentinel. I tried Newspapers.com and NewspaperArchive.com and neither has scanned in the Sentinel. That does not mean that they won't someday be available, papers are being added all the time. So future editors you might want to take another look in the years to come.

I watched a 2021 documentary from Holden Hardman[1] and there was a lot of information included, one reason I mention it is because he went looking for the Sentinel archives and was told that USA Today purchased the newspaper and threw out the old papers. One of the employees collected them out of the dumpster and kept them for a long time until she finally gave them to a law library because they were getting moldy. Hardman went to the law library and looked at the images and they gave him high rez scans of the pages that were about the UFO. There might have been one more place he mentioned has the Sentinel archives. He videos all these interactions with the archivist and the papers and his conversation with the woman who pulled them from the dumpster. So all important for future researchers.

I wrote to Holden Hardman today and asked if he would upload photos from his investigation, mainly the images he took of the UFO model that was found in Walter's old home. Hardman said he would upload the photos soon. I will also ask him if he will share the Sentinel scans giving them a permalink on the Internet somewhere, and then I'll link to them in this article, this way readers will be able to see these articles from the rival newspaper.

I will probably be done with the Wikipedia page rewrite within the week, but will not see the Hardman information for weeks as he is heading out for his honeymoon. Awwwe So there will probably be many adjustments to the page once that happens. So just being upfront and letting everyone know the process of this rewrite. Sgerbic (talk) 05:22, 5 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I am now done, it took awhile as there were so many citations. I'm shocked that this was a stub as it was so interesting and there were a lot. I've done my best with the tone, obviously this page will be revised over time. I have not yet received the photos from Holden Hardman and will add them when I receive them. I could not see all the pages on Google Books for Dave Barry, what I read was hilarious, what a terrific writer he is. Barry said at the beginning of his essay that he would give his impression of what he thinks happened, but that was left out. So maybe someone else with a copy will add that in.Sgerbic (talk) 06:07, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]