We Are Not Alone! -- According to Stan Romanek

A man named Stan Romanek has come forward in Denver, CO claiming that he has captured video of an extraterrestrial being. Specifically, he thought he had a peeping tom, so he just whipped out his camera, set it up, and walked away. Imagine his surprise when he came back and found an alien peeking in his window. You can see the Larry King Live video here.

Stan Romanek himself was on the show along with a film analyst, a paranormal researcher, and a couple of other people that didn’t talk much. In a stunning development, the film analyst is convinced of the authenticity and the paranormal researcher/professional douche bag thinks its a hoax. Larry King is as abrupt and graceless as ever, but he makes sure to ask Romanek hard-hitting questions like "Why is it just comes to light now?" and "’Your case’ meaning what?" The discussion is useless.

If I wasn’t crystal clear above, this case reeks of hoax. Stan claims to have shown his video to a number of "serious scientists" whom he says support his ideas, but doesn’t name any of them. He briefed the Rocky Mountain News, the local newspaper with incentives to promote his story rather than quash it and without the resources necessary to debunk his story properly even if it wanted to. Moreover, he insists that he has mountains of evidence of his alien encounter, but his serious scientists aren’t letting him release it so that they can have the chance to authenticate it. My hoax-o-meter really went off when he announced that he’s trying to create an "Extraterrestrial Affairs" office in Denver!

As hoaxes go, this isn’t even a good one. He’s made a moderately clever video and roped in some friends and "experts" to create a stir. He’s claiming to have more evidence, but isn’t releasing it in the hopes of drawing out his requisite 15 minutes of fame to fifteen and a half. If he really wanted people to believe, he’d be submitting his evidence to government officials for authentication and going to the press and independent experts. He certainly wouldn’t be hiding it from the very people he’s ostensibly trying to convince.

I’m actually willing to believe in extraterrestrials if there is persuasive evidence, but the burden of proof is extremely high, and these hoaxes are unfortunate because they only serve to push the bar higher. All this hand-waving and attention-whoring isn’t doing anyone any good at all, least of all Stan Romanek.

The best part of the whole interview is the worthless "reenactment" video that CNN insists on showing during the show. I’ll save you some trouble; here are the money shots:

Be sure to notice the reenactment notice in bold in the top right-hand corner. Ridiculous. Really, guys, you don’t need to make fun of Mr. Romanek here. He does a fine job of that all by himself.

And here’s a capture from Romanek’s video. Make sure to note the terrible lighting and graininess, also consistent with a bad hoax: