Chasing UFOs is a new series on The National Geographic Channel.  I have a relatively mild interest in the UFO phenomenon that has perpetrated itself since, at least, the end of World War II.  The Chasing UFOs series focuses on three UFO chasers who seemingly come across UFOs each Friday at 10PM (Eastern).  That makes me a bit suspicious of this series right there.  Anyway, the three people come from a variety of backgrounds.  Ben McGee is a Physical Scientist who is the skeptic in the series.  He seems to catch a bit of flack from the other two on the show.  Erin Ryder is the so-called "undecided" in the series.  But, I notice that she is leaning more and more in the "UFO believer" category.  There is no specific background for Erin Ryder.  She is a noted adventurer and explorer of sorts.  She is attractive and tough all at the same time.  The true UFO believer is James Foxx, the purported UFOlogist of the series.  He is a bit over the top in my opinion.  If a star twinkles in the night, he tends to automatically insinuate it is a UFO.  James has been chasing UFOs for over twenty years.  So, this is truly a quest for him.  I find the entire series a bit interesting and amusing.  They show some UFOs that are, quite simply, unexplainable.  But, it is hard to take this series seriously when each show finds a UFO in virtually every episode.  Of course, the argument can be made that if there were no UFOs, there would be no show.  I suppose that is true also.  The question then is how credible can this series be?  I have no answer for that question.

I place myself with Erin Ryder in the "undecided" category with leaning toward skeptic.  Now, having said that, I have my own experience with a UFO.  In September of 1989, I was on a trip to a place called South Lafourche, Louisiana.  I was going to pick up my insane brother who was working as a roughneck at an oil drilling site in that area.  He found out our mother was right; this work was too tough for him.  So, he called wanting a ride back home to Mobile, AL.  I arrived in South Lafourche about 11PM on a Friday night that September in 1989.  I picked my brother up and headed for the long trip back to Mobile.  After about ten minutes of driving, I realized I had missed the turnoff that would have taken me to I-10 East.  So, I turned around and after about ten more minutes of driving, I realized we were lost.  Cussing myself and blaming my brother, I stopped on an embankment off the two-lane highway to read my map.  Trying to read the map and listening to my brother tell me we should have taken the last road on the right, I noticed a bright, blueish light just to the north of us.  We both saw it at the same time.  We were witnessing some sort of cylindrical object in the sky giving off a blue light.  It would hover to about a mile up in the air to about, maybe, half a mile.  It would alternate this pattern constantly, up and down, for about two or three minutes.  It did not make a sound.  Just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone.  We looked at each other in disbelief.  My  brother shouted, pointing  to a sign for I-10.  I took off for the interstate in record time.

I admit, that incident made me think about the whole UFO issue.  But, as the years have gone by, I am still not sure what I saw that night.  I still think it was something the military was experimenting with that night.  My brother, to this day, is a hardcore UFO believer due to that incident.  I don't recall us even discussing UFOs prior to that night.  But, there it was upon us.  I don't know if the "Chasing UFOs" series adds or subtracts from the UFO issue.  I think they bring up good points.  But, even with the above incident, I would have to see hard evidence before I become a UFO believer.