Witness Sketch
A triangle case from Rochester, New York. Unfortunately, only one of the witnesses was willing to go on record, even anonymously.
Please read the redacted ROI for the details.
Report of investigation – 18-008 FB1 New York
Report of investigation 18-004-CE4
An interesting CE case from Russia. Unfortunately, we are unable to fully authenticate the CAT scan shown in the report. If you have the knowledge to do so, please contact us.
Some questions answered – API’s methodology
I was recently asked two questions:
- what is our general methodology?
- How do we differ from other organizations?
In this post I am going to address the first of these questions. A near future post will answer the second.
Case 18-008 Reported
The report is from the 21st of February 2018 in Western New York state, USA. Multiple witnesses saw a triangle shaped object. If you saw something similar around that date, please contact us. Your report will be anonymous.
Witness Sketch
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Conversation 9 – Cheryl Costa, Part 2
Recorded: March 23, 2018
Released: 10 April 2018
Duration: 71 Minutes, 4 seconds
Marsha Barnhart arranged a part two conversation with Cheryl Costa, co-author of UFO Sightings Desk 
Reference. In part two, they pick up the conversation discussing how Cheryl became interested in writing an on-line UFO sightings column, New York Skies, for the Syracuse New Times, and how she developed mind/consciousness interests via the practices of Shamanism, Buddhism and Remote Viewing. Additionally, Cheryl and Marsha talked about recent media reports of UFO’s by the military and how the media has reacted to this information.
Our Investigative Ethics Statement
We want everyone to know what our ethical stance is, so we are publishing this statement. Please read it and let us know if you have any questions.
Unidentified Science 6 – The Probability/Strangeness Matrix
This time I am going to talk about a specific and easy to understand tool for revealing patterns in our data. It is called the Probability/Strangeness matrix, and it has been around for decades, although I’ve yet to see it used to its full potential.
The matrix is very simple. After we have investigated a case, we rate the case on a scale of 0 to 5 for both probability and strangeness. These two ratings are required to be independent – a case can be strange but improbable, it can be probable but not very strange, or any combination. What we are of course most interested in the small fraction of cases in the upper right hand corner of the matrix that are both probable and strange, and how they move on the matrix as the investigation proceeds. It’s very clear from the plot – usually done with probability on the horizontal axis and strangeness on the vertical – what is going on.
What are your questions?
In our upcoming video series as well as our ongoing podcast API Case Files, we want to answer your 
questions. What questions do you have about reporting UFO sightings, how API Investigates sightings, what you can expect from us, or how to become a Field Investigator? Or, anything else related? Let us know in the comments to this post, or shoot us your question via the contact form.
Please keep your questions specific, and let us know if it is ok to use your name when we give the answer.
Unidentified Science 5 – The Virtue of Skepticism
I spent a fair bit of time trying to think of a clever metaphor for skepticism, and failed, so for now, let me just remind you that I have been saying for some time that skepticism is a virtue and a practice that we must not only accept, but embrace. Before, we do that, though, let me remind you briefly about what skepticism isn’t.
Skepticism isn’t about arguing that one static view of the world is superior to its rivals. It isn’t cynicism, an attitude of superiority, or membership in the elite Tribe of Reason and Science. Nor is it a commitment to discredit any particular controversial claim. Skepticism doesn’t make you better than other people, but properly practiced, it can help you be better than you were, or might have been without it.
Some of you, most I expect, will have painful memories of fundamentalist debunkers calling themselves skeptics, who will take refuge in any half-baked, hand-waving explanation in a storm, so long as it does no violence to their worldview. I promise that we’re not talking about this skepticism in name only, which is actually just motivated reasoning in defense of dogma. It’s easy to claim the critical thinking high ground when no one else challenges you for it, but that is what we are going to do. I’m on the side of discarding the dishonest and the mistaken, and I make so bold as to think that’s what you want as well.
Conversation 8 – Cheryl Costa, part 1
Released: 24 March 2018
Duration: 62 minutes
Marsha Barnhart talks to Cheryl Costa, co-author of UFO Sightings Desk Reference. This is a one-of-a-kind reference book covering 15 years of UFO sightings within the United States. The information was gleaned from more than 120,000 raw reports made by citizens to either the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) or the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) between the years 2001 to 2015. The information is a statistical bonanza annotating the frequency, distribution and shapes of reported UFO’s, with accompanying graphs charts and charts, and broken down into states and state counties for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.