Last Updated: 21 September 2023
Our Data Policy
We will share all the case data we can so long as it is in compliance with our ethical policy to protect witness privacy and anonymity. We will be open about our data collection process, and will admit our failures and mistakes.
For each case we fully investigate and document (125 to date, with more being added regularly), we will rate the case quality and the strangeness of the case (not the raw report). We will make an argument for each case assessment, but are open to other views on the evidence.
Internet Availability of Data
There are more than 249 cases documented, but some are still open. All our published case reports can be found on the Investigations Page. While these reports represent a nearly complete record of each investigation and its findings, it is not friendly to search and analysis. We are happy to provide additional details to responsible parties interested in a particular case (up to and including lightly redacted interview transcripts), cross-case data analysis is much more labor intensive.
At present, we also provide a .csv file with the probability and strangeness ratings of investigated, documented cases. Cases closed as “Not investigated” or “Unresolved” do not have a rating. This file can be loaded into a wide variety of analysis software. We also provide some very rough and ready R code for plotting the data.
Future Case Data Availability
Our plan is make all case data (include “not investigated” cases) available in a database that can be queried online. For example, if you wanted all the GPS coordinates for cases rated Strangeness 2 or higher, you could do that in seconds.
The next step is standardization across investigative bodies. We call upon all investrigative organizations to:
- Open their data, consistent with ethical standards.
- Work with us and others to standardize data fields and queries, including standard measures of case quality and strangeness.
If you are willing to help us make that happen, get in touch.