May 30, 2005

Ramon Watkins, aka Prophet Yahweh claims he can summon UFOs via use of the Hebrew Old Testament. Thinking to mock a wackjob, ABC News Las Vegas challenged him. Then the UFOs appeared on demand, and on camera, just as Watkins promised. Embedded windows media player footage here and a direct stream here.

And this is just the beginning, claims Prophet Yahweh, who seems self-effacing and wears T-shirt and pants for the event; no robes, no followers, no crazy hat.

  • W000t!!!
  • Heh, the crazy man wins.
  • well he does have a robes and a funny hat on his website. ($7.95 fee for the broadcast). More videos (via del.icio.us).
  • *a robe, even.
  • And besides a robe, he probably has some friends with a radio controlled circular shaped airplane. Or a big laundry bag with natural gas. Or a balloon. Or something. But hey, I'm a skeptic. If aliens really exists they would stay far away from earth. Or just land and make contact.
  • Channel 13: Might your station be interested in some tripods for your field crews?
  • I'm just wondering about this news crew -- they were going to do a story saying "crazy man still crazy"? And that story was revised to "crazy man now crazy AND spooky"? This is news? Even local news? They couldn't find a track meet to cover? Someone breaking their hip in the old folks' home? Nuthin'?
  • It seems highly unlikely that a crazy person could successfully summon an aerial device on demand. The odds seem a little high. Projecting what aliens might or might not do is a fool's game. UFOs are undoubtedly real - plenty of sane people see them. That does not mean, of course, that they are piloted by aliens from outer space.
  • I'm waiting for next week when he says several more will show up and in addition *come so low that all of Las Vegas sees it* Then he needs to go on national tour, culminating in a final stop in D.C. Yeah, that's the ticket . . .
  • Ok, so they saw something once. In science something needs to be repeatable. Send him out with a couple of camera crews that have decent fluid head tripods and XL1/2 cameras with some long ass lenses and we will see what we see.
  • Capt. this isn't news, it Action News
  • I mean, the guy believes in the bible, calls himself a prophet, and hears voices. There's little doubt he's a loony. I just want to stay on the fence.. just in case.
  • Bah. Clearly I know what an apostrophe is, I used one not two words earlier.
  • So, are all aliens Jewish, or just these aliens?
  • I was able to set up a telescope in front of my monitor to see what exactly he had summoned there. And I'll be damned if it didn't look exactly like the spaceship/tent that Yoda left the Wookie planet in (I honestly thought Yoda and the Wookies were camping until the thing took off).
  • C'mon man. Everyone knows that it was a Wookiee portaloo or chemical toilet. Yoda had been eating Wookiee food, which is known for its explosive gaseous expulsions in the digestive tracts of small green muppets.
  • I don't care what you guys say, that was pretty cool. Praise prophet Yahweh!
  • Indeed. Praise anyone who can escape the earth and thus foil the GPS tracker in the biometric underpants.
  • THEIR biometric underpants. Sorry.
  • I pray on Yahweh that you send a sighting...so that they know I am not mentally ill...I am not a false prophet...like those that seek to kill me say I am Paranoid much?
  • Who knew that the tin foil hats were to protect the aliens from being summoned by us?
  • Yay, score one for the crazies!!
  • Oh yeah, sure - just because a guy hears voices, can summon UFO's by praying in Hebrew, and has people out to kill him he's crazy. Right! You people act like Bush got re-elected or something. Awesome footage tho. Of the newscaster guy being all like, "ewwoooooeeeeeeeoooooo!"
  • As much as I'm inclined to root for the nutjobs, I have to say that 'UFO' looked like it belonged in the escaped-party-balloon category.
  • OK, since when did US newscaters start to take inspiration from "The Daily Show". That guy acts like he's stolen his cue cards from Rob Corddry.
  • As much as I'm inclined to root for the nutjobs Look, I'm tired of you guys bringing up the Neocons in every damn thread.
  • what mare said. radio-controlled goodness! but i'll be in vegas in june so i'll keep an eye out.
  • >Look, I'm tired of you guys bringing up the Neocons in every damn thread. So what's the difference between G. W. Bush and the Prophet Yahweh? One of them's a scary, delusional, quasi-religious leader whose irrational beliefs hold sway over a dangerous cultlike following, and the other one's just some guy who can summon UFOs.
  • I don't believe there is a radio-controlled circular device on the market that can perform high speed manouvers at an altitude such as depicted on the footage. If there is, I want one. There are remote controlled blimps available, but they don't have any of the high-speed, high altitude characteristics we see here. It seems quite unlike a weather balloon; they don't behave in the manner depicted (although the footage doesn't really give a good indication of most of the movements, the last approach is fairly clear). It appears to move very fast thru the clouds, which might rule out high level air currents pushing a flaccid bag around, because the clouds do not appear to react to such a current. Nellis AFB is (I believe) nearby, and many weird things have been seen over that area, so a likelier explanation is the testing of a remote military drone, of which there *are* several disc-like designs. However, apparently, the interview was conducted at the time and place of the station's choosing, which makes it a bit of a coincidence that the test would take place just then. And who tests military devices over populated areas? That's why testing ranges are remote. The man may be mentally ill, or paranoid (but if he's a interpreting religion in a unique way it's not entirely unlikely that some fundamentalists or religious crazies might have made threats against him in the past - let's be honest) but we can rule out hallucinations because, of course, there has never been a shared hallucination between individuals, nor one recorded on videotape. Whatever it is is clearly objectively real. His comments notwithstanding, Mr Watkins has passed the first test in establishing his sanity! It wouldn't be entirely out of the question that the station is in collusion with the mystic. Squidranch's comments about repeatability are dead on. If Mr Watkins can summon these things repeatedly on cue, then he should take on James Randi's million dollar challenge.
  • I can summon a bizarre alien life form whenever I want, using simple key phrases. His name's "Chyren".
  • Indeed, "Action" News 13 needs to do a follow-up. This time, I say they need to pick Mr. Yahweh up, make sure he's not wearing any transmission devices, blindfold him well, and drive his holiness to an undisclosed location... If they record more of the same, I'll bow down and drink the Kool-Aid if Prophet Yahweh orders me to do so... Hell, this is better than any Yeti videos of late.
  • This guy's the real deal. I believe in God now.
  • The primary purpose of repeatability isn't repeating the experiment. Other people have to be able to reproduce the same results.
  • Prophet Yahweh's site has been under consistent attacks and was sabotaged in several ways! Nonetheless, Prophet Yahweh is embarking on a 50 State UFO Summoning Tour! Although, a reported slight delay *sigh* Keep tabs on his sighting statistics! [Ya know, for the ensuing onslaught of extraterrestrial vehicular traffic] Want to become a "student" of Prophet Yahweh? Be forewarned: WARNING: PLEASE BE ADVISED! I TEACH THAT THE ONLY WAY PEOPLE CAN RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE IS IF THEY WORSHIP ONLY YAHWEH AND KEEP HIS LAWS. I ALSO TEACH THAT ALL THE GODS OF THE EARTH ARE REALLY SATAN IN A DISGUISED FORM, AND ALL THEIR RELIGIONS DAMNS ALL THE SOULS THAT DIE IN THEM. DO NOT JOIN THIS GROUP IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR THINGS AGAINST YOUR GOD, RELIGION, AND YOUR MOST PRECIOUS BELIEFS! I PROVE THAT THEY ARE MOSTLY LIES, DECEPTIONS, AND FLAWED REASONINGS OF THE DEVIL THAT DAMNS SOULS! If all goes as planned, we'll have our repeatability! Fuck yeah!!
  • Almost forgot, he's no longer charging for his videos. Woooo!
  • Heads up folks, not only did Prophet Yahweh forsee hurricane Katrina, he has also predicted that a super hurricane will strike Florida! Sadly, YAHWEH has yet to provide dates to PY *sigh* Get ready!