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Volume 12: Number 1: Article 2
Statement Validity Analysis of "The Jim Ragsdale Story": Implications for the Roswell Incident
James Houran, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Dept.
of Psychiatry, P. O. Box 19230, Springfield, IL 62794-9230
Stephen Porter, University of British Columbia, Department
of Psychology, 2509-2136 W. Mall, University Campus, Vancouver, B. C.
V6T 1Z4
"The Jim Ragsdale Story" purports to be the only known first-hand testimony
to the alleged UFO crash near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. This testimony,
in the form of an affidavit and a less formal conversational account,
was analyzed using Statement Validity Analysis (SVA) which is an established
technique for evaluating the credibility of forensic witness accounts,
and Fact Pattern Analysis which is a less formal procedure that complements
SVA. SVA indicated that the testimony was not consistent with known
features of memories for true events. Similarly, the fact pattern analysis
identified major factual inconsistencies as well as potential implausible
information. These findings suggest that "The Jim Ragsdale Story" is
not credible. Accordingly, the possibilities that the Ragsdale story
represents a deliberate fabrication or sincerely reported memories of
imagined experience are discussed.
Keywords: UFOs, aliens, Roswell, extraterrestrial, credibility assessment
FULL TEXT:
Statement Validity Analysis of "The Jim Ragsdale Story": Implications for the Roswell Incident
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