# History Channel: Incredible But True, my ass! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 23, 2006, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551 "2006-03-23T04:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/21 "2006-03-23T15:42:29Z")
Sheesh, you people and your stupid History Channel. Why don’t you guys use your TVs to learn something for a change? Hello, ever heard of The Learning Channel? Try watching that, and maybe you’ll learn something for once. Like about monster wedding gowns. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/22 "2006-03-23T15:48:40Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I thought they found that the Philadelphia experiment was actually the army testing some kind of drugs, that made people THINK this really happened? No, it has nothing at all to do with anything like that. There was no “Philadelphia Experiment.” It is pure 100% myth. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/23 "2006-03-23T15:48:41Z")
A real documentary about The Philadelphia Experiment Hoax, dealing with the manipulation of Ufologist Morris K. Jessup by Carl(os) Allen(de)'s annotation of MKJ’s book & subsequent letters to him, and the growth of the legend from then on, would be both fascinating and a public service. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/24 "2006-03-23T16:10:45Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > A real documentary about The Philadelphia Experiment Hoax, dealing with the manipulation of Ufologist Morris K. Jessup by Carl(os) > Allen(de)'s annotation of MKJ’s book & subsequent letters to him, and the growth of the legend from then on, would be both fascinating and a public service. Uh, I don’t know if the OP watched the entire episode or maybe it was another one, but I’m fairly certain thats where the History Channel went the whole Philadelphia Experiment story. They kind of teased it up for the first part with the story of vanishing ships and whatnot, but then they explained that it was a hoax perpetrated by Allen(de) and they went into the history of that. I’m almost 100% certain that it was the Incredible, but True series that I saw, and if it was, I don’t think the OP could have watched more than the first half of it. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/25 "2006-03-23T16:21:24Z")
> [@Epimetheus](#): > > He wasn’t talking about your post, he was talking about the posts made by people on IMDB about the movie… > > Or was that you? Ah, I see. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/26 "2006-03-23T16:24:02Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Morons. That’s what we have to deal with. They believe everything they see on TV, and the networks perpetuate the nonsense with shows like these. It’s enough to make my head hurt. Sergeant, step away from the keyboard, dammit. Now stand up, go outside, and get a breath of fresh air. If Bob Lazar says it’s all true, you know it’s gotta be. Tripler Everything will be fine when you accept the televised truth. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/27 "2006-03-23T16:30:24Z")
> [@JPen](#): > > Uh, I don’t know if the OP watched the entire episode or maybe it was another one, but I’m fairly certain thats where the History Channel went the whole Philadelphia Experiment story. They kind of teased it up for the first part with the story of vanishing ships and whatnot, but then they explained that it was a hoax perpetrated by Allen(de) and they went into the history of that. > > I’m almost 100% certain that it was the Incredible, but True series that I saw, and if it was, I don’t think the OP could have watched more than the first half of it. Wow…let me try this again, and maybe I’ll make sense this time. The first part of the Incredible but True\*\*?\*\* gives the background of a controversy in science or whatever. The second part explains away that controversy with a factual discussion. In this case, they explained that the background with Morris Jessup and Carlos Allende. I don’t really care for the History Channel either, but jeez, pit them for worthwhile next time. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/28 "2006-03-23T16:45:00Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > I can sympathize, Airman Doors. > > I stopped watching the history channel when they started showing nothing but shows about Hitler’s Biblical UFOs. > > Well, except for “Ancient Battles” which I rather liked and occasionally “Mail Call”. I miss [Time Team](http://www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/), hosted by Tony Robinson, he who played Baldrick on Blackadder. I love that show – archaeology in England and occasionally France, with a cool reconstruction/demo of period life each show. Of course, it wasn’t called Time Team on The History Channel. It was under some general title that usually had history-based programs from Canada and the UK on it, all of which were better than anything the History Channel has made recently. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/29 "2006-03-23T17:09:04Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > Deep breath. Read, comprehend, post. Watch out for sarcasm, it might could getcha! > > I thought that the faux hick-speak might’ve aided in the recognition of sarcasm in my post, guess I was wrong. > > Maybe I’m considered to be a dumbass. That would explain an IMDB reference being my cite, my poor grammar, and the fact that I think John Tesh is a supreme Deity. He is, I know. But you seem to have misunderstood me. Tesh is angry. Oh, no. I understood you completely. Your joke was obvious. What’s not funny is that the people writing the reviews and posts about that movie are doing so without even a hint of irony. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/30 "2006-03-23T17:10:42Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Sheesh, you people and your stupid History Channel. Why don’t you guys use your TVs to learn something for a change? Hello, ever heard of The Learning Channel? Try watching that, and maybe you’ll learn something for once. > > Like about monster wedding gowns. Is that the one about Orange County Bridal Oufitters? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/31 "2006-03-23T17:20:39Z")
> [@JPen](#): > > Wow…let me try this again, and maybe I’ll make sense this time. > The first part of the Incredible but True\*\*?\*\* gives the background of a controversy in science or whatever. The second part explains away that controversy with a factual discussion. In this case, they explained that the background with Morris Jessup and Carlos Allende. > > I don’t really care for the History Channel either, but jeez, pit them for worthwhile next time. It is worthwhile. If I present something with the title “Incredible But True” and it is, in fact, incredible, there are some weak-minded people that will automatically assume that it is true. You’re brand new here, so I don’t know if you realize how many times we’ve had to debunk moon hoaxers, Kennedy conspiracy theorists, 9/11 hoaxers, and the like. I’ve had to do it in person far too often, and with allegedly intelligent people. These shows perpetuate this stuff. “Hey, did you see that? I know they said it wasn’t true, but still, what the Navy did in Philadelphia was incredible!” Do you know how many times I’ve been faced with a statement like that as the basis for a rational discussion? As soon as I hear that I find myself cursing shows like this. If they want to make it clear that the stuff is phony, they call it “The Philadelphia Experiment HOAX”. They are trying to play both ends of the street, and it’s asinine. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/32 "2006-03-23T17:24:17Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > No, it has nothing at all to do with anything like that. There was no “Philadelphia Experiment.” It is pure 100% myth. _shrugs_ Oh, I believe you. I’m just saying I heard that as an explanation-that some were given drugs and the hallucinations they experienced started the whole myth. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/33 "2006-03-23T17:41:22Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > It is worthwhile. If I present something with the title “Incredible But True” and it is, in fact, incredible, there are some weak-minded people that will automatically assume that it is true. You’re brand new here, so I don’t know if you realize how many times we’ve had to debunk moon hoaxers, Kennedy conspiracy theorists, 9/11 hoaxers, and the like. I’ve had to do it in person far too often, and with allegedly intelligent people. > > These shows perpetuate this stuff. “Hey, did you see that? I know they said it wasn’t true, but still, what the Navy did in Philadelphia was incredible!” Do you know how many times I’ve been faced with a statement like that as the basis for a rational discussion? As soon as I hear that I find myself cursing shows like this. > > If they want to make it clear that the stuff is phony, they call it “The Philadelphia Experiment HOAX”. They are trying to play both ends of the street, and it’s asinine. I understand that, but after the initial section where they gave the background to the Philadelphia experiment, they made it pretty clear that it was all a hoax. Maybe they should have done a better job in presenting it, but thats how the show works. Background, then facts. They did the same thing with the Loch Ness Monster and the Bermuda Triangle. I don’t know what more you want them to do, outside of running a disclaimer at the bottom. If the supposed weak-minded individuals had bothered to watch 15 minutes into the show, they would have realized that it was a hoax. I don’t see how they were playing both sides of the street. I understand your point about tv shows making dangerous statements, but I just think its misplaced in this instance. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/34 "2006-03-23T17:50:54Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > My favorite comment ever made on the subject was from an Egyptologist who’d clearly been asked this one time too often and opined “Yes, that’s exactly what I think. I believe that around 5,000 years ago a race of super beings millions of years more advanced than us crossed several galaxies, made themselves known to the dwellers of a fertile strip of floodland surrounded by desert, and thought to themselves 'shall we teach these people how to treat wounds or deliver children more effectively? Or about antibiotics? How about preservatives or superior agriculture methods, or maybe even about the people on the other side of the Earth? Nah… I’ve got it, we’ll teach 'em how to put really really big rocks on top of each other in triangle shapes!” That is, indeed, a priceless quote. I don’t suppose you know who it was that said that? I’d love to pass that around … ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/35 "2006-03-23T18:00:11Z")
Jeez, you people are going to make me regret not having cable! Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/36 "2006-03-23T18:24:49Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Where do these people come from? Austin. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/37 "2006-03-23T23:27:51Z")
Well I don’t know about the rest of you, but if _I_ was experimenting with invisibilty, naturally I would start with objects the size of a battleship. Leave the pansying about with lesser things to others with no vision and no sense of showmanship. Has David Copperfield taught us _nothing_??? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/38 "2006-03-23T23:36:54Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > One of the joys of the publically funded BBC, great documentaries. A cable/satellite channel [UKTV Documentary](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKTV_Documentary) here in the UK repeats a lot of them too. Hm. I watched one of those insane Graham Hancock documentaries about how aliens built the pyramids on the BBC when I was visiting my cousin in London a few years ago. It was so incredibly, irresponsibly bad that I intended to write the BBC execs exactly what I thought of them (naturally, I forgot it about later). I doubt it wasn’t actually produced by the BBC, but they showed it. I’d be pissed off if my tax dollars went to airing that sort of tripe. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/39 "2006-03-23T23:40:50Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I doubt it wasn’t actually produced by the BBC, but they showed it. I’d be pissed off if my tax dollars went to airing that sort of tripe. Dur, I mean I doubt it _was_ actually produced by the BBC. Mangled editing on my part. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551/40 "2006-03-23T23:55:14Z")
Thank you!! Ok. i’m doing what i have been and wrtiing without reading first…which i think is a terrible habit. But i had to say something…then I’ll go read. I was thinking about starting a thread about the History Channel. Because it’s half actual history and half total bullshit. But here’s the one little bit that got to me…they had a thing about Satanism…which was most decent. Bu they ended with something about the “rise of Satanism” and included Columbine. Look, they barly metioned Satan in their “blog” thingy. And they obviously weren’t part of and "rise of Satanism " movement…which was the point they seemed to be making. They were just a couple of idiots. Small thing but it pisses me off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-incredible-but-true-my-ass/349551.md?page=3)