Bart Sibrel
From SkepticWiki
Bartholomew Winfield Sibrel is an amateur filmmaker based in Nashville, Tennessee who claims that the six Apollo moon landings made between 1969 and 1972 were hoaxes. He has made two documentaries on the subject: 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon' and 'Astronauts Gone Wild'.
Most astronauts have refused permission to be interviewed by him due to his dubious attempts to obtain footage of them confessing to being conspirators in a hoax. The most notable incident involved Apollo 11 crew member Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. According to Aldrin, he was lured to a Beverly Hills hotel under the pretext of being interviewed for a Japanese children's television show. When he arrived, Aldrin claims Sibrel demanded that the former astronaut swear on a Bible that he had walked on the moon.
When Aldrin refused, Sibrel called him a coward, a liar, and a thief An exasperated Aldrin punched Sibrel in the face, which was recorded. Sibrel's reaction was to ask, "Did you get that on camera?" Sibrel later attempted to use the tape to convince police and prosecutors that he was the victim of an assault. However, it was decided that Aldrin had been provoked and, as he did not actually injure Sibrel, no charges were brought. Sibrel's unfazed, nearly instant reaction to his camera man was also noted. Many talk show hosts aired the clip, with the clear intention of ridiculing Sibrel.
Bart Sibrel also participated in the controversial Fox Television Network special, Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon? In it, Sibrel stated that, "I'd bet my life that we never went to the moon." Interestingly, while Sibrel is interviewed for the Fox special, he does not appear in his own film; British stage actress Anne Tonelson narrates the documentary.
Sibrel's claims of a lunar landing hoax have been widely dismissed by the scientific and space science communities.
Jim McDade, writing in the Birmingham News, characterized 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon' as "full of falsehoods, innuendo, strident accusations, half-truths, flawed logic and premature conclusions." According to McDade, the "only thing new and weird" in the 47-minute film is that the claim that video views of Earth was actually filmed through a small hole to give the impression that Apollo 11 was not in low earth orbit. "Bart has misinterpreted things that are immediately obvious to anyone who has extensively read Apollo history and documentation or anyone who has ever been inside an Apollo Command Module or accurate mockup," says McDade.
Aldrin's attorney, Robert O'Brien, says that Sibrel has a history of stalking other former astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, Alan Bean, and Al Worden. Buzz Aldrin's wife, Lois summed up her feelings about Bart Sibrel: "He said things I can't repeat. He was not a nice man, and it really upset Buzz a lot."
[edit] References
1. BBC News online, 21 September, 2002
