‘Chasing UFOs’ Part II: Erin Ryder talks about believing eyewitness accounts

Some people look through a microscope to learn about our world’s strangest phenomena. For Erin Ryder, star of National Geographic Channel’s new series Chasing UFOs, looking up at the sky can deliver many more answers on humanity’s largest question marks.

Set to premiere Friday, June 29, Chasing UFOs follows Ryder (as she’s called by friends), geologist Ben McGee and UFOologist James Fox as they trek around the United States and a few international locations, always interviewing eyewitnesses, gathering evidence and craning their necks to the starry skies above. Their mission: Prove or disprove unexplained UFO sightings, some made famous (Roswell, etc.) and some deeply personal to just a few people.

Throughout the summer months, Chasing UFOs promises to entice viewers who know that the “truth is out there.” Recently, Hollywood Soapbox talked with Ryder about UFO chasing and what audience members can expect on the eight-part series. Here’s Part II of that discussion (click here for Part I). Questions and answers have been slightly edited.

(At the bottom is a clip from the premiere episode.)

How long did it take to produce an episode?

The research is really what takes the most time. Before we head out on the road, the three of us do probably about three or four months of research, getting all the stories together, getting all the eyewitnesses together. And then travel-wise, we try to spend a week to two weeks in each location. And we were out in eight incredible locations this season — Arizona, Texas, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Florida. We went international in Brazil and Mexico. And we want to give the time there that we can.

Unfortunately you can only squeeze so much into an hour episode, but when we’re out there, we are on the ground, talking to as many eyewitnesses as possible and scientists in the area and professors and doing some hands-on digging and night searches and stuff.

Anyone can go out there for one night and say, ‘OK, well, nothing happened.’ We want to go out there and really try to give it as much as we can to try to figure out if there is anything to these sightings.

Coming from Destination Truth and now with Chasing UFOs, why do you think we’re fascinated with these things that we can’t explain?

I think there’s really something about the mystery of it all. This is something we all grew up on — you know, science fiction and the idea that we’re not alone is so intriguing, especially since we’re going to Mars and we have the capacity to potentially go to other planets now. It’s so close within our reach. And the same with Destination Truth, these monsters and mysteries came from somewhere. That’s really what it is. All of these stories came from something. They don’t just happen. Someone doesn’t just sit down and say, ‘I saw a saucer.’ Those sightings have been happening years and years and years. The same exact sighting has happened. It’s based on something. And I think deep down we all know there could be more to it and that’s what’s really exciting.

When you talk to these eyewitnesses, they can’t all be right, but they can’t all be wrong.

Well, the other good thing is a lot of the people we speak to, they don’t seek us out. We seek them out. They’re not going out there trying to get their story out there, trying to make money off it, trying to get TV or fame. They saw something and they believe deep down that they saw it.

When you sit down with these people, yes, you can tell, OK maybe something has been exaggerated or over time it’s been embellished. But a lot of the time, when you sit there and look in these people’s eyes, you can say, ‘OK, you saw something and it shook you up so much that to this day when you tell this story, emotions still come out.’

It’s really interesting. We talk to some really fascinating people. Texas is a great example because we actually throw a town-hall meeting, and we have tons and tons of people who saw this mass sighting come in. And people raised their hand and told their stories. You saw other people in the crowd nodding their head, like, ‘Yeah, that’s kind of what I saw, too.’ So as people talk about this, other people feel comfortable to say, ‘OK, well, he told that story. Now I can finally talk about my sighting, and I’m not going to be considered crazy.’

Is there a hope for a second season?

Absolutely. There’s always a hope that we can continue our work and continue bringing these stories to everyone at home. You never know. I would say we would love that to happen. The X Files slogan, ‘The truth is out there.’ It is and we believe that. We’re just hoping that we get a chance to really go after it the right way.

With Ben and James, do you all get along?

There’s something about being on a road trip with those two guys that’s really incredible. First of all, the three of us get along like gangbusters. The two of them are hysterical together, because they could disagree on everything and still have a smile on their face when we go out there.

Ben is an experienced geologist, radiation scientist. He’s got this crazy academic background, and he’s a natural skeptic. But at the same time, he believes that there could be something out there, and he’s just looking to find some concrete conclusions himself.

And then you got James, who is this believer, documentarian, brilliant man, who has spoken to people all around the world. And he’s saying, ‘Listen, we haven’t gotten full disclosure from the government.’ And the two of them go back and forth. Listen, I think we really complete each other. I think the three of us are a really well-rounded group, and what you are going to find is that you can relate to any one of us when you go out there. You may not fully believe in James or you may not fully believe in Ben, but you’re out there going on this ride with us to see what we kind of come up with.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Chasing UFOs premieres Friday, June 29 at 9 p.m. on National Geographic Channel. Click here for more information.