Validity of older UFO and other paranormal reports

There are many stories out there of incidents that happened before 1947, when UFO reporting became mainstream. The problem with some sources is that they have been either made up or come from Urban Legends. One of the major stories I am referring to is the Aurora Texas crash of 1897 that had been dismissed as a hoax. (The UFO Hunters did a great investigation proving something did happen there.)

Also of note is the discovery of an ancient room with Egyptian-like artifacts in the Grand Canyon. The story of that one has also been deemed a hoax, but is very detailed. Most hoaxes are not as detailed. That does not mean it isn't a hoax, but it should get a good investigation like the Aurora TX one did.

There is also the case of the young man (or boy in some tellings) who went to get some water from a well and disappeared. There have been many variations of that tale, and that is what it turned out to be after investigation from Kevin Randle:

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2008/09/disappearance-of-oliver-lerch-larch.html

This shows that many of these cases need to be investigated, and some can actually be solved. Charles Fort was one of the first persons to start collecting information on such mysterious cases. The collection of records that survive (there was a fire that destroyed some unfortunately) would be a great place to start.

I just love that Grand Canyon/Egyptian relics story! Seriously! I think Stephen Quayle had a story about bones of giant men being found there too.

Aside from that, alien/ufo encounters may have been recorded as much different things in the past -- fairies, demons, angels, so on. So it may be hard to tell what was an actual alien/ufo encounter because they have become part of the folklore of beings and events that we don't think of as being aliens or ufos.

The interesting thing about the story of the ancient Egyptian find in the Grand Canyon was that it was so detailed. I am not going to say it was a hoax as the Aurora incident in Texas was considered a hoax until investigations proved something did happen there.