Unsorted Documents 4
articles & documents
1952: Year of the UFO
Bruce Maccabee
FIFTY YEARS AGO, during the most amazing flap of flying saucer sightings in the USA (and the world), the Air Force ALMOST admitted that at least some sightings of UFOs/saucers were sightings of objects not made here. However, when that opportunity arose during a large press conference in late July, instead of admitting that the Air Force couldn't explain all sightings and that some "high officials" were seriously considering the "interplanetary hypothesis," the Air Force (General Samford) said everything could be explained as natural phenomena, effectively slamming the lid down on the UFO subject. But what the Air Force said privately was a different matter. This report tells the story of what happened in that amazing year.
A man in two minds (Carl Jung)
Adam Phillips, The Guardian
Deirdre Bair's diligent biography of Carl Jung reveals his divided personality, but the more we know about him the less real he becomes, says Adam Phillips R
A Mock Congressional Hearing: The Ruppelt Record
Francis Ridge & Jerry Washington, (NICAP)
It is in that spirit of truth and honesty that we've cooked-up the following exchanges from a mock hearing, circa 1956, during which Capt. Ruppelt (utilizing his actual quotes) testifies before a skeptical Congress. The Committee Chairman, Senator "Mo Lasses" - a man more interested in grandstanding than anything else - has the floor.
Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference, by Andrea Pritchard, et. al. (Book Review)Held at MIT, Cambridge
Michael D. Swords
This is a formidable book (almost 700 pages) about a controversial, difficult, and confusing subject. That line should indicate why it will not be well read by our academic colleagues. However, for anyone with the slightest serious interest in the topic, it should be. Persons wishing to immerse themselves in the many dimensions, layers, and schools of thought about alleged UFO abductions cannot find a more eclectic and stimulating pool.
Anomalistics: A Spectrum of Belief
William S. Moulton, 1990 (Skeptical Investigations)
There is a wide spectrum of levels of consensus and belief, and of the conditions required to achieve them.
Anomalistics: On Some Unfair Practices towards Claims of the Paranormal
Marcello Truzzi, 1998
The reception of unconventional or extraordinary claims in science has come under increasing attention by sociologists and historians. Scientific anomalies have sparked scientific revolutions, but such claims have had to fight prejudices within science. This essay offers scattered reflections on the adjudication process confronted by protoscientists (science "wannabes") wishing admission into the scientific mainstream.
Anthropology and UFOs: Abduction and Contact: An Overview
Ryan J. Cook, Center for AnthroUfology - Anthropology and UFOs
Since anthropology has proven itself a useful means for societal self-examination through the confrontation with other modes of thought and life, I believe an anthropological approach to the subject of human-alien contact will be highly fruitful. Uppermost in the list of useful traits of anthropology is how it allows us to particularize the seemingly universal and contextualize the taken-for-granted. R
Anthropology and UFOs: An Introduction
Ryan J. Cook, Center for AnthroUfology - Anthropology and UFOs
Despite institutional disincentives and widespread biases, a number scholars, including a number of anthropologists, have been pursuing the study of UFOs as a social phenomenon. I believe anthropology enhances such an approach in several respects. R
Confessions of a Fortean Sceptic
Jerome Clark, Magonia 12, 1983
In this piece from 1983, well before the revival of the Roswell case, Jerome Clark talks a lot of sense about belief and scepticism, and warns us about "Soldiers' Tales, or the Horrendous Secrets I Learned in the Services". Wise words, even more relevant today after the outpourings of Roswell rumours.
Contactees, Cults and Cultures
David Stupple & William McNeece
Religious cults traditionally have been a source of amusement to outsiders; but since the Jonestown mass suicide, amusement has changed to fear. Correctly sensing that cult organizations are inherently unstable, cult members are assumed to be irrational. In so many words, the man-in-the-street, and the research scientist alike, openly wonder: "What is wrong with these people that they think strange thoughts and act in a bizarre manner?" In this paper we argue that this pathological model of cult membership is both gratuitous and inaccurate. R
Could the Mexico City UFO Video Be a Hoax?
One of the most impressive daylight UFO videos ever seen was shot over Mexico City on August 6, 1997. Self-professed anyalysts and experts of various sorts weighed in with opinions on how the video might have been hoaxed. But how easy would it be, really, to create such a video? Not easy at all, as it turns out. R
CSICOP "Science Cops" at War with Cold Fusion
Eugene F. Malove, Sc.D., Infinite Energy magazine #23, Jan-Feb, 1999
The collective wisdom of the so-called Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) is that cold fusion— and any other claim about an anomalous energy source not taught in the sacred halls of academe— is scientific heresy worthy of mockery and rebuke.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek - Brief Biography
Paradigm Clock
A brief biography of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the father of scientific ufology. R
Estimate of the Situation 2000: The Black Triangles
Harv Howard
Mysterious aerial craft commonly called "flying triangles" and/or "black triangles" have been elbowing the classic, disk-shaped UFO aside in the last few years. These angular craft are seen more and more persistently. What are they? Are they a black budget, highly innovative form of craft from the U.S. government/industry, or are they a new form of genuine UFO visiting us? This paper assumes the first possibility is the correct explanation. R
Extraterrestrial Psychology
Richard Hall, 1998 (NICAP)
If we suppose that UFOs carry visitors from elsewhere (extraterrestrial intelligences, or ETIs for convenient shorthand), why are they here? Does the accumulated data provide any clues as to their interests or purposes? Seeking answers may be akin to tea-leaf reading, but we now have 40 years of descriptive information. If we analyze the circumstances of UFO sightings it might be possible to discern some patterns that reveal something about ETI psychology.
Faking UFO Photos for the Twenty-First Century (Skeptical)
Tom Callen, Skeptical Inquirer, Sept 2003
For a modern planetarium show, an astronomer/program producer created a variety of fake UFO images as a way of showing audiences how easily such photos can be done.
Finding the hard answers to Earth's greatest mystery within a scientific paradigm
Warren P. Aston, Presented at the 1996 Australian International UFO Symposium, Brisbane
This paper addresses the symposium theme by drawing together all facets of Ufology and alien contact in an attempt to make some sense from both commonsense and scientific viewpoints. After giving my background and assumptions, I discuss the reasons why answers elude so many researchers as well as the strengths and limitations of the scientific approach. R
In search of other-worldly truths (UFOs in Taiwan)
Gavin Phipps, Taipei Times, Feb 15, 2004
Whether it's UFOs or lost underwater cities, Taiwan's fringe scientific societies hope to make monkeys out of their doubters over the coming year and prove once and for all that the truth is really out here R
In Their Own Revealing Words (Quotes on UFOs)
Mega-Genius
A pervasive and vigorous campaign of cover-up, disinformation and ridicule on the subject of "flying discs" has been conducted by an extremely highly placed faction of the U. S. Government for over half a century. Nevertheless, revealing statements have occasionally been made by renowned and responsible individuals who have been in unique positions that enabled them to have some inside information on the subject. R
Issues in social scientific research on contact/abduction
Ryan J. Cook, Center for AnthroUfology - Anthropology and UFOs
The following observations and recommendations do not all originate with me, but I think it will be beneficial to collect and re-state them here. They underscore reasons I have elsewhere given (cf. my Anthropology and UFOs page) why anthropology is of great utility in studying UFO-related phenomena: detailed ethnographic case studies; historical and cultural contextualization; and cross-cultural comparison and contrast. R
June 24, 1947: How It All Began - The Story of the Kenneth Arnold Sighting
Bruce Maccabee
You will not find any conventional history book that even so much as mentions that on this date the human race first became aware of a phenomenon that could well be the most important discovery of the last century, or even in the history of mankind: the presence of "Other Intelligences" (Non-Human Intelligence). The important event of that date was the sighting, by Kenneth Arnold, of a group of strange flying objects which eventually became known throughout the world as flying saucers, Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs.
Lack of Evidence is the Most Important Objection to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (Skeptical)
John Harney, Magonia, October 22
IT IS generally agreed that most UFO reports can be explained if sufficient and accurate information about them is available to investigators. It is said, though, that a small number of reports remain unexplained despite careful investigation, and that it is reasonable to suppose that these are sightings of extraterrestrial spacecraft. This is known as the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH).
MIT Abduction Conference Publication 'Marks New Era of Thinking' About UFO-Related Issues (Book Review of Alien Discussions)
John Archer
On June 13 - 17, 1992, a conference was held at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, focusing on the Alien Abduction Experience [AAE]. "Alien Discussions" contains the papers delivered at the conference and transcripts of author/audience discussion about the papers. This book is huge: 683 large size (8.5 X 11) pages counting Index and glossary. But, of course, it is the quality of the papers that give the book its value. R
Mythology Background of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon
In biblical times, the prophet, Ezekiel, reported what would probably be deemed a variant of a CE-4 (close encounters of the fourth kind) UFO experience, had it been reported today in a contemporary western society.1 What is related in the Book of Ezekiel is not only the presumed divine origin of the strange luminous display that he witnesses, but also his consequent "contact" with strange entities. R
Myths of Skepticism
Michael D. Sofka, March 20, 2002
In this article, I'm interested in how skeptics define themselves, and the accuracy of those definitions. Skeptics form a sub-culture in western society, and like all cultures they have their own core set of beliefs and mythology. It is those myths that interest me, as a skeptic. R
Nazi UFOs
Kevin McClure, Fortean Times, July 2003
Stories of the scientific advances of the Third Reich have circulated for decades. KEVIN McCLURE explains that the flying saucer legend ain’t exactly rocket science.
Observations on Ufology
Walter T. Sheets, 2000
The year 2000 finds UFO investigators and researchers continuing to confront anomalous UFO events via case investigation and interviews with honest, credible and observant American citizens. To those who have studied the serious UFO literature, there is no such thing as 'believing in UFOs'.
On Materialism as Science Dogma
Neal Grossman, Dept. of Philosophy, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago - to appear in Journal of Near Death Studies
(The following essay focuses on the Near Death Experience (NDE) as evidence that science has -- to its detriment -- become a dogmatic belief system wedded to reductionist materialism rather than being a neutral, objective method for investigating reality of any sort. One could effectively substitute the three letters "UFO" for "NDE." The advantage of dealing with NDE is that there is no doubt whatsoever as to the existence of the phenomeon; the interpretation, of course, being another matter.)
Peruvians seek discovery and profit in UFOs
LUCIEN O. CHAUVIN, Miami Herald, Sept. 28, 2002
Of all the officers in all the armed forces of the world, perhaps none has a more unusual job than Peruvian air force Cmdr. Julio Chamorro: to investigate -- and perhaps prove -- the existence of UFOs. R
Project SIGN: Charting a Conundrum
Wendy Connors, Project SIGN Research Center
What had begun as perhaps one of the most important projects undertaken by the military of the twentieth century ended in a futile whimper amid administrative chaos. After just ten months from its noble beginning, Project SIGN was destined to begin falling into its own conundrum. R
Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Skepticism
Rochus Boerner
Unfortunately, much of what comes out of the "skeptical" community these days is not proper skepticism, but all-out, fundamentalist disbelief. Such skepticism can be called pseudo-skepticism, pathological skepticism or bogus skepticism.
Skeptical Organisations and Magazines: A Guide to the Skeptics
Skeptical Investigations
Includes descriptions of CSICOP, Skeptic Magazine, The Skeptics Society, and the James Randi Foundation
Sociohistorical context of UFO conspiracism (Skeptical)
Ryan J. Cook, Center for AnthroUfology - Anthropology and UFOs
The history of ufology in the US, and to no small extent that in other countries, is shot through with conspiracism. As mentioned before, this is an old theme, cemented by stories about a crashed saucer at Roswell, NM, by reports of human abductions and manipulations by aliens, and (truth be told) through refractions in the entertainment media like "The X-Files." I will try to put this persistent theme in context, and then discuss some of factors that make UFO conspiracism problematic. R
Stargate International's Disclosure Conference: Interview with Bob Dean
Transcript of Interview with Bob Dean, March 24, 1996
Disclosure of UFO Information by Personnel in Military and Government: Stargate International's The Disclosure Conference of the Best Available UFO Military Evidence and An Assessment: An Evaluation of a Possible Military threat to Allied Forces in Europe The Shape Report (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) R
The Amazing Flying Triangle Ships: How They Do It
Harv Howard / Cosmic Conspiracies
The idea of a massless means of propulsion appears appropriate for the visual evidence reported about triangles. That concept rests solidly in the regime of conventional physics buts suggest such an unusual approach that many people would rather ignore it altogether or temper the concept with discussions of anti-gravity schemes that are woefully short of supplying the same attributes. R
The Barry Greenwood Archives
Barry Greenwood has been collecting UFO publications for over 30 years. His collection has become famous as a reference set for those who want to research the UFO field.
The Contact Has Begun: An Interview With Phillip Krapf
Tim Miejan, Editor, The EDGE Newspaper
If things go according to plan, Earth could be gearing up for rudimentary interstellar space travel in the early 21st century through a sharing of technology with the Verdants. In any prior decade, Phillip Krapf's story would have been branded science fiction. However, today his matter-of-fact reporting of his abduction and experience aboard an extraterrestrial craft is viewed with more credibility. R
The Dulce Report: Investigating Alleged Human Rights Abuses at a Joint US Government-Extraterrestrial Base at Dulce, New Mexico
Dr Michael E. Salla, September 25, 2003, Exopolitics.org
In this report, I investigate Bennewitz’s claims regarding massive human rights abuses by ETs at an underground base at Dulce, and his belief that this was a joint US government/ET base that was the site of a significant violent confrontation between military forces and resident ETs in 1979.
The New 'Area 51'
Jim Wilson, Popular Mechanics
The Air Force has abandoned top-secret testing at its once most secret test site. We know why and we know where they moved it to. R
The UFO Evidence: Burdens of Proof (Skeptical)
Jim Giglio and Scott Snell, Board Members, National Capital Area Skeptics (NCAS)
The arguments made here are not conclusive. We cannot say with certainty that our planet is not being visited. We can, however, note that those who support the idea of ET visitation have always had a heavy burden of proof, a burden that has only grown heavier as time has passed. We skeptics, who find this idea implausible, have a lighter burden, and it gets lighter with time.
Toward Consideration of a Cover-Up (Project SIGN)
Wendy A. Connors
Project SIGN was not the first investigation into unidentified flying objects, but it was the first officially known investigation of its kind. The question has always been, was Project SIGN and its successors, Project GRUDGE and BLUEBOOK, a cover for the United States government's deeper interest in unidentified flying objects and the need to keep important knowledge from the American people? In order to analyze this possibility a look back into history is in order. R
Trots in Space (Juan Posadas, Trotskyite and UFOs)
Matt Salusbury, Fortean Times, August 2003
Juan R Posadas was no ordinary Trotskyite; socialists from outer space, the benefits of nuclear war and communication with dolphins were all part of his revolutionary programme. Matt Salusbury tells the story of one of the World’s strangest political thinkers. Main illustration by KID SPANIARD. R
Two Forteanisms: Scientific Vs. Fringe
T. Peter Park
I believe there are two basic types of Forteans, espousing two distinct basic types of Forteanism or paranormalism. They are what I call fringe Forteans versus scientific Forteans. R
U.K. Ministry of Defense established secret UFO investigation group
Ananova
Official papers have revealed the Ministry of Defence set up a secret flying saucer working party in the 1950s. The papers show the group involved experts from the Directorate of Scientific Intelligence and the Joint Technical Intelligence Committee. It was established in 1951 after a spate of sightings in Sweden and the US led to a "notable outbreak" of reports in Britain. R
UFOs and New Religious Movements: Heaven's Gate
Ryan J. Cook, Center for AnthroUfology - Anthropology and UFOs
After a brief overview of the history and cosmology of the group, I'll look into how Heaven's Gate used UFOs religiously and how they compare to other NRMs, including others profiled in this site. R
UFOs and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH)
Dave LeBoeuf
In my opinion, the real victims of anthropomorphism are the adamant uninformed skeptics who suffer from perhaps the most deleterious form of anthropomorphism: assuming that our present states of both science and consciousness will not, and even cannot, "progress" or evolve into states of being which could be so qualitatively different from our current world view as to be inconceivable to us now. R
UFOs: The Psychic Dimension
David Pratt, October 2002
Any light or object that is seen in the atmosphere and is not immediately identifiable is by definition an unidentified flying object, or UFO -- which does not necessarily mean an extraterrestrial spacecraft. There have been hundreds of thousands of UFO sightings all over the world during the past 50 years.
Unique UFO Archive Hidden in Warehouse (APRO Archives and Files)
Clas Svahn
One of the biggest UFO archives in the world is tucked away in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. There were approximately 15.000 UFO cases contained in the archive for the once influential UFO organization APRO. But no one is allowed to have a peek. Here is the story of how this historical material went adrift. R
War of the Words
Peter Brookesmith, Fortean Times, July 2001
Sceptics hate debunkers hate true believers hate sceptics hate... PETER BROOKESMITH dissects the great and unbridgable divide between wilful believers and stubborn sceptics. R
War of the Words: Part 2
Peter Brookesmith, Fortean Times, August 2001
Belief and disbelief can both become extremes, but why do true-believers and true-disbelievers pursue their mutual hostility with such religious fervour? Some clues can be found in the ways society classifies deviation from perceived and sanctified order. R
When UFOs Arrive
Jim Wilson, Popular Mechanics, February 2004
The U.S. and other world governments already have detailed secret plans for first contact. R
websites & organizations
Inexplicata: The Journal of Hispanic Ufology
Scott Corrales, Editor
Spain, the Caribbean and South America have provided the study of ufology and the paranormal with some of the greatest minds and the most outstanding cases. It took researchers of the stature of Brazil's Olavo Fontes, Spain's Antonio Ribera and Mexico's Pedro Ferriz, to unravel the intricacies of the Villas Boas, UMMO and Tequesquitengo Cases respectively. The same questing spirit and desire to explore the unknown has been passed on to a new crop of researchers.
SOBEPS - Belgian Society for Space Phenomenon Study
Official web site of the Belgian Society for Space Phenomenon Study
UFOs and Historical Artwork
X Facts Research
Historical artwork related to UFOs, along with descriptions and references.
