UFOs and the extraterrestrial contact movement : a bibliography, Volume 1-2 (2024)

UFOs and Intelligence: A Timeline. By George M. Eberhart

October 10, 2023 update. After an effort of many years, I have prepared a comprehensive timeline of UFO history that will be useful to UFO researchers and historians. “UFOs and Intelligence” is an up-to-date retrospective of UFO history (from Agobard of Lyons to the newly appointed US investigation agency UAPTF), intertwined with events in US and world history concerning military and civilian intelligence agencies and the cult of secrecy. It is now 679 pages and more than 555,000 words (including a substantial “Sources and Further Reading” appendix). Readers will discover or rediscover many events, people, and UFO cases they may not be familiar with. Some will find it useful for current or planned research projects. Military cases, those involving commercial aircraft, close encounters involving physical traces and other evidence, reports involving occupants or entities, and events surrounding military and sensitive nuclear sites are emphasized, but this timeline covers the full spectrum of UFO history, from contactee experiences to misidentifications of mundane phenomena and notorious hoaxes. Links to online sources are given, and links to biographical information are provided when available. A timeline like this allows us to view events from a different perspective, letting us make connections we might not otherwise see. It forces us to view the big picture, amid the grand flow of UFO cases, military security decisions, a vast swathe of personalities, and world history.

The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomena from the Beginning (3rd ed., 2 vol.) by Jerome Clark

Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2020

With more than 1500 pages, this is a massive undertaking by SSE Dinsdale Award winner, Jerry Clark. This two-volume third edition is buttressed by his decades of research in the field of UFOs. For this encyclopedic effort he is supported by several competent researchers with international reputations. Typically, my reviews of written works by SSE members tend to be quite favorable as I recognize the difficulty of getting our research into print. This work definitely left me conflicted in an attempt to be both fair to the authors and to the potential readers. In general, the material that is included does provide considerable depth to the cases selected for presentation. As this is the third edition, much of that material has been previously published. Clark and his colleagues have in-depth knowledge of many of the earlier cases and these are well represented. What I found most troubling were some glaring omissions that are hard to reconcile with an encyclopedia that suggests it is c...

American Cosmic: UFO's, Religion, Technology

Theology and Science, 2019

Proceedings of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop

Proceedings of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop , 1999

Foreword: History is often concerned with heritage and origins. The question applies as much to UFOs as any other subject. For example, where in time do genuine UFOs begin? Was 1947 the beginning or a turning point in UFO history, as opposed to human perceptions of the phenomenon? We all know that anomalous aerial phenomena have always been with us, as the portents and prodigies of primeval and medieval times, the Fortean anomalies of the scientific age, the phantom airships, ghost fliers, foo fighters and ghost rockets that predate Kenneth Arnold. But is there a genuine continuity in the phenomenon? Folklorist, Thomas Bullard affirms, “UFOs as the experiential phenomenon and UFOs as the popular cultural myth entangle in a knot of confusion. I suspect that this entanglement stands as one of the greatest impediments to understanding the nature of UFOs, and scientific acceptance of UFOs as a subject worthy of serious attention. A historical perspective offers a grip on the end of the string, a chance to untangle the mess to some degree.” Behind this perplexing UFO history is a whole history, or mythology of modern science, less well known, stretching back to the sixteenth century. What Karl Guthke terms “a heritage of Copernicanism; the modern myth, or the myth, of the modern era, [without which] the image of man since the Copernican revolution would be decidedly poorer.” The fact is, the question of extraterrestrial life, rather than having arisen in the twentieth century, has been accepted by the majority of educated persons since, at least, the Scientific Revolution, and in many instances was employed to formulate philosophical and religious positions in relation to it. As William Whewell observed, in his 1853 treatise, Of A Plurality of Worlds: An Essay, popular ideas about a multiplicity of inhabited worlds “are generally diffused in our time and country, are common to all classes of readers, and as we may venture to express it, are popular views of persons of any degree of intellectual culture, who have, directly or derivatively, accepted the doctrines of modern science.” So as Professor Michael Crowe put it, “even if no UFOs hover in the heavens, belief in extraterrestrial beings has hovered in human consciousness for dozens of decades.” UFOs, and, the experiential aspects of UFO history are, seemingly, inextricably entangled in the myth of the modern era. This then, is simply an attempt to grab hold of the end of the string.

UFO Concern: The UFO Concern Report on the Hill Norton UFO Initiative

1997

From the Introduction: This Report is presented in the hope that it will be read and widely circulated, especially by those who need to become aware of the growing concern by well-informed people, not only so-called ufologists themselves, but by an increasing number of ordinary fo lk amongst the general public. A careful reading of the Report should indicate not just the nature of the overall concern, but the extent and variety of specific "concerns" involved. Ufology is not a subject, but a baffling complex of many subjects. This surely accentuates its importance for mankind, which could well be under some sort of threat, we know not what. In any case, it is my privilege and pleasure to thank Lord Hill-Norton most warmly fo r the way in which he went into action so decisively with his Initiative in July last year. I fe el certain that I voice the opinion of everyone concerned, especially our excellent Correspondents, in concluding that he has achieved thoroughly worthwhile results. This promises well for the fu ture, not least in regard to government policy.

The Future of Ufology

After 70 years of ignorance and frustration in the study of UFO phenomena, the author reviews a recent strategy presented by Dr. Jacques Vallée. As a consequence, an alternative approach and planning, thought to be viable, is proposed. The Selective Strategy, as it is termed, is aimed to achieve final findings confined to a limited span of time, as opposite to an infinite period. Its implementation necessitates the concourse of the community of serious UFO researchers to support and coordinate this major worlwide project.

UFOs: A History / The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse

UFOs: A History / The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse, 1972

"After years of rigorous research, significant financial investment, and countless hours spent compiling and writing, my project is now complete." This remark accompanied Loren E. Gross' final publication in the UFOs: A History series, marking the culmination of a thirty-year effort to chronicle the modern history of the UFO phenomenon. This monumental endeavor resulted in the publication of nearly 11,000 pages across more than 100 monographs, distributed to a select group of colleagues.

UFOlogy, a contemporary folklore

SUNlite, 3(3), 17-18., 2011

Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects

Scientific opinion has generally followed public opinion in the belief that unidentified flying objects either do not exist (the "natural phenomena hypothesis") or, if they do, must represent evidence of a visitation by some advanced race of space travellers (the extraterrestrial hypothesis or "ETH"). It is the view of the author that research on UFOs need not be restricted to these two alternatives. On the contrary, the accumulated data base exhibits several patterns tending to indicate that UFOs are real, represent a previously unrecognized phenomenon, and that the facts do not support the common concept of "space visitors." Five specific arguments articulated here contradict the ETH: (1) unexplained close encounters are far more numerous than required for any physical survey of the earth; (2) the humanoid body structure of the alleged "aliens" is not likely to have originated on another planet and is not biologically adapted to space travel; (3) the reported behavior in thousands of abduction reports contradicts the hypothesis of genetic or scientific experimentation on humans by an advanced race; (4) the extension of the phenomenon throughout recorded human history demonstrates that UFOs are not a contemporary phenomenon ; and (5) the apparent ability of UFOs to manipulate space and time suggests radically different and richer alternatives, three of which are proposed in outline form as a conclusion to this paper.

UFOs: Caught in a Web of Deception

The most popular response to incidents of anomalous aerial phenomena, or even reports of entities associated with unusual flying craft is to assign an extraterrestrial explanation. But does this idea adequately explain the range and scope of this phenomena? An examination of the phenomena as a whole, as well as the apparent underlying truth claims appear to nudge us closer to the theological and metaphysical.