When United Airlines workers reported a UFO at O'Hare Airport in November 2006, it was met with the typical denials and hush-up that usually accompany such sightings. But when a related story broke the record for hits at the Chicago Tribune's website, it was clear that such unexplained objects continued to occupy the minds of fascinated readers. Why, wonders Thomas Bullard, don't such persistent sightings command more urgent attention from scientists, scholars, and mainstream journalists? The answer, in part, lies in Bullard's wide-ranging magisterial survey of the mysterious, frustrating, and ever-evolving phenomenon that refuses to go away and our collective efforts to understand it. In his trailblazing book, Bullard views those efforts through the lens of mythmaking, discovering what UFO accounts tell us about ourselves, our beliefs, and the possibility of visitors from beyond. Bullard shows how ongoing grassroots interest in UFOs stems both from actual personal experiences and from a cultural mythology that defines such encounters as somehow "alien"-and how it views relentless official denial as a part of conspiracy to hide the truth. He also describes how UFOs have catalyzed the evolution of a new but highly fractured belief system that borrows heavily from the human past and mythic themes and which UFO witnesses and researchers use to make sense of such phenomena and our place in the cosmos. Bullard's book takes in the whole spectrum of speculations on alien visitations and abductions, magically advanced technologies, governmental conspiracies, varieties of religious salvation, apocalyptic fears, and other paranormal experiences. Along the way, Bullard investigates how UFOs have inspired books, movies, and television series; blurred the boundaries between science, science fiction, and religion; and crowded the Internet with websites and discussion groups. From the patches of this crazy quilt, he posits evidence that a genuine phenomenon seems to exist outside the myth. Enormously erudite and endlessly engaging, Bullard's study is a sky watcher's guide to the studies, stories, and debates that this elusive subject has inspired. It shows that, despite all the competing interests and errors clouding the subject, there is substance beneath the clutter, a genuinely mysterious phenomenon that deserves attention as more than a myth.

A long-anticipated comprehensive survey of the mysterious, frustrating, and ever-evolving UFO phenomenon and our collective efforts to study and understand it. Engagingly written by one of the most respected scholars within the field of serious UFO research.

“Cover[s] all the major themes of ufology, ranging from lights in the sky to crashed saucers, government cover-ups and alien abductions . . . fascinating.” —Popular Science Books Neither a credulous work of conspiracy theory nor a skeptical debunking of belief in “flying saucers,” How UFOs Conquered the World explores the origins of UFOs in the build-up to the First World War and how reports of them have changed in tandem with world events, science and culture. The book will also explore the overlaps between UFO belief and religion and superstition. “An insightful, informative and thought-provoking book on UFOs and the UFO culture . . . In the following ten chapters, he writes about his pursuit of the ‘truth’ about UFOs. It is a fascinating journey.” —Skeptic

Stories of alien encounters and mysterious objects in the sky have fascinated humans for years. But do beings from other worlds really exist? Take a look at the evidence and decide for yourself!

A voyage of exploration to the outer reaches of our inner lives. UFOs are a myth, says David J. Halperin—but myths are real. The power and fascination of the UFO has nothing to do with space travel or life on other planets. It's about us, our longings and terrors, and especially the greatest terror of all: the end of our existence. This is a book about UFOs that goes beyond believing in them or debunking them and to a fresh understanding of what they tell us about ourselves as individuals, as a culture, and as a species. In the 1960s, Halperin was a teenage UFOlogist, convinced that flying saucers were real and that it was his life's mission to solve their mystery. He would become a professor of religious studies, with traditions of heavenly journeys his specialty. With Intimate Alien, he looks back to explore what UFOs once meant to him as a boy growing up in a home haunted by death and what they still mean for millions, believers and deniers alike. From the prehistoric Balkans to the deserts of New Mexico, from the biblical visions of Ezekiel to modern abduction encounters, Intimate Alien traces the hidden story of the UFO. It's a human story from beginning to end, no less mysterious and fantastic for its earthliness. A collective cultural dream, UFOs transport us to the outer limits of that most alien yet intimate frontier, our own inner space.

Do UFOs exist? If they do not exist, why do people report them? Can we believe the reports; indeed can we believe anything? Is human perception reliable, or is it influenced by what we believe? Could the UFO myth determine what we see and report? If UFO reports are distorted by the UFO myth, what is the initial stimulus? In short, what have people really seen? Campbell explains the UFO myth, including its origin and development and how it influences everyone, including those who report seeing UFOs. He also explains how the human perceptual and memory systems can distort reporting and he lists most of the 'sources of deception' which can cause UFO reports. The author fearlessly tackles the most sensational and difficult reports and shows how they have simple and mundane explanations. Reports are explained in an objective and critical manner and it is shown how both believers and debunkers have missed the 'obvious natural explanation'. This handbook is for all serious investigators of UFO reports; it also offers the final solution to the UFO mystery.