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UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture

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UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture UFO 01 prelims.fm Page i Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:48 AM ‘UFO Religion is a delightful story about an idea, one that preys upon the emotions and excites the imagination of each and every one of us. From its humble origins in the airship mysteries of nineteenth- century liars’ clubs and newspaper hoaxes, Gregory Reece chronicles the notion of alien spacecraft and visitors from outer space as this has evolved and been elevated into an article of faith for the bizarre host of conspiracy theorists, utopian dreamers, alleged abductees and contactees we find in our midst today. Reece’s vision is a refreshing and humorous reminder that no matter how whimsical their origins and rationales might seem, our strangest ideas can take on lives of their own through their primal grip on our hopes, fears, and dreams. In Reece’s world, UFOs and alien visitors are every bit the children of our minds as they are children of the stars. They emerge as a most serious – yet entertaining – subject of human concern.’ David Beisecker, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas ‘Greg Reece’s UFO Religion engagingly captures that sense of mystery and wonder that drives ufologists to undertake their research. The book is a thorough and impressive analysis of UFO investigations and of supposed alien encounters. In an entertaining and readable style, Reece guides the reader through a maze of possibility and makes many intriguing links between science and religion en route. UFO Religion is an important book for anyone who is interested in the idea that our planet has hosted extraterrestrial visitors: or in what Carl Gustav Jung called “flying saucer cults”.’ Susan J. Palmer, Professor of Religious Studies, Dawson College, Montreal, and author of Aliens Adored: Rael’s UFO Religion UFO 01 prelims.fm Page ii Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:48 AM ‘UFO Religion is both an informed study of the subject and a thoroughly enjoyable read. While several excellent studies of belief in extraterrestrial visitation are now available, for those unfamiliar with this fascinating area UFO Religion is certainly the book to start with. Gregory L. Reece covers a broad range of material with a light and deftly humorous touch. I have no doubt that his book will become a firm favourite with students. I am also confident that even those who, up to this point, have not been particularly interested in UFO belief will enjoy this carefully researched, well-written and accessible book.’ Christopher Partridge, Professor of Contemporary Religion and Co-Director of the Centre for Religion and Popular Culture, University of Chester, and editor of UFO Religions ‘In his exploration of the complicated and diverse world of UFO culture, Gregory L. Reece communicates a sense of wonder at the extent of the human imagination and our ability to tell powerful and lasting stories about the mysteries of the world around and beyond us. Reece takes his readers on a fascinating excursion from Alabama to Roswell, New Mexico and back again, with many entertaining detours along the way. Stories of alien abductions and distant worlds, he argues, are responses to the infinite possibilities of life and reflect the best and worst of our fears and hopes for the future. He reminds us that we are, after all, “children of the space age”, and so it seems fitting that we cannot decide whether to transform the world or to escape it, to feel hope about the future or terror. It is impossible to reach the end of this book without acquiring a much deeper understanding about the enduring human obsession with UFOs.’ Sarah M. Pike, Professor of Religious Studies, California State University, Chico, and author of New Age and Neopagan Religions in America UFO 01 prelims.fm Page iii Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:48 AM UFO Religion INSIDE FLYING SAUCER CULTS AND CULTURE Gregory L. Reece UFO 01 prelims.fm Page iv Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:48 AM Published in 2007 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com In the United States of America and Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St Martin’s Press 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © Gregory L. Reece 2007 The right of Gregory L. Reece to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN 978 1 84511 451 0 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Typeset in Palatino by JCS Publishing Services, www.jcs-publishing.co.uk Printed and bound in the United States UFO 01 prelims.fm Page v Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:48 AM Contents List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Part One: Nuts and Bolts 7 1 Sightings 9 2 Crashes 29 3 Conspiracies 52 4 Abductions 78 Part Two: Contactees 99 5 Scout Ships from Venus 101 6 Beam Ships from the Pleiades 132 Part Three: History’s Mysteries 157 7 Ancient Astronauts 159 8 Gods from Outer Space 182 Conclusion: The New Gods? 197 Bibliography 205 Index 209 — v — UFO 01 prelims.fm Page vi Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:48 AM UFO 01 prelims.fm Page vii Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:48 AM Illustrations 1 Saucer parking in Rachel, Nevada near Area 51 15 2 Outside the Little A’Le’Inn, Rachel, Nevada 29 3 The long road to Area 51 near Rachel, Nevada 54 4 Highway 375 near Area 51 in Nevada 57 5 A billboard near Area 51 58 6 Saucer refueling station in Rachel, Nevada 104 7 George Van Tassel’s Integratron near Landers, California 133 8 The interior of the Integratron 135 All the photographs are by the author — vii — UFO 01 prelims.fm Page viii Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:48 AM This book is for Olivia UFO 01 prelims.fm Page ix Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:48 AM Acknowledgments Thanks to Alex Wright of I.B.Tauris for understanding that a book about UFOs would be the logical sequel to a book about Elvis. Thanks to Sam for inspiring my dormant imagination time after time. Thanks to Kristen for listening to me talk about flying saucers for over twenty years and for reading the manuscript and thinking that it was funny. — ix — UFO 01 prelims.fm Page x Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:48 AM Aurora is the effort Of the Celestial Face Unconsciousness of Perfectness To simulate, to Us. – Emily Dickinson UFO 02 intro.fm Page 1 Monday, May 7, 2007 9:37 AM Introduction The aurora borealis is not something that is usually seen in Ala- bama, that land of whippoorwills and dogwood trees. The northern lights have no business way down south. Yet I possess a distinct childhood memory of sitting on the front porch of my oldest brother’s mobile home watching the northwest sky shimmer with hues of red and gold. Aurora borealis, sandstorms in the American west lifted high into the atmosphere and reflecting the setting sun, atomic fire, Jesus on the clouds of glory, alien invasion, the end of the world; the possible explanations running together like the yel- low sky running into the red; a sickening feeling in my stomach and the knowledge that whatever it was, even if it was Jesus himself, it was not going to be good; knowing with terrifying certainty that the mobile home, tied to four posts that my father had cut in the woods just for the purpose, couldn’t even stand up to the tornado it was meant to protect against much less an apocalyptic wind blowing Jesus fire and Martian death rays. In my childhood both Jesus and UFOs were absolutely terrify- ing. I didn’t want to see them, didn’t really even want to hear about them. But, of course, hear about them I did: Jesus, on Sunday morn- ing when my Great-Aunt Francis would attempt to save me from the godlessness of my own household by taking me with her to church so that I could learn the terrifying truth about hellfire and damna- tion, Jesus’ return from the grave and his coming on the clouds of glory to take me in his arms and carry me home, and UFOs every other day of the week Among the first graders in my class in 1973, stories of UFOs were exchanged like baseball cards. The most famous story of all that year, talked about by children and adults alike, was the story — 1 — UFO 02 intro.fm Page 2 Monday, May 7, 2007 9:37 AM UFO religion of Jeff Greenhaw, police chief of nearby Falkville, Alabama. Inves- tigating a reported UFO landing, Greenhaw claimed that he had encountered a five-and-a-half-foot tall creature dressed from head to toe in a shiny metallic uniform. When Greenhaw stopped his car the thing approached, moving forward with the slow jerkiness of a robot. Suddenly, it turned and ran away from the car with strange spring-like bounds. The creature moved so quickly that Greenhaw was not able to keep pace with it in his patrol car.
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