History and High- Strangeness Speculation
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SI May June 2010 pgs_SI MJ 2010 3/26/10 9:32 AM Page 59 B O O K R E V I E W S instead of the obvious conclusion: guys History and High- were seeking attention by making up wild stories. Redfern is sophisticated Strangeness Speculation enough to realize that the absurd stories ROBERT SHEAFFER told by contactees cannot possibly be true in a literal sense, so he suggests that Contactees: A History of Alien-Human Interaction. By Nick “like most of the contactees, Adam was Redfern, The Career Press, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, 2010. fed an absolute barrage of pseudo-scien- ISBN: 978-1-6016-3096-4. 248 pp. Softcover, $15.99. tific nonsense.” This is about a mysteri- ous contactee known only as “Adam,” written about by the well-known con- tactee Orfeo Angelucci. Adam is said to e are not alone . and what does this mean? Where is Dr. Freud have “mysteriously vanished into the Nick Redfern can prove when you need him? night” (pp. 66–67). Employing classic it.” Or so says the pub- Redfern tells the histories of all of the Sau cer Logic, Redfern suggests that the “W strange visitors might exist but are lisher’s blurb on the back cover of his new UFO contactees that I’d ever heard of, as book Contactees: A History of Alien-Human well as several that I hadn’t. Daniel Fry, habitual liars who keep feeding their Interaction. Sure, if “stories” were the same Truman Bethurum (who had a space human contacts obviously bogus infor- as “proof” or if wishes were fishes. But I’m wondering if the blurb writer actually read the book, since Redfern offers plenty of odd speculations, but nowhere does he claim to have actual “proof.” Actually, this is a better book than it first appears. The first two-thirds of the We now know that there was an FBI file on the book is a fairly sober historical account of UFOlogy’s once-glorious “contactees,” late UFO skeptic Philip J. Klass, as well as on many like George Adamski and George Van celebrities and political activists, so it seems that there Tassel, who achieved great fame by claim- ing to have an ongoing friendship with was an FBI file on everyone who was anyone. wise and kind visitors from another world. This is in contrast with UFOlogy’s celebrated “abductees” of more recent times, who were dragged onto flying saucers against their wills and subjected to insensitive medical-like procedures by unfeeling, expressionless Little Gray Men. lover named Captain Aura Rhanes of the mation for un known reasons. My sug- In both cases, however, the aliens typically planet Clarion), Orfeo Angelucci, gestion is much simpler: “Adam,” the end up dispensing “wisdom” about the George King of the U.K., Wayne Aho, Space People, and the barrage of pseu- terrible problems facing humanity and Reinhold Schmidt, Herb Schirmer, Billy doscientific nonsense all sprung from planet Earth, usually expressed in the Meier of Switzerland—they’re all here. So the fertile imagination of Angelucci, form of amazingly simplistic platitudes. far as I can tell, all of the contactee- without help from anyone on this planet Another strange fact, noted by Redfern: related history he gives us is accurate. If or any other. the contactees were overwhelmingly male. you’re looking for a rollicking read of I am at a loss to understand Redfern’s But we also know that UFO abductees high-strangeness saucer claims, you’ll obsession with the so-called Brown were, and are, overwhelmingly female. So find it here. Moun tain Lights (or “ghost lights”) of But mixed into the historical narra- North Carolina. The phenomenon has Robert Sheaffer’s “Psychic Vibrations” col- tive are the high-strangeness specula- been investigated many times, going umn in SI regularly examines UFO-related tions of Redfern and some of his pals, back to at least 1913, and shown to be claims. He is author of UFO Sight ings: suggesting that the contactee phenome- conventional lights such as automobile The Evidence. non involves something mysterious, or locomotive headlamps. He repeats the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER May / June 2010 59 SI May June 2010 pgs_SI MJ 2010 3/26/10 9:32 AM Page 60 B O O K R E V I E W S claim that “during the period in which this evidence of some very strange phe- wise is seen to have been interested in the trains were out of action, the myste- nomenon at work or instead an illustra- claims of communications with extrater- rious lights were still regularly seen.” He tion of the curious mental processes of restrials. But the CIA is also known to seems unaware that the 1923 Geological that very strange creature known as have sponsored research on “remote Survey investigation by George R. Mans - Homo sapiens? viewing” at SRI International and else- field states, “During the flood of 1916, Admittedly, some pretty strange facts where, and we know that the attempt to when train service was temporarily dis- do turn up along the way. The FBI took create “psychic warriors” as depicted in continued. ... Automo biles were then in an interest in several contactees, includ- The Men Who Stare at Goats is not use in the larger towns and on some of ing Adamski and Van Tassel. But in the entirely fiction. Do we conclude that the intervening roads, and their head- context of 1950s Cold War fears of lights were doubtless visible from Loven’s Communist propaganda and subversion, some great mystery must exist since the [Hotel] over Brown Mountain.” this is not surprising. We now know that CIA is investigating or that some CIA Redfern also notes, in my opinion there was an FBI file on the late UFO officials are excessively gullible concern- correctly, the resemblances between the skeptic Philip J. Klass, as well as on ing claims of this kind? Nick Red fern contactee phenomenon and religious many celebrities and political activists, and I would probably reach different claims of encounters with unworldly so it seems that there was an FBI file on conclusions, but I enjoyed reading his beings, such as those of Joseph Smith. Is everyone who was anyone. The CIA like- book nonetheless. ! Putting Public Panics (i.e., the Hula-hoop), wartime panics, UFO flaps, phantom attackers (such as in Perspective the Phantom Gasser of Mattoon or India’s Monkey Man panic), witchcraft accusa- BENJAMIN RADFORD tions, school outbreaks, suicide clusters, Outbreak! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behaviors. alien abductions, doomsday cults, satanic By Hilary Evans and Robert Bartholomew. abuse panics, disease pandemics, and Anomalist Books, New York, 2010. ISBN: 1-933665-25-4. many more. Even longtime SKEPTICAL Softcover, $39.95. INQUIRER readers will be unfamiliar with many of the subjects. Each page reveals fascinating, little-known incidents of ncidences of mass hysteria and collec- a phenomenon for which science can find bizarre collective beliefs and behaviors, as tive social delusion are of particular no plausible cause, we must often look to well as new facts and twists on well- interest to skeptics, for they illustrate sociology for an explanation. I known cases. how groups of people can fervently The subject of mass delusions has The authors take a careful, objective believe in—and be affected by—things received little academic attention com- look at each topic and approach the sub- that don’t seem to exist outside of their pared to most other sociological phe- ject with the knowledge that whether or not a particular behavior represents a social delusion depends largely on the Each page reveals fascinating, little-known incidents context and beliefs of the affected peo- of bizarre collective beliefs and behaviors, as well as ple. Not every incident in the encyclo- pedia is necessarily evidence of psycho- new facts and twists on well-known cases. logical disorder or mass hysteria, but all of them are in some way examples of extraordinary social behavior. The book collective imaginations. If one person nomena, and thus the new encyclopedia avoids psychological and sociological reports an unusual experience (say, being Outbreak! by Hilary Evans and Robert jargon, making it accessible to the casual abducted by aliens) without offering evi- Bartholomew fills a much-needed gap in reader but scholarly enough for the seri- dence for it, it might be chalked up to the literature, following in the tradition ous researcher. Each section concludes hoax or hallucination. However, if dozens of Charles Mackay’s classic 1841 text with dozens (or hundreds) of sources or hundreds of people report experiencing Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the and references, and most entries are Madness of Crowds. The scope of this cross-referenced. Outbreak! is the most Benjamin Radford is a CSI research fellow eight-hundred-page book is broad, cover- comprehensive book of its kind, invalu- and the managing editor of the SKEPTICAL ing nearly 350 entries on a wide variety of able to any skeptic interested in mass INQUIRER. topics, including benign fads and crazes hysteria and collective delusions. ! 60 Volume 34, Issue 3 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER.