The space animal theory has never captured the public imagination, and it has not been seriously considered by most UFO researchers.
The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH): By far the most popular “theory” concerning the origin of UFOs, the ETH is also the one that, over the years, has aroused the most emotion and controversy. It is based on the assumption that one or more civilizations from outer space, far in advance of our own, have mastered interstellar space flight and have had the human race under systematic observation since at least 1947. Some see a longterm involvement by the extraterrestrials and propose that they have been watching over us, and perhaps even controlling our physical and cultural development for millennia, thus linking the ETH to the ancient astronaut concept.
The main problems with the ETH are space and time: space in the sense that the average distance between the 130 billion or more stars in our Milky Way galaxy is enormous, and time in the sense that these great distances would make interstellar voyages very long, not to mention the economic, engineering, and motivational aspects such an enterprise.
Despite this, there is a pro-UFO movement that uncritically believes in the ETH. There is no problem with such a belief, provided it is identified as such and is not construed as representing an empirical fact. At the same time, the idea of an extraterrestrial origin for UFOs, as a hypothesis, is quite reasonable, despite the strong feelings against the possibility by many scientists who should know better. To deny the validity of a reasonable hypothesis because of an emotional commitment to other explanatory possibilities is not consistent with operational procedures in science, regardless of how learned such individuals may be or how persuasive their arguments may appear.
The real basis for the ETH debate, although many involved in the debate are seemingly unaware of it, is not over whether (or how much) advanced intelligence exists in the galaxy. Most scientists will agree that there are probably many such intelligent civilizations in the galaxy. It is not even over whether such civilizations have developed interstellar-travel capability. The real point of debate concerns the “volume of traffic.” That is, most scientists find it very difficult to accept the idea of extraterrestrial visitation on the scale implied by UFO reports; that, to them, tends to invalidate all UFO reports. In fact, if UFO sightings were not so common (say, just one good report every three or four years), perhaps more scientists would seriously consider the ETH. Interestingly, this is precisely the reverse of what many exasperated UFO proponents realize, in their attempts to “prove” the ETH by the sheer number of reports.
Despite intensive research by many individuals, scientific bodies, and federal agencies for over three decades, no proof of extraterrestrial visitation has been produced. Such an idea, therefore, must remain as only a viable and intriguing hypothesis, very difficult to test, and frustrating to debate.
The Time Travel Theory: Like most UFO “theories,” the time travel theory lacks any empirical supporting evidence; contrary to what one might expect, however, it is probably the least-popular theory in circulation.
The theory is based on the premise that we will eventually progress to such a high technological level that, in learning how to control certain forces of nature, it will be within our power to manipulate the barriers of time and space and “return” to our present time, or any other we wish. It has to be admitted that there are certain astrophysical phenomena currently being studied (i.e., quasars, black holes), which are not properly understood, and there is every indication that some fundamental natural processes in the universe have yet to be identified, described, and incorporated into our framework of knowledge.
Nevertheless, the only hints of a time travel basis for UFOs are in the behavioral and morphological descriptions of occupants sometimes reported to pilot them. The behavioral component refers to reports that such occupants generally avoid contact, or at least do not go beyond an informal communication with wit nesses. This “policy of noninterference” would seem to be more appropriate for a society visiting its own past, which has already “happened,” than for an interstellar-traveling society, which might be anxious to establish formal links with new civilizations.
The morphological component involves the biological feature of neoteny, a characteristic in which infantile features are retained in the adult form. A neotenous trend is evident in the primates, particularly in man (the result is a longer childhood and the acquisition of knowledge and values by children), and the trend will theoretically continue in the future. This implies that human adults, at some future time, could look more like today’s children. Curiously, UFO occupants are described as small and childlike, with large heads relative to their bodies. Both of these speculative forms of evidence must rely, of course, on the authenticity and reliability of UFO reports involving “occupants.”
The possibility of UFO occupants being extraterrestrial time travelers (i.e., not from our future) is not generally addressed by UFO researchers.
The Ultraterrestrial Theory: In the late 1960s, a number of UFO authorities became disenchanted with the extraterrestrial hypothesis, which they now considered antiquated. Impatient with the lack of “contact” over the years, these individuals have moved on to accept a more esoteric concept, that involving “ultraterrestrials” in a “parallel universe.” These interdimensional beings are thought to share our own space, but at a different “vibratory lever” of existence, and that time may have no meaning for them. John A. Keel, one of the major thinkers in the area, believes that UFOs are “nothing more than transmogrifications tailoring themselves to our abilities to understand…” and that the ultraterrestrials “…are somehow able to manipulate the electrical circuits of the human mind.” (Keel, 1970)
There are so many variations of this “theory,” and each variation has such loose definitional parameters, that it is difficult to describe in a systematic way. Some authorities, like Dr. Jacques Vallée, talk of longterm cultural control by such intelligences, involving the world’s leading religious movements, miracles, angels, ghosts, fairies, poltergeists, and the like; and they interpret UFOs as another (but more modern) manifestation of the same phenomena.
Such beliefs are not for all, however. According to Vallée, they are only for “…those few who have …graduated to a higher, clearer level of perception of the total meaning of that tenuous dream that underlies the many nightmares of human history.” (Vallée, 1969) Others, like Keel, are suspicious of the ultraterrestrials’ motives, and a few integrate the new theory into their previously established religious beliefs about good and evil forces.
As with some other areas of the “psychic sciences,” the ultraterrestrial theory lacks a cohesive synthesis. This is probably because of its (proposed) nature; there is no way to go about obtaining empirical evidence to support the hypothesis. That is, there is no “observational window” one can look through to even evaluate the reasonableness of the hypothesis. The extraterrestrial hypothesis, on the other hand, does have such an “observational window.” To see it, one need only step outside at night and look up; the question of whether or not extraterrestrial visitation is possible can thus be evaluated, based on the time travel theory data made available through the “window,” and everyone can usually agree on the data even if they do not always agree on their interpretation. Even some of the more unlikely UFO theories, such as the hollow Earth theory, have “observational windows,” thus enabling their appropriate evaluation.
Although the ultraterrestrial theory has become fashionable in some European and American UFO circles, and has gathered a substantial following, it is little known among the public and has had little effect on public opinion.
The Psychic Projection Theory: The psychic projection theory represents a modern school of thought in UFO circles which, like the ultraterrestrial theory, developed as a reaction to the extraterrestrial hypothesis. The theory was fast outlined by Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman in the mid-1970s, based loosely on Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious
(Clark and Coleman, 1975).
The authors, however, have gone far beyond Jungian psychology and postulate that the collective unconscious can psychically project material forms, represented in modern times by the UFO—with occupants—and that “…the UFO phenomenon has absorbed many of the ancient archetypal forms in which human beings have traditionally needed to believe and which they have sought to complete their world.”
Clark and Coleman see a danger in the modern world of science disrupting man’s close bond to nature, to mysticism, and to the elements, bringing him to “the brink of catastrophe.” The message they see in the UFO myth is that the collective unconscious “…too long repressed, will burst free, overwhelm the world, and usher in an era of madness, superstition, and terror—with all the sociopolitical accouterments: war, anarchy, fascism,” and that “… when the unconscious can no longer be contained, its liberated contents will destroy all that the conscious mind has produced: the fruits of science and technology, civilized order, and the very process of reason itself. Under the new imbalance a spiritual dark age will blanket the earth.”
UFOs, then, are something like “planetary poltergeists” that are generated by the “psychic energy” of the collective unconscious (and sometimes by an individual unconscious), as were fairies, flying saucers “spacemen,” and apparitions of the Virgin Mary.
In some respects, the psychic projection theory relies on the same kinds of evidence as the ultraterrestrial theory, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the writings of authorities in the two schools.
The psychic projection theory would have to depend, at the very least, on both the reality of Jung’s collective unconscious—a kind of reality that Jung never claimed for it—and the reality of extrasensory perception (ESP). ESP research is a continuing and active area of research by numerous psychologists, biologists, and physicists. A very bitter and emotional debate has ensued over the years concerning the validity of ESP. Some believe that the whole subject is nonsense and should not be given any serious consideration. Others claim that ESP effects have been conclusively demonstrated in repeated laboratory experiments, and that efforts should be directed more toward understanding the effects than toward attempting to convince the skeptics.
Until the matter is resolved, the psychic projection theory must remain as simply a fascinating idea. Even if ESP effects (precognition, telepathy, telekinesis, et cetera) were ultimately demonstrated to be authentic phenomena, bringing parapsychology into the mainstream of “normal” science, there has been no indication that such “psychic energy” could actually materialize (i.e., project) objects, whether they be fairies or flying saucers.
—J. RICHARD GREENWELL
References
Arnold, Kenneth. “Fireflies and Flying Saucers,” Flying Saucers magazine (November, 1962).
Bernard, Raymond. The Hollow Earth (Fieldcrest Publishing, 1964).
Bova, Ben, and Preiss, Byron, eds. First Contact: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Plume, 1991).
Clark, Jerome, and Coleman, Loren. The Unidentified (Warner Books, 1975).
Constable, Trevor James. Sky Creatures: Living UFOs (Pocket Books, 1978).
———. The Cosmic Pulse of Life (Merlin Press, 1976).
Derr, John. “UFOs and the Hollow Earth Theory,” The APRO Bulletin (November-December, 1970). Reprinted as the “hollow Earth theory” entry in Story, Ronald D., ed The Encyclopedia of UFOs (Doubleday/New English Library, 1980).
Gaddis, Vincent H. Mysterious Fires and Lights (Dell, 1967).
James, Trevor. They Live in the Sky (New Age Publishing, 1958).
Keel, John A. UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1970).
Mattern (no first name given) and Friedrich, Christof. UFO’s: Nazi Secret Weapon? (Samisdat Publishers, 1976).
Sanderson, Ivan T. Invisible Residents (World Publishing, 1970).
———. Uninvited Visitors (Cowles, 1967).
Story, Ronald D. with Greenwell, J. Richard. UFOs and the Limits of Science (Morrow, 1981).
Story, Ronald D., ed. with Greenwell, J. Richard. The Encyclopedia of UFOs (Doubleday/New English Library, 1980).
U.S. Air Force Technical report No. F-TR-2274-IA, Project “Sign,” Technical Intelligence Division, Intelligence Department, Air Materiel Command (February, 1949).
Vallée, Jacques. Passport to Magonia—From Folklore to Flying Saucers (Henry Regnery, 1969).
———. Revelations (Ballatine Books, 1991).
They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers (Saucerian Press, 1956). Gray Barker introduces the term “Men in Black” to describe a mysterious agency, presumably of the government, which silences UFO witnesses to conceal the truth about the phenomenon. He tells the stories of six men, including radio newscaster Frank Edwards, who were supposedly censored or otherwise silenced when they spoke out about their UFO experiences or opinions.
—RANDALL FITZGERALD
They Live in the Sky (New Age Publishing Co., 1959) Trevor James Constable with this book became the third author (after Charles Fort in 1919 and Meade Layne in 1950) to speculate that many UFOs might be creatures, or “critters”: amoebalike animal life in our atmosphere which can materialize at will. The difference with Constable is that he claims to have photographed these critters using techniques gleaned from psychic information given him by an extraterrestrial intelligence.
—RANDALL FITZGERALD
Those Gods Who Made Heaven and Earth (Editions Robert Laffont, 1969). French author Jean Sendy reinterprets the Biblical story of our planet’s creation to conclude that an extraterrestrial community of 30 or 40 scientists, known collectively as the Elohim, came to Earth aboard the Martian moon Phobos and created a climate-controlled laboratory called the Garden of Eden. Humans were expelled from Eden when they discovered the Elohim were not divine after all. Only Noah survived when the Elohim decided to end their experiment and destroy humankind with an atomic explosion that flooded the planet.
—RANDALL FITZGERALD
Threat, The (Simon & Schuster, 1998). Professor David M. Jacobs provides substantial evidence through the use of hypnotic-regressive interviews with over 700 alleged abductees that the alien-abduction experiences are primarily physical ones with the intent of creating hybrids (offspring of mixed Earth and alien parents).
The report proposes that the secret alien agenda is to integrate the hybrids into human society and thus take control of planet Earth.
—ETEP STAFF
threat, UFO-ET Whether UFOs and extraterrestrials pose a danger to humanity is a question that has been answered differently over the various decades of flying saucer history. The U.S. Air Force investigation of flying saucer reports from 1948 to 1969 was done specifically under its duty to determine if they posed a threat to the people of the United States. UFOlogists are fond of pointing out that the official Air Force explanations of various cases seemed perfunctory and unconvincing, and that they never even tried to propose solutions to a certain residuum. What goes unrecognized is the fact that the Air Force was not approaching flying saucers as a scientific mystery that they had to solve. They only needed to decide whether the reports pointed to some enemy of the U.S. engaging in some activity that undermined the nation’s security.
They didn’t need to solve every case to satisfy themselves that saucers were not a threat. Nobody was reporting bomb attacks, gunfire, chemical clouds, or other types of deadly intrusion. Nobody indicated there were parachute drops of personnel or supplies in preparation for battle. No base was being built inside our borders. The idea that they were spying on us was undermined by the fact that most reports were over areas with no evident strategic importance. The occasional exceptions like reports near Los Alamos or the 1952 Washington D.C. incidents—when radar blips indicated some sort of entry into restricted air space near the Capitol and the White House—were troubling in their time, but retrospectively seem to have been innocuous. The D.C. blips behaved mindlessly with no evident goal. If
any intelligence was gathered by the UFOs near Los Alamos, it is not evident that it was ever used. No hostile action followed, nor was there any indication it was used in power brokering.
It is a cliché of UFOlogical rhetoric that if even one UFO report can be substantiated, the implications are staggering. Unless one regards the idea of extraterrestrial life as innately intoxicating, this is not absolutely true. What if the one case involves a pair of Ganymedean tourists taking a scenic route to a resort spa on Mercury? The practical consequences to humanity would be nil. The news that extraterrestrial life exists and likes to vacation might be interesting or amusing, but would hardly be in the same league as news that aliens are casing out our planet for war and colonization. The latter would truly be matters for full attention and immediate concern.
If one threw aside all critical judgment and accepted all claims made by UFOlogists of UFOs killing specifically named people as true, the death toll would still be less than that caused by everyday hazards. There are many more reasonable things to worry about than the purported UFO menace.
UFOlogists do worry about such things once in a while and have asked both the public and the government to share their concerns. What follows is a history of perceptions and notions about the danger vs. the harmlessness of the UFO phenomenon and how they have changed through the years.
FRIEND OR FOE
The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters Page 104
