UFOs from Planet Earth

An alien masquerading as a barn owl to fool CSICOP. Rare photo!

This book contains articles on UFOs previously published in the British magazine "The Unexplained" (a temporary magazine published 1980-83). It's part of the same series as the book "Alien World", which also deals with the UFO phenomenon. Although both books are edited by Peter Brookesmith, there are nevertheless differences between them. "Alien World" was more sceptical. "UFOs. Where do they come from?" contain more contributions from true believers. It's a mainline ufologist book, rather than a sceptical inquiry into the phenomenon.

The contributors do reject the ETI hypothesis, the (obviously absurd) idea that UFOs are extraterrestrial space craft manned by aliens. But if UFOs don't come from other planets, where do they come from? The answer is that UFOs must in some way originate here on Earth. Still, I feel that many of the "theories" discussed in the book aren't particularly down to earth!

Several articles claim that UFOs must be secret weapons developed by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and (above all) the United States. Nobody denies, I think, that *some* UFOs might be explained in this manner. For instance, some UFO observations might actually have been Stealth bombers. However, UFOs are just too advanced by our technological standards (if you take the observations seriously), which makes you wonder why the United States haven't used them in war, if they really are American? Surely, the US could have won both the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the more recent Iraqi war, if they had access to UFO technology. Another untenable idea is that alien abductions are staged by the CIA. Once again, if the CIA has access to such advanced psychological expertise, why don't they use this advantage in some real war? Instead, they seem busy kidnapping American citizens. Another contribution claims that the CIA have infiltrated ufologist organizations, with the exception of Ground Saucer Watch!

"UFOs. Where do they come from?" also contain articles linking alien abductions to the birth trauma, shamanistic ecstasies or Jungian archetypes. While somewhat extreme, these are more interesting. There is also an article on Unidentified Swimming Objects (!), and articles on humanoids and various old UFO cases predating Kenneth Arnold. Finally, the book includes two priceless contributions by Hilary Evans, who deal with crazy pseudo-Christian cults. Some scepticism at last.

While I prefer "Alien World", this book might nevertheless be interesting as an easy introduction into one particular strand of ufology. It is, however, somewhat out of date, being published before the peak of the abduction craze. It doesn't mention Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs or Whitley Strieber. Nor does it deal with Roswell, except in passing.