The Danaids are not what they seem

This is an extremely strange book, only available in Swedish. “Danaiderna: Ett försök att förstå UFO-fenomenet” was published in 1999 by Staffan Andersson. Curiously, the preface is written by Clas Svahn from UFO-Sverige, a ufology network which sounds almost like a skeptic group. Svahn does point out that he doesn´t necessarily agree with all of Andersson´s conclusions – probably an understatement. As already indicated, the author´s thesis is *very* strange.

The book is divided into two sections. In the first, Andersson lends his support to John Keel and Jacques Vallée, two controversial ufologists who pointed out the strong similarities between modern UFO observations and fairy lore. It can hardly be denied that there are similarities, including “abductions”, “hybrid children”, strange lights and the often bizarre looks of the aliens or fairies. Indeed, Andersson believes that there are parallels to both the small grey humanoids and the tall Nordics in fairy lore. The parallels are sometimes so striking that they suggest either an objective phenomenon (how can people in vastly different times and cultures come up with the same stories?) or some kind of widespread subjective phenomenon, perhaps connected to Jungian archetypes or the like. Almost ironically, many cultures make a connection between the fairies and owls – ironic, since the most common skeptical explanation for many humanoid observations is that they indeed *are* owls! If you believe in tricksters or daimonic reality… 

Andersson reaches the conclusion that the aliens are both real and physically tangible beings. They are not etheric or astral creatures. It is here that he goes off tangent – in the second part of the book. The author speculates that the fairy are really an evolutionary offshoot of humanity. The fairies have literally “gone underground” and live in caverns, caves or perhaps at the bottom of the sea. Somehow, this hidden parallel civilization has developed a very advanced technology with which they can trick humans into thinking that they are spirits, angels, aliens…or don´t exist at all. Andersson doesn´t explain how this is possible – humans need oil and uranium to develop high tech, so what energy sources are the fairy tapping? Perhaps their abilities are mostly mental, since Andersson speculates that the UFOs (the “alien craft”) are projections and hence not really real at all. The sexual aspects of the alien or fairy abductions are easily explained on this model, since humans and humanoids have similar DNA, while it´s difficult to believe that literal aliens from another world could have it. The fairies probably suffer from inbreeding, and hence need to abduct humans on a semi-regular basis, perhaps to extract DNA from us. 

The story becomes more strange as it progresses. Andersson believes that the fairies are somehow related to the ancient Celts, and perhaps to Indo-Europeans in general. They originally lived in Greece, where they were known as Pelasgians. After a detour through Scythia, the humanoids founded the Etruscan civilization. Evidence: Etruscan sculptures show a weirdly Asiatic-looking people with slanted eyes. Humanoids? Another group moved to the British Isles and Scandinavia. The legend of the Danaids is somehow connected to Tuatha de Danann (the Irish fairy taken as a collective), and to the river Don in Russia (and hence Scythia). In ancient Norse religion, the Vaner and Diser are the humanoids, while Odin was a human ruler from Scythia who learned the art of shamanizing from the fairies. I think. The last part of the book is somehow hard to follow! Ufologists who believe in abductions sometimes claim that people of Celtic ancestry are abducted more often, a claim which can be “explained” easily on Andersson´s model. It´s either because their DNA is more compatible with that of the fairy, or perhaps because they are half-fairy themselves. 

Most sensationally, Andersson believes that the “Greek miracle” was the result of fairy-humanoid influence. The Ionian Greeks were half-human and half-humanoid, since the humanoid Pelasgian natives were assimilated by the Greek invaders. To be honest, the anthropological chapters of “Danaiderna” sound like trolling, but apparently, the book is seriously intended. As already indicated, the first chapters on comparative mythology (based on Keel and Vallée) does show that *something* very strange is going on at planet Earth, while the latter speculations are simply too weird for the present reviewer. It´s interesting to note that Andersson, while rejecting the ETI hypothesis, nevertheless ends up with a kind of ETI hypothesis of his own. For what is the idea of literal flesh-and-blood humanoids living in caves, if not a kind of “landlubber” version of the idea that UFOs are nuts-and-bolts craft manned by (perhaps) flesh-and-blood astronauts from distant star systems? In both versions, we simply end up with a secularized version of the original “animistic” idea that we are, of course, dealing with spirit-beings…