The end of the dream

"The UFO Chronicles" is a new and expanded version of "The UFO Phenomenon", John Michael Greer's irreverent take on the flying saucer craze that burst upon the world in 1947 with pilot Kenneth Arnold's classical observation of something strange and wonderful in the vicinity of Mount Rainier in the US state of Washington.

Greer criticizes both the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), according to which UFOs are alien space ships, and the skeptical Null Hypothesis (NH) which holds that all UFO observations are misunderstood sightings of known natural phenomena, hoaxes or hallucinations. It should be noted that Greer is a Druid Revivalist and occultist, although he does his best trying to sound reasonable in this particular book!

So what is the UFO phenomenon, then, if its neither aliens from another world or a pure delusion? To Greer, the riddle is impossible to solve unless we recognize that we're not actually dealing with a single well-defined phenomenon at all. The idea that there is a homogenous "UFO problem" is a cultural construct that begins to unravel once the eye-witness observations are closely scrutinized. Many different things have been lumped together under the UFO moniker! The proposed solutions must therefore be pretty diverse, ranging from fanciful misunderstandings of known natural objects to *unknown* natural phenomena, from shamanic trances to government cover-ups, perhaps even some cryptozoological twists. Even cattle mutilations (!) and crop circles have been fused with the broader UFO narrative, despite no obvious connection. 

The strongest argument against the ETH is that the phenomenon simply isn't "alien" enough. It closely follows and mirrors popular science fiction. Indeed, all aspects of the UFO mythos were present in American science fiction magazines before people started "seeing" it in real time. The phenomenon also closely mirrors prevailing social fears and anxieties: the threat of nuclear war, ecological destruction, Satanic ritual abuse, government conspiracies, etc. Even the religion of the aliens is strikingly familiar. Why, it's Theosophy of course. What on Earth is *alien* here? Humans are simply projecting their dreams or nightmares onto the skies... 

However, Greer nevertheless believes that *something* real is out there. He reaches the conclusion that many UFO observations and encounters are related to secret US military test flights. Roswell was a crashed Project Mogul spy balloon, while the mysterious object followed by Captain Mantell was a Skyhook balloon. More controversially, the author proposes that the US military *actively encouraged* belief in extraterrestrial UFOs as a protective screen around very earthly secrets. Indeed, some UFO observations may have been deliberately staged-managed to trick the witnesses into thinking that aliens really are here. Greer points out that both pro-UFO and skeptics' groups had (often covert) ties to the military and the intelligence services. Is that why the skeptics never proposed misidentification of secret military craft as the main cause behind the phenomenon? It was safer talking about Venus (and, I suppose, barn owls). 

In another book, "Monsters", Greer more forthrightly discusses the "ultraterrestrial" hypothesis that the aliens are real paranormal beings, albeit still from our end of the Galaxy. In this book, he never goes that far, preferring to avoid commenting on the metaphysical status of the "shamanic experiences". 

Greer believes that the UFO phenomenon is slowly being phased out. It's after all a space age mythology based on the Western Idea of Unlimited Progress. When people realize that further technological advances are impossible, and manned space flights further than the Moon impossible, belief in luminous or threatening demi-gods from Outer Space will fade. Perhaps it will go out with one last apocalyptic bang? 

I admit that I'm quite nostalgic about the UFO phenomenon myself. Those were simpler times, times when everything seemed possible. However, it seems the dream is over. 

Perhaps we are stuck on this rock...with the ultraterrestrials.