Ufo Religions

New Religious Movements have intrigued scholars for decades. Oftentimes, people only research these groups when they find themselves at odds with their societies, resulting in a negative bias. This work presents a scientific approach that tries to answer the question: Why do new religions form? It tries to understand how humans interact with religious groups and their actions as a dynamic cognitive system.  At all points, this work intends to be interdisciplinary, incorporating religious scholarship, anthropology, sociology, and evolutionary psychology.  It proposes that specific types of religious leadership destabilize religious ritual systems in a specific way, which leads to the atrocities performed by some religious cults or to our great world religions.  This work defends the cognitive science of religion as the best approach currently being utilized to study such complex human phenomenon.

Technical Intelligence Report dated August 1949 assessing results of the US Air Force UFO Project GRUDGE.
Conclusions: reports of flying objects contribute no threat to the national security of the United States. Analyzed reports are the result of misinterpretations and other conventional causes.
Credit: NICAP web site.

[Perspektiven der Anomalistik, Bd. 5],
Münster et al.: Lit-Verlag 2017, 366 S., ISBN 978-3-643-13655-8

GERMAN:
Waren die Götter Astronauten? Diese Position vertritt die Prä-Astronautik oder Paläo-SETI, eine grenzwissenschaftliche Laienforschung. Erich von Däniken ist auf diesem Gebiet der erfolgreichste Autor. Er behauptet, dass Außerirdische vor Urzeiten die Erde besucht und die Entwicklung der Menschheit beeinflusst haben. Sie seien als Götter verehrt worden, und Spuren ihres Wirkens fänden sich bis heute - würden aber von der Menschheit missverstanden.

Das vorliegende Buch beschreibt die weltanschaulichen Grundannahmen, auf denen Dänikens Argumentation beruht.

ENGLISH:
Were our gods astronauts? That's what the para-scientific lay research often referred to as "ancient astronaut hypothesis" or "paleo-SETI" claims. Erich von Däniken is the most successful author on this topic. He is convinced that in prehistoric times extra-terrestrials visited Earth and influenced the history of humankind. Worshipped as gods, their traces could still be found today - but these traces are commonly misunderstood, says Däniken.

This PhD thesis describes the worldview underlying Däniken's arguments.

Il n’est plus de mois sans que les médias ne nous entretiennent des sectes, parasciences, extraterrestres, voyants, astrologues et gourous. La conclusion des enquêtes journalistiques est toujours la même : dans une société moderne en mutation, l’homme occidental retomberait dans l’irrationnel.
Rien ne prouve cependant que les croyances insolites qui foisonnent dans notre culture soient le fruit de l’«irrationalité». Au lieu d’y voir une création des égarés qui renoncent à l’usage de la raison, on peut tenter d’y découvrir, au contraire, un produit du fonctionnement habituel de la rationalité telle qu’elle est réellement.
Pour connaître la véritable marche de la raison, il ne suffit pas d’analyser les exploits intellectuels de grands savants : il vaut mieux scruter le spectacle de la pensée ordinaire qui se joue quotidiennement devant nos yeux.
Dans les années soixante, plusieurs dizaines de millions de personnes furent séduites, dans le monde entier, par une théorie qui expliquait l’origine de l’homme par une intervention de mystérieux astronautes venus des étoiles. En s’interrogeant sur la genèse de cette conception et sur les raisons de son succès, on invite ici le lecteur à un voyage au travers de recoins peu connus de la culture occidentale, où l’on croise les médiums spirites, les invisibles maîtres tibétains, les guerriers de l’Atlantide, les soucoupes volantes et les occultistes travestis en scientifiques.
Que nous y guide l’injonction de Fontenelle : « Étudions l’esprit humain dans l’une de ses plus étranges productions : c’est-là bien souvent qu’il se donne le mieux à connaître ».

The twentieth century saw an unprecedented spike in the study of altered states of consciousness. New ASCs, such as those associated with LSD and psilocybin mushrooms, were cultivated and studied, while older ASCs were given new classifications: out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, psychokinesis, extrasensory perception.  Altered Consciousness in the Twentieth Century analyses these different approaches and methodologies, and includes exciting new research into neglected areas.

This volume investigates the representation of ASCs in the culture of the twentieth century and examines the theoretical models that attempt to explain them. The international contributors critically examine a variety of ASCs, including precognition, near-death experiences, telepathy, New Age ‘channelling’, contact with aliens and UFOs, the use of alcohol and entheogens, analysing both the impact of ASCs on the culture and how cultural and technological changes influenced ASCs. The contributors are drawn from the fields of English and American literature, religious studies, Western esotericism, film studies, sociology and history of art, and bring to bear on ASCs their own disciplinary and conceptual perspectives, as well as a broader interdisciplinary knowledge of the subject. The collection represents a vital contribution to the growing body of work on both ASCs and the wider academic engagement with millennialism, entheogens, occulture and the paranormal.

LE PHÉNOMÈNE OVNI, UN AUTRE REGARD
L’idée de base est d’abord d’expliquer ce que tout le monde devrait savoir avant de parler d’ovni lors d’une observation. En effet, « Nos sens nous trompent ». Ensuite, appliquer ces connaissances à divers cas emblématiques de la « Vague Belge » de 1989-1992. Montrer qu’un grand nombre de  conclusions hâtives sans utilisation des lois de la physique ou en négligeant des données implicites pourtant accessibles conduisaient à des conclusions erronées. Après l’analyse  de divers cas, développer une série de réflexions sur les différentes thèses en présence. Montrer également que des « Hypothèses » étaient présentées comme « Faits » par les partisans de l’HET.  Finalement conclure  qu’il n’existe actuellement aucune preuve de véhicules extraterrestres dans la vague belge.
THE UFO PHENOMENON: ANOTHER LOOK
The basic idea is to explain what everyone should know before talking about UFOs during an observation. Indeed, "Our senses deceive us". Then, to apply this knowledge to some emblematic cases from the "Belgian UFO Wave" of 1989-1992. And to show that many hasty conclusions have led to erroneous conclusions. After the analysis of some cases, to develop several thoughts on the subject. To show that "Hypothesis" was presented as "Facts" by the believers of the ETH. Finally, to conclude that there is no actual proof of extra-terrestrial spacecraft in the "Belgian Wave".

Power Point Presentation. Speech delivered to the annual CISU conference, held at Saint Vincent (Italy) on June 21.23, 2007. Revised, 2012.
Presentación Power Point. Conferencia dictada en el simposio anual del CISU, celebrado en Saint Vincent (Italia), 21-23 de junio de 2007. Revisada, 2012.

Purpose: Starting from the classic defi nition of "alien abduction", the present research, starting from the study published in 2020 on the proposed clinical classifi cation of this particular phenomenon, is aimed at confi rming the theoretical assumption of psychopathological origin. Methods: Clinical interview, based on narrative-anamnestic and documentary evidence and the basis of the Perrotta Human Emotions Model (PHEM) concerning their emotional and perceptual-reactive experience, and administration of the battery of psychometric tests published in international scientifi c journals by the author of this work: 1) Perrotta Integrative Clinical Interviews (PICI-2), to investigate functional and dysfunctional personality traits; 2) Perrotta Individual Sexual Matrix Questionnaire (PSM-Q), to investigate the individual sexual matrix; 3) Perrotta Affective Dependence Questionnaire (PAD-Q), to investigate the profi les of affective and relational dependence; 4) Perrotta Human Defense Mechanisms Questionnaire (PDM-Q), to investigate the defence mechanisms of the Ego. Results: Preliminary results from the interviews and the anamnestic form would suggest that the phenomenon of alien abductions has a greater tendency to occur in the female group, in the adult and mature group (and tends to diminish but not disappear with advancing age) and in the group geographically originating in central-northern Italy (due to lower religious infl uences but greater openness to the typical contents of ufological and mystery narratives). Moreover, the subsequent results would lead us to deduce with almost total certainty, concerning the selected sample, that the phenomenon of alien abductions has an absolute prevalence in the believing population concerning the existence of paranormal phenomena per se, even in the absence of objective and/or scientifi c evidence. It is a phenomenon that is almost completely linked (110/112, 98.2%) to a medium-low or not fully educated cultural level. Based on the PICI-2 it emerged that the primary emerging disorder is alternatively the delusional disorder, the dissociative disorder and the narcissistic disorder; followed, as secondary disorders, by the delusional disorder (if it is not considered as primary disorder), the schizoid disorder, the borderline disorder, the obsessive disorder and the psychopathic disorder. The analysis of functional traits also reported the marked dysfunctional tendency of the classes referring to selfcontrol, sensitivity, Ego-Es comparison, emotionality, ego stability, security and relational functionality, confi rming here too the marked dysfunctional tendency of the clinical population. According to the PSM-Q, almost 2/3 of the participants (73/112, 65.2%) present a dysfunctional tendency to sexual behaviour and a marked tendency to chronicle feelings of shame in avoidance behaviour or hyposexuality. Furthermore, 100% of the sample of the population surveyed report having suffered signifi cant or serious psychological or physical abuse at a young age, or intra-parental relational imbalances, or in any case a sexual upbringing that was not open and lacking in free communication. According to the PDM-Q, 27.7% (31/112) are affected by affective dependency, with greater emphasis on types I (neurotic), VI (covert narcissist), V (borderline) and III (histrionic), in that order of descent. Finally, the PDM-Q reveals the widespread psychopathological tendency of the functional ego framework for the mechanisms of isolation, denial, regression, reactive formation, denial, projection, removal, withdrawal, instinct, repression and idealisation. Conclusion: This research confi rms the psychopathological nature of the alien abduction phenomenon, which deserves to be treated using a psychotherapeutic approach (preferably cognitive-behavioural and/or strategic) and possibly also pharmacological in serious cases, depending on the symptoms manifested and the severity of the morbid condition.

Over 5,500 English-language monographs on UFOs (unidentified flying objects), from the most substantial to the most ephemeral, are included in this bibliography. Nearly 6,000 UFO or related articles in English-language periodicals not specializing in UFOs have been listed. About 2,200 foreign-language books, 1,350 UFO and related periodicals, and a large number of domestic and foreign government documents, non-print materials, conference proceedings, and unpublished papers are represented.

Books and articles have been grouped by topic wherever possible. General UFO overviews and unspecific editorials will be found in all-inclusive sections. Other types of material are arranged by format.

Volume One includes topics related to traditional UFO studies, while Volume Two encompasses the Extraterrestrial Contact Movement--groups and individuals who claim to be in contact with aliens from somewhere else.

This paper describes (as per September 2011) the various releases and declassifications of official UFO documents by Governments and Agencies in the world.
The author is working on an expanded, updated version,  focused in providing online information sources.

John Keel was one of ufology’s most widely-read and influential authors.

Keel became an original and controversial researcher, and is credited with coining the term MIB (Men In Black), sinister and threatening entities who assume human form to confront ufologists and UFO witnesses.

Of particular importance was Keel’s analysis of patterns. His work on “windows” (specific hot spots of combined phenomenal appearances), “waves” (cyclic appearances of the phenomena) and the “Wednesday phenomenon” (the theory that a disproportionate number of UFO events occur on that day of the week) influenced scholars and followers of the genre alike.

In his much-acclaimed book, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse (1970), Keel suggested that many aspects of modern UFO reports, including humanoid encounters, often paralleled ancient folklore and religious visions, and directly linked UFOs with elemental phenomena.

“Ufology is just another name for demonology,” Keel explained, and claimed that he did not consider himself a “ufologist” but a “demonologist”; as an early admirer of Charles Fort (1874-1932) he actually preferred to be called a Fortean, which covers a wide range of paranormal subjects.

The Mothman Prophecies, his best-known book, was Keel’s account of his investigation into sightings in West Virginia of a huge, winged creature called the Mothman. Mothman — so named by an excitable newspaper subeditor — was first encountered in November 1966, and repeatedly, throughout the following year. Sightings dwindled following the collapse of a nearby bridge during the evening rush-hour in December 1967, in which 45 people were killed.

In 1966, Keel became a full-time investigator of assorted paranormal phenomena, and for the next four years interviewed thousands of people in more than 20 American states. At first he sought to explain UFOs as extraterrestrial visitations. But a year into his investigations, Keel realised that this hypothesis was untenable.

“I abandoned the extraterrestrial hypothesis in 1967, when my own field investigations disclosed an astonishing overlap between psychic phenomena and UFOs,” Keel wrote. “The objects and apparitions do not necessarily originate on another planet and may not even exist as permanent constructions of matter. It is more likely that we see what we want to see and interpret such visions according to our contemporary beliefs.”

After investigating incidents of paranormal telephony — spirits supposedly communicating electronically — Keel found his phone calls being mysteriously re-routed to another number, one digit different to his own. Oddly, the person answering claimed also to be called John Keel; odder still, the voice of the doppelgänger sounded remarkably similar to Keel’s own.

Keel first identified the so-called “Men In Black” in an article for Saga magazine in 1967 headed “UFO Agents of Terror”. He described sinister figures of gaunt, evil aspect, often with oriental or Hispanic features, a phenomenon he noticed again in January 1969 during President Nixon’s first inauguration.

“I was very interested to notice three men in black suits looking very much like our classical men-inblack sitting together a few rows from the front, right behind Nixon when be gave his inaugural address,” Keel wrote. “Every time the television cameras shot Nixon from a particular angle, I could see these three men. They seemed out of place. Of course they could have been ambassadors from Vietnam or something. “I wondered afterward if my imagination had been running away from me. I got a hold of all the magazines I could find with pictures of the inauguration; and I went over them with a magnifying glass; but I could not find those three guys. Yet I had seen them very clearly on television.”

In Our Haunted Planet (1971), Keel coined the term “ultraterrestrials” to describe UFO occupants. He discussed the seldom-considered possibility that the alien “visitors” to Earth are not visitors at all, but an advanced terrestrial civilisation, consisting of shapechanging phenomena from another order of existence, which may or may not be human.

Keel (1930–2009), considered a creative and proactive investigator of UFOs, believed ultraterrestrials and their minions could manifest themselves as monsters, space people, ghosts or other paranormal entities.

The January 1966 UFO "flap" around the Wanaque Reservoir, New Jersey had a short-lived but intense media impact. It was a typical example of how a micro-wave develops. This article explores and studies the various alleged UFO photographs taken in this time frame.

In this article, I aim to showcase the emergence of the so-called Ancient Astronaut Discourse (AAD) out of religious discourse as well as its continued religious functions despite all differences and pretensions to the contrary (i.e., the concerted effort to resemble legitimate or even superior science, specifically historiography and archaeology). In a second step, I sketch a concise literary history of this emergence itself, as well as the continuous mutual influence between the AAD and the realm of popular culture. This complex intertwinement is exemplified via the rather spectacular case of the "Stargate" science fiction franchise which adapted popular themes and theories from the AAD (in particular its Egyptian front focusing on the pyramids) in the mid-90s. With the success of the movie and the subsequent television shows, the direction of the influence then became strangely reversed: The eponymous Stargate device became integrated into AAD narratives, its fictional origins being silently dropped or explained away by conspiracy theories. I try to account for this development by a methodical approach in the vein of recent studies on fiction-based religions as well as Jean Baudrillard's concept of hyperreality and simulacra. Throughout all these observations, we encounter an imaginary Egypt as providing both the primary building blocks and the general backdrop of ancient mystery from and upon which the AAD's flying pyramids are built.

The most popular response to incidents of anomalous aerial phenomena, or even reports of entities associated with unusual flying craft is to assign an extraterrestrial explanation. But does this idea adequately explain the range and scope of this phenomena? An examination of the phenomena as a whole, as well as the apparent underlying truth claims appear to nudge us closer to the theological and metaphysical.

A Mária-kegyhelyek mindig is a csodás gyógyulások és a látványos jelenések színtereinek számítottak, zarándokok tömegei látogatták őket. Manapság azonban a New Age jelenségek is egyre gyakrabban megfigyelhetők ezeken a helyeken. A tanulmány a Baranya megyei Máriagyűd példáján mutatja be, hogy miként hangolódik újra és válik különleges „erő-központtá” ez a katolikus búcsújáróhely egy ezoterikus spirituális csoport tagjai számára. A szerző egyrészt a hazai New Age vallásosság és az etno-pogány diskurzusok kontextusában elemzi a terepen szerzett tapasztalatait, másrészt kiemeli a Magyar Katolikus Egyház New Age spiritualitással kapcsolatos attitűdjének változásait is.

The Spanish Ministry of Defense opened its UFO files in the period 1992-1999, known as the declassification process. 84 records were released, covering nearly 2,000 pages of 122 sightings occurred between 1962 and 1995. The author played a key role in this process. Firstly by urging the Air Staff to make the documents available to the public and then cooperating with the Air Operative Command (MOA). In that role –a gratis et amore function‒ I ensured that that all information held by the Air Force was disclosed and that many missing reports were found and released.
In 1994, I learned of the existence of a classified dossier of more than 400 pages of various official correspondence, studies by INTA (Spanish space research center) and a voluminous analysis report by the US Battelle Institute. On December 6, 1965, a space reentry took place on the SW of Spain, releasing fragments of a Russian rocket that aroused enormous interest from the United States. Eager to strengthen ties with its ally, General Franco, head of the Spanish state, allowed some of these technology remains to be analyzed by the US government.
Today, these materials have not been declassified (not being properly a UFO report these were not contained within the official UFO files). This is the story of the visual sighting that started it all, the exhaustive scientific tests performed on the metallic spheres and other objects found in Badajoz and Seville and the efforts that the author has done since 2009 to achieve its complete declassification, which seems now to be closer than ever.
(Paper in Spanish, English tittle: UFO DECLASSIFICATION IN SPAIN: THE ULTIMATE FILE).

Abstract: On December 27, 2021, US President Joe Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2022. For the first time in history, this bill included provisions for the establishment of an office within the Department of Defense to study Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). The following text is a personal review of this UAP Act.
Resumen: El 27 de diciembre de 2021, el presidente de los EE. UU., Joe Biden, firmó la Ley de Autorización de la Defensa Nacional para el año fiscal 2022. Por primera vez en la historia, este proyecto de ley incluía disposiciones para el establecimiento de una oficina dentro del Departamento de Defensa para estudiar los Fenómenos Aéreos No Identificados (UAP ). El siguiente texto es un comentario a dicha "ley UAP".

RESUMEN
Esta obra del antropólogo Ignacio Cabria, originalmente publicada en 2003 por la Fundación Anomalía (España), representa un primer esfuerzo de revisión de los distintos enfoques en la investigación del fenómeno ovni desde la psicología y las ciencias sociales, particularmente la sociología y la antropología. El autor analiza las teorías y la bibliografía producidas sobre los procesos psicológicos y sociales por los cuales se producen los informes ovni, las creencias en torno al fenómeno, los aspectos simbólicos del mito extraterrestre y su continuada presencia en la cultura contemporánea.
ABSTRACT
This work by anthropologist Ignacio Cabria, originally published in 2003 by the Fundación Anomalía (Spain), represents a first effort to review the different approaches in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon from psychology and social sciences, particularly sociology and anthropology. The author analyses the theories and bibliography produced on the psychological and social processes by which the UFO reports are produced, the beliefs around the phenomenon, the symbolic aspects of the extraterrestrial myth and its continuing presence in contemporary culture.

Employing examples presented in three Renaissance paintings, this article examines the perceptional twists performed by ufologists when citing these works as evidence for encounters with unidentified flying objects prior to the modern age. By studying medieval Biblical symbolism prevalent during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it demonstrates the confusion created by misinterpreting religious icons and super-imposing contemporary memes. Conversely, concerning the paper’s third example, current explanations are found wanting. Using the research of Italian art historian Diego Cuoghi as offered in Skeptic magazine, this paper dismantles the accepted explanations and replaces them with a question mark.

El Libro de Enoc es un eslabón entre los hijos de Dios y la historia del diluvio contenidas en Génesis.
    En el pequeño capítulo de Génesis 6 de la Biblia cabe toda la mitología griega, maya, inca, azteca, egipcia, de las religiones dármicas y todos los pueblos que tuvieron conocimientos científicos inexplicables.  Estas civilizaciones levantaron edificaciones monumentales dedicadas a sus dioses.  Se cree que algunas fueron construidas antes del diluvio con la intervención de los vigilantes y otras después.
    Qué no decir de la tecnología necesaria para edificarlas, que desconcierta a los científicos de hoy.  Como ejemplo, la Gran Pirámide de Guiza (Keops), la única de las siete maravillas del mundo antiguo que subsiste. Fue construida alrededor del año 2,570 a.C. Durante 3,800 años mantuvo la marca como el edificio más alto de la tierra. En su construcción fueron empleados unos 2.3 millones de bloques de piedra con un peso promedio de 2.5 toneladas. Algunos pesan 60 toneladas.  ¿Cómo lo hicieron? Algunas teorías apuntan a tecnología extraterrestre.

    Muchos científicos atribuyen a seres extraterrestres la creación de estas civilizaciones avanzadas de la antigüedad.  Desde el punto de vista humano, los alienígenas son seres que proceden de un lugar ajeno a la tierra. Para otros, del espacio exterior. Muchos más los asocian con platillos voladores.
    Hay incontables explicaciones en todo tipo de textos y disciplinas que se han formado alrededor del tema. Por ejemplo, ufología, xenobiología, alienígenas ancestrales y las llamadas religiones ovnis. Han dado origen a una cantidad respetable de teorías conspirativas e historias de ciencia ficción.

The historic relationship between flying shields and the Native Americans of Arizona has become a part of a long tradition. Legends of ancient star beings that pilot spacecraft and sometimes mate with the indigenous people are an accepted fact for the native peoples, not a matter of dispute.

Legends from the ancient Hopi Indians abound with what they call magical flying shields. Although this northern Arizona tribe has traditionally been known as the People of Peace, the warrior shield could be an apt analogy because in Hopi culture the concept of war is inexplicably connected to the stars.

The traditional term used for flying saucer is paatuwvota. Since the Hopi word paa means water, paatuwvota possibly refers to the expanding concentric rings in a lake or pool. This might be a metaphorical description for the way the strange airborne device appears to operate. For a desert people like the Hopi, water is synonymous with wonder—perhaps the type evoked by witnessing these spacecraft.

A still classified UFO monograph by Spanish Air Force Captain Antonio González de Boado in 1967 is fully disclosed and it is commented in a historical perspective. His correspondence with the present author is released. UFO incidents reported are reviewed. The circumstances of the death of Captain Boado in an aircraft crash are studied and the claims by sensation-seekers are refuted.

To many, they are merely figments of the imagination epitomizing either the mark of creative genius or insanity depending upon the context in which they are mentioned. However, UFO’s or extraterrestrials may prove to be one of the greatest apologetic challenges of the twenty-first century. In “Scanners Set To Discernment: An Evangelical Appraisal Of Extraterrestrial Spirituality”, theologian and social critic Frederick Meekins takes the reader on a mind expanding journey spanning the boundaries of the physical universe, back to the first moments of creation, forward to the end of this age, and across several dimensions just for good measure in pursuit of this enigma destined to unsettle so many of the assumptions that we take for granted.

La foi face aux interprétations cosmiques
Вера перед лицом космических интерпретаций
Intercultural and Interreligious opinion
РОССИЙСКАЯ ЭТНОЛОГИЯ: ПЕРСОНАЛЬНЫЙ ВЗГЛЯД В  ГЛОБАЛЬНОЙ ПЕРСПЕКТИВЕ :
Актуальность исследования определяется содержанием концептуальных направлений развития российской социальная и религиозная этнология

ÖZET
Boş ve uydurma söz anlamlarına gelen mite, tarihî seyri içerisinde araştırmacılar tarafından oldukça farklı anlamlar yüklenmiştir. Uzun yıllar boyunca uydurma öykü anlamından kurtulamayan mit, özellikle psikanalitik çalışmaları ile bilinçdışını anlamada bir aracı olarak görülmüş ve böylece akademide yer bulmuştur. Günümüzde ise mitin, toplumların hayata bakış tarzını anlamada büyük bir yardımcı görevi gördüğü büyük oranda kabul edilen bir durumdur. Mitin bilimsel bir inceleme konusu olması, birçok farklı disiplinden araştırmacının da inceleme alanına girmesini sağlamıştır. Mit üzerine çalışma yapan kimi araştırmacılar, mitin modernleşme ve kentleşme gibi olgulardan etkilendiğini ve uzak geçmişte kalarak bilinmeyen bir zamandaki olayları anlattığını, dolayısıyla günümüze ulaşmadığını düşünmektedir. Bu çalışma, aslında buradaki görüşlere karşı bir sav geliştirmektedir. Çalışmada öncelikle folklorun dinamikliği üzerinde durulmuş ve değişen zaman şartlarına uygun olarak folklorik bir dönüşümün varlığı örnekler üzerinden açıklanmıştır. Yine çalışmada, UFO’lar ve dünya dışı varlıklar üzerinden oluşan anlatıların, günümüz insanının mit arayışının bir sonucu olduğu üzerinde durulmuştur. Bahsi geçen anlatılar, mitik anlatılarla olay örgüsü, şahıs kadrosu ve motif açısından karşılaştırılmış ve düşünüş olarak aynı noktadan çıktıkları, dolayısıyla UFO anlatılarının, günümüz yaşayan mitlerinin, özellikle kenti merkezine alan bir yönünü oluşturduğu sonucuna varılmıştır. Çalışmanın bir diğer bölümünde, UFO’lar üzerinden oluşan dinî akımların, esasen diğer dinlerin ve mitlerin argümanlarını, teknoloji ve bilimle birleştirerek günümüze uyarladığı görülmüştür. Yine çalışmanın sonraki alt başlığında UFO’lar tarafından kaçırılan kişilerin yaşadıkları bu tecrübe, kahramanın sonsuz yolculuğu bağlamında incelenmiş ve bahsi geçen tecrübelerin mitik kahramanların yaşadıkları tecrübelerle benzer nitelikte olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Sinema sektörü ile yapılan karşılaştırmalı inceleme sonucu; UFO’ların bilim kurgu ürünü olmadığı, aksine bilim kurgu filmlerinin UFO anlatılarını esas aldığı ve bu sayede anlatılarla sinema sektörü arasında karşılıklı bir ilişki olduğu, bunun da UFO mitlerinin sürekliliğine katkı sağladığı sonucuna varılmıştır. Son olarak UFO mitlerinin, süreklilik olgusuna uygun bir şekilde, gelişen teknolojinin de etkisiyle, ilerleyen dönemlerde farklı bir boyuta ulaşacağı öngörülmüştür.   

ABSTRACT
The researchers attributed quite different meanings to the Myth which means ‘false and nonsense word’, in its historical development. The myth which cannot be considered out of its context as ‘made-up story’ for many years has been considered as a means to understand the unconscious by the help of psychoanalytic studies and thus found a place in academy. It is widely accepted that myth serves as a great contributor to understand the societies’ perspective on life. The fact that myth is a subject of scientific study enabled the researchers from many different disciplines to focus on the area of study. Some researchers studying on myth think that myth is affected by facts such modernization and urbanization and that it tells the events of an unknown time by staying in the distant past and that it has not reached the present day accordingly. This study addressed a hypothesis against the abovementioned aspects. The dynamism of folklore was especially emphasized in the study and the existence of a folkloric transformation in accordance with the changing conditions was discussed. Moreover, it has also been emphasized that the narratives about UFOs and extra-terrestrial beings are the results of the search for the myth of modern man. The stated narratives have been compared with mythic narratives in terms of storyline, staff and theme. Furthermore, it has been concluded that they have originated from the same source in terms of mentality and that the UFO narratives constitute a dimension of today’s living myths towards the center of the urban life. In another chapter of the study, it has been seen that the religious movements formed on the basis of UFO’s, adapted the arguments of other religions and myths to today’s world, by combining with technology and science. In the following sub-title of the study, experiences of people kidnapped by UFOs have been examined in the context of hero’s endless journey and it has been concluded that the said experiences are of similar-nature with the experiences of mythic heroes. As a result of the comparative analysis made with the cinema sector; it has been concluded that UFO’s are not science-fiction and the sci-fi movies are based on the UFO’s narratives. Therefore, it has been concluded that there is an interrelationship between the narratives and the cinema industry and that this contributes to the continuity of UFO myths. In conclusion, it is predicted that UFO myths will reach a different dimension with the effect of developing technology in accordance with the continuity fact.

At the start of 1959, the Scottish artist and occultist Benjamin Creme (1922-2016) claimed that he began to receive telepathic messages from one of the Theosophical Masters. He spoke of these communications in terms of ‘overshadowing’, which he defined as a ‘voluntary co-operative process in which a Master’s consciousness temporarily enters and works through the physical, emotional and mental bodies of a disciple’. Later that year, he was overshadowed by the Maitreya, also known as the Christ, who had previously incarnated in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Maitreya informed him that he would shortly reappear in the world and that it was Creme’s mission to broadcast his coming to humanity. In the first part of this chapter, I provide an overview of Creme’s life and his role as herald of the Maitreya. In the second part, I examine Wouter Hanegraaff’s notion of the ‘Theosophical imagination’ in relation both to Blavatsky and later Theosophists and argue that Creme’s overshadowed messages from Maitreya and his Master were received in an altered state of consciousness, in which the products of Creme’s imagination were experienced as real.

Abstract: the article reconstructs the narratives advanced by the author Jean Sendy (1910-1978). His life is reconstructed as well. It is argued that Sendy was a cultivated, sophisticated and ironic author, deeply different, by virtue of his books’ quality, from other proponents of the “ancient aliens” narratives with whom he is often paired.

Publicado originalmente en diciembre de 2006, este trabajo fue el primero de la serie “Documentos oficiales online” y explica la monografía redactada en 1981 por el Teniente Coronel del Ejército del Aire español, Antonio Munáiz Ferro-Sastre. Se trató de un extenso trabajo sobre encuestas de casos ovni registrados en las Islas Canarias entre 1974 y 1977. La monografía en cuestión está también disponible en este portal Academia.edu bajo el título ““Metodo para la Investigacion de Fenomenos Aeroespaciales”.
First released in December 2006, this paper was the first of the series “Official Documents Online” and it explains the monograph presented in 1981 by Lt. Col. A. Munáiz Ferro-Sastre on the investigations of UFO sightings reported in the Canary Islands from 1974 to 1977. The actual monograph has also been uploaded in the Academia.edu portal under the title “Metodo para la Investigacion de Fenomenos Aeroespaciales”.

After 70 years of ignorance and frustration in the study of UFO phenomena, the author reviews a recent strategy presented by Dr. Jacques Vallée. As a consequence, an alternative approach and planning, thought to be viable, is proposed.  The Selective Strategy, as it is termed, is aimed to achieve final findings confined to a limited span of time, as opposite to an infinite period. Its implementation necessitates the  concourse of the community of serious UFO researchers to support and coordinate this major worlwide project.