While Hollywood has been telling us since the 1950s that aliens have been visiting Earth, in films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and Orson Welles scared radio listeners with his H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds in 1939, the truth is, we REALLY ARE NOT ALONE.
Since the Roswell, N.M. unidentified flying object (UFO) encounter in 1947, and the creation of the United States Government Project Blue Book or Project “Saucer”, which gathered information and served to cover up serious research and authentic evidence into outer-worldly encounters, reporting and research by private individuals has increased dramatically.
Their conclusions have been largely unanimous in their acceptance of UFO and alien visitations.
Donald Keyhoe was the first UFOlogist to pick up the mantle of serious research into UFOs in 1949 after Ken W. Purdy, editor of True Magazine, contacted him and offered him the assignment that would change his life.
In his book, The Flying Saucers are Real, which was published in 1950, Keyhoe speaks about his investigation of a UFO sighting at Harmon Field, Newfoundland in July of 1947.
He wrote that after extensive investigation he was forced to conclude that visitors from another planet have observed the earth periodically, and this observation has increased markedly. He also stated, "The only other possible explanation is that the saucers are extremely high-speed, long-range devices developed here on earth. Such an advance (which the Air Force has denied) would require an almost incredible leap in technical progress even for American scientists and designers."
Over his lifetime, Keyhoe would go on to write Flying Saucers From Outer Space (1953), The Flying Saucer Conspiracy (1955), Flying Saucers: Top Secret (1960), and Aliens from Space in 1973. He was the first to appear on television and publicly state that, “UFOs are real”, paving the way for generations of researchers continuing to this day.
While Keyhoe was a pioneer into UFO research and the American government's efforts to block information, German researcher Erich Von Daniken was busy researching ancient aliens.
In 1968, Von Daniken released Chariots of the Gods to great acclaim putting forth the theory that ancient alien visitation evidence could be found in Mayan ruins, the pyramids of Egypt, ancient Greece, and even in the Bible and that ancient astronauts were mistaken for gods by our ancestors. His popular book and movie based on Chariots, like Keyhhoe before him, set off research into history and aliens worldwide.
His later publications include According to the Evidence (1977), Signs of the Gods? (1979), The Eyes of the Sphinx (1996), The Return of the Gods (1997), The Arrival of the Gods (1998), and History is Wrong (2009) and further develop the theme of aliens and ancient races. He hosted a History Channel TV series in 2010.
While Von Daniken carried on the torch that Keyhoe passed on, current researchers like David Icke delve into alien mysteries, which seem to indicate our alien heritage.
The field of UFO research is very wide, encompassing 100-plus researchers who examine sightings, archaeological evidence and ancient texts for clues to visitations. More information will be discussed next week.
UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES will be a regular feature in the Province. If any reader has any questions or comments on unsolved mysteries that he or she wants to talk about, contact Tim at [email protected]
