Allen Hynek, the astronomer who invented the concept of "Close Encounters" with alien life, inspired Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster classic science fiction epic film, and made a nation want to believe in UFOs.In June 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold looked out his cockpit window and saw a group of nine silvery crescents weaving between the peaks of the Cascade Mountains at an estimated 1,200 miles an hour. The media, the military, and the scientific community—led by J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer hired by the Air Force—debunked this and many other Unidentified Flying Object sightings reported across the country. But after years of denials, Hynek made a shocking pronouncement: UFOs are real.Thirty years after his death, Hynek’s agonizing transformation from skepticism to true believer remains one of the great misunderstood stories of science. In this definitive biography, Mark O'Connell reveals for the first time how Hynek’s work both as a celebrated astronomer and as the U. S. Air Force’s go-to UFO expert for nearly twenty years stretched the boundaries of modern science, laid the groundwork for acceptance of the possibility of UFOs, and was the basis of the hit film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. With unprecedented access to Hynek’s personal and professional files, O’Connell smashes conventional wisdom to reveal the intriguing man and scientist beneath the legend.Tracing Hynek’s career, O'Connell examines Hynek’s often-ignored work as a professional astronomer to create a complete portrait of a groundbreaking enthusiast who became an American cult icon and transformed the way we see our world and our universe.

    The 200 mysteries and hoaxes are thoroughly examined, including cattle mutilations, crop circles, spontaneous human combustion, Martian lore, Roswell, Loch Ness, the Old Hag, weather phenomena, faeries, Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle, living dinosaurs, ghosts, pterodactyl sightings, flying humanoids, hollow earth, and other absorbing puzzles. Along the way readers will learn of hoaxes and witness the creation of various modern myths.

    Warren began collecting these stories from around the world: they had to be true, they had to be short, and they had to send a shiver down your spine.It Was a Dark and Creepy Night presents a wide variety of weird and spooky tales about ghosts, UFOs, cryptids, angels, demons, ESP, interdimensional contact and more. Because each tale is short, this eerie little tome is perfect for a subway ride, a plane flight, or a night entertaining guests.An internationally respected investigator of the unknown, Joshua adds his insight to these strange experiences. Some tales are too odd to easily categorize, but each one simple or complex transformed an ordinary person's life, revealing a facet of those uncanny phenomena that still leave us wondering…what if?Imagine if:You met a strange woman who said she remembered Lincoln's funeral, then vanished . . .You dreamed you were being attacked by a demon and woke up to find scratch marks across your body . . .The face of the person in front of you suddenly transformed into that of a reptilian . . .Remember: These and the many other tales in this fascinating book are true, short, and eminently creepy!

    John Mack. This eminent Harvard psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer risked his career to investigate the phenomenon of human encounters with aliens and to give credibility to the stupefying tales shared by people who were utterly convinced they had happened.Nothing in Mack's four decades of psychiatry had prepared him for the otherworldly accounts of a cross-section of humanity including young children who reported being taken against their wills by alien beings. Over the course of his career his interest in alien abduction grew from curiosity to wonder, ultimately developing into a limitless, unwavering passion.Based on exclusive access to Mack's archives, journals, and psychiatric notes and interviews with his family and closest associates, The Believer reveals the life and work of a man who explored the deepest of scientific conundrums and further leads us to the hidden dimensions and alternate realities that captivated Mack until the end of his life.

    All his other existences were on alien worlds and in other dimensions. He finds out that his association with extraterrestrials did not cease with these other lives. This strange case reveals the motives behind present-day involvement between UFOs and humans, and the hopes and expectations of our creators for their garden. We are the Garden.The Gardeners are Extraterrestrials from other worlds!

    He reports on his many visits to the lost civilization of Nazca, an ancient, isolated settlement deep in the Peruvian desert. He analyzes aerial views and closeups of extraordinary markings that stretched across the land for miles, forming complex shapes and designs unnoticed from the ground but unmistakable from the air. How could primitive people have achieved such an amazing feat? Von Däniken concludes: Forget the theories about religious rituals, irrigation systems, and astrological calendars; these are creations of extraterrestrials. Impossible to explain or even envision from the ground, the mile-long "landing strip," the curious etchings of beasts, and the immense geometric designs and giant mandalas are simple to execute--if their creators could see them from the air.

    began researching the secret inner workings of the U.S. Government at the age of fifteen. He targeted such agencies as the CIA, FBI, Pentagon, Air Force, Army, Navy, NSA, DIA, and countless others.Greenewald utilized the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to gain access to more than two million pages of documents. This archive includes information relating to UFOs, the JFK Assassination, chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, and top secret aircraft. He took the millions of pages, and over the course of more than two decades, has built an archive known around the world, as The Black Vault.Inside The Black Vault: The Government’s UFO Secrets Revealed takes you on a journey within the secret world of unidentified aerial phenomenon that has plagued the military since at least the 1940s. Declassified records prove that the UFO topic is one of the most highly classified and most elusive subjects the U.S. Government has ever dealt with. Each chapter explores various agencies and their documents, and Greenewald breaks down the meaning of why some of the most important documents are relevant to proving a massive cover-up.Along with declassified documents, Greenewald outlines the struggle it took him to get them. No other topic has proven so difficult, in more than 8,000 FOIA requests that he has filed. He explores why that might be and meets skeptics and debunkers head on, outlining why some of their more prominent rebuttals for it all cannot be true.

    In this essay, Jung applies his analytical skills to the UFO phenomenon. Rather than assuming that the modern prevalence of UFO sightings are due to extraterrestrial craft, Jung reserves judgment on their origin & connects UFOs with archetypal imagery, concluding that they have become a "living myth." This essay is intriguing in its methodology & implications as to the nature of UFOs & their relation to the human psyche.

    They have been fed a steady diet of fictional shows with paranormal themes such as The X-Files, Supernatural, and Medium, shows that may seek to simply entertain, but also serve to disseminate paranormal beliefs. The public hunger for the paranormal seems insatiable.Paranormal America provides the definitive portrait of Americans who believe in or have experienced such phenomena as ghosts, Bigfoot, UFOs, psychic phenomena, astrology, and the power of mediums. However, unlike many books on the paranormal, this volume does not focus on proving or disproving the paranormal, but rather on understanding the people who believe and how those beliefs shape their lives. Drawing on the Baylor Religion Survey--a multi-year national random sample of American religious values, practices, and behaviors--as well as extensive fieldwork including joining hunts for Bigfoot and spending the night in a haunted house, authors Christopher Bader, F. Carson Mencken, and Joseph Baker shed light on what the various types of paranormal experiences, beliefs, and activities claimed by Americans are; whether holding an unconventional belief, such as believing in Bigfoot, means that one is unconventional in other attitudes and behaviors; who has such experiences and beliefs and how they differ from other Americans; and if we can expect major religions to emerge from the paranormal.Brimming with engaging personal stories and provocative findings, Paranormal America is an entertaining yet authoritative look at a growing segment of American religious culture.

    What's the fuss? In a word--Mothman! A famous investigator examines the reports of this huge, red-eyed creature with wings seen over Point Pleasant, West Virginia on November 15, 1966?and the spawn of Mothman seen before and after that date.

    It seems the more our maps of the known world get filled in, the more we crave mysterious locations full of strange creatures.Enter Colin Dickey, Cultural Historian and Tour Guide of the Weird. With the same curiosity and insight that made Ghostland a hit with readers and critics, Colin looks at what all fringe beliefs have in common, explaining that today's Illuminati is yesterday's Flat Earth: the attempt to find meaning in a world stripped of wonder. Dickey visits the wacky sites of America's wildest fringe beliefs--from the famed Mount Shasta where the ancient race (or extra-terrestrials, or possibly both, depending on who you ask) called Lemurians are said to roam, to the museum containing the last remaining "evidence" of the great Kentucky Meat Shower--investigating how these theories come about, why they take hold, and why as Americans we keep inventing and re-inventing them decade after decade. The Unidentified is Colin Dickey at his best: curious, wry, brilliant in his analysis, yet eminently readable.

    Alien encounters cropped up like, well, crop circles. More films were released. Books detailed alleged abductions. NASA funded SETI, an effort to make contact with civilizations from other worlds.

    Many people believe that we are alone in the universe; we are not alone. Many people want proof of extraterrestrial visitation and why not. However, those who have been taken or visited by extraterrestrial beings are not given proof; all they have is their own unique experiences. Most will not share their experiences with others fearing job loss or other humiliations that take place when telling others of such extraordinary and bizarre experiences. Human abductions by extraterrestrial beings happen— believe it or not.

    Is there a cosmic destiny for planet Earth? What is behind UFO sightings? Are they real? Where are they from? What does the Bible say about them? Are they friendly or hostile? This book confronts the issues head-on and offers answers to many of the most pertinent questions, including a new chapter on government disinformation and possible cover-ups.

    This work includes inexplicable disappearances, some which defy logic, unsolved murders, mystifying phenomena and scientific enigmas.