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Interview-Alternate Perceptions Magazine, August 2015


An Interview with:
British science writer Antony Milne:
Mysterious Fireballs, Plasma, and the author’s search for inter-dimensional ‘Sky Critters’

by: Brent Raynes





British science writer Antony Milne, the author of Fireballs, Skyquakes and Hums (2011), Sky Static: The Space Debris Crisis (2002), and Doomsday: The Science of Catastrophic Events (2000), shares with us his deep and personal thoughts on the UFO enigma.

Milne has a page on Facebook.

Brent Raynes: Antony, your book Fireballs, Skyquakes and Hums (2011) was certainly a genuine tour de force of information regarding a wide range of both natural objects/phenomena (i.e., ball lightning, lenticular disc-like clouds, sundogs, comets, etc.) and unusual, unexplained phenomena like "spooklights," UFOs, and plasma balls. You provide a great review of such data that should provide the reader with the tools necessary to more objectively evaluate and interpret this sort of material. What I also liked was that you didn't shy away from pursuing speculations that tackled some of the more confounding, enigmatic elements of the UFO reports suggesting that they might possess an intelligence of some sort, that some seem apparitional, and that there might even exist a "plasmoid" alien intelligence, as a couple of scientists you cited theorized. How well has your book been received after four years now?

Antony Milne: 'Fireballs' didn't do particularly well in Britain, but much better in the US. In regard to Britain the reason, as I suspected, is that the book was hybrided between the two worlds of 'popular science', and the 'Mind Body and Spirit' sections, and I notice that my book was shelved in the former category. This might have put off those who saw the chapters on UFOs. Perhaps the marketing wasn't so good, because it was well reviewed here and in the US.

Brent Raynes: You also mention in your book the American journalist John Keel who covered similar areas of high-strangeness in his books, like Operation Trojan Horse, The Eighth Tower, Our Haunted Planet, and The Mothman Prophecies. For example, you covered mysterious radio signals, the EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon), psychic, mythic, and shamanic dimensions and parallels of these episodes. When Keel first wrote about these things back in the 1960s and '70s, what he had to say was not well received at all by many leading ufologists. Trying to link, or at least examine all of these anomalous aspects as you have, what personal theory do you perhaps lean most towards and why?

Antony Milne: I was very impressed with John Keel's 'Operation Trojan Horse', and I think he has the best angle on UFOs. I believe UFOs are interdimensional 'sky critters' and able to change their substance and shape, and are also rather mischievous. Ufologists have in the past been divided between the 'flying saucer' and the sky critter supporters, because the former is associated with 'alien spacecraft' and the belief in crashed UFOs and the recovery of alien bodies. This is a central platform of many Ufologists. But I believe this is changing because of the growth of Internet videos showing the morphing, orb-like characteristics of UFOs.


Brent Raynes: What you described of the early electrical work of Nikola Tesla was fascinating, as well as two electrical researchers and brothers named Kenneth L. Corum and James F. Corum who, following Tesla's original notes, were able to produce electrical fireballs in their lab. Also you describe amazing results back in the 20th century from early experimenters doing so-called "sky-zapping" experiments. Can you share a little on this with our readers and why this may be important work, and do you know if anyone is pursuing it today?

Antony Milne: The illuminated skies and ball lightning effects have been an important player in UFO skepticism, and I thought it best to include all this. I mentioned the European and American accelerator experiments, but I don't know of any further developments because it is not really my field.

Brent Raynes: What motivated you in pursuing such research? Was there a personal experience in the mix perhaps?

Antony Milne: My main field is natural and man-made space debris which can cause fireball and UFO misinterpretations. This is what led me to UFOs, especially pilots' reports of phenomena.

I mentioned my sighting of UFOs in 'Fireballs', and the negative reaction of the MoD. Since then I have seen more phenomena, including a 'rod UFO' that was embedded in my neighbour's tree, which shimmied in an orange light!

Brent Raynes: Embedded in the tree? How do you mean? Please give us a few more details?

Antony Milne: At first I thought it was daylight glistening off the left hand side of the tree after rain. It was one of those narrow trees with foliage all the way down. Then after a minute it began to glow in a dull orange light before fading away. The tree then looked very narrow and tight, almost cylindrical shaped, or the UFO could have been right next to it, or partly into it.

Brent Raynes: Are you perhaps working on another book that will follow up on these mysteries?

Antony Milne: I am now working on a new book called 'Sky Critters: Aerial Phenomena and the Scientific Crisis', where I will be expanding on all these issues, including the UFO movement, the Blue books, the Condon report, and the attitude of physicists.

I have been attending science conferences and seminars over many years, written popular science books, and have learned a lot about how scientists and science writers think, and why they think the scientific canon is threatened by UFOs, despite the observational evidence being virtually irrefutable. Astronomers and SETI researchers are particularly affected, since intelligent, non-organic orbs flying about using the electron volt energy found in atmospheric molecules seriously compromises their beliefs, which is based on an Earth-like evolutionary process that creates organic, surface-based creatures.

Much of the public dissemination of 'science' is often wrong, I suggest, with unsupported theories about diet, health and environment. Also much of the foundations of astrophysics is questionable. This all has a bearing on the credibility of scientists themselves, and on UFO 'denialism'.


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