Alternate Perceptions Magazine, March 2021
Flying Saucers May Be Psychic Phenomena – British Air Marshall Suggests
by: John A. Keel
A surprising solution to the ‘flying saucer’ enigma has been expounded by both a top RAF spokesman in England and a new publication prepared for the Air Force Office of Scientific Research by the Library of Congress. The weight of the evidence, according to both of these sources, suggests that unidentified flying objects (UFOs) might actually be a variation on the age-old manifestations of psychic phenomena.
At a public lecture in London’s Caxton Hall on May 3rd, RAF Air Marshall, Sir Victor Goddard KCCB, C.B.E., M.A., revealed that a very small percentage of reported UFO sightings are “truly unidentifiable.” Of these, he offered the conclusion that “their materiality may be other than normally physical.”
“While it may be that some operators of UFOs are normally the paraphysical denizens of a planet other than Earth,” Sir Victor stated, “there is no logical need for this to be so. For, if the materiality of UFOs is paraphysical (and consequently normally invisible) UFOs could more plausibly be creations of an invisible world coincident with the space of our physical Earth planet, than the creations in the paraphysical realms of any other physical planet in the solar system.”
The Air Marshall, who holds cabinet rank and was involved in the RAF’s extensive UFO investigations from 1950-55, made it clear that he was not speaking officially and that these conclusions were his own and not necessarily those of the Royal Air Force. He cited cases in which mysterious objects seemed to appear and disappear suddenly in full view of reliable observers. “Their mass must be of a diaphanous (very diffuse) nature,” he noted, “and their substance relatively aetheric. The validity of these observations supports the “paraphysical” assertion and makes the likelihood of UFOs being Earth-created greater than the likelihood of their creation on any other planet.”
In recent years, UFO investigators have reported that “flying saucer” events are frequently accompanied by psychic-like manifestations including poltergeists (noisy ghosts), witnesses allegedly receiving telepathic messages, and the appearances of phantoms who could seemingly walk through walls and appear and disappear suddenly.
On the other hand, twenty years of UFO research and investigations have failed to produce any convincing evidence that UFOs are solid, manufactured objects and no evidence, tangible and physical, has ever been obtained.
In 1966, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research commissioned the Library of Congress to prepare an extensive bibliography of all UFO literature, both past and present. The resultant work is now available from the U.S. government Printing Office and contains some 1,700 entries, some dating back to the 19th century. Thousands of books and magazines were examined during the course of this project.
In the preface to this “UFOs and Related Subjects: An Annotated Bibliography,” Miss Lynn E. Catoe, the Senior Bibliographer, remarks: “A large part of the available UFO literature is closely linked with mysticism and the metaphysical. It deals with subjects like mental telepathy, automatic writing, and invisible entities as well as phenomena like poltergeist manifestations and ‘possession’. Many of the UFO reports now being published in the popular press recount alleged incidents that are strikingly similar to demonic possession and psychic phenomena which have long been known to theologians and parapsychologists.”
The bibliography is 400 pages long and includes sections dealing with literature on alleged Air Force suppression of UFO data, alleged involvement of the C.I.A., claims of official censorship, and other subjects dear to the heart of every “flying saucer” buff. A terse, objective summary of each entry is included. The volume also reviews ancient sighting records, with sections devoted to the considerable amount of pre-1947 UFO literature.
“An appreciable wave of ‘flying saucer’ literature appeared in the 1920’s,” Miss Catoe continues, “simultaneously with astronomers’ growing interest in other planets. Each new wave of literature is a rediscovery of an old subject, for the tales of marvelous flying machines piloted by unearthly beings can be traced even beyond their mention in the ancient Hindu scriptures…”
In 1954, the late President Eisenhower told a press conference that “flying saucers exist only in the minds of the observers,” implying that the objects were hallucinations. An RAF spokesman told the British press in April 1955, that the RAF’s five-year UFO study was completed but that the full conclusions would be withheld from the public because they were “too controversial” and could not be fully proven to everyone’s satisfaction.
Sir Victor Goddard stated, “It is essential that observers of all kinds should recognize that their observations are never entirely objective and that some observers are prone to intense subjectivity and hence to self-deception as profound as that which has always inhibited dialectical materialists from the apprehension of the truth.” Until recently the most popular theory for UFOs was that they are of interplanetary origin, but now ufologists worldwide are considering more complex theories involving the fourth-dimension and a direct relationship between UFOs and psychic phenomena. Air Marshall Goddard’s speech, coupled with the detailed correlations found in the Library of Congress bibliography, is likely to add impetus to this new line of thought. But the UFO field is apt to remain in confusion for years to come because, as Miss Catoe points out, “Points of view are taken up by factions, each of which seems convinced that its answer to the UFO riddle is the right and only one.”
Dr. Edward U. Condon, the eminent physicist who headed the recent UFO study conducted by Colorado University under an Air Force contract, offered one solution in an address before the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia in April.
“Perhaps we need a National Magic Agency (pronounced ‘enema’) to make a large and expensive study of all these matters, including the future scientific study of UFOs, if any,” Dr. Condon said.
Editor’s Note: This article by Keel appeared in the August-September 1969 ;Vol. 4, No. 5 & 6) issue of SAUCER SCOOP magazine, edited by Joan Whritenour of Saint Petersburg, Florida.
