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UFO Retrievals: The Recovery of Alien Spacecraft
"Uncover the greatest story never told, with the help of world-renowned UFO researcher & writer Jenny Randles."--American Bookseller
"Prolific investigator Jenny Randles traces documented claims for alleged UFO crashes & retrievals going as far back as 1871...interesting reading for the insights they give into UFOlogy's evolution over the last half-century...analyzes 30 cases from around the globe, concluding that some are obvious hoaxes, that others can be explained away after objective assessment of the evidence, but that a few of them at least support claims made by the UFOlogy contingent."--Nexus
"Prolific investigator Jenny Randles traces documented claims for alleged UFO crashes & retrievals going as far back as 1871...interesting reading for the insights they give into UFOlogy's evolution over the last half-century...analyzes 30 cases from around the globe, concluding that some are obvious hoaxes, that others can be explained away after objective assessment of the evidence, but that a few of them at least support claims made by the UFOlogy contingent."--Nexus
- GenresNonfictionMystery
248 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1995
24 people want to read
About the author
Jenny Randles
66 books31 followersBritish author and former director of investigations with the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA), serving in that role from 1982 through to 1994.
Randles specializes in writing books on UFOs and paranormal phenomena. To date 50 of these have been published, ranging from her first UFOs: A British Viewpoint (1979) to Breaking the Time Barrier: The race to build the first time machine (2005). Subjects covered include crop circles, ESP, life after death, time anomalies and spontaneous human combustion.
Randles specializes in writing books on UFOs and paranormal phenomena. To date 50 of these have been published, ranging from her first UFOs: A British Viewpoint (1979) to Breaking the Time Barrier: The race to build the first time machine (2005). Subjects covered include crop circles, ESP, life after death, time anomalies and spontaneous human combustion.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 23, 2015
Having found six UFO books spanning half a page on my reading list for 1997, I presume this was the year that Michael Miley and I visited one another in both Chicago and San Francisco, flying together from one city to the other. I couldn't have read all these books--and the others inbetween--in a normal two week visit.
Whatever. Michael has the largest UFO collection I've ever encountered--indeed, one of the largest personal book collections. Visits with him have always entailed my catching up on his interests in the matter, a congenial task, a convenient excuse.
During our month together I read two of Jenny Randles' books: From Out of the Blue and this one, UFO Retrievals. The title was enticing. I was hoping for new, at least plausible accounts of actual recoveries of UFOs. I was disappointed. This is one of Randles' more skeptical books. She tells a host of stories, but they're treated as such and left hanging for the most part. As I was to discover, Randles is not always so careful about jumping to conclusions.
Whatever. Michael has the largest UFO collection I've ever encountered--indeed, one of the largest personal book collections. Visits with him have always entailed my catching up on his interests in the matter, a congenial task, a convenient excuse.
During our month together I read two of Jenny Randles' books: From Out of the Blue and this one, UFO Retrievals. The title was enticing. I was hoping for new, at least plausible accounts of actual recoveries of UFOs. I was disappointed. This is one of Randles' more skeptical books. She tells a host of stories, but they're treated as such and left hanging for the most part. As I was to discover, Randles is not always so careful about jumping to conclusions.
May 21, 2024
RANDLES LOOKS CRITICALLY AT THE EVIDENCE FOR SUCH CRASHES
She wrote in the Introduction to this 1995 book, “I live each day in a world filled with UFOs and weird close encounters… Quite a collection of people---anonymous tale-tellers, government agents, air force officers---have written to me; it makes you think… however, after 20 years amidst this alien reality, the truth behind these assorted claims remains shrouded in confusion. No matter how forcefully a witness may tell their tale, and no matter what explanation they think must apply, the answer eludes our grasp. Nobody knows what is actually going on here; not the witnesses, not the media, and certainly not the authorities. Or do they? The idea that the authorities DO know the truth is, in a sense, the greatest story NEVER told---the terrifying reality that supposedly underpins everything extraterrestrial… I should emphasize that I have no particular belief to vindicate. While I feel, generally, that there is SOMETHING interesting within some parts of the UFO evidence, I also realize, after so many years as a investigator, that the MAJORITY of evidence is peppered with misperception, mistaken identity and a pinch or fabrication. This means that I will try to be objective and present the good, the bad and the occasionally downright ugly when it comes to assessing the facts behind any specific case.”
She records, “Ufologist Ron Schnaffner presented a credible scenario … Captured Nazi V-2s were used in a systematic series of tests … one veered off course… [and] crashed on a graveyard only five weeks before the Roswell incident … The researchers into the Roswell case note these things, but they are unconvinced by them, pointing out that other accidents were not hidden … but, more importantly, that the Roswell debris does not resemble a small V-2, even if it had exploded in mid-flight.” (Pg. 51)
She says of Roswell, “Frankly I worry that what is a credible story is in danger of being sunk by an over-abundance of witnesses and testimony. There can be little doubt that some jokers will have entered the fray once the case received big publicity. It is certainly difficult to know these days who is being sincere, who is finding it hard to recall things accurately from so long ago and who, to be blunt, is riding the bandwagon of publicity stirred up by all the attention given to the case since 1991. I hope this does not hinder the investigation rather than bolster it.” (Pg. 54)
Of the 1965 photograph of a purported crashed UFO in Argentina, she points out, “ufologists have since entertained some serious doubts about this case. The South American Press were notorious during the 1960s for trying to outdo one another with remarkable stories. None of the sources involved appears to have ever confirmed that this event happened and none of the nameless ranchers came forward to support the account. As for the photograph, proper analysis is not possible on a copy of a copy, but there are worries even with what is available. The object appears to be … perhaps only a few inches long… If it were really so small, then… it would probably be a model on a table-top, photographed at close quarters.” (Pg. 102)
She notes, “The MJ-12 affair is the best example of the authorities trying to create confusion in the UFP community… Doubts rose about the authenticity of the Truman signature, and what seemed to be a match was found by skeptics. Far from being good news, an existing identical signature undermined the credibility of the papers, since no two signatures are ever exactly the same, unless they are copies. While some questions remain, many ufologists think that the files were produced by sources unknown and fed to investigators, such as Moore and Good, in the hope that they would make them public. This would discredit the whole idea of crashed UFOs if the truth about them later emerged. But who would do this? The thought … of a government source, perhaps worried by the FOIA revelations. I myself was offered what may have been the MJ-12 files complete with their appendices … before they were publicly revealed… I am reasonably certain that no ufologist was involved in any trickery. If this were a hoax, then someone outside the UF community was trying to dupe UFO researchers for some reason.” (Pg. 129-130)
She concludes, “it would be foolish to rule out the possibility that something earth-shattering lurks behind a small handful of these episodes. I doubt that more than half a dozen of the cases analyzed stand up even as potential candidates for bonafide alien retrievals. But, of course, it needs only one to be established as fact for the universe to change. The discovery that we are not alone in the vastness of space---that we have been visited, possibly for centuries, by superior beings from another world---would alter our conception of our place within the cosmos; it is impossible to oversell its importance. That is why… we have to overcome our prejudice and look at the evidence with an open mind.” (Pg. 163)
This book will be of great interest to those studying UFOs, and related topics.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 1995 book, “I live each day in a world filled with UFOs and weird close encounters… Quite a collection of people---anonymous tale-tellers, government agents, air force officers---have written to me; it makes you think… however, after 20 years amidst this alien reality, the truth behind these assorted claims remains shrouded in confusion. No matter how forcefully a witness may tell their tale, and no matter what explanation they think must apply, the answer eludes our grasp. Nobody knows what is actually going on here; not the witnesses, not the media, and certainly not the authorities. Or do they? The idea that the authorities DO know the truth is, in a sense, the greatest story NEVER told---the terrifying reality that supposedly underpins everything extraterrestrial… I should emphasize that I have no particular belief to vindicate. While I feel, generally, that there is SOMETHING interesting within some parts of the UFO evidence, I also realize, after so many years as a investigator, that the MAJORITY of evidence is peppered with misperception, mistaken identity and a pinch or fabrication. This means that I will try to be objective and present the good, the bad and the occasionally downright ugly when it comes to assessing the facts behind any specific case.”
She records, “Ufologist Ron Schnaffner presented a credible scenario … Captured Nazi V-2s were used in a systematic series of tests … one veered off course… [and] crashed on a graveyard only five weeks before the Roswell incident … The researchers into the Roswell case note these things, but they are unconvinced by them, pointing out that other accidents were not hidden … but, more importantly, that the Roswell debris does not resemble a small V-2, even if it had exploded in mid-flight.” (Pg. 51)
She says of Roswell, “Frankly I worry that what is a credible story is in danger of being sunk by an over-abundance of witnesses and testimony. There can be little doubt that some jokers will have entered the fray once the case received big publicity. It is certainly difficult to know these days who is being sincere, who is finding it hard to recall things accurately from so long ago and who, to be blunt, is riding the bandwagon of publicity stirred up by all the attention given to the case since 1991. I hope this does not hinder the investigation rather than bolster it.” (Pg. 54)
Of the 1965 photograph of a purported crashed UFO in Argentina, she points out, “ufologists have since entertained some serious doubts about this case. The South American Press were notorious during the 1960s for trying to outdo one another with remarkable stories. None of the sources involved appears to have ever confirmed that this event happened and none of the nameless ranchers came forward to support the account. As for the photograph, proper analysis is not possible on a copy of a copy, but there are worries even with what is available. The object appears to be … perhaps only a few inches long… If it were really so small, then… it would probably be a model on a table-top, photographed at close quarters.” (Pg. 102)
She notes, “The MJ-12 affair is the best example of the authorities trying to create confusion in the UFP community… Doubts rose about the authenticity of the Truman signature, and what seemed to be a match was found by skeptics. Far from being good news, an existing identical signature undermined the credibility of the papers, since no two signatures are ever exactly the same, unless they are copies. While some questions remain, many ufologists think that the files were produced by sources unknown and fed to investigators, such as Moore and Good, in the hope that they would make them public. This would discredit the whole idea of crashed UFOs if the truth about them later emerged. But who would do this? The thought … of a government source, perhaps worried by the FOIA revelations. I myself was offered what may have been the MJ-12 files complete with their appendices … before they were publicly revealed… I am reasonably certain that no ufologist was involved in any trickery. If this were a hoax, then someone outside the UF community was trying to dupe UFO researchers for some reason.” (Pg. 129-130)
She concludes, “it would be foolish to rule out the possibility that something earth-shattering lurks behind a small handful of these episodes. I doubt that more than half a dozen of the cases analyzed stand up even as potential candidates for bonafide alien retrievals. But, of course, it needs only one to be established as fact for the universe to change. The discovery that we are not alone in the vastness of space---that we have been visited, possibly for centuries, by superior beings from another world---would alter our conception of our place within the cosmos; it is impossible to oversell its importance. That is why… we have to overcome our prejudice and look at the evidence with an open mind.” (Pg. 163)
This book will be of great interest to those studying UFOs, and related topics.
July 16, 2023
Another quite intriguing book by the author. This time she deals with UFO retrievals. Nuggets on Nebraska in 1897, 1987 a spaceman buried in the Wild West, Foo Fighters, Roswell of course as major chapter. You'll also find many fantastic photos and follow UFO retrievals through the 20th century. Intriguing stuff I couldn't put down. Highly recommended!
January 8, 2024
She maligned a lot Stanton Friedman and ended up writing about crashed UFOs, the book is not that bad but it is ironic for someone that pushed so hard that UFOs were "paranormal", then have to deal with them as been material.
She commented in a lot of classic cases, added a few bits and pieces here and there. Not a bad book, but you may also ignore it.
She commented in a lot of classic cases, added a few bits and pieces here and there. Not a bad book, but you may also ignore it.
August 24, 2024
"We are left, then, not to know, but to surmise." :)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews