Angels and Aliens: UFO's and the Mythic Imagination

by Keith Thompson

This part social history, part interpretive essay is an exploration that places the UFO firmly within the mythic tradition of Joseph Campbell & Robert Bly. Blending the richly intellectual with the sensational, Angels & Aliens gives a uniquely contemporary twist to the world of visionary experience.
"In a brilliant stroke, Keith Thompson takes a subject usually confined to sensationalistic expose & reveals its surprising literary richness, intellectual energy & symbolic depths. By offering a new, open-ended perspective which avoids the dogmatism of true believers & debunkers alike, Angels & Aliens invites readers to enter a fascinating world with profound implications for our understanding of the human spirit."—- Addison Wesley Publishing
"Probably the most profound book on the UFO controversy yet to appear...Thompson chronicles the unfolding UFO story, from flying saucer sightings in 1947 to the millennial mythologizing they've stimulated ever since...Prepare to imagine the unimaginable."—Venture World (VA)
"Thompson thinks neither the UFO debunkers nor the UFO buffs are asking the right questions. As a consequence, the phenomenon remains suspended in a sort of scientific & theological limbo."—Utne Reader

Genres: Nonfiction, Mythology

295 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[David Carniglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read overall. The author covers a lot of territory in this analysis of the UFO phenomena. Much more than a listing of the better known UFO encounters, the author explores the mythic backdrop as well. The result is a transcendence of the alien by the 'angelic,' or spiritual explanation.

This opens a literal Pandora's Box of myths, legends, deities, angels, spirits, demons, archetypes, fairies, and elves, from cultures worldwide. Referencing Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell to build this mythological edifice, we're left with a more questions and possibilities than figuring which star system our space travellers might've come from.

I wasn't expecting answers; much better to follow multiple scenarios than try and justify one narrow explanation. The most mystifying aspect is that once we discuss parallel universes or extra-dimensional worlds, the mythological/psychological theory becomes almost too complex to comprehend.

In strictly Jungian terms, aliens are manifestations of archetypes. Meaning, I suppose, that the alien "contactee" is having a unique psychological experience. That seems incompatible with experiencing beings from another dimension; wouldn't those those entities be every bit as 'real' as the contactee, and not just existing in a spiritual sense? I might be making too fine of a point. But there's obviously a great deal of difference between an alien from our universe, and an alien from another universe.

That much I can grasp. But is the mythic 'alien' of this world, or from the imagination? Maybe both. Certainly an interesting puzzle to sort out. All the more so, since I would think it's impossible to know. What's more bothersome, though, is that mythic explanations for aliens (just as myth criticism in the arts and literature) can produce almost any outcome or example desired.

It's one thing to say that all cultures and religions have Trickster or Shadow figures, but to apply that knowledge to a particular text or phenomenon seems only to name or describe the subject. Likewise, aliens behave in archetypal ways, and assume certain archetypal forms. Well, shouldn't they? If we posit that our aliens are manifestations from the collective unconscious, then they must look like this, and act like that (pick the suitable era and culture to find out what sort of aliens fit each paradigm).

Before the space age, a UFO was some sort of airship; pre-industrial aliens arrived by carriage, chariot, or what not. Since 1947, we have some version of what we imagine a space alien would look like. Previously, we had visitations from elves, saints, gods, beasts, etc. This is a promising and comprehensive view of UFO history. In fact, the history of the phenomenon can be almost more interesting than the phenomenon itself.

The issue that detracts just a bit from this book is that overarching mythic explanation for everything UFO-related. As stated, I feel that myth doesn't explain so much as describe by various examples. Once we meet Hermes, Odysseus, and Aphrodite, we've got the picture, as far as Western civilization is concerned. Different dieties and traditions work for other civilizations. More examples of this or that god manifesting itself isn't adding up to more evidence, it's simply repetition.

What goes over very well here is the author's lack of bias. He gives us the perspectives of the various UFO commentators: the true believer, the skeptic, and the debunker; and he shows the course of their arguments over the decades.

A fascinating book. Well-written and fully documented, Angels and Aliens belongs alongside the better works on the subject.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It explores the UFO experience as myth, neither sneering at nor endorsing the idea that UFOs are "real," in the accepted use of that word. Smart stuff for smart people.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A STUDY OF THE ‘MYTHIC’ HORIZONS OF UFO/ALIEN PHENOMENA

Author Keith Thompson wrote in the Prologue to this 1991 book, “ I have never seen a UFO… During my formative years I read no books promising to present the ‘startling, never-before-revealed facts’ about UFOs. I wasn’t even acquainted with the world of science fiction… Instead, I have watched with fascination as a persistent body of remarkable stories … has given rise to provocative mythic horizons and imaginal realms. In the pages that follow, I explore the ways in which these symbolic worlds are real, vital, and filled with significance whether or not any particular UFO case was the planet Venus or a Venusian starship.” (Pg. xi)

He continued, “For over forty years, the curiously compelling acronym ‘UFO’---as an idea at work in the world soul---has shaped human belief and imagination in complicated ways. A robust contemporary prodigy has emerged in our midst, enticing us with the vivid ambivalence of its images, systematically resisting definitive explanation, fostering rancorous debate, comprising a provocative enigma of global proportions. This is a chronicle of the wanderings of that prodigy.” (Pg. xii)

He notes, “‘It was inevitable that someone, somewhere, sooner or later, would claim contact with the alien beings aboard a flying saucer,’ writes journalist and UFO historian Dennis Stacy. This dubious distinction fell to George Adamski… After … an undistinguished career as a … factory worker, hamburger flipper, and author of an unsuccessful science fiction novel called ‘Pioneers of Space,’ George Adamski became a luminary of sorts in the southern California occult scene by the mid-1930s, founding a religious group called the Royal Order of Tibet and lecturing on ‘universal law’ before live audiences and on radio programs… [On] November 20, 1952, Adamski… and six of his associates drove to the desert with the express hope of seeing a flying saucer and (they hoped) meeting its passengers… Adamski set off alone by foot… he realized he ‘was in the presence of … a human being from another world!’ … That Adamski was the only human witness to this alleged encounter did nothing to diminish his success on the saucer circuit, where he regaled audiences of devotees with accounts of ongoing contacts with the ‘Space Brothers.’” (Pg. 28-29)

He recounts, “[Donald] Keyhoe and his comrades in NICAP, along with the entire civilian saucer research community, suffered a far more important setback when Edward Ruppelt [author of ‘The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects’] recanted his longstanding commitment to the view that UFOs constituted a true unknown… When word got around that Ruppelt had embraced the air force’s anti-UFO position, Keyhoe said this meant that Ruppelt would be in the strange position of ‘debunking his own book.’ … Ruppelt died … in 1960… Modern conspiracy buffs continue to insist that Ruppelt was ‘forced’ by the air force to disavow his prior stance, although there is no documented evidence to this effect. His widow told interviewers that her husband’s continuing exposure to the wild claims of southern California contactees ‘soured’ him on the UFO phenomenon. Edward Ruppelt would not be the last thoughtful individual to find the social tensions of being perceived to be in favor of UFOs too much to bear.” (Pg. 50-51)

Of the Betty and Barney Hill case, he observes, “The Hills’ claims of ‘missing time’ were … open to suspicion. Because Betty and Barney variously offered 11 P.M., 1 A.M., and 3 A.M. as the time of capture, debunkers were able to make a persuasive case that this four-hour discrepancy accounts for the missing time. Others were quick to note that there were more details of the ‘abduction’ in Betty’s account than in Barney’s, suggesting that the story of capture and examination by aliens was a fantasy unknowingly absorbed by Barney as he listened to Betty recount her dreams in the first days following their strange drive home. Dr. Simon, who spent many hours with the Hills… speculated that as an interracial couple… the Hills may simply have been dramatizing deeply embedded, unresolved conflicts relating to racial difference.” (Pg. 60)

Of Erich von Däniken, he states, “For once, ufologists and mainstream scientists had something to agree on: opposition to what they considered von Dániken’s outrageous metaphysical assumptions disguised as empirical research. In response to von Däniken’s claims about ancient Peruvian landing strips… Carl Sagan snorted: ‘The space vehicle sets down on the ground… Most remarkable that they need airfields.’ Others scoffed at many hundreds of factual errors, including von Däniken’s assertion that Sumerian culture simply appeared ‘tout ensemble’ rather than---as archaeological records clearly demonstrate---over a period of 6,000 years.” (Pg. 112-113)

About Billy Meier, he says, “An even greater blow to Billy Meier’s credibility came from Martin Sorge, and early admirer of Meier and his mission who had soured on the drama. Sorge told of turning up several partially burned slides taken of a model bearing a striking resemblance to the beamships. Meier’s wife, Popi, had run from the house in tears one evening after fighting with her husband. Later she secretly gave Sorge several color slides that had been burned by fire: slides of a model beamship either suspended in the setting or somehow superimposed.”(Pg. 137)

Of the MJ-12 documents, he notes that skeptic Philip Klass wondered: “It was curious… that Admiral Hillenkoetter, the briefing officer names in the documents, would be entrusted to manage a cover-up of unprecedented complexity and sophistication, when he was on active duty as a naval commander outside the United States during the year prior to the alleged briefing… But it was certain anomalies in the document’s format that most raised Klass’s eyebrows. ‘Whoever typed the Hillenkoetter briefing document used a peculiar style for writing dates… a highly unusual extra coma: ’18 November, 1952.’ This was… constant all through the document… ‘By a curious coincidence, this is precisely the same style used by William I. Moore in ALL of his letters to me since 1982, when our correspondence began.’ Equally strange, to Klass’s way of thinking, is the Hillenkoetter document’s use of a ‘zero’ preceding a single-digit date, a practice that came into limited use LONG AFTER 1952, when the briefing document was allegedly written… ‘My files of correspondence from Moore show that he used a single digit WITHOUT a zero until the fall of 1983---roughly a year before the Hillenkoetter document film was reportedly sent to Shandera---when he then switched to the same style used in the Hillenkoetter briefing document.” (Pg. 176-177)

He notes, “The question of the reliability of [Whitley] Strieber’s memory took center stage … [when] Kathy Davis, a young abductee who is the central character in [Budd] Hopkins’s book ‘Intruders,’ came to New York to continue hypnosis sessions with Hopkins. Strieber wanted to meet her, so Hopkins arranged for them to have lunch. According to Davis… [Strieber told her] ‘I think I’ve seen you before, Kathy, inside a UFO, but it wasn’t all of you. It was just your head…’ … [Kathy was] suddenly deeply frightened by the man who was sitting across from her… the incident corroborated [Hopkins’s] belief that Strieber’s personality was becoming less, not more, well-organized during the course of his psychotherapy… But it was over…. [another matter] that the relationship between Whitley Strieber and Budd Hopkins collapsed beyond repair… Strieber’s book ‘Communion’ and Hopkins’s book ‘Intruders’ were ready to go to press at approximately the same time… Striber wrote to Random House, urging that the publication of ‘Intruders’ be delayed… Hopkins… felt both outraged and betrayed.” (Pg. 206-207)

Of Ed Walters and the Gulf Breeze photos, he points out, “Ed’s credibility was dealt a serious blow when Zan Overall… uncovered evidence that Walters had used his old Polaroid to take trick double-exposure phots at parties well over a year before publicly stating that he knew nothing about how to perform such feats. Overall located a photo taken by Ed with his old Polaroid… Ed predicted that a ‘ghost-demon’ would materialize over the shoulder of a particular girl when he took her picture. Sure enough, a ‘ghost’ image appeared over her shoulder.” (Pg. 213)

He concludes, “more than four decades since the term ‘flying saucer’ was first spoken, the UFO phenomenon has revealed considerably more about our nature than about theirs… [Perhaps] it finally dawns on us that mythic realities always imply much more than can ever be precisely defined or fully explained? Will… we admit that whatever conclusions we reach about UFOs will lead inevitably to new questions about what it means to live a human life in a galaxy of uncertain hospitality? If UFOs do disappear tomorrow, will we simply find another domain in which to continue what is inevitably a RELIGIOUS search to recover lost intimacy? Of course we will, just as we always have.” (Pg. 246)

This book will be of keen interest to those studying UFOs, and their interpretation.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost every fall I go out to visit Tom and Mike Miley in California's Bay area. In '95 Michael was an editor of the UFO Magazine. He didn't get paid much, just expenses for the extensive travelling, interviewing and conferences he did. He also had a day-job as editor of NextWorld which paid quite a lot, but that was hardly worth discussing. What we mostly talked about then was philosophy in a broad, traditional sense: Who am I? Where am I? What can I know? What may I believe? What can I do? What ought I do? Meanwhile, when not talking, I'd devour books from his extensive, eclectic and somewhat weird library. This was one of them.

Thompson is no UFO expert, but he did survey the basic, hoary material before writing this book. Contrary to its cover, the thesis is not original. Indeed, it's the signature thesis of Jacques Vallee, someone who is a UFO expert as well as having been trained in the sciences. Still, as another angle on the idea that the "aliens" have always been with us, it is worth a look.

[Christina Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thorough and ingenious overview of the UFO phenomenon. It comes mostly from the mythological perspective, but the author makes it clear that, far from being something we should dismiss as simple fantasy, the phenomenon, whatever its physical nature, is a very real part of our lives. Whatever you think of the author's ideas, this is also an excellent history of sightings and encounters throughout the 20th century.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this some time ago. Having a great deal of experience of the otherworldly, I found this a great read. He offers fascinating insights, asks the right kind of questions, and let's you come to your own conclusions. Give it a go.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great idea: UFOs and aliens fit in the grand design of our cultural myth system. Aliens are the 20th century equivalent of Medieval angels.