Silent Invasion : The Shocking Discoveries of a UFO Researcher

by Ellen Crystall

Through amazing photographs, firsthand accounts, and courageous investigative work, a UFO expert reveals in frightening detail one of her many alien encounters and shares her staggering conclusions. Reprint.

Genres: Nonfiction

184 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Hunter Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back in the day when I was actively UFO hunting in the Pine Bush area, this book was a kind of field guide of where to go and what to expect. Re-reading it now 30 years later, I'm left thinking extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. The pictures provided in the book, which I'm assuming would be the cream of the crop from her collection, leave a lot to be desired. If the late Crystall was to be believed, she may have had more experience with UFO activity than any other person. Some of her observations and opinions seem outdated and downright silly now. In the end, we'll never really know the truth of her experiences, but if you want to experience it for yourself, the Hudson Valley is there for you.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about a woman, Ellen Crystall, who claims that she has seen and documented UFOs in over 1500 photos. The book talks about her experiences with the UFOs and how to photograph them (at one point in the book) giving tips on which camera to use. She tries to answer her own questions about aliens and why they are among us.

I'm not buying this as a real experience.... she claims to be frustrated that UFO's are literally right in front of her and can't take any decent pictures. The back of the book says that she has over 1000 photo evidence and yet only places 20 (i'm assuming her best) in the book that shows nothing to me. She "feels" when the aliens are there and yet... they don't just disappear, they show themselves first then poof... right..

She dances with the possibility that the illuminati are involved (which she herself says may not even exist). She also talks about the government being involved (which is a widely agreed upon point of view in the ufo community).

There isn't really anything new with Ms Crystall's experience. In fact it's a bit frustrating to read this book. The way she talks about UFOs makes it sound like she's been a chosen person to best see the UFOs and yet again can never give concrete evidence of her encounters. As "special" as she implies to be she's admitted to never even being abducted by aliens and calls herself a contactee instead.

The last straw for me was when she said that she looked up at the sky and could identify a UFO without mistaking it for an airplane then states that they disguise themselves as airplanes sometimes. So that airplane in the sky, it could be a UFO. Are you kidding me? So now she's telling us that what we see as an airplane might be a UFO but of course you have to be able to "FEEL" that this boring regular looking plane is ET in the sky.

I was done with this book about midway but I finished it to see if there was anything redeemable about her book and there is. Her friend Dale.

Dale is far more interesting with her examinations of animal mutilation supposedly done by UFO's. I'd like to hear more from Dale. I wonder if she wrote her own book about her own experiences? I would love to read that.

Only one picture intrigued me in this book and that was the beam photo described as a "beacon coming from the ground". That's it. Even that 1 out of the 20 gives her very little credit in my eyes.

As for this book, you can pass it, unless you're really enthusiastic with photos/photography and can see something in these photos I don't see.

Those "tesla orbs" by the way (5 photos are of these orbs) .. dust orbs... I've done my own share of ghost hunting and I know what a dust orb looks like.

[Christopher Heckman · Rating 2 out of 5]

For those of you who follow me, you know that I generally give one star to a book that I simply cannot get through, and two if I finish it but I don't have anything good to say. In this case, the author claims to have seen hundreds of UFOs and taken thousands of photographs. She includes about twenty, none of which are really impressive.

She has some pictures of "Tesla globes" (which are more commonly called "orbs"), and the pictures look like every other picture, something that can be explained away by "grit on the camera lens." I wear glasses, and I've been seeing "orbs" for decades. And when someone says that they show up in situations where it's about to rain ... well, I don't buy the explanation then, either.

She also has a few pictures of "rows of lights," taken at night of course. I don't think so.

Some other craft look like someone jiggled the camera while the picture was being taken. One of the lights is "identified as an alien," whereas half a dozen others are not labelled as such. (This is photo #24.)

Of course, the pictures might look better in real life than in a book (they're not even in color), but a quick Google search for "Ellen Crystall" doesn't bring any up. (The book was written in 1991, before the Internet was commonly used, but she still should have uploaded some scans by now.)

And these are the BEST ones she got?

The other revelations are less than extraordinary. "Why do UFOs congregate in certain areas?" They seem to be mining. "What are the underground noises that have been heard throughout the night in these woods and fields?" Obviously aliens digging holes underground. "Is the US government involved?" If they're not, they should be.

One thing she states is that no saucer-shaped UFOs have been seen since 1980. Hmmm. That's a pretty bold statement.

Another review here at Goodreads says that the author can tell the difference between UFOs and planes, even though UFOs use lights in the same pattern as airplanes. The difference? UFOs are silent! So, if you see plane lights but don't hear anything, it's a UFO. And one that can't afford a PA system to play airplane sounds, at that.

[Dan Zarfati · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really really interesting it anticipates the Belgium flap, the author is a mixture of UFO gazer with contactee, but she does have plenty of witnesses with her, and some of her conclusions are not far fetched, this book is a gem and must be read by every researcher, very well written as well.

[Thomm Quackenbush · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given that I wrote a novel about Pine Bush (Artificial Gods: Book Three of the Night's Dream Series) and have investigated the phenomena (in that I went to UFOS meetings and sky watched), this book is foundational. Some of her sightings are interesting and it is enviable she had so many. However, her conclusions are fanciful at best, many built of evidence that is both not present and not verifiable, occasionally boiling down to "Source: trust me, bro." Then, she takes these theories as given facts and spins out from there. So, not only are there aliens but they are running a shadow government. More of her sightings and experiences with other researchers would bolster this book. Likewise, WHY ARE THE COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS (thousands of them?!) NOWHERE?

I would have loved to have been in the field with Crystall but I was unfortunately eleven at the time. By the time I could have interrogated her properly, she was dead.