Synopsis
"Nicholas Redfern...reveals that since the late 1940's the FBI has been deeply implicated in the study of numerous UFO encounters..."
From Kirkus Reviews
Captivating, if utterly inconclusive, material from FBI investigations into unidentified flying objects and aliens, culled from declassified files and assembled here by veteran UFO researcher Redfern. Lest there be any doubt about where he is coming from, Redfern asserts, I am convinced that many UFOs are indeed piloted space vehicles which originate with an intelligence from beyond earth. In an effort to convince his readership of the same, he puts before them documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the FBI that detail their inquiries into reported sightings. It is perhaps the most gratifying disclosure of the book that the FBI was called in when the Air Force suspected the first reported sightings might have been by individuals of Communist sympathies with the view of causing hysteria, for the rest of the stories are old hat, strewn with caveats and tied off with the likes of still unclear and tantalizingly unresolved, by Redfern. We are treated to a variety of old favorites, including the glowing green balls of light in the New Mexican skies, the strange case of the cattle mutations of the 1970s (truly creepy), the Roswell and Aztec crashes and purported recovering of alien bodies (no evidence), and patrolman Lonnie Zamora's close encounter south of Socorro, New Mexico in 1964 (his word, your call). Not new but always fascinating are the many testimonies from credible witnesses, such as experienced pilots who weren't looking to sell their story; if nothing else the sheer volume of these episodes is unnerving. The official reports reprinted here are noncommittal and essentially void of analysis, and that they come from FBI archives no longer carries the aura of sanctity it once did, the FBI being exposed as only humanand not always very niceover the last two decades. It is little wonder that the FBI considered these documents suitable for declassification, considering their acute lack of anything original, though it is something to witness the FBI's collective befuddlement in face of the events: Join the crowd. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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