There has always been something about mankind that forces us to strive for the unknown. There have always been and will always be unanswered questions in the universe, and the fact that the answers to some of these questions have been found, encourages us to forge ahead in the pursuit of others. One such question for many lies still unanswered, that of whether there is life in the universe outside our planet. Many people agree that there is indisputable proof of alien life that has visited our planet. Others take a more skeptical approach. Among the former are varying testimonials, those who have seen "strange lights in the sky" to those who claim to have been abducted by "small grey beings." Among the later are government officials and average citizens who claim that some people are more prone to fanciful ideals and thus more likely to believe that they have been abducted etc. The myth and folklore surrounding UFOs and alien interventions is vast. There are stories, songs, pictures and every kind of art imaginable surrounding the phenomenon. However, personal narratives of alien encounters remain one of the most diverse and imaginative methods of transference for both fact and legend surrounding alien encounters. (See Items 12 & 13)
THE GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY
For some time now, the majority of UFO sightings have been documented over North, South and Central America. (Jessup, 23) In the United States, there was the popular myth/legend surrounding Roswell, NM and the crash of a foreign object from the sky in 1947. The surrounding news attention and possible government cover up has gained worldwide attention. Inconsistencies between what the residents of Roswell saw, "A saucer shaped object falling from the sky," and what the government reported, "A weather balloon," have given fuel to those who believe the incident was actually a government cover-up of the first proof of extraterrestrial existence. (Jessup, 215) There have also been sightings of "brighter than life lights" in the sky over a US government military compound in Nevada entitled, "Area 51." (Pertman, 1) The repeated denial by the government that there is or has ever been any alien activity in either of these areas merely spurs on the speculation surrounding the locales. Certain investigative report television shows that have become popular in recent decades point to top-secret technology developed by the government. (See Items 2, 3 and 6) They claim that this technology is highly advanced and therefore must be kept secret. This would provide an answer for both the observation of unusual sights and sounds as well as government secrecy. Still, the truth has yet to be openly revealed.
In the United States, there aren't many UFOs sightings that are taken as legitimate, though the issue is looked at very differently in Russia and Mexico. When UFOs are captured on film and presented for the world to see, on the evening news or a broadcast of that sort, most people are almost eager to write them off as hoaxes. (See Item 1) Nevertheless, some persist in their belief because they know what they saw. In the cases where many people have seen the same thing, it becomes harder to discredit an incident, although it has been done. For many, it seems the government sways the view of the public in denying that any interaction with UFOs has ever occurred. For others, the mere fact that the government presumes to tell the public what to think about the phenomenon is more reason to believe. The government's persistent secrecy will continue to fuel the fires of curiosity in those who have seen and continue to see UFOs until the truth is uncovered.
The Fathers Of Humanity
There are many different areas of extraterrestrial research, and one of them that seems to bring about more questions than answers is the idea that aliens created humanity. (See Item 12) The main answers that this area of study seeks to find are those surrounding ancient archeological mysteries such as Stonehenge and Easter Island. Many authors of books in this area of study look at the technology that ancient civilizations had and compare it to our own. In many cases, there is clear evidence that ancient civilizations were fascinated with the heavens. Some designs such as the Nasca Stones are invisible from the surface yet constructed works of art when seen from the sky. (Bergier, 35) Many people in this genre of study argue that Earth's earliest civilizations were given technology by aliens to use in our advancement as a species. They point to maps of the "Sea Kings," ancient mariners, who saw the world, and documented it, as only space orbiting telescopes can do today. (Bergier, 55) The questions raised are how all of this was possible without the technology that we have today, or that of an advanced species. For some reason, the analysis always seems to lead to the fact that past civilizations could not possibly have been more advanced than we are today. We as human beings want to believe that we have advanced as a species, and any proof that would seem to dispute that is not widely acknowledged or accepted. The attempts at trying to understand them cross every exploratory field, from anthropology to geology and astronomy. Though the study of our planetary past seems to provide more questions than answers; the quest to understand ourselves remains. We want to know who we are, why we're here and what our future is. Some of the oldest religions in the world exist for the purpose of answering these questions, and though many have found answers in the religions of the world, for others, the questions still remain.
The Common Denominator
With the development of the technology age, many people have gained access to faster and more accurate sources of knowledge. Ideas spread instantaneously, and the Internet is one of the greatest tools we have for the spread of knowledge and information, good or evil. When the year 2000 approached, many people were consumed with a mass hysteria of sorts concerning the apocalypse, or end of the world. There were prophets popping up all over, revelations from ancient scripture posted in every newspaper, and even movies made about the cataclysmic end to life as we know it. In addition to all of this came the popularization of extraterrestrials as part of the mass pop culture that pervades much of American society. The aliens that began to be portrayed all over personal checks, store advertisements, car commercials etc. had some things in common. Most were green or silver in color and had some sort of space ship accompanying them to signify their other worldly origins. Sightings of UFOs and extraterrestrials skyrocketed. (Kolberg, 1) Along with this popularization of the image of extraterrestrials came television shows based on the theme of an alien presence covered up by the government and so on and so forth. Most Americans, when asked what an alien looks like, will describe a typical grey (See Item 7) because that is the image that has so often bombarded our experience with extraterrestrials.
Among the every-day experience with images of extraterrestrials, there arose an interesting occurrence. People began to talk about alien abductions. The personal stories of alien abductions ranged from descriptions of dreams (See Items 5 and 13) to the encounters with the unexplained (See Items 4 and 12) In each and every case, people involved in alien abduction situations experienced similar symptoms and remembered similar things happening. Many psychologists are quick to discredit people who claim to have been abducted by extraterrestrials (Kolberg, 1-2), still there is a common denominator among the stories and a recurring image of a being with familiar eyes and a familiar shape that would seem to lend credibility to their assertions rather than destroy it.
The Human Emotion
In reviewing the information of abductees, there are similarities among their stories that are uncanny. Nevertheless, they do exist and they should not be ignored. One informant revealed that the aliens are simply trying to get back something they've lost through the hybridization process that combines human and alien DNA in new life forms. (See Item 12) Humans have such a wide range of emotions and the ability to control, or loose control of them with varying results. This is perhaps best shown through our creative processes. We are able to communicate feelings and emotions in a way that no other species on Earth can. One way that people who have experienced alien abductions can share the experience with others is through capturing images on film, or creating their own artwork depicting events as they see and have felt them. (See Items 8 -11) Perhaps it is our ability to feel and understand so much that allows for such a gamut of personal experiences among the larger human experience. Human understanding is more limited than it is expansive, and our universe is filled with questions that remain unanswered. Still, through our emotions and our art, we can feel things that words cannot express. Our quest for understanding is recorded in our fears, our desires, our hopes and our dreams. The future of humanity as well as our past is also recorded in what we produce. Fortunately, it's not only the good things about humanity that make us beautiful, it is the good and the bad together that are equally incredible in scope.
This study of alien encounters contains just a few pieces of a puzzle that is huge in scope. The answers to whether extraterrestrials exist may or may not be found, depending on how one perceives the information given. Perhaps more questions will be presented than answered. Each one of us at some point or another will be forced to accept the fact that we don't know everything there is to know, and that's perfectly acceptable. It takes time to understand concepts that are of universal scope, and perhaps we are not meant to understand some things at this point in our evolution. Though there is a lot about humanity that makes us immensely beautiful, there are aspects of us that can equally frightening. Our quest for knowledge has been destructive at times and has lead to great scientific and technological advances at other times. However, we must be careful to understand and respect the balance that we are a part of. If we destroy the Earth, our home, we may not have a home any longer, and we may be forced to become extraterrestrials of a type ourselves. If we destroy each other, there won't be much left of all that is beautiful. The beauty of the human condition lies in the emotions that we experience and the different ways that we express these emotions. We must be careful to preserve them and ourselves and to foster the imagination that lies within our children so that we will never loose it. The only limitations we have are those we place upon ourselves and only time will tell if we manage to grasp that important lesson in time. Many men have died for the freedom to express what they feel in an uninhibited manner, others even today who still don't have that freedom and they are kept captive by those who hold the keys of government and power. When we finally learn to trust one another and to be trustworthy, there will be no more need to discredit the incredible because all things will be possible when we believe.
Works Cited
Bergier, Jacques. Extraterrestrial Intervention. Chicago, Henry Regnery Co. 1974.
Bergier, Jacques. Extraterrestrial Visitations from Prehistoric Times to Present. Chicago Henry Regnery Co. 1973.
Free, Cathy. "Way Far-out Drop-ins Welcome" 6 June 2002, all ed: B01.
Jessup, M.K. The Case for the UFO. London, Arco Publishers Ltd. 1955
Kolberg, Rebecca. "Are People Abducted by Space Aliens? Or Are They Victims of Their Own Fantasies?" Deseret News 18 June 1988, Metro: A5.
Pertman, Adam. "UFO Buffs Follow the 'E.T. Highway' for Close Encounter with Tiny Town" 27 August 1996, Metro: D10.
I was born into a single parent family. My mother loved Sci-Fi and I hated it until I became a teenager. For some reason I developed an intense fascination with all things having to do with extraterrestrials and I became interested in the stories of Betty and Barney Hill, abductees from a time when alien encounters were very uncommon, and Whitely Schreiber. I read Schreiber's novel, Communion and developed a greater interest in all things having to do with UFOs and anything paranormal. As an adult, my fascination has turned more to the role that the government plays in much of the paranormal activity that occurs every day. Investigative shows have the government involved in everything from Amelia Airheart's disappearance to the recent cattle mutilations that have plagued the agricultural community. For many people, the answer to many of these mysteries lies in discovering the secrets behind UFOs. Just like many others, I feel the answer can be found.
Through this project, I have learned so much. I have come to understand the community of "Ufologists" and what they believe in. I, along with the rest of the human race, still have an insatiable need to discover that truth. I've learned that I can be happy with not knowing the whole truth, if I can just grasp the different possibilities. This is the case with a lot of man kind. We are happy with a piece of the truth if it will lead us to greater understanding eventually. More than anything, this project has offered some pretty plausible explanations for a lot that has gone previously unexplained. I look forward to continuing my investigative quest to understand extraterrestrials and what constitutes our relationship with them. I find I'm not alone in this quest, and that serves to intensify my interest.
Other: Mark was very ready to tell me that he had seen a UFO when I mentioned the project that I was doing for this class. He added after the interview that many people had seen the object, and that it even made the news. I suspect that he said this to add validity to his story, even though I wasn't there to judge whether he'd seen a UFO or not. It seemed like he thought the story was pretty incredible. The description is definitely congruent with the normalform that describes UFOs.
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Social Context: Mark's UFO sighting was actually was witnessed by many other people. School children saw it and commented on it and they weren't believed because the news stated that it was a low-flying aircraft with several others in formation. He doesn't buy that explanation and I think it's interesting that everyone that saw the same thing was, for the most part, in agreement that it was a UFO.
Cultural Context: The item concerns a possible UFO sighting. There were lights in the sky, and the description of their motion is definitely unique. Mark also felt that the news didn't tell the truth with the story that they gave to the public. This is the case with many UFO sightings that are seen by masses of people. The government and the news usually portray them as low-flying aircraft so as to disperse people's suspicions about the existence of UFOs. The attempt to conceal suspicion does raise the question of whether there would be mass hysteria if actual indisputable proof of a UFO were ever to rise to the surface. Perhaps this would explain the supposed government/media cover-up of such events.
ITEM I tape recorded Mark while at work this afternoon.
Text: "Okay our next door neighbor came over to our house and said, "You guys have to come out and see this. We come outside and just above the tree lineum we see a really slow moving object, it had lights that were slowly moving around it, it was kind of roundish like, that I recall, and after staring at it for about 5 minutes, it just took off. It just quickly left. (What color was it?) Well, it was night time, and basically all you saw was the lights. You could see, it was dusk, and you could kinda see it but you couldn't really make out what color it was. It was dark. (Hmmm, interesting, did you hear any kind of sound accompanied with the lights?) I don't remember any sound. (Wow, that's interesting, and it was close? Or would you say, like a few miles away?) A few miles away, I mean it was large. (Like as big as a plane? Or like a helicopter?) Much bigger than a helicopter. (Wow!) Um, it could have been a plane, but there's no way that a plane could have just loitered like that. (Or taken off that fast right?) Yeah."
Other: Justin has known me and my husband for years. He and my husband have gone on many camping trips throughout the years and he is one of our most trusted friends. He was the best man at our wedding and he's generally like a big brother to my husband.
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Social Context: Justin and some buddies of his were camping at Eagle Point close to Salt Lake City, UT. They saw something they couldn't explain and were fascinated by it, so they took a picture and that's where the mystery arises. I should perhaps add here that my husband was teasing Justin all the while he was telling his story, so that may have had something to do with his hesitancy to tell the story in elaborate detail.
Cultural Context: Pictures of UFOs are generally not taken seriously. People tend to write them off as fakes because there have been so many fakes produced in the recent UFO craze that enveloped the 20th century. The funny thing about this item is that Justin didn't seem to really believe that what he took a picture of was a UFO. He made remarks such as, "Look, see, the UFO disappeared out of the photo!" He was half joking, because I think he really did think he took a picture of some UFOs, but there's a stigma attached to believing in the unexplained. He wouldn't even elaborate on the story, and I tried not to force him to. It was almost as if he believed the story, but he wouldn't admit that to anyone else and risk the chance of looking like a fool.
ITEM I went over to Justin's house and talked to him about his story as I asked him to find his picture of the UFOs.
Text: "One day me and a bunch of my buddies were up shooting at Eagle Point. We looked up and saw these strange silver disks flying around in the air. They had sort of a strange pattern because they'd go back and forth really quick and then come together and separate. It was weird. I took a picture of ithere it is, Oh no! The UFO disappeared out of the picture! It's the government, they switched my film so that I wouldn't have proof. I'm ruined! Hahaha."
Other: Mark's dad is an avid volleyball player. He grew up in Southern California, has 4 younger brothers, and has practiced law for 25 years. He doesn't believe in UFO's, ghosts, or any other supernatural phenomenon. For him to bring up and believe in this story gives validity to it. He's not one to make up a story like this and stick to it for 25 years.
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Social Context: Mark's dad had just graduated from Pepperdine Law School and got a job in Northern California (San Jose). He loved to hunt and frequently went up into the mountains around Anderson Dam to hunt birds. He would often go with his friend Phil Robertsona former LDS mission companion. Both Phil and Mark's dad share the same story whenever they get together to reminisce about the past. No others were present when the event took place.
Cultural Context: The item concerns a UFO sighting. These have become part of popular folklore traditions all over the world. They usually consist of some sort of strange sighting or noise that appears to be out of place. In other words, they are sounds or sightings that shouldn't be in the places they are seen. Interestingly enough, California has had lots of UFO sightings and it's possible that the men's explanations for what they heard were influenced by the news report.
ITEM Mark interviewed his dad on the telephone. His dad lives in California and Mark lives in Provo, so he typed while they talked. He offered this collection to me because it coincided with my project, and he verified that his dad is alright with me adding it to my project.
Text: "Well, I guess this story happened in 1975. I had just graduated from law school and had moved to San Jose, California. A friend of mine, Phil Robertson, was living in the area at the time. We both enjoyed hunting and decided to go up to Anderson Dam. It's a large reservoir about 30 miles south of San Jose. The area is scarcely populated and we were "visibly" alone during our trip. Both of us had recently purchased .22 caliber rifles. We weren't into the "big guns," like shotguns. A friend of ours told us there were several good areas at Anderson to hunt birds. It was a sunny, clear Saturday morning when we arrived at the dam. There wasn't a soul in site. We walked along the edge of the reservoir for a few hours, but didn't see any birds. We decided to head to higher ground. About the time we decided to go higher, we heard a strange souldactually it wasn't that strange, it sounded like a helicopterbut we couldn't see anything. We didn't pay much attention to the sound at first. We started hiking. As we hiked, the sound got louder and louder. (One thing I didn't mention before hand is that the reservoir area was a guarded land preservewhich means we weren't supposed to be there. We were young and we wanted to have some funI guess we were stupid.) Anyways, we figured that if it was a helicopter, it must be the police coming down to tell us to leave, or possibly arrest us. We got really scared because we had guns in our hands and we were well into the reservoir area. We started running for the trees. At one point I tripped and dropped my gun. It slid down the side of an embankment. I was too scared of getting caught to go after it. We continued to run up the side of the mountain. While we were running, the sound continued to get louder. I remember looking at Phil; he looked scared out of his mind. We took a second to look around for the helicopter. Judging from the sound it seemed like it should have been right on usliterally. After about 20 minutes we reached the summit of the mountain. There was a small clearing in the trees and all of the surroundings were opened up to us. We could see for a good 20, possibly 30 miles. What really freaked us out is the fact that the sound was still getting louder! It was almost deafening. I was sweating bullets and Phil had turned a pale color. A good five minutes passed on the summit. The sound slowly started to fade and eventually disappeared. We just looked at each other in disbelief. Needless to say we didn't spend anymore time at Anderson Dam. We went straight home. My friend Phil called me up a few days after the event took place. He told me that he was reading a local newspaper that revealed some shocking news. According to the paper, several UFO sightings were reported in the Anderson Dam area. I guess it was a common occurrence. To this day I'm not sure what it was that we heard. All I know is my best friend was with me and we heard a deafening sound that seemed to follow us and get louder over the course of roughly a half an hour."
Other: Mara has known my husband since they were both in Jr. High School. She is a very good friend of mine and I trust her completely. She told me this story one evening when we were talking about strange and unusual things that we've seen in our lives. She's a great conversationalist and story teller. I haven't talked to her brother (who was with her when she witnessed this event) but I know him as well and he's a very serious, logical person who would not exaggerate in a story like this.
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Social Context: Marah and her brother Josh are very close. They used to go out late at night to parties and not come home until the wee hours of the morning. There were times when drinking and other things were involved in these late night jaunts, but she assured me that this was not one of those times. She also assured me that several other people saw what she saw, adding validity to her story.
Cultural Context: The item concerns a possible UFO sighting. There were lights in the sky, but the description of "tangible air" etc adds another dimension to the narrative. Mara felt something she couldn't explain in addition to seeing something she couldn't explain. These two sensations could have been intermingled as a result of a confusion of the senses in the presence of the unexplained. They could have magnified each other, but the possibility that this would have occurred in several people at the same time is slim. The fact that this occurred in an area of continuous mining/construction may be an explanation for the light seen, but it's a stretch to assume this could explain the quality of air.
ITEM I had heard this story in person before, so I just called Mara up to refresh my memory about some details.
Text: "One night Josh and I were driving down from Salt Lake at about 2 o'clock in the morning. We usually partied when we went up to Salt Lake, but this was not one of those times. We were driving at a normal speed on I-15 when we started to see all these cars up ahead that were slowing down at the point of the mountain. We thought maybe there was some sort of accident or something, but then we saw this strange green light going straight up into the sky. It was so weird, Julia, I mean there were people stopping their cars in the middle of the freeway as they approached it. It went up really high into the sky, like there was no end. When we finally got up to it, we drove inside it and I rolled down the window and looked up and Josh was driving, so he was trying to look, but he didn't have as good a view as I did. I reached my hand out of the window and felt the air and it was almost thick, like some kind of Jell-o or something. I looked across the lane and another lady was doing the same thing, both of our cars were slowed down to a crawl. She asked me, "Do you see that?" I told her I did, but it was so strange. People had stopped their cars on the side of the road and were just walking around looking up. There weren't that many cars, because it was 2 o'clock in the morning, but still, the ones that were there were fixated on this ray of light. It was really weird. Josh is, well you know my brother, he's a totally logical and straight-laced kind of guy, but even HE got freaked out! I wanted to stop, but he wouldn't, so we just got out of there as fast as we could."
Other: I usually have some pretty wild dreams. However, I don't usually remember them. This dream was so vivid and stuck in my head from the night I had it, I was 9 years old, until today.
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Social Context: Dreams are usually interpreted as signals from our subconscious that show us our unachieved desires etc. I have dreamt less and less as I've gotten older, and I think this is a result of the fact that I had a really active imagination as a child. I never really knew much about extraterrestrials as a kid, but my mother did talk to me and have books about Betty and Barney Hill, the abductees that came back to tell their tale. She had quite a few books lying around that I'd look at that talked of people's personal abduction experiences. If there is a correlation between the events of our daily lives and the dreams we have, then this item would definitely agree with what I saw and heard around my home as a child.
Cultural Context: Abductions stories seem to be the most sensational items within the folklore materials pertaining to UFOs and extraterrestrials. People with abduction stories often recieve media attention whether they want to or not, and sometimes, their stories get made into motion pictures. There are many people in the world who strongly believe, even know without a doubt that they have been abducted, yet there are still many who don't accept the credibility of such situations. The event itself is something of a psychological phenomenon, because details are normally brought out most fully through hypnosis of a subject. Nevertheless, many narratives of extraterrestrials and what they are like exist in the world today and it's hard to separate the credible from the incredible.
ITEM I tape-recorded myself telling my story to some friends, because I thought it would be more natural than talking to a tape recorder, then transcribed what I said, which was strange, I sound much different than I thought!
Text: "One night, when I was about 9 years old, I had a dream. It was a really detailed dream, so much so that as soon as I woke up, I wrote down and drew pictures of what I saw. The images just wouldn't go away until I drew them. In my dream I was taken to an alien planet. Hey! Don't laugh! I made friends with these beings that had triangular shaped heads and large black eyes. They were smaller than me, and they seemed really fascinated by the fact that I was not a grown-up yet, because they asked me all sorts of questions that only a child would know the answer to. They took me into their spaceship, and we went on a journey to their planet. We traveled through the solar system and their planet was orange and maybe had some sort of rings around it. I remember thinking that their planet wasn't very beautiful in comparison to Earth, it was all sorts of orange and red colors. It didn't have the variety of colors that I'm used to seeing. I remember it was kind of hot. I was in some sort of a chamber with bubbles floating all around me. We looked at their plants, they had different types of flowers and stuff. They sort of tapped my brain for every piece of information that I could give them on what I liked about my planet. I think they wanted me to be happy. I felt like I was very special and liked by them. The next thing I knew, I was in my house sleeping in my bed with all sorts of weird images ingrained in my brain. I drew them and showed them to my mother and she told me I had a great imagination and that was the end of that."
Other: Nate went on many camping trips with his father and the Boy Scout organization. He believes that in this particular instance, he saw something out of the ordinary. For a lot of years, he thought it was a UFO, but recently he's seen a lot of documentaries on the Discovery Channel and such that have lead him to believe that it may have been a "top-secret stealth airplane" or something of that nature. He doesn't really know what to think, but he knows there was something out there and he supports these feelings by adding that many other people saw and heard the exact same things that he did.
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Social Context Nate was willing enough to assist me in gathering the data. However, when I first asked him if there were any narratives he could give me about anything that he had experienced, he sort of chuckled as if to make fun of the process. He started to tell me a story about Big Foot and then decided to tell this story as the details were clearer in his mind. I have an ongoing fascination with UFOs and aliens, so I think he chose this story because he knew that I would like to hear it, and he was right.
Cultural Context The idea that the government has secrets from its citizens is an old one. For decades, there have been books and articles written about government conspiracies etc. However, many of these articles cannot be substantiated with actual proof because they claim that when a person comes out with a personal testimony of witnessing or participating in these secrets, they are often encouraged to be silent or threatened in some way. In this narrative, the informant substantiates his data with the comment that there were many others who could support his narrative as well as the mention of certain documentaries that describe similar occurrences.
ITEM
How Collected: Tape recorded and transcribed with a few follow up questions for clarification purposes.
Text: "Basically, we were at Joe's Valley Reservoir. That night, we were at the campfire telling ghost stories and stuff. We all got pretty scared, but we went back to our tents and fell asleep. A few hours later, in the middle of the night, we heard a 'whooomp, whoomp, whooomp' noise that woke us up, so me and three other guys got out of our tents and decided to find where it was coming from. From a distance, like 20 or 30 feet, we saw green and yellow lights going up and down. Then we went closer and right before we got to the meadow there was a bright flash and then the lights were gone, so we got scared and ran back to our tents and got in and shut the door. The next day we walked back to the meadow and saw no signs of anything strange. I don't really know what to think, but I know something was out there."
Answer to Follow-Up Questions: "I don't know, for a lot of years I thought it was a UFO, but recently, I've seen a lot of things on the Discovery Channel talking about the government's top-secret stealth machines."
Other: Don gave me these terms after our interview to help me understand some of what was said. Though most are familiar with the terms on some level, the way they are used was slightly different than I'd ever heard before.
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Social Context: The words used are common among UFO and Discovery Science participants. As with any folk speech, to an outsider such as myself, they took a little getting used to. However, I now know exactly what they are used for and would feel comfortable using them myself. Lots of acronyms are used and it's a bit like a cross between science and anthropology in that many of the names are used to describe commonplace, sights or life forms.
Cultural Context: This terminology isn't really found in a dictionary, it's picked up by those who use it most. It seems that some of the words are combinations of other words, and others are just descriptive words. Acronyms are common as is evidenced by the most common acronym of all, UFO.
ITEM Don gave me these words orally and I wrote them down along with their descriptions.
Text:
NIDS National Institute of Discovery Science. UFO related work, possibly monitoring Utah activity.
UFO Unidentified Flying Object, this one is very common.
Gray An alien species, normally 4 feet tall, mechanical and precise. They are biological computers.
Reptilians Earth based aliens that like war and discord. They feed off of it. There are also other non earth-based reptilians that are loving and peaceful.
Nordics Benevolent, straight forward aliens. They show lots of love toward humans. They are usually blonde with blue eyes. They are also called Pleidians because their planet is somewhere within the Pleides consellation.
Cigar Ship Looks like a long tube, a common UFO seen in Utah.
Triangular Ship Looks just like it sounds, belongs to the aliens that are large Praying Mantises.
Flying Saucer Typical flying saucer belonging to the Pleidians.
Other: Alien Dave took this photograph in Nov 2000. He is renowned for his UFO photography as well as his astrophotography.
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Social Context: I had the opportunity to ask Dave a few questions about his experience, and he provided me with the following information. The photograph was taken when Dave received a message to go for a ride. It was taken in an area where he's had multiple experiences and on an evening when he was set up to do some astrophotography. He has been instructed not to reveal where the place that he took this photo is. He calls the craft a "cigar ship" because of it's tube-like shape. He's got the following quote on his website in relation to this photograph, "This area is of great importance, not only to the ones that know of it, but to the ones that control and use it. This is one of many places on Earth that is a Natural Doorway or Portal, for THEM, and is a place that is reserved for the Prepared, the Awake, and the called upon." He explained to me that he may be more tuned in to seeing UFOs because he's seen so many of them, but that everyone's got a different take on what the see in the sky.
Cultural Context: The Photograph is of interest to those in the field of Discovery Science which is predominantly concerned with things that cannot be explained with Natural Science. The craft is one of many of its type that have been seen in Utah by the Utah UFO Hunters.
ITEM Dave sent me the image and I printed it out so I could add it to this project. It can also be found at www.aliendave.com
Other: This is a piece of graphic art done by Alien Dave.
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Social Context: This piece portrays an ominous scary feeling. He told me that it's a dream, a clear picture of something, leading me to believe he's seen this with his own eyes. He wanted the picture to give off a message of being under their control. It's a fear based piece of art based on a feeling, an emotion that he's felt. However, it seemed like fear was just one of many emotions he felt/does feel in relation to this image. When asked about the color scheme, he said he felt that the colors would produce emotions, and that he wanted it to look like the alien was coming out of the dark.
Cultural Context: When I asked him why he didn't make the alien grey or green (the only aliens I've seen depicted often), he answered that he'd, "never seen a green alien." The colors definitely produce certain emotions, and the shadow effect accomplishes what it's meant to, so the piece is effective. Dave's art is about expression of emotions as much as it is about concepts that may seem abstract to the majority of the population.
ITEM Dave sent me the image and I printed it out so I could add it to this project. It can also be found at www.aliendave.com
Image: Below can also be found randomly at the www.aliendave.com website
Other: This photograph was taken by Alien Dave in Salt Lake City, UT in the Rose Park Area in 1999. He used a 35mm camera.
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Social Context: The photograph is interesting because the central feature of the picture showed up only after it was developed. Dave didn't see it while he was taking the picture. He knows it wasn't camera movement that caused the streak, but he doesn't know what it is. He says it has to have been moving pretty fast, whatever it was because he didn't see it with his own eyes.
Cultural Context: There's been a lot of speculation as to what the photograph is, but no answers have come up. The picture was featured on www.cosmiverse.com and many others have taken an interest in it. He mentioned that sometimes photographs taken with a 35 mm camera, such as this one, are more credible because they actually have a negative with them. Digital photography is a lot easier to manipulate and potentially corrupt.
ITEM Dave sent me the image and I printed it out so I could add it to this project. It can also be found at www.aliendave.com
