Behind the Mask: Aliens or Cosmic Jokers?

In the 1970s, when we first became fascinated by the UFO phenomenon, opinion among researchers was divided between two views: the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) - UFOs are spacecraft from other worlds; and the 'Magonian Hypothesis' (after the 1970 book by the intelligent Ufologists' hero Jacques Vallée, Passport to Magonia). Pro-Magonians believe something from Earth is behind UFOs, a race of tricksters that surface from time to time as alleged angels, visions of the Virgin, demons, fairies - and now, space-travelling aliens? They've just updated their image.

The theory acknowledges the close parallels between alien encounters and experiences with non-human entities that litter the annals of folklore. But it also recognises the often-reported absurdity and pointlessness - the 'high strangeness' - which challenge the simplistic notion of UFOs as technological craft crewed by biological entities. It was this Monty Pythonesque quality that led investigator John A. Keel to develop his 'ultraterrestrial' hypothesis - the aliens are visitors from another plane of existence - outlined in the 1973 classic UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse....read more>>>...