Ufology and Mysticism Are on the Rise

Exotic mystical beliefs have always been a mark of pagan culture. So what does it mean when these obsessions go mainstream in formerly Christian nations?

In 2017, I became fiercely interested in the subject of UFOs or UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena). This began for me with a New York Times article revealing Pentagon videos of an encounter between U.S. Navy jets on a training exercise and an anomalous object off the coast of San Diego. Initially, my thought was that this represented a kind of novel propulsion breakthrough, the “phenomenon” being a cover story to shield black budget programs.

Then, whistleblower and Air Force officer David Grusch testified to Congress that the government had actually recovered and was reverse-engineering craft of “unknown origin.” (It is also important to note that Grusch has since told members of Congress that he believes some of these “beings” are living among us.) As of this past month, other senior U.S. Government officials have reiterated the existence of nonhuman intelligence in a documentary titled The Age of Disclosure. Some notable appearances include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former DNI director James Clapper, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and Sen. Mike Rounds.

Flying saucers and alien bodies are admittedly a tall order, and while I am not a journalist, an interesting interaction with an aerospace contractor convinced me that enough was there to do some investigating of my own. Over several years, I attended scientific conferences and met with officials and journalists who all were seriously interested in the subject. I sourced FOIA documents and discovered—among other things—a slew of accounts pertaining to activity around sensitive U.S. military installations as early as the late 1940s. These were reports from employees at nuclear stockpile sites and power plants that described various objects of different shapes and sizes interfering with security systems and missile readiness.

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