It is readily acknowledged that our time has surpassed all epochs in history for the accumulation of technical knowledge, physical power over our environment, and economic might. It is less often pointed out, however, that our age has generated, and continues to generate, mythical material almost unparalleled in quantity and quality in the rich records of human imagination.
More precisely, people have very frequently reported the observation of wonderful aerial objects, variously designated as flying saucers, unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and so on; among these narratives descriptions of landings made by these craft are commonplace; and that quite a few accounts purport to inform us of the physical characteristics, the psychological behaviour, and the motivation of their occupants. But investigators have neglected to recognize one important perspective of the phenomenon: the fact that beliefs identical to those held today have recurred throughout recorded history and under forms best adapted to the believer's country, race, and social regime. If we take a wide sample of this historical material, we find that it is organized around one central theme: visitation by an aerial people from one or more remote, legendary countries. The names and attributes vary, but the main idea clearly does not. Magonia, heaven, hell, Elfland - all such places have in common one characteristic: we are unable to reach them alive, except on very special occasions. Emissaries from these supernatural abodes come to earth, sometimes under human form and sometimes as monsters. They perform wonders. They serve man or fight him. They influence civilizations through mystical revelation. They seduce earth women, and the few heroes who dare seek their friendship find the girls from Elfland endowed with desires that betray a carnal, rather than purely aerial, nature.These matters are the subject of Passport to Magonia, Jacques Vallee's seminal master-work that changed our understanding of the UFO phenomenon. An instant classic when first published in 1969, the book remains a must-have resource for anybody interested in the topics of UFOs and alien contact, as well as those fascinated by fairy folklore and other paranormal encounters.
In DIMENSIONS, the first volume of a trilogy, Dr. Jacques Vallee reexamines the historical record that led to the modern UFO phenomenon and to the belief in alien contact. He then tackles the enigma of abduction reports, which come from various times and various countries, as well as the psychic and spiritual components of the contact experience. In the last portion of the book, he notes the factors that inhibit research into the phenomenon--the triple coverup and political motivations--and concludes that the extraterrestrial theory is simply not strange enough to explain the facts.
In REVELATIONS, the final volume of a trilogy, Dr. Jacques Vallee presents startling evidence that well-constructed hoaxes and media manipulations have misled UFO researchers, diverting them from the UFO phenomenon itself. Vallee takes readers step by step into the tangled web of UFOlogy's dark side, in an effort to clear the ever-thickening underbrush that has obscured the real nature of the UFO phenomenon.
What is the nature of unidentified aerial phenomena?
Forty years ago a small cadre of dedicated researchers began actively investigating cases, interviewing witnesses, and exchanging data through a small, informal network of international contacts. Today this low-profile network, or invisible college, has grown into a larger, multi-nation volunteer research effort joined by many individuals. But the questions first raised 40 years ago remain current-and unanswered.
I believe that a powerful force has influenced the human race in the past and is again influencing it now. Does this force represent alien intervention, or does it originate entirely within human consciousness? This is the question that forms the basis of the work of the Invisible College of UFO researchers. -- Jacques Vallee
THE INVISIBLE COLLEGE is unlike any other UFO book ever written. Dr. Vallee questions what everybody else takes for granted, doubts what everybody believes, drenches us with data that doesn't 'fit' any of the theories of either the True Believers or the die-hard non-believers and then offers a hypothesis on his own. -- Robert Anton Wilson
An important book-not only are UFOs and psychic events inextricably linked, as Dr. Vallee so nicely points out, but neither can be understood without an appreciation of the role of myth, tradition, and belief system. Must reading for the serious student of contemporary events. -- Edgar Mitchell
Certainly one of the most interesting, thought-provoking books so far written on UFOs. -- Colin Wilson
Dr. Jacques Vallee began his professional life as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory in 1961. While on the staff of the French Space Committee, he witnessed the destruction of the tracking tapes of unknown objects orbiting the earth, initiating a lifelong interest in the UFO phenomenon. Vallee arrived in the U.S. in 1962 and worked in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin before receiving a Ph.D. in computer science from Northwestern University in 1967. There he became a close associate of J. Allen Hynek, then scientific consultant for the U.S. Air Force on Project Blue Book-the result was The Invisible College. Dr. Vallee is presently a venture capitalist living in San Francisco. His website is www.jacquesvallee.com.
In CONFRONTATIONS, the second volume of a trilogy, Dr. Jacques Vallee personally investigates forty astonishing UFO cases from around the world. He finds it shocking that professional scientists have never seriously examined this material. This book is about the hopes, experiences, and the frustrations of a scientist who has gone into the field to investigate a bizarre, seductive, and often terrifying phenomenon reported by many witnesses as a contact with an alien form of intelligence.
In Revelations, the final volume of the Alien Contact Trilogy, Dr. Jacques Vallee presents startling evidence that well-constructed hoaxes and media manipulations have misled UFO researchers, diverting them from the UFO phenomenon itself. Vallee takes readers step by step into the tangled web of UFOlogy's dark side, in an effort to clear the ever-thickening underbrush that has obscured the real nature of the UFO phenomenon.
What is the nature of unidentified aerial phenomena?
Forty years ago a small cadre of dedicated researchers began actively investigating cases, interviewing witnesses, and exchanging data through a small, informal network of international contacts. Today this low profile network, or invisible college, has grown into a larger, multi-nation volunteer research effort joined by many individuals. But the questions first raised 40 years ago remain current-and unanswered.
I believe that a powerful force has influenced the human race in the past and is again influencing it now. Does this force represent alien intervention, or does it originate entirely within human consciousness? This is the question that forms the basis of the work of the Invisible College of UFO researchers. - Jacques Vallee
A SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE STORY
In Confrontations, the second volume of his Alien Contact Trilogy, Dr. Jacques Vallee personally investigates forty astonishing UFO cases from around the world. He finds it shocking that professional scientists have never seriously examined this material. This book is about the hopes, experiences, and the frustrations of a scientist who has gone into the field to investigate a bizarre, seductive, and often terrifying phenomenon reported by many witnesses as a contact with an alien form of intelligence.