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The Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with the Unexplained by Colin DickeyAmerica's favorite cultural historian and author of Ghostland takes a thought-provoking and "deliciously unsettling" (Publisher's Weekly) tour of the country's most persistent unexplained phenomena. In a world where rational, scientific explanations are more available than ever, belief in the unprovable and irrational--in fringe--is on the rise: from Atlantis to aliens, from Flat Earth to the Loch Ness monster, the list goes on. It seems the more our maps of the known world get filled in, the more we crave mysterious locations full of strange creatures. Enter Colin Dickey, Cultural Historian and Tour Guide of the Weird. With the same curiosity and insight that made Ghostland a hit with readers and critics, Colin looks at what all fringe beliefs have in common, explaining that today's Illuminati is yesterday's Flat Earth: the attempt to find meaning in a world stripped of wonder. Dickey visits the wacky sites of America's wildest fringe beliefs--from the famed Mount Shasta where the ancient race (or extra-terrestrials, or possibly both, depending on who you ask) called Lemurians are said to roam, to the museum containing the last remaining evidence of the great Kentucky Meat Shower--investigating how these theories come about, why they take hold, and why as Americans we keep inventing and re-inventing them decade after decade. The Unidentified is Colin Dickey at his best: curious, wry, brilliant in his analysis, yet eminently readable.
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After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon
by Greg Eghigian
Greg Eghigian tells the story of the world's fascination with UFOs and the prospect that they were the work of visitors from outer space. While accounts of great wonders in the sky date back to antiquity, reports of UFOs took place against the unique backdrop of the Cold War and space age, giving rise to disputed government inquiries, breathtaking news stories, and single-minded sleuths. After the Flying Saucers Came traces how a seemingly isolated incident sparked an international drama involving shady figures, questionable evidence, suspicions of conspiracy, hoaxes, new religions, scandals, unsettling alien encounters, debunkers, and celebrities. It examines how descriptions, theories, and debates about unidentified flying objects and alien abduction changed over time and how they appeared in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Russia. And it explores the impact UFOs have had on our understanding of space, science, technology, and ourselves up through the present day. Replete with stories of the people who have made up the ufology community, the military and defense units that investigate them, the scientists and psychologists who have researched these unexplained encounters, and the many novels, movies, TV shows, and websites that have explored these phenomena, After the Flying Saucers Came speaks to believers and skeptics alike.
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Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs by Luis ElizondoThe former head of the Pentagon program responsible for the investigation of UFOs—now known as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP)—reveals long-hidden secrets with profound implications for not only national security but our understanding of the universe. Luis “Lue” Elizondo is a former senior intelligence official and special agent who was recruited into strange and highly sensitive US government program to investigate UAP. To accomplish his mission, Elizondo had to rely on decades of experience gained working some of America’s most classified programs. Even then, he was not prepared for what he would learn, including the truth about the government’s long shadowy involvement in UAP investigations, and the lengths officials would take to keep it a secret. For years, Elizondo and his colleagues found themselves on the front lines of what may be the greatest mystery and cover-up in history. Unidentified craft that seem to defy our knowledge of physics—within air, water, and space—have been operating with complete impunity since at least World War II. The military, the CIA, and even past presidents have known the truth that humanity is, in fact, not the only intelligent life in the universe. The nonhuman intelligence controlling these UAP are actively conducting surveillance on our most sensitive military installations and have interfered with ongoing military and nuclear operations. US service members and intelligence officers who have encountered UAP have sustained serious medical injuries. And all of this is happening worldwide. The stakes could not be higher. Imminent is a first-hand, revelatory account inside the Pentagon’s most closely guarded secret and a call to action to confront humanity’s greatest existential questions.
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UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here--and Out There by Garrett M. GraffFor as long as we have looked to the skies, the question of whether life on earth is the only life to exist has been at the core of the human experience, driving scientific debate and discovery, shaping spiritual belief, and prompting existential thought across borders and generations. It’s one of our culture’s favorite conversations, and yet, the idea of extraterrestrial intelligence has been largely banished to the realm of fantasy and conspiracy. Now, for the first time, the full story of our national obsession with UFOs—and the covert search by scientists, the United States military, and the CIA for proof of alien life—is told by bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff in a deeply reported and researched history. It begins in 1947, when two headline-making sightings of strange flying objects prompt the US Air Force’s newly formed Department of Defense to create a series of secret programs to determine how unidentified phenomena may pose a threat to national security. Over the next half-century, as the atomic age gives way to the space race and the Cold War, the mission continues, bringing together an unexpected group of astronomers, military officials, civilian contactees, and true believers who bring us closer, then further, then closer again, to answering one of our most enduring questions: What exactly is out there?
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The UFO Book: A Chronological Journey from Crop Circles to Roswell by John Michael GreerFor thousands of years people have seen strange lights and hovering shapes in the sky. From an ancient awareness that there might be creatures beyond this world to very recent disclosures of alien activity at a governmental level, speculation about unidentified flying objects--and the alien entities that might have traveled within them--has animated humanity's relationship to the unknown. John Michael Greer, long-time researcher of the unexplained, chronicles 100 of the most fascinating brushes Earth's residents have had with visitors from the cosmos. Illustrated with full-color photos and illustrations, The UFO Book includes Babylonian engravings, phantom airships of the 1890s, the "foo fighters" of the Second World War, the Flatwoods Monster and Mothman: Greer weaves these together into a chronological survey of an evolving understanding of alien life. He also covers alien abductions from around the world and throughout time, proving that they are a widespread phenomena that unites all of the residents of this planet. It's undeniable that something very strange is going on, and The UFO Book is a fascinating portal into a question that predates modern history and will continue into the future: is the truth out there, and when will it finally be uncovered?
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The 37th Parallel: The Secret Truth Behind America's UFO Highway by Ben MezrichLike Agent Mulder of The X-Files, microchip engineer and sheriff's deputy Chuck Zukowski is obsessed with tracking down UFO reports in Colorado. He even takes the family with him on weekend trips to look for evidence of aliens. But this innocent hobby takes on a sinister urgency when Zukowski learns of mutilated livestock--whose exsanguination is inexplicable by any known human or animal means. Along an expanse of land stretching across the southern borders of Utah, Colorado, and Kansas, Zukowski documents hundreds of bizarre incidences of mutilations, and discovers that they stretch through the heart of America. His pursuit of the truth draws him deeper into a vast conspiracy, and he journeys from Roswell and Area 51 to the Pentagon and beyond; from underground secret military caverns to Native American sacred sites; and to wilderness areas where strange, unexplained lights traverse the sky at extraordinary speeds. Inspiring and terrifying, Mezrich's "dramatic narrative...connects dots we didn't even know existed...Something's clearly happening out there in the high meadows and along desert highways" (Kirkus Reviews). The 37th Parallel will make you, too, wonder if we are really alone.
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Ufos, Aliens and the Battle for Truth: A Short History of Ufology
by Neil Nixon
This no-nonsense guide to one of our most enduring mysteries presents a short history of the strangest encounters, looks carefully at explanations from the blunt to the truly bizarre, offers insights into the strongest evidence we are being visited by beings from another world, and sources the best skeptical arguments that all can be explained rationally. Concise, balanced, and occasionally hilarious, this is a story that has as much to tell you about the human race as it does about aliens.
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American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology by D. W. PasulkaMore than half of American adults and more than seventy-five percent of young Americans believe in intelligent extraterrestrial life. This level of belief rivals that of belief in God. In American Cosmic, D.W. Pasulka examines the mechanisms that foster a thriving belief in extraterrestrial life. Her work takes her from Silicon Valley to the Vatican Secret Archive and reveals how media has supplanted religion as a cultural authority that offers believers answers about non-human intelligent life.
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Area 51: The Revealing Truth of UFOs, Secret Aircraft, Cover-Ups & Conspiracies by Nick RedfernIt's no secret that, roughly 100 miles north northwest of Las Vegas in the middle of a remote desert, sits an extension of the Edwards Air Force facility commonly known as Area 51, but its clandestine purpose and operations remain shrouded in secrecy. It's a highly classified, restricted area, but, cloaked in conspiracy theories, its history and true function remain a mystery. Taking a thorough review of the historical record, eyewitness accounts, whistleblower allegations, and deathbed confessions, Area 51: The Revealing Truth of UFOs, Secret Aircraft, Cover-Ups and Conspiracies peers behind the highly fortified, heavily guarded CIA testing ground to understand fully the nature, history, and scope of the most secret and controversial base in the United States. It investigates the Cold War years, U-2 spy plane, SR-71 Blackbird, and chemical and nuclear weapon research as well as the base's link to an extraterrestrial presence on Earth, reports of alien autopsies, recovery of non-terrestrial spacecraft, and attempts to duplicate the fantastic, alien technology.
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Swamp Gas My Ass: Alien Shades of Greys by Raymond SzymanskiSwamp Gas My Ass is the astonishing true story of two highly decorated U. S. Air Force fighter-interceptor pilots, fully enmeshed in America’s secret military history. Together they intercepted the world famous “1966 Michigan Swamp Gas UFO” in supersonic F-106 jets – a history changing story, denied by the government for 55 years, and told here for the very first time. Together they pursued North Korean MiG-21’s over the Sea of Japan after the shootdown of an intelligence gathering U.S. Navy EC-121. Both pilots escorted Soviet nuclear bombers out of restricted airspace during the height of the Cold War, and each won Distinguished Flying Crosses in Viet Nam. Based upon exclusive interviews with the lead pilot, the personal memoirs of the wingman, official military personnel records, and a formerly classified Top Secret UMBRA document published by the National Security Agency.
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Centerville Library
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Woodbourne Library
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Creativity Commons
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