The topic of UFOs is one that has fascinated me long before I heard of contemporary werewolf-like creatures. Two new books by my author friends Brad Steiger and Nick Redfern have reminded me just why I find aliens and Men in Black such compelling mind fodder.
Author Brad Steiger, or as I liked to call him, Mr. Thoroughness, never writes anything half way. This trait has endeared him to many of us who love to see as much as possible on any given topic in a book, and Real Aliens, Space Beings and Creatures from Other Worlds does not disappoint in its coverage of otherworldly entities.
Co-authored with Sherry Steiger, this 354-page tome takes readers on a meet-and-greet with intergalactic (or home-grown!) visitors of every type and description. There are the Blonde Nordics that look like us, the Reptilians that look like big lizards, and the robots that look like all sorts of things. There are creatures that want to probe us, some that seek to enlighten us and others that appear to view us as breeding stock. All of this unwanted attention begs the question: why are they so interested in humanity? The remainder of the book explores the unsettling possibilities.
Although the Steigers provide plenty of firsthand accounts of encounters with UFOs, abductions and other human-alien interactions, I like the chapters that interface with little-known historical details best. My favorite is titled Nazis and the Aldebaran Aliens. It illustrates the amazing lengths – including outer space — der Fuhrer and his Nazi minions would go to in their quest for world domination. As it turns out, Hitler not only believed in aliens but coveted alien propulsion systems to the point of obsession. According to the Steigers’ research, part of Hitler’s plan involved highly trained psychics working in secret societies. The psychics said they received plans from aliens to make saucer-type vehicles that some say actually worked until rival aliens stopped them. The very complex story left me wondering how much we really know about our own history.
In the final chapters, the Steigers examine the true nature of these visitors, and suggest that far from being new arrivals, these so-called aliens may always have been with us. The Steigers also recommend that until the true nature of “grays,” “Nordics” and other non-Terrans is known for sure, we not invite personal experiences with them. I think that is probably wise.
The book includes a bibliography and comprehensive index, which makes it not only a compelling read but a valuable research resource. I give Real Aliens, Space Beings and Creatures from Other Worlds two opposable digits and three antennae up!
Men in black, mysterious figures in black suits that pop up at UFO sighting scenes like mushrooms after a spring rain, have become so solidly entrenched in pop culture that very popular – and imaginative – movies have been made about them. Nick Redfern’s new book tracks their history from the days when MIB were esoteric lore known only to UFO geeks, to today’s guys with cool shades who show up on your local theater screen. The real Men in Black are far more sinister than I had guessed.
The book was especially persuasive to me personally since it includes the experiences of colleagues I’ve come to know and trust over the years including Brad Steiger, Marie D. Jones and Raven Meindel. The terror they and many others experienced was subtle – compared to sightings of, say, Bigfoot or werewolves — yet very traumatic.
Sporting black suits and hats some have compared to those of the Blues Brothers, Men in Black started showing their pale and unexpressive faces in the middle of the 20th Century, around the same time flying saucers entered the public consciousness. Witnesses and researchers of the UFO phenomenon found themselves threatened and harassed – often in unexplainable ways – by the lurking strangers who usually drove shiny black cars. Scarily, MIB continue these terror tactics to present day, sometimes updating their transportation to black helicopters or other vehicles.
In my book, Strange Wisconsin, I reported an incident told me by a farmer in western Wisconsin who was deer hunting with his children when the three saw a UFO rise from a nearby tree top and then shoot off over a field. They were so terrified they decided to forget hunting and just leave, but as they exited the woods they saw a convoy of shiny black pickup trucks heading single file across the field in the same direction the UFO had gone. Just the sight of so many new trucks in the sleepy area was strange enough, but where did they suddenly come from and why would they all take off across someone’s field in mid-November? What was their connection to the silver, discoid craft and how did they know it was there?
Readers will discover similar weird anomalies in every tale in Redfern’s book. And after grounding readers in many frightening examples of the MIB mystery, Redfern spends the second half of the book wrestling with possible explanations for the creepy figures. Redfern notes that strange people clad in black have appeared to those dabbling in occult studies and practices throughout history. If this is true, perhaps the MIB are not connected to aliens from space at all. Redfern explores such disparate possible origins for them as elaborate thought- forms created by human imagination, time cops from far in the future and perfectly human secret agents.
Author and MIB researcher Colin Bennett is quoted extensively in the book, and he comes to the conclusion that the MIB entities appear to “eat” human energy generated by the fear they provoke. This was interesting to me because I have often said the same thing about the unknown, upright canines I have studied and written about for the past 19 years. Are strange creatures, MIB, UFOs and other scary phenomena part of some massive, unknown entity that exists just one step above us on the psychic food chain? Perhaps unreality bites.
Whatever MIB may be, Redfern and the many experts he consults agree they are not desirable company. There is one simple weapon that seems to work against them but I won’t give that away here. I’ll just say that to be forewarned is to be fore-armed, and that you will want to read this book to know what to do before the MIB come calling on you.
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