The Myth and Mystery of UFOs

This is a superb piece of scholarship and a joy to read. In this magnificent work Dr. Bullard proves that he is a thorough and meticulous researcher who is able to integrate many different themes into a smooth and compelling narrative. This book has it all: blurry lights in the skies, structured craft, aliens on Earth, abductions, government secrecy and cover-up, and yes, even crop circles and cattle mutilations. He explores UFOs as possible signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, as ancient myths recast in space-age garb, as products of our collective imagination, and as created by individual minds. A wide range of fields including astronomy, physics, anthropology, psychiatry, psychology, sociology and religion are all given their due. Classical UFO-lore is presented in a new light and he introduces many fresh ideas. Dr. Bullard maintains a delicate balance between critical thinking and an open mind but is not afraid to offer conclusions. If you are looking for resolute debunking, instructions for building a starship, or warning of an impending alien invasion this is not the book for you. If you are looking for an intelligent, instructive and engaging discussion of one of the greatest cultural phenomena of modern times, then read this. The Myth and Mystery of UFOs - no doubt many years in the making - is recommended for seasoned veterans (with scores of UFO books under their belts) and newcomers alike.

This book is excellent. However, his definitive work on the abduction phenomenon: "UFO Abductions: The Measure of Mystery" (2 Volumes) remains unobtainable and out of print. For those interested in the UFO abduction issue--especially during its cultural height in the 1990s--this work should at least be digitally available. As someone interested in the abduction phenomenon as contemporary folklore--I would love to have a copy or at least access to a copy. Originally published by FUFOR--now defunct--it is impossible to find. Anyone with a copy should scan it and make it available on line. I would be willing to purchase a photocopied version if made available. In this age of information, hard to believe one cannot access this work.

The subject (UFO phenomena) is squishy, a big loose balloon we try to hold in our arms, and it always feels as if something is slipping out of our grasp. This book does justice to that fact of life, with a major focus on the human side of the equation, the "subjective field," the cultural and social and psychological models through which we necessarily filter everything we think we know (as if it is objective knowledge). When the subject is anomalous, that is, does not easily link in modular fashion to the other components of how we construct our world views, any book that does not address the subjective field and how it tames, distorts, and makes familiar the unfamiliar, the eerie, and the unknown, is lacking; so the approach Bullard chooses is essential to beginning at the beginning, and his wealth of knowledge and understanding tenderizes this subject appropriately, because he knows what he doesn't know, and when he doesn't, knows that he doesn't know what he doesn't know! Still, the data as described and examined objectively, leaves any reasonable explorer with unexplained and inexplicable events and Bullard concludes with these too, those encounters and observations that strongly suggest a phenomena that is real, approachable through SOME categories of thought, and well worth the effort, because of the implications for those very categories of thought that have been illuminated, including our place kin the natural world and in the cosmos. Along with "UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry," which approaches the subject from a different POV, this book is essential to understanding what we bring to this daunting subject and how that influences the subject itself. Highly recommended.

No matter how seasoned the reader is on the fascinating subject of UFOs/UAPs, Thomas Bullard’s book is essential reading. This book represents a solid-and-sober appraisal of the evidence and cautiously leads the reader to consider several possible interpretations in accounting for the data. Meanwhile, this work presents a formidable moral and scientific challenge to scientific materialists in confronting the evidence for UFO/UAPs.

myth and mystery covers the ufo phenomena from a cultural/myth/tradition point of view. bullard believes ufo's is the modern mythology because of the motifs of otherworld journeys, supernatural beings, gods that interacted with humans and cultural heroes. ufo's have a religious quality because of the sense of mystery, the idea of superior beings and a form of salvation. bullard discusses how ufologists add to the myth by examining historical puzzles. he quotes many ufo experts such as vallee, hynek, hopkins, and keyhoe, to name a few. are ufo's real? much like vallee's system, bullard provides steps towards objectivity: first person and quality testimonials, well-specified incidents, coherent accounts, similarity of events, the event differs from psychic expectations, and the event undergoes strenuous critical examinations. bottom line for him is: "simple ufo sightings reaffirm that strange things happen every day and the world is not nailed down as tightly as the authorities insist." one thing i would be critical of, is he did not thoroughly research his story on kent jeffrey's theory that roswell crash did not happen and the wave of indignation that followed. there is nothing in his explanation covering stanton friedman's article on kent jeffery and roswell where friedman goes through kent's research showing where it was all flawed, thus it would eliminate bullard's statement that the defenses were speculative and not evidenced. i would recommend this book if you are into folklore, philosophy, psychology and socieology. if you are more into the "nuts & bolts" of ufo's, conspiracy, physics, the who's and why's, you'll probably be bored and frustrated reading this as bullard emphasizes collective knowledge, beliefs, and speculations. it's more about the thoughts and expressions that represent ufos.

This author has great credentials and writes meticulously. He offers an excellent and comprehensive bibliography, excellent footnotes that are numerous, the book is indexed, and it has a nice listing of UFO websites. However, the author writes as a skeptic that has a theoretical answer for everything. After 100 pages of this it appears to be more of a self-indulging, arrogant writing exercise than substantive research. The writing is verbose and rambling using the smallest of fonts. The few points he makes could have been said in forty pages rather than 300. I don't recommend it unless you have a lot of extra time on your hands and enjoy reading dictionaries.

I would headline Thomas E. Bullard’s The Myth and Mystery of UFOs as follows: “A Fleet of UFOs and Their Occupants Buried Under an Avalanche of Mythical Big Word Salad! Survivors Hoped For, But None Really Expected. Confused Rescuers Continue to Search – Hopefully Indefinitely!”. For those struggling to sort out the complex subject of UFOs, this book’s harsh treatment of the UFO will contribute almost nothing toward increasing your understanding of what people continue to see in the skies, video-record and photograph around the world, encounter in their bedrooms, whistle-blow concerning their first-person involvement with, and report 100’s of times each month to the National UFO Reporting Center (excuse me – 1056 NUFORC UFO reports in July, 2014). Apparently, according to Dr. Bullard, it’s mostly, if not entirely, just a bunch of myth and folklore flying around up there. Or maybe kites with lights, or “Hags”. As the book unfolds Bullard cautions us, relentlessly, to adopt his cynical and egoistic view that human beings are notoriously poor observers, and that the vast majority of UFO accounts are not to be trusted. Who knew that myth and/or folklore could actually shut down international airports, turn off moving vehicles, play cat-and-mouse games with experienced commercial and military pilots, be recorded on radar, or fry the guidance systems of nuclear missiles? Certainly one cannot escape noting Bullard’s perseveration in his use of the words “myth” and “folklore” that crop up throughout the book, and that is the construct of the UFO that Bullard apparently hopes to embed in the reader’s impression of the UFO. To be fair, Bullard does, at times, especially in the first and final chapters, come across as an apologist of the UFO, conceding that there may in fact be something here worthy of your attention. But, that message becomes so deeply buried under other tedious chapters of discouraging words that I predict few if any readers will come to that conclusion. Perhaps that is Bullard’s intention. Bullard’s “it’s mostly myth” premise oozes from many pages, and teasing out any inference that the UFO does have a basis in fact from the book’s difficult-to-read micro text becomes an exercise in perseverance. In my opinion, here we find good reason to suspect that Bullard may be one of the “men behind the curtain”, those who insidiously coax the unwary away from the notion that there can, by now, be no doubt that some UFOs are real, engineered, technologically advanced, intelligently managed, non-human craft of unknown origin. Perhaps we should not be surprised that a book about UFOs written by a man with a PhD in the study of folklore would approach this topic from the apparent viewpoint that the majority (excepting perhaps a teeny, tiny residual) of reported UFO sightings, and even close-up encounters, can be “explained” (away) as figments of the human mind’s alleged predilection toward fabricating myth and folklore. This brings to mind Maslow’s adage “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it was a nail”. Never mind that mankind’s very survival has been, for millennia, intimately dependent upon our ability to parse fact from fiction. An approach that would have given this book clout, being written by a folklorist, would have been a clearly written, concise explanation of all of the reasons why the UFO, in its present light, cannot be simply waved on as myth and/or folklore, and excoriating those who continue to follow this line of thinking. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t go there. That Bullard is a board member of the Center for UFO Studies and the Fund for UFO Research may help to partially explain why we remain mired in an unending debate about the reality of the UFO, and the validity of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis as the leading contender to explain it. Bullard’s obviously detailed acquaintance with what he categorizes as myth and folklore comprising what is known about the UFO phenomenon reveal the depth of disdain with which he regards the reported first-person experiences of the UFO “believers” – Bullard’s subtle but derogatory characterization of those who have become convinced that the UFO phenomenon is real and it is important. Although in the book’s introduction Bullard includes himself in this category of “believers”, do not underestimate the psychological “tricks of the trade” employed and intended to put the reader at ease before setting about the book’s real task of destroying any previously held notion that the UFO merits your continued attention. This book will handily help you put the UFO on your back burner – hopefully indefinitely! If you are looking for a book that will substantially contribute to your understanding of the UFO, read Leslie Kean’s book UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record. Bullard’s book is only for those who have studied the UFO for some time, those who have overcome their naiveté concerning the lengths to which those who have covered up this legitimate topic will go to discourage further inquiry, and those who have become acutely aware of the wide variety of psychological ploys utilized and intended to dissuade the curious from any possible conclusion that UFOs are real - and that we are not alone. Richard O’Connor, M.D.

If you've read a lot of UFO books, you begin to want to be able to assess how ufologists rate within the field themselves. This book gives that sort of objective overview of the field itself, as well as helping you to rate yourself and your interest in ufology. I didn't agree with all of his conclusions, but I found the book fascinating.

As someone who sits on the UFO phenomenon periphery, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this work. It is excellently written, well thought-out and the product of what appears to be a very reasonable mind. It's also entirely free from typographical errors or poor proof reading, which seems to bedevil so many modern publications. The author approaches the subject using cultural models and compares modern belief about UFOs with traditional folk beliefs. He makes comparisons and clearly marks the difference between the experiential point of the 'UFO' and the post-experience cultural interpretation. It is quite clear from his argument that in many cases the former suffers from the impact of the latter. I'd imagine this book works best for those with an open mind or simply the casual observer rather than those who already hold strong views. Regardless, I don't hesitate to recommend this work most highly. It's a first class achievement.

Pompous, vapous, double talking, pretensious, empty, verborragic, you name it. The author tries to pose as sophisticated, but it has so many contradictions and its premises, and weak points indeed that it is becoming an incredibly difficult and tedious task to read the book. The author pressuposes how the UFO has to react in order to be legitimate otherwise it became a cultural artifact, if you realise that there is a government cover up, becareful, he will call you a conspiracy theorist. And if you led by evidence, understand that there is an different intelligence dealing with us, then you are a cultis. He is very good at name calling and into classifying people.