The people of the story
The subject is made of people: the pilots and farmers who saw something, the scientists who studied it, the authors who shaped it, and the officials who now testify about it. Honest biographies, each linking to the cases and books they are known for.
- Pilot, first modern witnessKenneth Arnold1915–1984The private pilot whose 1947 sighting gave the world the phrase 'flying saucer'.
- ContacteeGeorge Adamski1891–1965The founder of the contactee movement, who claimed to meet a man from Venus in 1952.
- AbducteesBetty and Barney HillBetty 1919–2004 · Barney 1922–1969The New Hampshire couple whose 1961 case created the alien-abduction narrative.
- Astronomer, Air Force consultantJ. Allen Hynek1910–1986The scientist who ran the Air Force's UFO study and coined 'close encounter'.
- Computer scientist, ufologistJacques Valléeborn 1939The scientist who argued the phenomenon is interdimensional, not extraterrestrial.
- Nuclear physicist, ufologistStanton Friedman1934–2019The nuclear physicist who made the case for Roswell and the 'nuts-and-bolts' view.
- Artist, abduction researcherBudd Hopkins1931–2011The artist whose books made the Grey the standard abductor and hypnosis the standard tool.
- Harvard psychiatristJohn E. Mack1929–2004The Pulitzer-winning Harvard professor who studied abductees as sane witnesses.
- AuthorWhitley Strieberborn 1945The novelist whose 1987 book Communion put the definitive Grey face on the bestseller lists.
- AbducteeTravis Waltonborn 1953The Arizona logger who vanished for five days in 1975 in front of his crew.
- Claimed physicistBob Lazarborn 1959The man who claimed in 1989 to have worked on alien craft at a site near Area 51.
- AuthorErich von Dänikenborn 1935The Swiss author who popularised the ancient-astronaut hypothesis worldwide.
- AuthorZecharia Sitchin1920–2010The writer who reinterpreted the Sumerian Anunnaki as genetic engineers from a hidden planet.
- US Navy commander (retired)David Fravorborn c. 1962The Navy pilot who chased the 2004 'Tic Tac' and testified to Congress in 2023.
- Former intelligence officialLuis Elizondoborn c. 1971The former head of a Pentagon UAP effort who went public in 2017.
- Former intelligence officer, whistleblowerDavid Gruschborn c. 1987The former officer who told Congress in 2023 the US holds recovered non-human craft.