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Near the middle part of the 20th century, American society became obsessed with a newfangled fascination. This pastime that took the public\u2019s imagination by storm, prompted serious and excited discussion around interplanetary visitors. The dawning of this new era in pubic life was fueled by a series of sightings of what quickly became known, colloquially, as
\n\u201cflying saucers\u201d.

More generally, the term adopted was that of UFOs \u2013 unidentified flying objects. This term described what was commonly assumed to be, sophisticated technological spacecraft being piloted by alien others \u2013 Martians or Venusians or something in that line of thinking; our neighbors from the surrounding planets of our solar system.

Now, while the public\u2019s interest was peaking, the mainstream scientific establishment was much more cautious. All of this hoopla seemed too good to be true; too much like a radio drama depicting an H.G. Wells story, or something along those lines. For that reason, mainstream scientists largely steered clear of this topic. And of course, this bias was helped in large measure by what we understand now to be a dedicated disinformation campaign meant to quell public and academic interest, being perpetuated by the federal government.

However, that said, there were scientists who had not forgotten that their role was to investigate anything mysterious that seemed to be manifesting, without assuming \u2013 a priori \u2013 that such things simply couldn\u2019t be. These rare pioneers of inquiry are the kinds of people determined to let data \u2013 not preexisting bias \u2013 lead the way.

One such pioneer was and is a scientist named Jacques Vallee \u2013 a living legend who has arguably done more for the field of ufology than any other person in the history of the world. What\u2019s made Vallee so well regarded over time is that, looking back, he was always willing to go \u2013 again \u2013 wherever the data led him; letting it, rather than the \u201ccommon sense\u201d thinking of the day lead to the postulating of new hypotheses.

Now, speaking of that, one such data-driven shift that happened for Vallee came when he recognized that, 1.) These supposed encounters with alien beings flying sophisticated spacecraft seemed to regularly include elements of high strangeness more akin to what are commonly referred to as paranormal encounters, and 2.) That, when examined in close detail, these elements overlapped considerably with apparently religious or fairy-tale encounters from distant human history.

This inspired Vallee to do a deep dive, comparing modern-day UFO encounters with events from distant history, leading, eventually, to his controversial, consequential and ground-breaking book Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers. And It is the surprising and evocative revelations uncovered in that seminal book that is the topic of this, the 57th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.