I want to believe — my review of Don Donderi’s UFOs ETs and Alien Abductions.

On the evening of August 2, 2006, I saw an unexplained phenomena in the skies over my hometown — a long “comet” trail that streaked across the sky at an impressive speed that ended in a tremendous fireball explosion. It produced no sound. I reported the incident to local authorities via telephone and then made a further in-person statement to the town marshal. At that time I was informed that several calls had come in reporting black triangular objects flying in that vicinity. A few years earlier I had witnessed one of these triangular objects while vacationing in Florida. While I suspect the craft was a military Stealth plane, the explosion I saw in Indiana remains a complete and utter mystery to me.

I’ve always had a fascination for UFOs. Let’s face facts, I’m a sucker for the whole bag-of-weird — sea serpents, Bigfoot, ancient aliens, crop circles, ghosts, Oak Island, werewolves, et cetera ad nauseum. If it tickles the imagination… if there’s a mystery… I’m there. I’m curious and I WANT to believe. But not on faith. No, never that. I want answers to all the spectacular mysteries this universe has to offer. It’s one of the principle reasons that I studied anthropology, archaeology, and ancient religions in college. It’s why, to this day, I continue to refer to myself as a paranormal adventurer.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at a review copy of a book by Don Donderi, Phd I recently received from Hampton Roads titled UFOs ETs and Alien Abductions: A Scientist Looks at the Evidence.

First, let me state, I enjoyed the book. It’s well written and well packaged. A bit thin considering the subject matter at only 200 pages or so, but it manages to cover a wide breadth of material. I would not consider this conclusive, by any stretch. Donderi, for all his allusions to the contrary, will not sway anyone’s opinions. If you believe, you’ll continue to do so. If not? Well, there’s nothing here to change your mind.

Still, this is a well researched study on the matter, or at least, the beginning of one. As I said, considering the massive volume of case studies, this book makes a quick pass through the material, spotlighting a few high profile instances.

Don Donderi is well versed in the data and maneuvers it with aplomb. The primary focus of this paper, and that’s really what it is, is a call for government agencies be more forthcoming with information they’ve gathered concerning extraterrestrial surveillance, and for a more unified global response to what he perceives as an active and ongoing trespass by alien “visitors”.

Are we being visited by aliens? Are they experimenting on us? These are intriguing questions. Unfortunately, this book doesn’t answer them, but it does challenge our imagination and encourages an open dialogue in which these questions can be asked without prejudice or ridicule.

If you have any interest at all in so-called alien phenomena, UFOs ETs and Alien Abductions is a book well worth your time. You may not get the answers you seek, but it does ask all the right questions.

UFOs ETs and Alien Abductions: A Scientist Looks at the Evidence by Don Donderi, Phd is available wherever books are sold.

Looking Back: Unexplained Event Explodes Over Converse

From my old Blogger site, posted on Thursday, August 03, 2006

Unexplained Event Explodes Over Converse

Strange but True…

Last night I left my house at the usual time, prepared for my nightly bike ride. Something far from the usual occurred however… Looking into the clear night sky I witnessed a thin streak of fire arcing from the southern horizon. My first thought was that it was a shooting star… but its trail was too long. Suddenly to the north, the fire trail ended in a huge explosion. White hot, it billowed outward, with smaller red fire eruptions coming from the white mass. I heard no sound…

What the hell was it? A plane? A satallite? A spacecraft? I watched as the explosion disipated in the sky… sparkling debris raining down, then… nothing. The sky was returned to its tranquil splendour.

I rode on to my friend Doug’s house, a fellow riding enthusiest, and we placed a call first to the Indiana State Police, then to the Miami County Sheriff’s Department… I made a statement, filing an official report.

Was it a terrorist attack?

Twenty minutes later I met with the Converse Town Marshal, Roger Bowland, and discussed the matter with him. He had already been briefed by Miami County. See, Grant County had received three reports at the same time as my own… two from the town of Swayzee… one from the town of Sweetser… of unidentified objects flying out of the southeast, black triangular shaped against the black sky… no lights, no sound.

The mystery deepens…

I never did find out what happened that night but UFO sightings have escalated in the area astronomically ever since. Nearly two years to the day, a similar event caught national attention in the skies over nearby Kokomo. UFO Hunters have covered our little neck of the woods not once, but twice. Yesterday I received an anonymous call reporting the sighting of a triangular shaped object and lights in the Peru area on the night of July 27 and MUFON reports that there were other sightings that night as well in the same area.

So, what’s going on in the Hoosier skies? Is it misinterpreted aircraft and flares as some would suggest? Grissom Air Force Base does lie between Kokomo and Peru. Wouldn’t that be the simplest answer to the question? Having witnessed the spectacular event that I shared in the above blog entry, I doubt that conventional aircraft is the culprit to it or some of the more sensational sitings reported in the area.

The key word is “conventional”.

I don’t know what’s happening in the skies above my backyard, but I’m curious and willing to keep an open mind.

Are the odd lights some type of natural occurrence? Something emitted by an increase in seismic activity? Or are they military flares? Alien craft? Or, stranger still, some unknown lifeform, akin to faery folk and the like?

Are the triangular craft government test planes, or are they extra-dimensional/terrestrial in origin?

All I know for sure is that the skies overhead are active as hell and I, for one, will keep on watching, hoping to catch a glimpse of something wondrous.