Just days before the announcement in The New York Times about the secret government program to collect data on UFO sightings, I was interviewed by historian Michael Robinson for his podcast “Time to Eat the Dogs.” We talked about the history of UFO sightings, changes in claims of alien contact, and my approach to the subject. You can check out the interview here or on iTunes here.
Michael himself has written some fascinating histories. His first book is The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture (2006) and his most recent is entitled The Lost White Tribe: Explorers, Scientists, and the Theory That Changed a Continent (2016). And check out some of the rest of his interesting interviews.
The UFO Past 
Two things:
1. I *love* this blog and the research. I came to it via your earlier work on psychiatry and Communism, which I’m making heavy use of in my dissertation on Communism psychiatry and homosexuality during the Cold War. I really liked your comment towards the end of the interview about the continuities between your earlier work and the current UFO project – a sort of shift from the abnormal to the paranormal, but continuing with the theme of widespread yet socially marginal human phenomena.
2. On abduction: it occurred to me that the emergence of alien abduction narratives loosely parallels the boom in paedophile and other child abduction narratives from the 1970s into the 1980s. What you said about the emergence of themes of reproduction in abductee accounts is fascinating. There could be scope for a broader comparative look at different kinds of abduction stories and what they say about sexuality.
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Thanks for the kind words and for the comments. Your comments on alien abductions and their ties to other narratives around that time are spot on. It’s something I too have considered, but I have yet to dig through my sources on this count to look for the direct links. Your suggestion of considering a study that looks at different kinds of abduction stories and how they related to historical developments in sexuality is especially interesting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. (BTW, your own project sounds quite fascinating).
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I am unsure if the attached will be regarded as helpful or just incredibly annoying, but I have noted your interest in the subject of alien abductions and feel there are aspects of these files which may be useful for historical research purposes. cordially, marty kottmeyer
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I’m always interested in hearing of possible historical connections and resources. So please do feel free to contact me directly through my work email (which can be found in the “About” section of this blog).
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