"At the sight of the sea, Mrs. Elphinstone ... gave way to panic. She had never been out of England before, she would rather die than trust herself friendless in a foreign country, and so forth. She seemed, poor woman, to imagine that the French and the Martians might prove very similar. ... Her … [Read more...]
H. G. Wells, Orson Welles, “New Jersey UFO” – Thoughts on “The War of the Worlds”
"With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same." --H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, Book 1, chapter 1 For anyone who's written … [Read more...]
Of Viruses and Martians – John M. Barry’s “The Great Influenza”
John M. Barry, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. Viking Press, 2004. It's hard reviewing a book you haven't read. That remains true even if you have heard the entire book read aloud as an audiobook, listening to it on an iPod as you took the early … [Read more...]
The Orson Welles Martian Invasion – “The Night America Trembled”
In September 1957, when I was nine years old, my parents and I watched a one-hour TV show entitled "The Night America Trembled." The night in question was October 30, 1938, which my father and mother remembered well although of course I didn't. That was when a brilliantly conceived radio … [Read more...]
Dreams of Aliens and Alien Abductions – The Kelly Bulkeley Dossier
I posted last time about what turned up when I searched Kelly Bulkeley's Sleep and Dreams database for dreams that mentioned "UFO" (17 reports, of what seem to have been 15 distinct dreams) and "flying saucers" (4). I also did a search for "alien," and here the harvest was considerably more … [Read more...]
