Looking Back And a Couple of Rants

Peter Rogerson

'Northern Echoes', Magonia 45

Looking back over 25 years of reporting and commenting on the world of UFOs, we can see the changing face of fashion and craze: flying saucer detectors, the Allende Letters, ancient astronauts, electronic voice phenomenon, metal bending, the Bermuda Triangle, remote viewing, MIB, the UFO-Bigfoot connection, folklore and fairies; right through to our modern fads of earth lights, MJI2, crashed saucers (the biggest comeback since Lazarus), abductions, psychic questing and crop circles.

What's Up Doc? Part Two: Swinging Through the Sixties

Martin Kottmeyer
Magonia 45, March 1993

The sixties were a manic time for UFO belief. Flying saucers were so real only the most bigoted sceptic could deny advance metallic piloted machines were flying around – a potential threat to the security of the world. Everyone felt something had to be done. Most of all the authorities should openly admit the reality of the problem

Hunters, Gatherers and Secret Abductors

Peter Rogerson
Magonia 45, March 1993.

We are about to go on a long journey to seek the origins and driving power of the abduction stories. This first article starts with a review of the legend as it stood in the opening years of the last decade of the millennium. As exemplified by David M Jacobs’ book Secret Life: First-hand Accounts of UFO Abductions, the abduction narrative is a heady brew of sexuality and apocalyptic; of missing babies and women’s fears.

Manhattan Transfer: The Ethics of the Linda Napolitano Case

John Rimmer
Magonia 45, March 1993.

In Magonia 44 I mentioned in the ‘Hold the Back Page’ feature the latest controversy setting U.S. ufologists at each other’s throats – the Linda Napolitano case. Presently being promoted by Budd Hopkins, Linda’s story tells of her being abducted from her twelfth floor apartment on Manhattan’s lower east side. Linda had first contacted Hopkins in April 1989 after reading Intruders. 

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Stretching Credibility: Crashed Saucers or Grounded Research

Christopher Allan
Magonia 45, March 1993

The US UFO community, when not deeply involved in abductions seems to be truly besotted with Roswell, with three known separate groups competing in producing a seemingly endless proliferation of books, articles, symposium reports, tape recordings, TV documentaries and even in attempts to persuade Congress to hold hearings with witnesses free to testify.