PDFs: Two more paranormal books by Jenny Randles online (with her kind permission)

I have now added another two paranormal / Fortean books by Jenny Randles, a leading British researcher of UFOs and the paranormal, to my free online archive hosted by the AFU.  

I, and many others in the UK involved in UFO research, have long considered that Jenny brings a all-too-rare sensible voice to Fortean research and investigations.  

These books are:

(1) "Beyond Explanation"  : About the reported paranormal experiences of "famous people", collecting together "intriguing stories from nearly fifty celebrities".  (I'm thinking about doing a project on more modern celebrities and their connections with UFOs / ufology...).

(2) "The Paranormal Year : 1993" : this book was "an annual report on the paranormal world as it stands in the wake of 1992", with material across the Fortean spectrum "from alien animals to UFOs and from crop circles to earth mysteries".

PDF: Book "UFO Reality" by Jenny Randles ["Oz Factor" and "UAP"]

One of the UK's leading UFO researchers, Jenny Randles, has kindly given me permission to upload a searchable scanned copy of her book "UFO Reality" (1983). I have added to the books folder in my online archive, hosted by the AFU.

Anyone looking for a balanced introduction to ufology and an overview of relevant issues (or who wants to develop critical thinking about UFO evidence) will struggle to find many better books for those purposes, even 40 years later.

This was the first book in which Jenny Randles used the term "Oz Factor". Jenny wrote about UFO witnesses reporting a "sensation of being isolated, or transposed from the real world into a different environmental framework". She commented that this sensation "is almost suggestive of the witness being transported temporarily from our world into another, where reality is similar but slightly different. A world where miracles can happen". She noted that this effect "common and important" and adopted the name "the Oz Factor" for it, after the fairytale land of Oz. Jenny suggested that it is "as if a spell is cast by the famous magician from that land, taking the witness into a new reality".

This book was also part of the development of another term: "UAP".  Starting with her books in the early 1980s, including this one, Jenny Randles started the popularisation of the term "UAP" as a potential replacement for the term "UFO". Her book "UFO Study" (1981) was her first book to use the term "UAP". She also used the term "UAP" in "UFO Reality" in 1983, giving reasons for preferring the term "UAP" (which she then used to stand for "Unidentified Atmospheric Phenomenon"). Her books gradually influenced other researchers. The term "UAP" has been used infrequently before Jenny's work, but became considerably more popular as Jenny's influence spread amongst ufologists.  

(I therefore find it amusing that one UFO researcher has repeatedly falsely claimed in lectures and podcasts that he coined the term "UAP" in around the year 2000. This, of course, is decades after the term was initially used and several years after quite a few UFO researchers used the term. Luckily for that researcher, most of his audience appears unaware of the falsity of his claim...).

Best UFO book in last 50 years? PDF of "The UFOs That Never Were"

"The UFOs That Never Were" is arguably the best UFO book published in the last 50 years. 

The authors (Jenny Randles, Andy Roberts and David Clarke) provided a model of collaboration between leading researchers, with excellent analysis and supporting references.  

They have now all kindly given their permission for me to upload a scanned copy of their book to my online archive hosted by the AFU.

This book contained a skeptical look at some classic UFO cases which remain well known, including Rendlesham Forest and the Berwyn Mountain "crash".

It contained eye-opening examples of misidentifications and hoaxes. 

Hopefully, my posting this book online will mean that more people in ufology will study the content of this book...     

David Clarke has asked me to note that the book remains under copyright and that this needs to be acknowledged.   

PDF of "Phantoms of the Sky" - book by 2 of UK's best UFO researchers (David Clarke and Andy Roberts) - added to archive

"Phantoms of the Sky" is a book by two of Britain's best UFO researchers (David Clarke and Andy Roberts). They have both kindly agreed to my sharing a scanned copy of that book online.  I have added it to the folder of other UFO books that I have obtained permission to upload.

David Clarke has asked me to note that the book remains under copyright and that this needs to be acknowledged.   

The skeptical nature of the book is indicated by the sub-title "UFOs - A Modern Myth?". 

A foreword by another leading UK researcher, Jenny Randles, includes the following warning to readers:

"If you intend to read this book in front of you, I may as well offer my 'health warning'. You had better be prepared to look beyond all these hopes, dreams and romantic illusions which prop up the scaffolding of the UFO movement. You are possibly about to receive a nasty shock, because you will be forced to confront all those things neither media nor UFO fanatics dare tell you. You may also have to wave goodbye to many of the other things which they do tell you - incessantly". 

The conclusion of the book includes the following passage:

"Man does not stand at the crossroads of anything. He stands where he has always stood, apparently alone in a huge universe he is desperately trying to understand but which is becoming continually stranger. The human race is always in a precipitous position, both from its own actions on the external world and from its beliefs about what the purpose of life is. Strange experiences, stranger beliefs and warnings of impending doom or salvation have been with us since the dawn of time but despite thousands of years of philosophical thought and scientific method, we are only just beginning to make any sense of the universe which surrounds us and have only just realized that there is an equally large universe within us".

I hope to upload more books by David Clarke and Andy Roberts in the next few days.

 

French UFO Book : "Ovni sur le Finistere" by Jean-Francois Boedec - added to archive

With permission from its author, Jean-Francois Boedec, the French UFO book "Ovni sur le Finistere" has been added to my online UFO archive, hosted by the AFU. 

I have added it to the growing folder of French UFO books (where permission has been obtained for an update).

Thierry Rocher helped liaise with Jean-Francois Boedec and also provided an electronic copy of this book.T his book involves a study of more than 80 unexplained observations in the French region of Finistere (in western Brittany).

An (imperfect) automated English translation of the back cover includes the following:

"Drones, stealth planes, original bionic mobilesextraterrestrial ? The UFO phenomenon has established itself as one of the greatest mysteries of the Modern Age, on the scale world. This territorial study takes stock and analyzes more of 80 unexplained sightings made in the department of Finistère. Some have been subject official inquiries. The author lifts the veil on the results and circumstances of a biochemical analysis mic made in Landevennec in May 1974. His conclusion: we are faced with a phenomenon leads totally new, unpredictable and extreme- furtive ment which seems to have for origin a sour- this super-intelligent. The world of intelligence seeks to isolate its physical characteristics. Although its interpretation remains beyond our range, we are only instructing a fascinating file which will contribute to the science of future in fields as vast as the pro- chain mutations of physics, production and the manipulation of energy, the acquisition of knowledge new."

Black Vault and UFO Rabbit Hole podcast transcripts added to online archive (with permission from John Greenewald and Kelly Chase respectively)

I've now added PDFs containing automated transcripts of the Black Vault and UFO Rabbit Hole podcasts to my online archive (with kind permission from John Greenewald and Kelly Chase respectively).

I've also added summary spreadsheets listing the shows giving brief details of, and links to, each show and the related transcript.

(These transcripts join the collection I uploaded a few weeks ago of over 4 million pages of transcripts of various UFO podcasts, uploaded with permission from relevant podcasters. I'm waiting to hear back from a handful of further podcasters, but I think automated transcripts of most of the major UFO podcasts are now covered in my archive).






Black Vault (John Greenewald)

Link to relevant channel on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/@TheBlackVaultOriginals


For a summary spreadsheet of this source with links to transcripts, click on the image below (or use the link below for the relevant online folder and the spreadsheet is at the top with a file name starting “0 - Koi - ”):

Associated folder of transcripts:

https://files.afu.se/Downloads/?dir=.%2FTranscripts%2FBlack%20Vault%20%28John%20Greenewald%29

Sample video from this show:

UFO Rabbit Hole (Kelly Chase)

Link to relevant channel on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheUFORabbitHolePodcast


For a summary spreadsheet of this source with links to transcripts, click on the image below (or use the link below for the relevant online folder and the spreadsheet is at the top with a file name starting “0 - Koi - ”):

Associated folder of transcripts:

https://files.afu.se/Downloads/?dir=.%2FTranscripts%2FUFO%20Rabbit%20Hole%20%28Kelly%20Chase%29

Sample video from this show: