Jacques Vallée, UFOs, and the Case Against Aliens

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There is no more influential thinker in the study of UFOs than the French astronomer, computer scientist, and ufologist, Jacques Vallée. By the late 1960s, Vallée drew ufology’s attention to the deeply symbolic qualities of UFO reports, and demonstrated a continuity of symbols, actions, and archetypes from historical folklore and mythology. For his insightful and rigorously scientific approach to the field, Vallée has earned a reputation as the grandfather of ufology, and in his illustrious career, he pioneered an entirely new explanation for the UFO phenomenon.
Early Career
Vallée had an early exposure to UFOs. In 1955, a 16-year-old Vallée saw a disc with a half-dome on top hovering half a kilometre away from his home in Pontoise, France. Six years later, while working as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory, Vallée witnessed the destruction of tapes tracking the movement of a bright, unknown object orbiting the earth in retrograde.
With a newfound interest in UFOs, Vallée moved to Evanston, Illinois in 1962 to begin a PhD in computer science at Northwestern University. There he met Dr. J. Allen Hynek, scientific consultant to Project Blue Book, the UFO investigation group of the US Air Force.
Together with a secret network of academic scientists, Hynek and Vallée shared their UFO research and discussed possible explanations. Vallée published two books on UFOs in this period, Anatomy of a Phenomenon, and A Challenge to Science, both of which advocated the popular extraterrestrial hypothesis for UFOs, or ETH. These books brought a level of scientific rigour to the field previously unseen on the side of the ETH advocates, and earned the still-young Vallée a reputation as a leading authority on the UFO phenomenon.
In the fall of 1966, both Vallée and Hynek were invited to consult on the recently-established scientific study of UFOs at the University of Colorado, Boulder, but were barred from participating for their public advocacy of UFO research. When the Colorado project published its controversial report discouraging further research on the UFO phenomenon, Vallée returned to France in disgust, and distanced himself for a time from the scientific community.
Beyond the ETH
Over his discussions with the “invisible college” of UFO scientists, Vallée began to feel that the extraterrestrial hypothesis was too simplistic to account for the great variety of UFO reports. He was puzzled by the fact that many UFO sightings coincided with other paranormal phenomena, and that many cases involved highly implausible scenarios, with specific elements that could hardly be expected of intelligent, interstellar travellers with superior technology.
Inspired by Carl Jung’s work on UFOs, Vallée searched the historical record for stories of encounters with aerial wonders and supernatural beings, and found a number of common themes with modern UFO reports. For example, Vallée noted the similarities between medieval European faeries, gnomes, and goblins and the short, alien beings of twentieth-century UFO encounters. All these entities were known to occasionally abduct their witnesses, and leave them with symptoms of paralysis, disorientation, and amnesia.
Vallée proposed the existence of a technologically-mediated, extra-dimensional intelligence that has operated throughout human history, masquerading as creatures of myth and legend in the witnesses’ culture. This intelligence has repeatedly manifested itself in the form of a technologically or spiritually-advanced civilization, unreachable by humans, and just outside the understanding of the witnesses. It has evolved its appearance to keep up with our changing worldview and ever-expanding technological capabilities, but always represents what’s just ahead of us in our vision of the future.
For example, this intelligence appeared over Medieval Europe in flying ships, with occupants who claimed to originate from a civilization above the clouds. After the industrial revolution, the same intelligence appeared over the Western United States in dirigibles, with pilots claiming to be from foreign continents or the planet Mars. The intelligence then appeared in rounded, metallic saucers when the world’s superpowers began experimenting with jet engines and disc-shaped craft, and just before humanity’s exploration of outer space renewed interest in the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
Vallée published his work in Passport to Magonia in 1969. The book is now considered a breakthrough in our understanding of UFOs, and it’s revered as a cult classic. But initially, at least, Vallée’s views made him an outcast in the UFO community, which had largely formed a consensus on the extraterrestrial hypothesis. In his own words, Vallée became a “heretic amongst heretics.”
A New Paradigm
In his next three books, The Invisible College, The Edge of Reality, and Messengers of Deception, Vallée developed the idea that the UFO phenomenon acted as a kind of “control system” to alter human belief systems and social structures over long periods of time. By drawing from powerful archetypes in our evolving cultural repertoire, they create a myth about themselves - their origin, means of travel, and purpose for visiting - which feeds back into our shared mythology with each new encounter.
The specific content and logic of these encounters are self-contradicting and frequently absurd, but what Vallée called the “meta-logic,” or their deeper, symbolic meaning, showed consistency in undermining dominant belief systems and social structures.
Vallée also rejected the idea that the US Air Force was withholding proof of extraterrestrial visitation or flying saucer crashes, and argued instead that by debunking UFOs and disseminating misinformation, they were distracting the public from their own ignorance of an elusive, and ultimately unpredictable phenomenon. It was the UFO phenomenon itself that engaged in the real cover-up, by cloaking itself in absurdity so as to be rejected by mainstream culture.
In his next three books, Dimensions, Confrontations, and Revelations, published between 1988 and 1991, Vallée expanded on the control system hypothesis, and criticized contemporary ufologists for their obsession with establishing extraterrestrial origins and achieving government disclosure. He travelled to Brazil, Australia, and the Soviet Union, among other places, to study manifestations of the UFO phenomenon there, and published UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union in 1992.
In 2010, Vallée published the results of years of data curation with Chris Aubeck, a compendium of 500 descriptions of anomalous aerial sightings from antiquity to the early modern period. The book allows for easy comparison of sightings across different cultures and historical eras, and demonstrates common features over time.
Legacy
Not only did Vallée provide the first real alternative to the extraterrestrial hypothesis, he helped turn ufology’s attention away from the physical origin of UFOs, and toward their effects on people and society. This shift in perspective has lead “new ufologists” like Micah Hanks and Nick Redfern, and abduction researchers such as John Mack and Whitley Strieber, to recognize linkages between UFOs, consciousness, and other anomalous phenomena, and to explore theoretical frameworks for understanding them all together.
Vallée has left his mark on popular culture, serving as the inspiration for Claude Lacombe in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But his legacy is built on the far-reaching impact that he’s had on UFO science. Vallée has made a number of game-changing breakthroughs in our understanding of aerial anomalies, and by re-opening the question of UFO origins, he paved the way for many more.
Sources:
Jacques Vallée. Anatomy of a Phenomenon: Unidentified Objects in Space - a Scientific Appraisal. Chicago: Henry Regency Company, 1965.
Jacques Vallée and Janine Vallée. Flying Saucers: A Challenge to Science. New York: Ace Books, 1966.
Jacques Vallée. Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers. Chicago: Henry Regency Company, 1969.
Jacques Vallée. The Invisible College: What a Group of Scientists has discovered about UFO Influences on the Human Race. San Antonio: Anomalist Books, 2014 (1975).
Jacques Vallée. Messengers of Deception: UFO Contact and Cults. Berkeley: And/ Or Press, 1979.
Jacques Vallée and J. Allen Hynek. The Edge of Reality: A Progress Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. Chicago: Henry Regency Company, 1975.
Jacques Vallée. Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact. New York: Ballantine Books, 1988.
Jacques Vallée. Confrontations: A Scientists Search for Alien Contact. New York: Ballantine Book, 1990.
Jacques Vallée. Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.
Jacques Vallée. UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992.
Jacques Vallée and Chris Aubeck. Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Anomalies from Antiquity to Modern Times. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Penguin, 2009.
Support new videos on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3375417
Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Illustration by Colin Campbell. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain and Josh Chamberland.
There is no more influential thinker in the study of UFOs than the French astronomer, computer scientist, and ufologist, Jacques Vallée. By the late 1960s, Vallée drew ufology’s attention to the deeply symbolic qualities of UFO reports, and demonstrated a continuity of symbols, actions, and archetypes from historical folklore and mythology. For his insightful and rigorously scientific approach to the field, Vallée has earned a reputation as the grandfather of ufology, and in his illustrious career, he pioneered an entirely new explanation for the UFO phenomenon.
Early Career
Vallée had an early exposure to UFOs. In 1955, a 16-year-old Vallée saw a disc with a half-dome on top hovering half a kilometre away from his home in Pontoise, France. Six years later, while working as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory, Vallée witnessed the destruction of tapes tracking the movement of a bright, unknown object orbiting the earth in retrograde.
With a newfound interest in UFOs, Vallée moved to Evanston, Illinois in 1962 to begin a PhD in computer science at Northwestern University. There he met Dr. J. Allen Hynek, scientific consultant to Project Blue Book, the UFO investigation group of the US Air Force.
Together with a secret network of academic scientists, Hynek and Vallée shared their UFO research and discussed possible explanations. Vallée published two books on UFOs in this period, Anatomy of a Phenomenon, and A Challenge to Science, both of which advocated the popular extraterrestrial hypothesis for UFOs, or ETH. These books brought a level of scientific rigour to the field previously unseen on the side of the ETH advocates, and earned the still-young Vallée a reputation as a leading authority on the UFO phenomenon.
In the fall of 1966, both Vallée and Hynek were invited to consult on the recently-established scientific study of UFOs at the University of Colorado, Boulder, but were barred from participating for their public advocacy of UFO research. When the Colorado project published its controversial report discouraging further research on the UFO phenomenon, Vallée returned to France in disgust, and distanced himself for a time from the scientific community.
Beyond the ETH
Over his discussions with the “invisible college” of UFO scientists, Vallée began to feel that the extraterrestrial hypothesis was too simplistic to account for the great variety of UFO reports. He was puzzled by the fact that many UFO sightings coincided with other paranormal phenomena, and that many cases involved highly implausible scenarios, with specific elements that could hardly be expected of intelligent, interstellar travellers with superior technology.
Inspired by Carl Jung’s work on UFOs, Vallée searched the historical record for stories of encounters with aerial wonders and supernatural beings, and found a number of common themes with modern UFO reports. For example, Vallée noted the similarities between medieval European faeries, gnomes, and goblins and the short, alien beings of twentieth-century UFO encounters. All these entities were known to occasionally abduct their witnesses, and leave them with symptoms of paralysis, disorientation, and amnesia.
Vallée proposed the existence of a technologically-mediated, extra-dimensional intelligence that has operated throughout human history, masquerading as creatures of myth and legend in the witnesses’ culture. This intelligence has repeatedly manifested itself in the form of a technologically or spiritually-advanced civilization, unreachable by humans, and just outside the understanding of the witnesses. It has evolved its appearance to keep up with our changing worldview and ever-expanding technological capabilities, but always represents what’s just ahead of us in our vision of the future.
For example, this intelligence appeared over Medieval Europe in flying ships, with occupants who claimed to originate from a civilization above the clouds. After the industrial revolution, the same intelligence appeared over the Western United States in dirigibles, with pilots claiming to be from foreign continents or the planet Mars. The intelligence then appeared in rounded, metallic saucers when the world’s superpowers began experimenting with jet engines and disc-shaped craft, and just before humanity’s exploration of outer space renewed interest in the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
Vallée published his work in Passport to Magonia in 1969. The book is now considered a breakthrough in our understanding of UFOs, and it’s revered as a cult classic. But initially, at least, Vallée’s views made him an outcast in the UFO community, which had largely formed a consensus on the extraterrestrial hypothesis. In his own words, Vallée became a “heretic amongst heretics.”
A New Paradigm
In his next three books, The Invisible College, The Edge of Reality, and Messengers of Deception, Vallée developed the idea that the UFO phenomenon acted as a kind of “control system” to alter human belief systems and social structures over long periods of time. By drawing from powerful archetypes in our evolving cultural repertoire, they create a myth about themselves - their origin, means of travel, and purpose for visiting - which feeds back into our shared mythology with each new encounter.
The specific content and logic of these encounters are self-contradicting and frequently absurd, but what Vallée called the “meta-logic,” or their deeper, symbolic meaning, showed consistency in undermining dominant belief systems and social structures.
Vallée also rejected the idea that the US Air Force was withholding proof of extraterrestrial visitation or flying saucer crashes, and argued instead that by debunking UFOs and disseminating misinformation, they were distracting the public from their own ignorance of an elusive, and ultimately unpredictable phenomenon. It was the UFO phenomenon itself that engaged in the real cover-up, by cloaking itself in absurdity so as to be rejected by mainstream culture.
In his next three books, Dimensions, Confrontations, and Revelations, published between 1988 and 1991, Vallée expanded on the control system hypothesis, and criticized contemporary ufologists for their obsession with establishing extraterrestrial origins and achieving government disclosure. He travelled to Brazil, Australia, and the Soviet Union, among other places, to study manifestations of the UFO phenomenon there, and published UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union in 1992.
In 2010, Vallée published the results of years of data curation with Chris Aubeck, a compendium of 500 descriptions of anomalous aerial sightings from antiquity to the early modern period. The book allows for easy comparison of sightings across different cultures and historical eras, and demonstrates common features over time.
Legacy
Not only did Vallée provide the first real alternative to the extraterrestrial hypothesis, he helped turn ufology’s attention away from the physical origin of UFOs, and toward their effects on people and society. This shift in perspective has lead “new ufologists” like Micah Hanks and Nick Redfern, and abduction researchers such as John Mack and Whitley Strieber, to recognize linkages between UFOs, consciousness, and other anomalous phenomena, and to explore theoretical frameworks for understanding them all together.
Vallée has left his mark on popular culture, serving as the inspiration for Claude Lacombe in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But his legacy is built on the far-reaching impact that he’s had on UFO science. Vallée has made a number of game-changing breakthroughs in our understanding of aerial anomalies, and by re-opening the question of UFO origins, he paved the way for many more.
Sources:
Jacques Vallée. Anatomy of a Phenomenon: Unidentified Objects in Space - a Scientific Appraisal. Chicago: Henry Regency Company, 1965.
Jacques Vallée and Janine Vallée. Flying Saucers: A Challenge to Science. New York: Ace Books, 1966.
Jacques Vallée. Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers. Chicago: Henry Regency Company, 1969.
Jacques Vallée. The Invisible College: What a Group of Scientists has discovered about UFO Influences on the Human Race. San Antonio: Anomalist Books, 2014 (1975).
Jacques Vallée. Messengers of Deception: UFO Contact and Cults. Berkeley: And/ Or Press, 1979.
Jacques Vallée and J. Allen Hynek. The Edge of Reality: A Progress Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. Chicago: Henry Regency Company, 1975.
Jacques Vallée. Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact. New York: Ballantine Books, 1988.
Jacques Vallée. Confrontations: A Scientists Search for Alien Contact. New York: Ballantine Book, 1990.
Jacques Vallée. Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.
Jacques Vallée. UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992.
Jacques Vallée and Chris Aubeck. Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Anomalies from Antiquity to Modern Times. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Penguin, 2009.
Support new videos on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3375417
Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Illustration by Colin Campbell. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain and Josh Chamberland.