"They Live"

Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you! ~ The Preacher man, from They Live.

John Carpenter's 1988 They Live is a combination of bad 1970s type TV show, and scary documentary. (There are some similarities to Roger Corman's 1963 The Man With the X-Ray Eyes, with Ray Milland, for example, the idea that glasses, eye drops, etc can alter someone's vision, allowing them to see the "hidden" reality.)

The plot, for those unfamiliar, goes like this: man finds pair of glasses that, when worn, reveals who is, and who isn't, an alien. Without the glasses, the aliens look, speak and behave like humans. With glasses, you can see their creepy repto skull like faces. The aliens are greedy and ruthless and have subliminally plastered messages everywhere: "OBEY," "CONSUME," etc. These aliens have joined with some humans, who are repaid for their treachery with money. Tons of money.

Sounds painfully just like what's really going on out here in reality land. A lot of the dialogue in the movie is eerie, for its spot on statements about global corporatism, etc.

I'm not a big John Carpenter fan, but I realize I don't get him like others do; he's supposed to be campy, etc. I did like his version of The Thing, and have to say, I loved his 1998 Vampires movie.

As silly as Carpenter's They Live is, or maybe "dated" is a better term, it does have cool music and the movie itself, as a horror aliens take over the planet theme, works. I say, watch it and have a good time, in spite of the fact it's closer to the truth than we might like.

Supersonic Saucer!

This is a great find I happily stumbled on: from the UK, 1952 black and white movie Supersonic Saucer.

The story begins:

Somewhere in Great Britain, a group of schoolchildren visit the local planetarium. While looking through the giant telescope, one young lad, Rodney, sees what appears to be a flying saucer circling the planet Venus. Nobody believes him, however, and the class returns to school.

For more on the movie, including two pages full of images from the movie, visit the Kiddie Matinee site.

A Bit of Vintage Saucer News From Around the Web

A few items of vintage UFO stuff in recent news:



The Flatwoods Monster extravaganza, by Mike Sizemore, brings us news of upcoming events inspired by the Flatwoods encounter:

In centrally located Braxton County, will be exporting the tale of the Flatwoods Monster, an alien creature said to have crash-landed near the tiny town 56 years ago. Hundreds are expected to gather at the Alban Art & Conference Center in St. Albans to rekindle interest in the curious event and raise its profile in the annals of West Virginia history.

As folklore tells it, early in the evening of Sept. 12, 1952, several residents of Flatwoods claimed to have witnessed a UFO. Schoolchildren Edward and Fred May, along with their friend Tommy Hyer, spotted a calamitous crash on a nearby farm and rushed to investigate. They and several others joining them reported finding a strobing ball of fire accompanied by a noxious mist. Under an oak tree not far away the group encountered a creature emitting a “shrill hissing noise.” The terrified group fled in due haste.

UFOs Made Headlines in 1884 Mind you, this is from the Weekly World News website . . .

From the Bones Blog, a blog about the “ social impact of one of the best science fiction franchise of all time. The impact of how science is used to solve our most difficult social concerns will also be discussed.” there’s “The Anthropology of Star Trek”


Phillip Mantle, in WING COMMANDER ALAN TURNER MBE. RAF SOPLEY UFO-1971, on American Chronicle, writes about Royal Air Force personnel sighting of a UFO in 1971.

Old Time Radio Site

Here's a really neat site dedicated to vintage radio. It's called OTRCat.com:
Old Time Radio Show Catalog, and you can find programs from the golden days of radio in several genres: detective, mystery, comedy, horror, soaps, serials, sci-fi, etc. The site offers free samples you can listen to on-line. It's also very easy to navigate and set up very nicely. An extremely clean looking and well thought out site, with hundreds of choices.
Here’s a sample of “The Face is Familiar” with Jack Benny. They site says it offers new samples so check back often. Click here to go right to their sci-fi selection, or here for their home page.

From Mac Tonnies: 'Things That Look Like Flying Saucers"

New blog from Mac Tonnies of Post Human Blues fame: Things That Look Like Flying Saucers. It's quirky, fun, and different yet so obvious. Now, off to find a hubcab or something . . .

A Visit to Harry King, Home of Snippy the Horse

Interesting post at Church of UFOlogy about their visit to Harry King's ranch in Colorado, which was home to the "first" UAD or animal mutilation in context of UFOs. Snippy as the media dubbed her, was not a cow but a horse. What's interesting is that members of the family, including King, felt it wasn't aliens that were responsible for the poor horse's death, but government, to cover something up, including UFOs, since UFO activity was high back then, as it is now. That whole area, as Chris O'Brien and others have written extensively, is rife with UFO sightings, and other very high strangeness stuff.

Anyway, visit the blog Church of UFOlogy for more on this intriguing story in UFO history: Harry King.

1988 Alien Abduction

From Phantoms and Monsters: Video: Amaury Rivera Toro Alien Abduction Case - 1988.

Vintage U.F.O. in Top 100

A cool thing for Vintage U.F.O. -- this blog has recently been named one of the "100 Awesome Blogs for History Junkies." Vintage U.F.O. is in the "Odd & Interesting" category, at number 81 (second in the category) on the Best Colleges Online site.

New Trickster's Realm Column on BOA

My article on My Contact with Flying Saucers, by Contactee Dino Kraspedon, is now up at Binnall of America.