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<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=98W6BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|title=The Chaos Conundrum: Essays on UFOs, Ghosts & Other High Strangeness in Our Non-Rational and Atemporal World|first=Aaron John|last=Gulyas|date=January 23, 2014|publisher=Andrews UK Limited|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xWAEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|title=Nightmares with the Bible: The Good Book and Cinematic Demons|first=Steve A.|last=Wiggins|date=November 16, 2020|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|via=Google Books}}</ref> |
<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=98W6BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|title=The Chaos Conundrum: Essays on UFOs, Ghosts & Other High Strangeness in Our Non-Rational and Atemporal World|first=Aaron John|last=Gulyas|date=January 23, 2014|publisher=Andrews UK Limited|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xWAEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|title=Nightmares with the Bible: The Good Book and Cinematic Demons|first=Steve A.|last=Wiggins|date=November 16, 2020|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|via=Google Books}}</ref> |
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Beginning in the late 2010s, [[Luis Elizondo]] and |
Beginning in the late 2010s, [[Luis Elizondo]] and in the [[Disclosure movement]] discussed the demonic hypothesis.<ref name=”Arzacan”/> |
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==Additional reading== |
==Additional reading== |
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Revision as of 07:08, 10 October 2025
Christian fundamentalists and others have claimed that UFOs are evidence of a satanic influence, or are themselves demons.[1][2]
Chronology
A variety of Christian authors suggested the demonic hypothesis in the 1950s. In 1954, faith healer and evangelist Walter Vinson “W.V.” Grant Sr published the booklet “Men in Flying Saucers Identified: Not a Mystery!” suggesting UFOs were demonic.[3]
In the wake of the 1973 Pascagoula incident, Rev. Bill Riddick preached a sermon suggesting UFOs were demonic. [4][5] In 1974, Clifford Wilson authored UFOs and their Mission Impossible which popularized the demonic hypothesis. [6][7] In the 1975 book UFO: What on Earth is Happening?, Christian fundamentalist authors John Weldon and Zola Levitt suggested demons are responsible for UFO sightings.[2] Weldon collaborated with Clifford Wilson on the 1978 text Close Encounters: an Better Explanation.
Apocalyptic author Hal Lindsey wrote in The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon: “I believe these demons will stage a spacecraft landing on Earth. They will claim to be from an advanced culture in another galaxy. They may even claim to have “planted” human life on this planet and tell us they have returned to check on our progress.” [8]
In 1982, Rev. W.T. Widman of Arizona made headlines for his claim that demons fly UFOs.[9]
The 2002 book Lights in the Sky & Little Green Men: A Rational Christian Look at UFOs and Extraterrestrials expanded on the topic. [10][11]
In 2010, Nick Redfern explored this concept in his book FINAL EVENTS and the Secret Government Group on Demonic UFOs and the Afterlife.
[12][13]
Beginning in the late 2010s, Luis Elizondo and others in the Disclosure movement discussed the demonic hypothesis.[1]
Additional reading
References
- ^ a b Arzacan, Amir (Spring 2024). “Interpreting UFO Events in a Post-Religious Culture” (PDF). Spirituality Studies: 72. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
Luis Elizondo, the famed “whistleblower” who reportedly headed the U.S. Defense Department’s Advanced Aero- space Threat Identification Program, has acknowledged that his superior told him to stop investigating UFOs on the grounds “that these things are demonic” (Kaplan and Greenstreet 2021). According to a former rocket scientist, there are also people in the UK government “who think the phenomenon is real – but demonic” (Kaplan and Greenstreet 2021).
- ^ a b Lewis, James R. (Jan 1, 1995). The Gods Have Landed: New Religions from Other Worlds. SUNY Press. p. 39. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
John Weldon and Zola Levitt (1975) in a major Christian fundamentalist work on flying saucers, have strongly maintained that UFOs are manifest signs of satanic presence in the contemporary world. In Weldon and Levitt’s own words: [UFOs] are a manifestation of demonic activity.
- ^ “Handbook of UFO Religions”. BRILL. March 8, 2021 – via Google Books.
The demonization of UFOs also began quite early. In 1954 a preacher from Dallas named Walter Vinson Grant published his booklet Men in Flying Saucers Identified: Not a Mystery! The pamphlet takes statements made by UFO contactees and debates them line by line to argue that the UFOS are actually a demonic deception being used to herald in the anti-Christ and a one-world government. Significantly, Grant uses this demonic conspiracy theory to take aim at a whole host of social and theological issues.
- ^ “University of Southern Mississippi”. www.lib.usm.edu.
- ^ “Article clipped from The Times”. May 5, 1974. p. 84 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Lewis, James R. (December 7, 2001). “Satanism Today: An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore, and Popular Culture”. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 265 – via Google Books.
Evangelical writer Clifford Wilson expresses sentiments that could easily have been stated by Keel or Creighton: “[A] great pattern of brain-washing is taking place. Are men and women being influenced, even ‘possessed,’ so that when the signal is given they will be ready to give total allegiance to these beings who will then show themselves as their masters? Is this why there is such greatly increased activity in UFOs, and Ouija boards, Satan worship, séances, and all sorts of dabblings that even a generation ago were regarded as foolish and evil?”
- ^ “‘UFOs are evil spirits’, Christian archeologist says”. February 25, 1977. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Medway, Gareth (April 9, 2001). “Lure of the Sinister: The Unnatural History of Satanism”. NYU Press. p. 274-275 – via Google Books.
- ^ “Minister says demons fly UFOs”. February 6, 1982. p. 4 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Ross, Hugh; Samples, Kenneth R.; Clark, Mark (October 9, 2002). “Lights in the Sky & Little Green Men: A Rational Christian Look at UFOs and Extraterrestrials”. NavPress – via Google Books.
- ^ “If they exist, are extreterrestrials good or evil”. January 4, 2003. p. 17 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Gulyas, Aaron John (January 23, 2014). “The Chaos Conundrum: Essays on UFOs, Ghosts & Other High Strangeness in Our Non-Rational and Atemporal World”. Andrews UK Limited – via Google Books.
- ^ Wiggins, Steve A. (November 16, 2020). “Nightmares with the Bible: The Good Book and Cinematic Demons”. Bloomsbury Publishing USA – via Google Books.
