There’s likely no-one on the planet with a better understanding of research into the UFO phenomenon than Jacques Vallee. The legendary ufologist has now spent more than six decades personally investigating UFO sightings and the effect they have on witnesses – and beyond that, he’s had a front row seat to the development of the entire UFO research field and the players involved, from partnering with J. Allen Hynek back in the 1960s through to his more recent work with groups such as Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Sciences (BAASS).
So when RPJ and myself recently sat down with Jacques to talk about the release of Volume 6 of his diaries (Forbidden Science 6: Scattered Castles), which covers the most recent decade – 2010-2019 – we were keen to ask him if he was concerned about the direction ufology has taken, especially since it has become dominated by ‘leaks’ from the US government. You can watch the full interview embedded below, but here’s what he had to say in response to that specific question:
I’m very concerned about what’s happening now, where…all the ufologists have stopped going in the field to talk to farmers. Instead they get on the internet and they want to talk about a general or lieutenant-colonel who has an idea about UFOs.
…In one of the Sol conferences with Dr Nolan I I showed a curve that had two bumps: there’s a small bump, which is military reports of pilots – you know the Nimitz, that kind of thing. And then a huge hill, which has all the normal reports from normal people in the field. We underestimate the size of that hill, because only 1 out of 10 for example is ever reported.
So it’s extremely rich, you don’t need a security clearance to approach these people, and if you’re lucky they’ll give you a cup of coffee. So that’s what I want to go back to.
Watch the full interview here:
Given that Forbidden Science 6 and the preceding instalments in the series have now covered almost all of Jacques’ career, toward the end of the interview I asked him if – looking back, with all the frustrations, deceptions and other negative elements he’s experienced in the field – he had any regrets about pursuing a life of research into the UFO phenomenon. His response: “Hell no!”
