Flying Saucers Have Landed
Leslie and Adamski
1953
This book is in horrible physical shape. The binding is falling apart and the cover is in terrible shape. So if the holding library wanted to preserve this for all time, it really didn’t do that job either. Anyway it still brings me to my dilemma on weeding this kind of material. It is always popular and I keep looking for something more concrete than condition and circulation numbers.
In the meantime, enjoy this super cool flying saucer which to my eye looks like my basement light fixture.
Live Long and Prosper!
Mary
I would have to dive into my “skeptic” books, but I believe that the “saucer” in that photo was revealed to be an exact match for a particular light fixture and shade! Of course, we can’t PROVE the photographer dangled it from a fishing pole, but….
I’m pretty sure that flying saucer is… A lamp. With two different-colored light bulbs.
I love how it looks like Balloons are holding it up underneath.
I would like to share a story about a similar book like this.
In 1998 we had a devastating flood at our library. According to our records our copy of the Roswell report was lost in the flood. An older gentleman in a trench coat came to the desk and asked for a copy. My colleague and I looked up the book to only see that it was marked lost/flood. Where at that point, in his loudest voice possible he began to scream…
“Don’t you see? Don’t you see! It was the Men in Black. They did not want me to read that book. They came here and washed all the books away! There after us all.”
As he was running out of the door, my colleague yelled to him “Harvard has copy.” Sorry Harvard.
Interestingly as I was shelving in that particular area would you not believe it. The Roswell report had been mis-shelved up one shelf sparing it from the flood. Sloppy shelving foiled the Men in Black.
That particular photograph (often referred to as the Adamski Hoover) is, indeed, an established hoax by the author himself. Not in the way you think, though – it’s actually the bottom of a 1950s vacuum cleaner. Here’s another photo of the same ‘spacecraft’ that makes the vacuumness more clear: http://deoxy.org/gif/adamski3.jpg
Adamski is, of course, not at all a respected figure in Ufology. This book would be best kept in the stacks – it would be interesting to people looking for information on Adamski, but does not represent modern (mainstream or fringe) ufology (it would be a very bad choice for anyone just curious about UFOs and UFO believers).
Isn’t it amazing that the Venusians had the exact same vacuum cleaner? 😉
Have you noticed that with the advent of digital cameras and cell phones with cameras that we see a lot fewer photos of flying saucers?
Coincidence? I am thinking not!
And they’ve taken away any sort of marketing flair for our book…..
I recall this one from when I was a boy. The “flying saucer” was found to closely resemble a chicken brooder heating lamp.
Jesse is right: this is a very famous book in “ufo-ology” and a notable hoax. The book has historical importance, and it’s a shame it wasn’t better preserved.
It should come as no surprise to any of us that these highly-advanced spacecraft should resemble common household items from Earth. The Aliens have been studying our superior culture for quite some time, now. It’s only natural that they should seek to base their aeronautical designs on aspects of our material culture that they admire.
(I’m not sure NOT being respected in UFOlogy circles is really a bad thing!)
At a small college library I worked in, I purposely kept several UFO books from the 1940s-1950s. They were just too interesting to get rid of.
Michael, you’re on to something. I remember a case from the turn of the century or something, that involved little English girls posing with “fairies” in their garden. Even when I was quite young I was amazed at how gullible people must have been to give even a second of seriousness to it–I mean, they were amazingly bad and obviously paper dolls. Kinda like the spiritualists of the same time period–tapping and otherworldly visitors indeed. I really think that we’d see through these kind of shenanigans in a heartbeat. But then again, we had Miss Cleo and the Psychic Friends Network, so maybe were not so sophisticated after all…
Glad to see I’m not the only one who looked at this picture and said “hello! light fixture!”
…Anyone wanna buy a bridge?
“Harvard has copy.” Sorry Harvard.
Thank you Boston Rob! I had to get up and close my office door so I could laugh really hard.
I send the people I don’t want in here down the street to our (private) university’s law library. I explain it’s a govdoc depository, they have to let them in.
I like that it’s a *Venusian* flying saucer – as if they had enough information to catalog the different types. Uh-huh.
Hey I saw one of these near my ceiling,they really are here.
Of course it’s a real Flying Saucer. You can even make out a Little Green Man peeping out from one of the portholes.
But aren’t the CIA & US Military supposed to keep this stuff secret from the public? (AND librarians, they’re in on the conspira…)
Where is the proof folks that Adamski made all this up ?
Infact ufo sightings are being seen all over the world now .
Instead of photos people are video taping .
Ignorance is bliss in the comment section here .
Everyones here is an expert on UFOs ?
no,no one is an expert,just joking mister serious ufobookreader… I’m sure we are not alone… the funny thing is,I’ll bet the ladies running this site are from another planet…just kidding…
Ever see “Tomes & Talismans” — a low-budget science fiction series done to educate the public about Mississippi public libraries in the 1980’s? The special effects in the series remind me a bit of this.
Wow, I feel like reading it…
The aliens have special books with pictures of common human items and model their space ships around them so that if they are ever photographed, humans will think it is a hoax.
There are no real human “men in black”.
If you want to meet Aliens yourself, they are attracted to a special chemical humans sweat after lots of drinking alcohol… so if you drink lots and wander in the bush far from other humans the Aliens may visit you. If you get home late after and are a little messed up, explain to your wife that the Aliens played rough with you.