For adults beginning their inquiry
Looking for curriculum ideas and classroom applications? Visit the separate page:
Once you start down the rabbit hole, you quickly realize that the more you learn, the more questions arise. This is a murky world where truth and fiction often blur, where myth, manipulation, and meaning collide. It can feel like a psy-op within a psy-op within a psy-op—a real-life mystery populated by heroes and villains, though it’s not always clear who is who. As you begin your journey, it’s essential to stay grounded, curious, and discerning.
After several years of navigating this terrain, I’ve come to trust a handful of people and resources that stand out for their intellectual rigor, emotional integrity, and imaginative courage. These represent what I believe to be some of the most thoughtful, credible, and balanced voices in the field.
To help orient you, I’ve organized them into pathways—each offering a different way into the mystery: pedagogical, scientific, spiritual, and cultural. These are not meant to be exhaustive. Instead, they are starting points for deeper inquiry, chosen with care for those ready to ask hard questions, hold paradox, and engage mystery with humility.
In addition to this overview, each domain of inquiry includes curated resources designed to both ground and deepen the conversation—whether you’re dipping your toe in or diving headfirst.
Teaching for the Future: Learning, Emotional Resilience & Wonder
How do we prepare the next generation for a world we don’t yet understand? How do we teach emotional intelligence and resilience in times of climate crisis, technological acceleration, and spiritual upheaval?
Courageous Conversations Toolkit – Strategies for building brave spaces for dialogue and truth-telling, even when it’s hard.
Teaching When the World Is on Fire (Book)—Naomi Klein meets the classroom. A guide for helping kids navigate grief, activism, and the unknown.
Let’s Talk– Facilitating Critical Conversations With Students by Learning for Justice.
Media Literacy – Look how this brilliant teacher used “aliens” to teach media literacy.
Science, Skepticism & the Search for Evidence
This pathway is rooted in inquiry and investigation. The resources here appeal to those seeking documentation, data, and thoughtful skepticism without dismissiveness. These selections reflect serious attention to the evidence, often through scientific or journalistic methods.
Podcasts
The UFO Rabbit hole –Start here. Chase brings clarity, research, and humility to a complex topic. If you choose only one resource, begin with this podcast. It builds foundational knowledge episode by episode. Start with episode one.
Websites
The Black Vault – The largest online repository of declassified government UFO files. The Black Vault was created and is maintained by John Greenewald Jr., an independent researcher and archivist dedicated to uncovering government documents through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Liberation Times –Timely reporting on government transparency and UAPs, frequently cited by lawmakers and defense insiders.
The Debrief – Covers science, defense, and emerging technologies. Known for its early and well-researched coverage of UAP developments.
Archives of the Impossible (Rice University)
A groundbreaking collection of materials on the paranormal, housed at Rice’s Woodson Research Center. From government remote viewing files to thousands of experiencer accounts, it’s one of the world’s most significant archives on the unexplained. For context, see Jeffrey Kripal’s The Superhumanities, which explores why these materials matter now.
Books
UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean. A foundational text for newcomers, grounded in high-credibility sources and scientific restraint. Kean’s work helped shift public discourse around the phenomenon.
In Plain Sight – by Ross Coulthart. Written by an investigative journalist, this book weaves together government disclosures and witness testimony to present a compelling case for deeper attention.
UFOs and the National Security State by Richard Dolan. A dense but valuable historical record of the U.S. government’s response to the UFO phenomenon from World War II onward.
Identified Flying Objects: A Multidisciplinary Scientific Approach to the UFO Phenomenon – by Dr. Michael Masters. An academic and speculative take suggesting some UAPs may be future humans. Masters brings a biological anthropologist’s lens to the topic.
The Believer by Ralph Blumenthal. A biography of Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Mack, who studied abductees with empathy and scientific rigor. This book helps skeptics understand the psychological and social complexities of experiencer testimony.
Phenomena by Annie Jacobsen. An eye-opening look at U.S. government programs focused on ESP, remote viewing, and psychic warfare. While not solely about UFOs, it’s a vital book for understanding the broader landscape of anomalous research.
The Edge of Reality – J. Allen Hynek & Jacques Vallée
Though co-written with Vallée, this book highlights Hynek’s journey from skeptic to open-minded investigator. It’s a candid dialogue between two of the most important UAP thinkers. Valuable for understanding the evolution of thought within the field itself.
Docs & Series
The Phenomenon – Directed by James Fox. A sweeping, family-friendly overview. I’ve watched this with my middle school UFO club, highly accessible and credible.
UFOs: Investigating the Unknown – Produced by Leslie Kean (National Geographic) Well-structured and up to date. Start with Season 2 for the most current developments.
Encounters (Netflix) – Centers the voices of experiencers and community witnesses. Focuses less on technical details and more on human stories.
Deep Inquiry & the Spirit of Wonder
For those who sense there’s something more. This section honors imagination, emotional courage, and critical insight. It’s for the seekers asking: What if the phenomenon isn’t just about them—but about us? What if it reveals something essential about consciousness, time, and the nature of reality itself?
Books
Passport to Magonia by Jacques Vallée. A foundational work linking ancient folklore, religious visions, and fairy tales to modern UFO encounters. Vallée explores the continuity of the phenomenon across cultures and centuries, asking us to value myth and memory as data—without losing critical clarity.
Messengers of Deception – by Jacques Vallée. Vallée’s sharpest critique. He questions not only the extraterrestrial hypothesis but the systems of belief that grow around it. This book is essential for those interested in media literacy, psy-ops, and the manipulation of public perception. It’s unsettling—in the best way.
The Super Natural by Whitley Strieber & Jeffrey J. Kripal. A powerful, poetic conversation between an experiencer and a scholar. Strieber and Kripal don’t argue what the phenomenon is—they ask how we relate to it. An invitation to mystery that respects both the intellect and the soul.
Authors of the Impossible– by Jeffrey Kripal. Kripal traces the lives of four thinkers—Frederic Myers, Charles Fort, Jacques Vallée, and Bertrand Méheust—who dared to take the impossible seriously. A brilliant bridge between the sciences and the humanities, this book models how rigorous thinkers can still engage with wonder.
The Messengers: Owls, Synchronicity, and the UFO Abductee – by Mike Clelland
Owls as messengers, symbols, and silent witnesses in the lives of contactees and abductees. Clelland explores the strange overlap between high strangeness, consciousness, and archetype. This book is less about proof and more about pattern, an intimate look at how myth and personal meaning emerge through anomalous experiences.
The Eighth Tower: On Ultraterrestrials and the Superspectrum – John Keel
In this lesser-known but deeply provocative work, Keel proposes that the UFO phenomenon is part of a larger, multidimensional “superspectrum” of reality—something that interacts with human consciousness, culture, and fear. Less about spacecraft, more about perception and manipulation.
Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe – Dean Radin
Radin, a respected psi researcher at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, makes the case that magic is both measurable and real. Drawing on decades of experimental data, he connects ancient esoteric practices with modern consciousness studies.
Speakers and Conferences:
Karl Nell @SALT should be required viewing for all. SALT is a global investment platform “connecting institutional asset owners with asset managers and technology entrepreneurs”. To that end, they invites UAP experts each year. With top Wall Street investors listening, it’s clear this topic matters. Nell’s insights cut through the noise, making it one of the most important videos on what’s truly at stake. Scientist Gary Nolan’s talk in 2023 was phenomenal too.
Archives of the Impossible Conference– This year’s entire conference was filmed and is now freely available to the public. I was fortunate to attend in person! Scholars from universities around the world present their research and explore the phenomenon through an ethical humanities lens. In this conference, the experiencer community is brought into the context of study.
SOL The Sol Foundation is a leading research institute studying UAPs through both scientific and humanistic lenses. It promotes public understanding, government transparency, and academic collaboration. Led by experts like Stanford’s Dr. Garry Nolan and anthropologist Dr. Peter Skafish, Sol also hosts an annual conference to foster cross-disciplinary dialogue.
Podcasts
The UFO Rabbithole aka Cosmosis – Jay Christopher King of the Experiencer Group joins Kelly Chase. Their conversations are brilliant (also a video series!)
Point of Convergence – by Darren King aka ExoAcademian. Where philosophy meets contact. King’s tone is calm and careful, yet expansive. For listeners who crave nuance in consciousness studies and want to take contact seriously. Start at the beginning of the podcast.
Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal. Big ideas, big thinkers. Jaimungal interviews physicists, philosophers, intelligence insiders, and experiencers. A rigorous attempt to hold multiple theories at once.
Aliens and Artists – by Stuart Brown. Extraordinary. Experiencers share longform accounts that often veer into the mythic, creative, and emotional. Davis is a deeply compassionate and poetic guide. This podcast changed my life.
Telepathy Tapes – One of the best podcasts to ever come out on the mysteries of human consciousness. If you haven’t heard of “The Hill” yet, you simply must listen.
Dreamlands with Whitley Streiber. Hosted by one of the first experiencers to come forward with courage and vulnerability. Whitley’s voice is like a lighthouse. This show has welcomed mystics, scientists, and artists for over two decades.
The Good Trouble Show with Matt Ford. Want to stay informed without losing your mind? Ford is grounded, measured, and current. Great for following developments in disclosure and government hearings.
That UFO Podcast with Andy McGrillen. Down-to-earth and friendly, this one’s perfect for those new to the field or looking for consistent coverage. Interviews, news, and personal reflections.
Power, Wisdom & the Margins: Where the Mystery Speaks
Who gets to define reality? Whose stories are taken seriously? This pathway centers the voices and visions that have long been dismissed by dominant culture—but which may hold essential keys to the mystery.
Ardy Sixkiller Clarke–
Encounters with Star People: Untold Stories of American Indians , Sky People, Untold Stories of Alien Encounters in Mesoamerica
Clarke, a Native scholar, brings forward Indigenous narratives of star beings, sky people, and contact. These stories, shared with deep trust, defy Western reductionism and reframe contact through relationality, reciprocity, and sovereignty.
Amazon Beaming – Petru Popescu (via Loren McIntyre)
This real-life account of psychic communication in the Amazon challenges Western linear time, language, and perception. It highlights how altered states and Indigenous cosmologies may offer direct access to collective memory and nonlocal consciousness.
Dr. Diana Walsh Pasulka – American Cosmic
A modern classic in the field. Pasulka, a professor of religious studies, draws bold parallels between UFO belief and ancient religious phenomena. She interviews high-level scientists whose belief in nonhuman intelligence is grounded in real-world contact and experimentation. This is not sci-fi—it’s sacred tech, modern relics, and pilgrimage.
Black & Indigenous Futurisms
Creative visions like those from Octavia Butler, N. K. Jemisin, Stephen Graham Jones, and Bayo Akomolafe reimagine future worlds and alien contact through justice, embodiment, and ancestral wisdom. These works center the margins as a place of portal-opening rather than erasure.
Pop Culture That Touched the Mystery
Because art often dares to say what institutions cannot
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Spielberg’s masterpiece still stands the test of time. It’s emotionally honest, visually iconic, and deeply in tune with real patterns from experiencer accounts—especially the role of intuition, sound, and obsession.
Taken (2002)
A ten-part miniseries produced by Spielberg that weaves together government secrecy, generational contact, and hybridization themes. Some parts feel dated, but it remains one of the most ambitious dramatizations of the phenomenon ever made.
Nope (2022)
Jordan Peele’s cryptic and provocative film asks big questions about spectacle, the observer effect, and our inability to truly “look away.” Not a traditional UFO story, but all the more relevant for that reason.
Arrival (2016)
A slow-burn, language-centered alien contact film that centers on time, grief, and communication. Based on a short story by Ted Chiang. Both scientific and mystical.
Don’t Look Up (2021)
An allegory for systemic denial and the commodification of catastrophe. While not about UAPs directly, it skewers how institutions, media, and the public respond to existential threats. The parallels to ontological shock and “confirmation fatigue” in the UAP conversation are hard to miss.
wonderstanding 