Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact by Jacques F. Vallée

Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact Reviews

• 
  Steve

  Confrontations is one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read. Vallee is viewed as one of the leading UFO experts in the world, though I think he’s pretty much stopped writing about them. (Confrontations, written in 1990, was one of his last books on the subject.) But within the UFO community, he’s viewed as a voice of dissent. Originally, Vallee, along with just about everyone else, viewed UFOs as extraterrestrial. However, as the years rolled by, and the data rolled in, Vallee came to believe that the answer was more complex, and that the phenomena was homegrown (same planet at least, but then things start getting fuzzy), and arguably as old as history itself (see, for example, Ezekiel on the river Chebar). Getting a good quote from Vallee can be a bit difficult, since, as a scientist, his prose can be dry and data oriented. Here’s a quote from another book that I was able to pull up from the Wikepedia “Vallee” page:
  
  "To put it bluntly, the UFO phenomenon does not give evidence of being extraterrestrial at all. Instead it appears to be inter-dimensional and to manipulate physical realities outside of our own space-time continuum." (P. 136, Dimensions).
  
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_...
  
  Some of his reasons for straying off the UFO reservation are, I believe, available on this website. Interestingly, I think I read somewhere that Vallee, a character in Spielberg’s Close Encounters movie, told the director that the movie should entertain other theories, especially the multi-dimensional one. Spielberg sort of agreed, but told Vallee that it’s Hollywood, and you have to give the people what they want – and expect. I don’t know if the above story is true, but if you’ve read Vallee, see how seriously he takes the subject, it’s hard to imagine him not engaging Spielberg on this point.
  
  So why is this particular book disturbing? Well, the focus is at least in part on harm – and even death, being inflicted upon humans in their encounters with UFOs. Most of these deadly encounters occur in the wild lands of Brazil, with night time hunters being zapped by flying refrigerator (yep) shaped objects that are called “chupas” by the locals. On one level, this sounds absurd (Anyone wondered why there are so many different shapes for UFOs?), but the deaths and injuries are very real, the documentation solid (Vallee does a great job with his field work). And yet absurdity seems to come with the turf, which is an important point with Vallee. He sees the whole UFO phenomena thing as having more to do with the conscious manipulation of belief patterns by a powerful, non-human force, rather than the peaceful little “gray” guys in their mysterious but ultimately benign ships, coming to save us from ourselves. Looking at it that way, you can see how complex, but also more plausible Vallee’s take may be. I ran across a blogger who put it in a more understandable and digestible way:
  
  “The other possibility is much more intriguing, but raises all sorts of troubling questions. It suggests that UFOs are a multidimensional phenomena (bending time and space), that they interact with human consciousness on an intimate level, and that they can potentially be summoned. Far more frightening is the possibility that whatever it is, it observed, drew upon, or manipulated my consciousness, my dreams, and my perceptions leading up to the sighting.”
  
  
  http://osdir.com/ml/culture.discuss.c...
  
  Whoa! Wrap your mind around that. Where does it all lead? I don’t know, but it’s the questions that Vallee poses that bother me. This is not tabloid stuff, but carefully worded and structured. Oh, there are plenty of “cases” that Vallee reports in the book, but he always seems to be looking beyond the specific particulars of these cases, to discern the outlines of a larger and more disturbing pattern that has little to do with “communion” and “transformation.”
  
• 
  Mark Tallen

  An excellent book dealing with the subject of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenoa. Chapter 15 (Ground Truth) should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in this fascinating subject. I'm re-evaluating my own thoughts on the phenomenon of UFOS in comparison to those that developed after my original interest in the subject that began in 1995. The two books that I've read by Jacques Vallee (Dimensions and now Confrontations) have contributed to this. When a book makes you re-evaluate and ask questions and seek out more research material, then it well deserves five stars. Vallee's 'Alien Trilogy' as well as some of his other classic works are now back in print. I advise interested readers to seek them out whilst they are still available. Original first editions in very good condition are hard to come by cheaply so the new reprints are well worth the money.
• 
  Owlseyes

  UPDATE
  Speaking about alien...ation.And alien action; and alien nation.
  
  
  
  (POSSIBLY, A DOWNED ALIEN CRAFT in Natal, Brazil...,hmmm)
  
  
  
  
  Members of the anarchist group Black Bloc protest against the FIFA World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 30, 2014. (AFP Photo/YASUYOSHI CHIBA)
  
  
  
  
  At last,...they have landed.
  
  -------------------
  This is a book of 1990. Vallee studied astronomy, became a scientific programmer and an investigator in projects for the US department of Defense.
  
  
  
  (Jacques Vallée (right) with J. Allen Hynek)
  
  The book is a compilation of cases and also the refining of Vallee’s own methodology. It opens with the famous Lead Masks case*, back in 1966, in Brazil. The author travelled himself to the site. Two men (Miguel and Manuel-members of an occult society?) were found dead on a mountain: Morro do Vintem, Niteroi, Brazil; with strange instructions on a piece of paper ...and the lead masks ready to be used.Several possibilities are discussed: tried-contact with Jupiterians (females with vertical mouths and hands with 4 fingers?),robbery/murder etc.
  
  
  
  
  A book by Bezerra de Menezes (spiritist) was associated with the case and a nearby UFO sighting too (the "effervescent spheres",large oval-shaped object).
  
  
  
  
  
  The book serves for Vallee to explain why he was absent on UFO studies in the period 1980-1987; mainly due to the methodology being followed so far (peers not being honest) and by the intrusion of other variables: not scientific ones. So, he acknowledges that in encounters with UFO people tend to group in two areas: (1) those who think aliens are space travelers, conducting a survey on earthlings; Valee has some doubts on this approach: due to the cases reported being more than expected; the author speaks about: experiences of "communion" and "transformation" in this group. (2) On the other side (apparently contradicting the former group) is the “confrontation”** hypothesis: the abduction cases… the tragic/macabre reports…that may lead to non-scientific interpretations:like “encounters with demons”.
  
  The author presented the facts: “we have more data than we can process”: 100,000 unexplained cases. He’s set to give some order/classification to these. Provided that some issues are put in their right place: (1) the cults and their irrational beliefs; (2) the cattle mutilations (hard to connect with UFOs, so far) and (3) the role of Government: apparently with no answers to the UFO problem but surely holding proofs.
  
  Consequently, Vallee takes a sample of 100 events: 47 first hand cases, 9 with alleged alien “instruments” (the author has two in his own possession)…etc.A very good introduction to the matter.
  
  PS Vallee wrote that, over the years, he's "changed" his mind about the UFO-data meaning.
  --------------------------------------------------------------------
  *Mystery of the Month: the Lead Masks Case;CHECK THIS RECENT ARTICLE
  
  http://someonetellmethestory.com/blog...
  
  
  --
  
  
  
  **I cannot avoid quoting James Casbolt/Michael Prince experience:"There are at least 133 Deep Underground Military Bases in America alone and well over 400 worldwide. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and small children are brutalized, tortured, programmed, experimented upon, and killed in many of those underground facilities (and taken by aliens) which often are shared with incredibly malevolent alien beings who literally eat human beings."
  
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwTnP1...
  (YOU MAY SKIP THE FIRST 8 MINUTES)
  
• 
  Will

  This is the first Jacques Vallee book I have read and it won't be my last.
  
  What Vallee does here is unique, in that he approaches each case as a scientist. Meaning that whilst investigating the case, he looked for evidence around every corner to try and determine whether or not there was actual 'alien contact' or an 'encounter'. Rather than just being a believer who is seeking evidence to back up and support their point.
  
  To his credit, in most cases, he says that based on the evidence (or lack of), he cannot categorically say exactly what happened. But in most cases, based on his interactions with the 'victims', he believes that they were telling the truth.
  
  This relatively sceptical approach is very refreshing and admirable from one of the world's leading Ufologists.
  
  Based on this alone, Confrontations should be at the top of the list for everyone who is interested in the subject.
  
  The book covers many type of cases from all over the world. Vallee even discusses his theory on the 'aliens' not actually being Extra Terrestrial.
  
  This however, is why I have only given a 4 star rating, and not 5. Not because I disagree with what Jacques theorised here, but becuase I found it quite difficult to follow.
  
  Obviously, to him and many others it will make perfect sense (as much as it can) but my only wish is that it had all of the detail that it did, but also an explanation that was 'dumbed down' and made for easier reading to allow for an even greater understanding of what he theorised.
  
  This however, should not deter anyone from picking up and reading this book. If anything, it should spur you onto another insight into this vast subject that is only rasing more questions as time goes on.
• 
  Noah

  This probably looks like a wacky and fringe work, produced by a crank.
  I'm convinced it's not.
  Jacques Vallee has earned his stripes as a studious and modest researcher of
  the UFO phenomenon who strives to bring as much of the scientific method
  to his work as possible.
  In this book he writes well and succinctly and tries to organize vast amounts of
  first- and secondhand research into a readable form.
  
  My appreciation of the work is not in any way a statement of faith in any aspect
  of the phenomena addressed here or in his assessments of them. But whatever your
  preconceived notions are about UFOs, they are probably facile and under-informed.
  Mine were.
  
  I most appreciated the author's acceptance of the complexity of everything worth studying,
  and of all the ambiguity in this field, leaving us unable to really give certain answers.
  As he puts it, "Occam must have had a beard."
• 
  X

  UFOs hunting down and shooting energy beams at Brazilian villagers. Poltergeists beating up divorcées as they relax in their armchairs. Two men found dead on a mountain top wearing homemade metal masks with no discernible cause of deaths. Vallée has collected UFO related cases in this book that left physical effects on the environment or medical effects on the observers. Most don’t go well for the humans involved, including chronic pain, permanent injuries, psychological trauma and death. Vallée mostly includes cases where he personally visited the witnesses and sites to get the full picture with a level of rigor often lacking in other books.
  
  In the end, no answers are given. He repeats his main hypothesis that these are not extraterrestrials from another planet, they are not necessarily friendly to humans, and that UFOs are related to past reports of elves, ghosts and other phenomena. He also severely criticizes the use of hypnosis on witnesses and thinks such evidence should be taken with a large grain of salt. Vallée does a good job keeping an objective viewpoint and factual analysis of UFOs.
• 
  Linda Martin

  Thanks to this book I got a good education in Ufology 101. I'm inspired. Mainly I'm inspired to run away from any UFO's I might see, which maybe isn't all that unlikely since I live in one of the places he wrote about in this book, maybe a mile from the main landing site, back in the 1970's.
  
  I wasn't here when that happened, and the people involved have left town. Nobody here talks about it anymore but I'm sure it was very well known during the years it happened, 1975-1978. That was a little over 20 years before I moved here, and I heard rumors for years, but nobody could tell me the landing site until I discovered this book.
  
  I was appalled by what the people in Brazil went through, as explained in the last three chapters of the book. Every part of this book is worth reading, but I was especially impressed by the stories in the chapters I read earlier tonight - with UFO's intentionally attacking people randomly.
  
  I appreciate the author's alternative explanations and scientific approach to interviews and investigations. I'm very interested in reading the other books in this series, especially
  Dimensions!
• 
  Kevin W. Carr Carr

  Great segue into a theory I've started to gravitate too on the UFO question.
  
  The information provided here is outstanding. The procedures, protocols and efforts to maintain a solid scientific investigation is what added more depth to the plausible, actually very possible scenario where UFO's are in fact inter-dimensional not from planets billions or trillions of miles away. The long history of these interactions going way back into human history is a golden nugget for trying to grasp the true worth and serious answers about this phenomenon.
• 
  psvansc

  Essential reading for the ufology buff. Fascinating and freaky at the same time. It opens an entirely new line of thought and possibility.
• 
  Hank

  Valée is probably the most objective UFO & alien encounter investigator there is.
• 
  M.Biblioswine

  This is a fine book. It provides a critique of how we can know anything, much less what UFO experience s are. In this book th author personally investigates and analyses 40 cases himself.
• 
  Julie

  This is the first book I have read by Jacques Vallee. I did like the way he presented evidence and made conclusions in the book. It seemed to me that he is asking for further scientific investigation of ufo sightings to continue to gather empirical evidence that can be used to track the phenomenon.
  
  I gathered through reading that he doesn't have much use for a lot of ufo groups that hone in on eye-witnesses, collecting data and evidence using a variety of techniques including hypnosis.
  
  He stresses that some ufo groups/people are not very subjective and can damage accounts or evidence by mishandling or sub-consciously promoting the group/personal beliefs. This material or psychological contamination can influence the witnesses or skew the data (pro or con).
  
  I did like how Mr. Vallee detailed his new screening process of witnesses that can be completed in the field or when calls come in (OVNIBASE); I agree the problem would be the practicality of implementation; basically everyone who would, could or should receive these reports from witnesses would have to have access to the database, and I don't know how feasible that would be in some of the remote witness locations MR. Vallee detailed in this book.
  
  The visuals & explanations he included with the classification charts he created and detailed in the Appendix were helpful - I'm a visual learner.
  
  Overall I think this is a good book for people interested in ufo research and investigation. But as Mr. Vallee says in his book (Page 144), he offers an alternative to the extraterrestrial hypothesis, where
  "I propose to regard the UFO phenomenon as a physical manifestation of a form of consciousness that is alien to humans but is able to coexist with us on the earth."
  
  I have heard this theory in other books I have read on the subject. I guess the questions and answers will continue to compile until we get some definitive evidence that can be scrutinized by science.
  
  The truth is out there.
• 
  Nicholas

  This book won't change any set minds of skeptics or believers, but for anyone curious about the strangeness of reported experiences with odd aerial, and, often times, not so aerial, phenomenon, it will make you think.
  
  Jacques Vallee takes a more biographical and humanistic approach to the body of experience (and I think he makes the argument that the term experience is the best one) of the UFO phenomenon, coming at with a fresh approach, even today, asking the important question that neither side of the aisle bothers to ask: what exactly is this phenomenon? He gathers his data, in the field, interviewing direct observers, 2nd hand sources, and sometimes, as the reader learns, families of the victims, of these encounters. Along the way, a reader will see reasonable, level headed researcher truly puzzled by an array of phenomenon which obfuscates itself in a cloak of elusiveness and absurdity. Vallee asks important questions about its nature, which, while admitting he has no answers, he believes there is true mystery there to explore.
  
  This book is a part of a series on the subject Vallee has written, including
  Messengers of Deception and
  Passport to Magonia, both of which are thought provoking, while neither really blows the lid off the UFO phenomenon, it will introduce you to several ideas. This particular book, though, appears to be a journal of the process Vallee uses to garner his data, and a call to arms for the field to adopt a similar procedure, or risk remaining laughable pseudo-science for the foreseeable future.
• 
  Art

  Since I was a young boy, I've enjoyed reading books on UFOs. However, a couple of decades ago I moved away from believing UFOs are spaceships flown by ETs. UFO researcher and author Jacques Vallee was partially responsible for my change of thought on the subject. Jacques Vallee argues that the extraterrestrial hypotheses just doesn't meet the demands of the UFO data collected. Instead, Vallee believes UFOs are primarily paranormal in nature. The phenomenon manifests itself under different guises in different historical ages and contexts. The phenomenon acts as a sort of control mechanism changing mankind's belief systems. Who or what is behind this phenomenon is open to debate. Although fascinating, the phenomenon can be dangerous to those who witness it. He gives more information on Dr. X's famous UFO encounter than I've previously read. Although Dr. X's encounter had some positive effects (healed from some physical infirmities), he had a drastic change in beliefs and personality. He also started experiencing some creepy paranormal encounters with mysterious visitors and a recurring triangular marking that showed up periodically on his stomach. This is a thinking man's book concerning the UFO phenomenon!
  
• 
  Scott Bounds

  Most Excellent!
  
  This is a book written by one of the premier Ufologists of the modern era. Being able to see and read his opinions as to the importance of a case is very enlightening. Especially reading his review of the rating system and how we got there is of extreme importance.
  If you want to learn the TRUTH about this strange phenomenon, then read this book!
• 
  Luke Allen

  Obviously you have to grade this stuff on a curve, given the number of wackos and straight up con men in ufology, but Vallee has to be at the top of the heap in terms of doing rigorous research and interviews and presenting actual evidence. The conclusions he draws from it are certainly debatable, but there's no way to read this and not come away intrigued.
• 
  Erik Graff

  This is rather like Vallee's much earlier book, Anatomy of a Phenomenon, representing both an elaboration of his earlier suggestions for research and the results of his own study during the intervening decades.
• 
  Gary Perez

  After reading his first book "Dimensions" I knew I had to move onto this one to continue the research. As the second in the trilogy this book definitely contains great experiences and evidence of the UFO phenomenon. Another great read, check it out.
• 
  Will

  Possible new buy