Wales Seeing More UFOs?

And is it because of Torchwood?

Two things I need to remind myself of: there is no X-Files, not really, and David Duchovny is an actor, not Spooky Mulder. Not really. There is no Torchwood, not really, and there is no such person as handsome sexy Captain Jack in his black trenchcoat. It’s all pretend. Pretend. TV. These are two of my all time favorite TV shows; fictional shows.

So, this article asks if the popularity of Torchwood isn’t responsible for people seein more UFOs lately:

“Torchwood could well have brought an increase in the number of people looking at the skies rather than their feet when they are coming out of the pub.”

says Dr David Clarke,who wrote Flying Saucerers, A Social History of UFOlogy. I haven’t read the book, and don’t know the slant, but from his comment it seems like he’s being fair. (He also acknowledges Wales is a UFO hot spot.) If you look UP, you’ll see things. I know that, Alfred Lehmberg knows that (see his current article in UFO Magazine) Lesley knows that; all kinds of people know that. Try it.

I do take exception to Dr. Clarke’s opinion about the government’s innocence in such things:

He warned against conspiracy theories that accused the government of covering up alien landings, adding: “The idea that the government has a Men in Black department and they send out Captain Jack or whoever... it doesn’t happen.”

Okay, so maybe there isn’t a Captain Jack in a trenchcoat being all sexy assertive and commanding (and yet oh so vulnerable, the poor immortal dear) and jumping in and out of black SUVs, but come on, to suggest the government (theirs, ours, . . .) is content to let it all go by is naive.

X-Files, while fictional, did a lot to nudge us towards seeking out these areas. Torchwood seems to be doing the same. Shows like this are popular for a reason, and there are all kinds of people with all kinds of theoires on why this is so. Briefly, the theories range from "people are lonely geeks who need to fill a void with something magical" to "people are paranoid due to our ever increasing technological, post WWII world" to "Because they're here, damnit! Haven't you been looking up? And around?! Haven't you been looking?!" I go for that last one.