UFOs, Conspiracy Theories and the New Age: Millennial Conspiracism

259 Pages·2016·2.321 MB·English

by  David G. Robertson

UFOs, Conspiracy Theories
and the New Age
Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies
James Cox and Steven Sutcliffe
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Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education,
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Religion and the Inculturation of Human Rights in Ghana,
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UFOs, Conspiracy Theories
and the New Age
Millennial Conspiracism
David G. Robertson
Bloomsbury Academic
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First published 2016
© David G. Robertson, 2016
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4742-5320-8
ePDF: 978-1-4742-5321-5
ePub: 978-1-4742-5322-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Robertson, David G. (David George), author.
Title: UFOs, conspiracy theories and the new age:
millennial conspiracism / David G. Robertson.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. | Series: Bloomsbury
advances in religious studies | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015042312| ISBN 9781474253208 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781474253222 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Human-alien encounters. | Strieber, Whitley. | Icke, David. |
Wilcock, David, 1973- | Conspiracy theories. | New Age movement. |
Millennialism. | BISAC: RELIGION / General. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology
of Religion. | FICTION / Fantasy / Paranormal.
Classification: LCC BF2050 .R625 2016 | DDC 001.942–dc23 LC record
available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015042312
Series: Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies
Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd.
Contents
List of Illustrations vi
Acknowledgements vii
Prologue: ‘And the Truth Shall Set You Free’ 1
1 Introduction: Aquarian Conspiracies 5
2 Approaching Millennial Conspiracism 27
3 ‘Trust No-One’: UFOs, Conspiracism and Popular Millennialism
during the Cold War, 1947–87 55
4 Occulted Histories: Whitley Strieber and the Abductee Narrative 85
5 ‘Problem-Reaction-Solution’: David Icke and the Reptilian Thesis 121
6 ‘The Science of Oneness’: David Wilcock and ‘2012’ Millennialism 169
7 The Counter-Elite/A Theodicy of the Dispossessed 201
Notes 213
Bibliography 225
Index 247
List of Illustrations
3.1 Painting by Ted Jacobs, from the cover of Communion (1987).
Walker & Collier, Inc. Reproduced with permission 78
4.1 Scarritt-Bennett Centre, Nashville (photo by the author) 89
4.2 Closing panel by Dreamland speakers (photo by the author) 115
5.1 David Icke in The Guardian, 9 April 1990. Guardian News and
Media Ltd. Reproduced with permission 126
5.2 David Icke in The Guardian, 28 March 1991. Guardian News and
Media Ltd. Reproduced with permission 132
5.3 Daily Express, 13 January 2013. Express Newspapers/N&S
Syndication. Reprinted with permission 154
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to Steven Sutcliffe for nurturing this project to its completion;
to Carole Cusack for many opportunities; to the committee of the BASR, and
Bettina Schmidt in particular; to the Religious Studies Project, especially
Christopher Cotter; to all of those whose company and discussion made this
work a pleasure – Charlotte Ward, Ethan Quillen, Jonathan Tuckett, Beth
Singler, Kevin Whitesides, Liam Sutherland, Asbjorn Dyrendal, Egil Asprem
and many others; to Aileen, of course; and to Teddy and Rex, because if they
really are Indigos, then we are truly doomed.

Prologue:
‘And the Truth Shall Set You Free’
This book began for me the first time I saw a prophet on the TV. Even at the
age of 14, it was obvious to me that people should not have been laughing at
David Icke, the former sports broadcaster turned Green Party spokesperson.
It seemed to me that there were two possibilities; he had had a religious
epiphany or a mental breakdown. Either way, mockery was inappropriate. I
felt then, as I do now, that Terry Wogan and the audience of his prime-time
BBC chat-show were simply cruel. There was certainly a lesson to be learned,
however, about the ease with which the crowd will respond with anger to the
strange.
Or did it begin when I discovered a mysterious book years later? In my early
twenties, while working as a musician and songwriter, I spent part of 1998
in a residential recording studio in Lincolnshire. Separated from all friends
and family excepting the other band members, which can obviously become
claustrophobic, I worked my way through every book I could find. Mostly
they were the kind one might find in a charity shop, with anything collectable
or valuable having been stolen long ago. The exception was Robert Anton
Wilson’s Cosmic Trigger (1977 [1986]), which was falling to pieces, clearly
read many times but never stolen – left deliberately, perhaps, for others to find
and have their minds opened. In it, Wilson describes his experiences of what
appeared to be channelled messages from the star Sirius, and although the
subject matter was apparently bizarre, Wilson was self-reflexive and sceptical,
with a natural and humorous writing style, and I became a fan. As a lifelong
atheist, it never seemed any odder to me that people speak to aliens than to
Jesus nor to believe in the Illuminati’s hand behind events than God’s.
This led in turn to an ongoing fascination with another of Wilson’s
major concerns, conspiracy theories. While I have never been a subscriber
to any conspiratorial narratives, and remain highly sceptical to this day, my