Welcome to my website
David Clarke is Associate Professor in the Department of Media Arts and Communication at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He teaches media law and his research specialism is contemporary legend. Previously he worked as a journalist for The Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Post and spent four years working as a Press Officer in local government. His PhD in Folklore and was completed at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, in 1999. From 2008-13 he acted as consultant and curator of the MoD UFO files project with The National Archives. His books include The Angel of Mons (2004) and How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth (2015). In 2018 he co-founded the Centre for Contemporary Legend at Sheffield Hallam University. This blog covers his twin research interests in journalism and folklore. The views expressed in the contents are entirely his own.
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- Magonia Blog
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- Mark Pilkington & John Lundberg – Folklore & Deception in the UFO Age
- Bob Sheaffer’s Bad UFOs
- Skywatcher UAP Class Studies Bird Flock
- "Drone" Madness - Drones VS. Astronomers!
- Levitated Linda Sues Netflix over New Documentary!
- Guest Blog - Martin Kottmeyer's musings on Matthew Bowman’s "The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill"
- Dr. Bruce Maccabee (1942-2024)
- Disclosure Warriors Uncover a Vast UFO Coverup Conspiracy: Guerrilla Skeptics on Wikipedia!
- The Strange Life and Death (?) of Al Seckel (Part 2)
- The Strange Life and Death (?) of Al Seckel (Part 1)
- Netflix's "Encounters", Episode 2, Promotes Sensational Claims but Ignores Answers
- Netflix's "Encounters", Episode 1, Leaves Out Something Important - The Explanation!
- The Skeptic magazine
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- October Spookiness!
- Empirical Sex Talk on Dacryphilia, tonight
- Little Atoms 393 – Timothy Snyder & Black Earth
- Ash Pryce on "How to talk to the dead" @ Greenwich SitP, 7:30 pm, 7/10/15
- Weird Science at Exeter Hub: tonight, 6 pm
- Professor David Hand on The Improbability Principle @ Goldsmiths, 6:10 pm, 29/9/15 (tomorrow)
- Peter Popoff
- Me and Jean La Fontaine on Satanic Ritual Abuse Claims and False Memories at London Fortean Society, 7:45 pm, tonight, 24/9/15
- Little Atoms 392 – Royal Society Winton Prize 2015 Three
- Charles Fort Institute Blog
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- Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture
- The Cash-Landrum UFO Contamination
- Cash-Landrum UFO Questions
- The Cash-Landrum UFO Encounter of 1980
- Analyzing a 2007 UFO Sighting in Mississippi
- The Cash-Jamaica UFO Incident
- Ben Rich, Area 51, & Taking ET Home
- An Impressive New Book on UFO Witness Testimony
- UFOs, Fame and Anonymity
- The NSA Cash-Landrum UFO Document
- The Cash-Landrum UFO: 1980s Recording of Witnesses Interviews
- Andrew May’s Forteana blog
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- Paul Kimball’s The Other Side of Truth: Don’t believe, don’t disbelieve. Think
- Nick Pope - Useful Idiot of the Far Right
- Who Are They? What Do They Want?
- An Empty Suit
- Synchronicity, Irish Style
- Project Blue Book - A Review
- Stan Friedman Retires
- Halifax gets Haunted!
- Haunted Extra, Vol. 1.01 - Queen's County Museum Revisited
- 2017 East Coast Paraconference - Remote Viewing Panel
- 2017 East Coast Paraconference - August 11, 12, 13
Author Archives: Dr David Clarke
The Angel of the Golan Heights
As the centenary of The Angels of Mons, the greatest urban legend of WW1, approaches, I am on the look out for rumours and stories about supernatural intervention in modern warfare. So I was pleased to read a contemporary story in … Continue reading
Heads and Tales
Well the Apocalypse that wasn’t predicted by the ancient Mayans didn’t arrive. But it won’t be long before the End Times industry picks another date for the end of the world and starts spreading the word. Some stories are just … Continue reading
UFOlogy: Dead Again?
On 4 November The Sunday Telegraph posed the question that has been asked many times before: What is the point of UFOlogy (the ‘study of UFOs’). “Having failed to establish any evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial life, Britain’s UFO watchers are … Continue reading
Sheffield’s spring-heeled legend
It’s Hallowe’en and time for me to tell a ghost story that is rapidly becoming Sheffield’s best known supernatural legend – the Park Ghost or Spring-heeled Jack. Last week I was surprised to find my account of the ghost’s pranks … Continue reading
The UFO Files Rebooted
The second edition of The UFO files was published by Bloomsbury on 13 September 2012. You can order the book from Amazon here or via the publisher’s website here. The National Archives press release on the book can be found … Continue reading
Seeing Sprites
Six years ago I used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the release of a secret Ministry of Defence report on ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’ (UAP). The study, codenamed ‘Project Condign‘, concluded that UAPs – as the MoD’s Defence Intelligence … Continue reading
The Scottish Roswell?
Picture the scene: A shepherd visiting a remote area stumbles upon strange wreckage strewn across the ground which could be the remains of a crashed spaceship. The debris consists of pieces of unusual metal and strange drawings. On reporting his find … Continue reading
UFO Files make waves
The release of the ninth collection of MoD UFO files by The National Archives continues to make news across the world. On the first day of the launch (Thursday, 12 July) the website received almost 60,000 visitors – an uplift … Continue reading
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