Welcome to my website
I am a Research Fellow in Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University where I specialise in teaching media law and investigation skills. Before I entered academia I worked as a news reporter for The Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Post and spent four years working as a Press Officer in local government. My Ph.D is in Folklore and was completed at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, in 1999. Since 2008 I have been working with The National Archives (TNA) as their consultant for the ongoing release of the UFO files created by Britain's Ministry of Defence. My latest book, How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth, was published in 2015.
Snopes.com – Rumour has it…- Is This a Whale in a Venice Canal? July 24, 2017
- Charlie Gard’s Parents End Legal Battle for Experimental Treatment July 24, 2017
- Man With Chainsaw Wounds Five People in Swiss City, Sparking Police Manhunt July 24, 2017
- SNOPES.COM COMMUNITY: WE NEED YOUR HELP July 24, 2017
- Marijuana Business Offers Weed for Weeds on Cleanup Day July 24, 2017
- Magonia Blog
- PICTURING PHILOSOPHY July 23, 2017
- AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES July 21, 2017
- NORTHERN ECHOES: 50 YEARS ON July 18, 2017
- SIGNPOSTS TO UTOPIA July 16, 2017
- GOD'S BLACK EYE July 12, 2017
- Mark Pilkington & John Lundberg – Folklore & Deception in the UFO Age
- Mirage Men in The Guardian August 18, 2014
- Mirage Men Double Disc DVD June 16, 2014
- UFOs and F-14s over Iran May 2, 2014
- We have lift off! March 27, 2014
- Mirage Men revealed by Greenwald? February 25, 2014
- Bob Sheaffer’s Bad UFOs
- "Disclosure" Mania Flares Up Again June 26, 2017
- In Search Of "Progress" in UFOlogy - At the End of the Road? June 19, 2017
- William Tompkins Reveals Reptilians, Nordics, Nazi Saucers, and Much More May 22, 2017
- Tom DeLonge's "Sixtyish" Days to UFO Disclosure Become "Ninetyish" May 17, 2017
- Satellites Flash and Flare April 7, 2017
- The Skeptic magazine
- Ooops! TWO errors in previous message! October 1, 2015
- October Spookiness! October 1, 2015
- Empirical Sex Talk on Dacryphilia, tonight October 1, 2015
- Little Atoms 393 – Timothy Snyder & Black Earth September 30, 2015
- Ash Pryce on "How to talk to the dead" @ Greenwich SitP, 7:30 pm, 7/10/15 September 30, 2015
- Charles Fort Institute Blog
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- Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture
- UFOs, Sea Serpents, Ridicule and Disinformation July 17, 2017
- The Saucers That Time Forgot July 11, 2017
- Dr. J. Allen Hynek: Ufology is a Mess June 30, 2017
- 1954 UFO Whistleblower: Frank E Keely June 23, 2017
- John Keel, Witness to the Birth of the UFO Subculture June 16, 2017
- Andrew May’s Forteana blog
- Pseudoscience and Science Fiction October 9, 2016
- Astronomical debunking October 2, 2016
- Contradiction - the All-Video Murder Mystery September 25, 2016
- Sacred Porn September 18, 2016
- Astronomical computers (old ones) September 11, 2016
- Paul Kimball’s The Other Side of Truth: Don’t believe, don’t disbelieve. Think
- Political Paul July 24, 2017
- Haunted - Stalking Dillon July 24, 2017
- Haunted July 23, 2017
- I Went to a Hockey Game and Some Synchronicity Broke Out! January 17, 2016
- A New Era for Physics? January 16, 2016
Tag Archives: RAF
Farewell to the ‘mystical astronaut’: Edgar Mitchell 1930-2016
Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon who became a celebrity believer in the UFO myth, has died aged 85. The Guardian newspaper once described the retired NASA astronaut as being an unlikely name on the list … Continue reading
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Tagged A Monstrous Commotion, Alan Shepard, Andrew Smith, Apollo 14, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Dr Edgar Mitchell, Ed Mitchell, epiphany, ESP, Gareth Williams, George W Bush, Gordon Brown, Huffington Post, Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), Kerrang!, Lee Spiegel, Loch Ness Monster, Lord Hugh Dowding, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ministry of Defence, MoD, Moondust, NASA, Nick Margerrison, RAF, Richard D. Hall, Roswell UFO crash, sixth man on the moon, The Guardian, The National Archives, The Sun, UFO files
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The Scottish Roswell
The Sunday Express and Metro have today published a preview of a chapter from How UFOs Conquered the World that exposes the truth behind ‘the Scottish Roswell’. Journalist Mark Branagan says the Ardgay mystery has ‘intrigued UFO hunters since it was … Continue reading
Foxtrot 94 – a Cold War mystery solved
One of the most enduring mysteries of the Cold War – the disappearance of US pilot William Schaffner in a secret RAF exercise above the North Sea – has finally been laid to rest. Captain Scaffner was just 28 years … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged alien abductions, Alien Investigator, Avro Shackleton, BBC Inside Out North, Captain William Schaffner, Cold War, conspiracies, English Electric Lightning, Flamborough Head, FlyPast magazine, Foxtrot 94, Grimsby Evening News, Ian Black, Lightning XS894, Michael Schaffner, Ohio, RAF, RAF Binbrook, RAF Board of Inquiry, Taceval, The National Archives, The X-Files, Tony Dodd, UFOs, Vietnam
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U-2 secret history revealed
News that the CIA has finally ‘officially acknowledged‘ the existence of Area 51 as the base where the U2 spyplane was developed will come as no big surprise to aviation historians. Some of the more far-gone UFOlogists prefer to believe … Continue reading
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Tagged Air Ministry, Anthony Eden, Area 51, Chris Pocock, CIA, Defence Intelligence Staff, Freedom of Information Act, George Washinton University, Groom Lake, Hugh Caillard, James Cunningham, Lakenheath-Bentwaters UFO incident, Lionel 'Buster' Crabb, Lockheed, Lt Milton Torres, MI6, MoD UFO files, National Security Archive, Nikita Krushchev, Project Blue Book, RAF, RAF Lakenheath, Third World War 1956, U2 spyplane, UFOs
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Finding Needles in the MoD Haystack – guest blog
I am pleased to welcome veteran British UFOlogist Jenny Randles for this guest blog reflecting on the release of the Ministry of Defence UFO files: After the furore over the release of the final MoD files the UFO debate may … Continue reading
UFO? = UAV
Chinese lanterns are the source of many ‘UFO‘ sightings – but the role played by remote-controlled drones should not be overlooked. UCAVs (unmanned combat air vehicles) are used extensively, and controversially, by both the USAF and RAF in combat operations … Continue reading
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Tagged Afghanistan, BAE systems, Bromley, BUFORA, Chief Scientific Advisor, drones, Matt Lyons, Ministry of Defence, RAF, Raven, Royal Navy, ScanEagle, Sir Ronald Mason, The National Archives, The Times, UAVs, UCAVs, UFO, UFOs, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned combat air vehicles, Woomera, Yemen
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Crop Circles – the MI5 file
Crop circles dating back to the Second World War are “proof the phenomenon is no modern hoax”, according to a story published by The Huffington Post. Research by an Australian archaeologist, using images from Google Earth’s new 1945 overlay, has … Continue reading
Saucer Sam – the UFO story that convinced a Government minister
The second edition of my book The UFO Files – based on the latest documents released by The National Archives – will be published by Bloomsbury in September. One of the most interesting stories from the book was previewed in … Continue reading
