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.
Snopes.com – Rumour has it…- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Magonia Blog
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- 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
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- 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
- UAP Task Force: The Pentagon Responds to Questions September 2, 2020
- UFO Documents: Provenance and Credibility by Barry Greenwood June 28, 2020
- Pentagon Answers on Navy UAP Investigations May 18, 2020
- The Pentagon-funded Paranormal Research at Skinwalker Ranch April 30, 2020
- The Pentagon UFO Money Trail April 23, 2020
- 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
- Synchronicity, Irish Style September 9, 2019
- Project Blue Book - A Review January 28, 2019
- Stan Friedman Retires March 13, 2018
- Halifax gets Haunted! September 29, 2017
- Haunted Extra, Vol. 1.01 - Queen's County Museum Revisited August 17, 2017
Tag Archives: The Guardian
Folklore: 10 things you didn’t know about Halloween
What is the history of Halloween and when was it first celebrated? Why do we trick or treat? Why do we carve pumpkins? Dr David Clarke of the Centre for Contemporary Legend, Sheffield Hallam University, investigates the origins of this … Continue reading
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
‘I have some stuff you might be interested in…’: Edward Snowden and the ultimate secret
When four years ago Wikileaks published 250,000 US state department cables dating back to the 1960s, a believer in ET visitations asked why, in the great mass of data, there was not one major UFO secret. Soon afterwards, during a … Continue reading
UFO files – saved!
After six decades of official indifference UFO records have been finally recognised by Britain’s Ministry of Defence as being ‘historically significant’. MoD’s ‘Guidance for Record Reviewers’, lists files on ‘unidentified flying objects‘ alongside those concerning nuclear testing, Special Forces and … Continue reading
Dowsing for Death
News that three British government departments promoted the sale of useless bomb detectors to security forces around the world has caused shock and outrage. But this is just the latest example of otherwise skeptical military and defence officials who have … Continue reading
Space Age Folklore
Folklore is often regarded as something ‘other people’ have, certainly not educated people such as NASA staff at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. But a story on Stuart Clark’s Across The Universe blog for The Guardian demonstrates that we all have folklore … Continue reading
Silly Season Survey
Yes folks it’s August and we have officially entered the period of the summer that journalists have traditionally called ‘the Silly Season’. If you are a journalist please fill out a questionnaire to take part in my research into the origins … 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
