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
- The Pentagon's Updated Statement: AATIP Studied UAPs May 22, 2021
- Understanding the US Government's UFO Programs May 17, 2021
- 40 years and the Cash-Landrum UFO Case December 11, 2020
- Flying Saucer Swindlers: Four Convictions November 6, 2020
- UAP Task Force: The Pentagon Responds to Questions September 2, 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
- Who Are They? What Do They Want? May 16, 2021
- An Empty Suit April 20, 2021
- Synchronicity, Irish Style September 9, 2019
- Project Blue Book - A Review January 28, 2019
- Stan Friedman Retires March 13, 2018
Tag Archives: UFOs
How UFOs Conquered the World – without firing a shot
BBC History Magazine/History Extra published my article that explains how the idea of visitors in mysterious flying objects grew from its origins in the Cold War into the most enduring modern myth. You can read the main feature here (password … Continue reading
ATTACK OF THE DRONES
At 9pm on Wednesday, 19 December 2018, a security guard left work at Gatwick in Sussex, Britain’s second busiest airport. As he waited in the rain for a bus he saw two lighted objects hovering low in the sky inside … Continue reading
RADAR UAP UPDATE
Two new Cold War era stories concerning mysterious ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’ (UAP) have been added to my RADAR pages. Both form part of my personal archive of interviews, archive documents and FOI materials that cover radar detection of UAPs from … Continue reading
RAF tracked UFO in orbit from Yorkshire early warning base
Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) ballistic missile early warning station at Fylingdales in North Yorkshire has detected an ‘unknown object’ that appeared in Earth’s orbit. Top brass at the BMEWS base – that is part of the NORAD missile defence … Continue reading
Rendlesham UFOs 40th anniversary: The Man from the Ministry speaks for the first time
This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of Britain’s best known UFO legend, when unidentified Christmas lights haunted the sky above Suffolk’s Rendlesham forest. Books, TV dramas and films have portrayed the sightings reported by groups of US air force personnel … Continue reading
Two Podcasts: All About UFOs and Covid-19 folklore
Children’s publisher Usborne have reissued the classic 1977 title All About UFOs from The World of the Unknown series. The UFO title is the second in the series to be brought back through popular demand (a companion volume on ghosts … Continue reading
Close Encounters (at a distance): the UFOlore Podcast
The first episode of the UFOlore podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify and TuneIn. We hope this weekly dose of discussion surrounding the folklore of UFOs and those who see and believe in them will be a nostalgic distraction from … Continue reading
DRONES AND UFOs: new data reveals rise in close encounters with aircraft in UK airspace
Aircrew have a reported an increase in the numbers of close encounters between ‘unknown objects’ and passenger aircraft since a drone caused chaos at Gatwick Airport. A pattern of disturbing incidents has emerged from data obtained by a team of … Continue reading
British Online Archives: The UFO Files
In episode 2 of the British Online Archives podcast I talk about The National Archives UFO project and my campaign to persuade the Ministry of Defence to open their files to the public. Host Jim Chisem asked me to explain … Continue reading
Who Dares Wins?: Britain’s Roswell meets the SAS
‘If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise…’ (Anne Murray) Christmas 2018 marks the 38th anniversary of the mysterious events in the Rendlesham forest near RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk that became Britain’s best known … Continue reading
