Originally published on June 17, 2024 (Episode 363)
Introduction
On June 24, 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a chain of strange objects flying past Mount Rainier. His description gave rise to the term “flying saucer,” and a cultural phenomenon was born. While Arnold’s sighting wasn’t the first of its kind, it marked the beginning of an unprecedented global wave of speculation, investigation, and debate—not necessarily about aliens, but about ourselves.
With me to discuss how UFO sightings have shaped human culture is Greg Eghigian, Professor of History and Bioethics at Pennsylvania State University and author of After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon (OUP, 2024).
About the Guest
Greg Eghigian is Professor of History and Bioethics at Pennsylvania State University. His work spans the histories of science, medicine, crime, and culture. Among his publications are The Corrigible and the Incorrigible: Science, Medicine, and the Convict in Twentieth Century Germany (Michigan, 2015) and the edited volume The Routledge History of Madness and Mental Health (Routledge, 2017).
For Further Investigation
Greg Eghigian, After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon (OUP, 2024)
—, The Corrigible and the Incorrigible: Science, Medicine, and the Convict in Twentieth Century Germany (Michigan, 2015)
—, The Routledge History of Madness and Mental Health (Routledge, 2017).
Reading list suggested by Greg Eghigian
Matthew Bowman, The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America (Yale, 2023)
David Clarke, How UFOs Conquered the World: The History of a Modern Myth (Aurum, 2022)
D.W. Pasulka, American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology (OUP, 2019)
Sarah Scoles, They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers (Pegasus, 2020)
Garrett M. Graff, UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government’s Search for Alien Life Here – and Out There (Avid Reader Press, 2023)
Brenda Denzler, The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs (California, 2003)
Related Episodes
Iwan Rhys Morus on “How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon”
Tom Misa on “The History of Technology, from Leonardo to the Internet”
💬 Listen & Discuss
Do you think UFOs tell us more about outer space or about human hopes and fears here on Earth? Share your thoughts in the comments—and pass this episode along to a friend who’s ever looked up and wondered.
