Chasing Aliens

 

I have been to a second event at Conway Hall, London in the space of a month; see here for the first: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2026/04/strange-central.html. This new event was on a Friday evening. Despite being billed as just ninety minutes it was far more expensive than Strange Central which was an all-day one. It was called "Chasing Aliens" and was set up to launch a new book of the same name by Daniel Lavelle. The proceedings consisted of a dialogue between him and somebody I'm very familiar with, Jon Ronson. I used to watch Ronson's documentaries in the late '90's when I was first getting into the Conspirasphere. For several years I was a very active member of his forum and I made a few friends there whom I'm still in touch with. This is all despite disliking Ronson's early works. Secret Rulers of the World was distorted and misleading, especially the one about David Icke. I was far more enthusiastic about his later book The Men Who Stare at Goats and its accompanying documentary Crazy Rulers of the World. However, I was deeply frustrated that at the very moment Jon broke into something truly revealing and extraordinary, he failed to grasp the significance of his own discovery and pulled back. The project was reduced to the level of a joke and even ended up being adapted into a comedy movie with George Clooney. Now Daniel Lavelle has written a book about his own attempt at gonzo journalism, probably inspired by Ronson. A few years ago he was going through a difficult time in his life, suffering from a mental breakdown and eventually he spent some time homeless and sleeping rough. He found solace and healing in a strange place, but one not entirely unique. He is a 2017er with no previous interest in UFO's, but he developed one after reading the famous New York Times article in December 2017. His life story reminded me of Steven Cambian who also went through a period of terrible mental health and addiction. He also managed to cling on to the dregs of his sanity by watching X-Con videos, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2023/06/david-grusch-reply-to-steven-cambian.html. Lavelle's path down the rabbit hole of UFOlogy did not last long. He was pulled back from complete belief by a disappointingly unoriginal process. He discovered that the "gimbal" footage merely showed jet engines and that the "go fast" was a seagull. He also came across and accepted the theory that alien abduction is just a form of sleep paralysis. All these propositions are extremely formulaic. They came off the skeptic production line many years ago from people like Mick West. I am convinced that they are also completely false.

The evidence of the Nimitz footage, including detailed interviews with the witnesses, discredits the mundane explanation. The idea that alien abduction is sleep paralysis was comprehensively debunked by many experts, including the research psychologist Andrew Hodrien, brother of David, see: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2024/03/hpanwo-show-541-podcast-dave-hodrien.html. As somebody affected by SP myself, I can vouch for that, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2015/03/sleep-paralysis-and-shadow-people.html. Daniel is also convinced that the missing scientists mystery is just coincidence and a misunderstanding of statistics. Again, this is another off-the-shelf skepper cope, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2026/05/ufo-disclosure-2026-may-surprise.html. I had no doubt by the end of the dialogue that the audience question-and-answer session would be the most interesting part of the evening. I'm pleased to say that one of the attendees took Lavelle and Ronson to task for embracing the Nimitz cop-out. I gave him a long and hearty clap, which felt strange because nobody else did. Everybody turned to look at me, but I'm glad I did it. The other questioners were a bit more Ronsonian, but they did bring up a few interesting points. Why are UFO's primarily an American phenomenon? The answer is that they are not. It appears that way because the US publicized and popularized UFO's long before any other country did. The politics of the Cold War emphasized this apparent American exceptionalism. Jon Ronson unhappily raised the issue of why UFO culture seems to consist of "mostly white men". I cringed! I have addressed this idiocy myself before, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2021/08/women-in-ufology.html. There was a long discussion over whether belief in aliens was harmful. They raised the Heaven's Gate cult, the Q-Shaman and mental healthcare for people reporting alien contact. Miles Johnston was also there and has published his own brief coverage, see: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1354555423243623. I got to ask the panel a question myself and I simply asked Jon if he'd heard that Marcus Allen had died. Jon said he knew the name, but hadn't heard. He said he was sorry to hear it. Marcus took part in Ronson's documentary For The Love Of... in 1997, see: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2026/02/hpanwo-show-618-marcus-allen-in-memoriam.html. Miles was also in another episode. After the event I went to the pub with Miles and Colin Woolford.

Ironically this was the same day that the big UAP file release happened, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2026/05/uap-files-release-livestream.html. I wish I had stayed at home instead to report on it. The "Chasing Aliens" event was unfortunately very boring and hackneyed. It was so repetitive that I could almost have written the script myself. I don't object to it being very skeptical in theme; what bothers me is that its skepticism was not more original. It just echoed the mistakes so many others made. I'm glad Mr Lavelle has recovered from his malaise though. Even if he found a cure in falsehood, I'm happy for him. Colin, Miles and I had far more fun going through the fresh US Department of War data drops over a pint or three. I left early, long before the others, because I had to get all the way back to Oxford and I had work the following day. It was a good job I did because for some reason the coach left the motorway somewhere just beyond High Wycombe and went on a random jaunt through the darkest countryside before rejoining the A40 just before Oxford. I had no idea where it went or why; the driver never announced it. I didn't get home until almost one AM.

See here for background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2017/01/is-david-icke-dangerous.html.