Too many word slingers these days use abbreviations without explanation. Not me. UAP: unidentified aerial phenomena; NHIs: non-human intelligences; NHEs: non-human extraterrestrials; AI: artificial intelligence. As for angels and demons, should there be any, they would fall under NHIs.
You already know what UFO stands for. Many of you, however, fail to understand that UFO does not have the same extension as NHE. A UFO may or may not be a NHE
On 27 July 2025 I wrote:
You may remember our ‘demonic’ discussion from last summer. [The summer of ’24] See Reading Now: Demonic Foes. The comment thread runs to 61 entries, some of them excellent.
Bro Joe now wants us to read: Satanic AI: ChatGPT gives instructions.
Another topic we ought to explore is the possibility of demonic possession of AI systems.
According to Richard Gallagher, M.D., “The essence of a possession is the actual control of the body (never the ‘soul’ or will’) of a person by one or more evil spirits.” (Demonic Foes, p. 80). Now AI systems do not have souls or wills of their own (or so I argue), but they do have bodies, albeit inorganic. Might they then host demons?
Gallagher’s book is outstanding. So if you think demonology is buncombe, you should study his book and disembarrass yourself of your illusions.
I now draw your attention to Dreher who in a characteristically prolix recent entry refers us to a film on UAP:
The film’s focus is on science and national security. The only time religion and spirituality come up is briefly, early in the film, when several interviewees say there is a group of “fundamentalists” within the Deep State who try to discourage investigation into the UAP/NHI story, because they believe it’s all demonic, and we shouldn’t be messing with it. The movie gives you the sense that these crazy Christians are trying to inhibit progress.
They’re talking about the Collins Elite, about whom I wrote last year. I read a book about them last December, and wrote about it. From that newsletter:
After reading yesterday’s post here, a friend texted to suggest that the Collins Elite might be opposed to US Government engagement with these demonic entities not so much because they are afraid of the demons (though they are), but because they are more afraid of what we humans will do with the information we learn from them. This insight seems to be vindicated by what Redfern reports. Here Redfern quotes someone with experience of the Collins Elite:
“They came to believe that the NHEs were not extraterrestrial at all; they believed they were some sort of demonic entities. And that regardless of how benevolent or beneficial any of the contact they had with these entities seemed to be, it always ended up being tainted, for lack of a better term, with something that ultimately turned out to be bad. There was ultimately nothing positive from the interaction with the NHE entities. They felt it really fell more under the category of some vast spiritual deception instead of UFOs and aliens. In the course of the whole discussion, it was clear that they really viewed this as having a demonic origin that was there to simply try and confuse the issue in terms of who they were, what they wanted, and what the source of the ultimate truth is. If you extrapolate from their take that these are demons in the biblical sense of the word, then what they would be doing here is trying to create a spiritual deception to fool as many people as possible.”
More:
They were concerned that they had undertaken this initially with the best of intentions, but then as things developed they saw a very negative side to it that wasn’t apparent earlier. So, that’s what leads me to think they had a relatively lengthy involvement.” The story became even more complex when the reasoning behind, and the goals of, the project were revealed to Boeche:
“Most of it was related to psychotronic weaponry and remote viewing, and even deaths by what were supposed to be psychic methods.” Certainly, the NHEs, it was deduced by those attached to the DoD project, possessed extraordinary, and lethal, mental powers. And, as a result, deeper plans were initiated, using nothing less than ancient rites and black rituals, to actually try and contact the NHEs with two specific—some might say utterly crackpot—goals in mind: (1) controlling them and (2) exploiting their extraordinary mental powers in the form of devastating weaponry.”
“Boeche” is Ray Boeche, an Episcopal priest and theologian who had established himself as an investigator in the religious implications of UFOs. Two members of the Collins Elite — Defense Department physicists — approached him and shared with him their concerns:
The conversations [with Boeche] always followed broadly similar ground: namely, that the Human Race was being deceived into believing that it was receiving visitations from aliens, when in reality demonic forces were secretly squaring up for Armageddon and the final countdown. And, the DoD’s overwhelmingly reckless dabbling into occult-driven areas to try and make a bizarre-but-futile pact of some sort with these same forces was inevitably, and only, destined to make things much, much worse for each and every one of us.
One more:
With respect to his own views, as well as those of the two DoD physicists, Boeche added: “As a pastor and someone who’s trained as a theologian, I can’t come to any other conclusion than there is some sort of spiritual deception going on here. In so many of these kinds of alien contacts, the entities involved make a denial of Christianity; anytime the spiritual issues are addressed, there is always some sort of denial of the validity of Christianity and the validity of the Bible. And I find it interesting that these percipients are told that Jesus was a great guy, but you just misunderstood him. They say: he wasn’t really God’s son. You just don’t quite get it. But you never hear them say that about Buddha, or Krishna, or Mohammed. It always seems to come down to some sort of denial of Christianity. The percipients, whether you consider them contactees or abductees are engaged by the NHEs in spiritual discussions—but it’s always one-sided. “I would have a lot less suspicion of the potential of the demonic nature of these things if they were to say: ‘You guys are all screwed up; all of your spiritual leaders had some good ideas, but none of them really got it. It’s a big mess.’ But it seems to be so specifically pointed at the Judeo-Christian tradition. It certainly seems to me like it’s the two genuine forces squaring up against each other.”
Back to Dreher:
See, this is what I believe is probably the case. Someone who doesn’t turn up in the film is Jacques Vallée, who is the grey eminence of UAP studies. Vallée is in his eighties now, and is not a Christian, but has come to believe that whatever this phenomenon is, it is ultimately spiritual/non-material, and that these entities do not mean humanity well. Vallée has written a number of books; one of the most important is Passport To Magonia (1969); here is a link to read the entire text for free online. The book’s basic claim is that UAPs are not extraterrestrial visitors, but are probably interdimensional entities that have always been present among humans, but have manifested themselves in different ways, depending on the age and the culture.
For example, in a scientific-technological culture, these entities appear as creatures from space, because they can be understood within that paradigm. Vallée posits that these are the same entities that have in ages and cultures past have presented themselves as fairies, elves, and other paranormal or supernatural beings. He points out that many of the phenomena associated with so-called alien encounters and alien abductions, like time distortion, have also been reported in folklore across many cultures.
This seems entirely plausible to me. I know, call me crazy, but I think this is probably true. You new readers won’t know this, but I thought the whole UAP/UFO thing was … well, if not exactly nonsense, at least nothing I cared about. This was the case until around 2023, when a journalist friend in Rome, a Catholic, told me that he knows I think all this is fairly silly, but that I should give it a second look, because there’s a lot coming out about it — and there’s very much a religious and spiritual angle to it. I found out that this is actually true.
Bill,
I agree that Gallagher’s book is “outstanding,” and, like you, I do not deny the possibility that demonic spirits exist and exert their powers over human beings and objects, although as in other matters of this kind, the evidence, while striking, does not rise to the level of a logical proof.
I have some trouble, however, in following those, like Dreher, who too uncritically, I think, suggest that UAP phenomena are the work of NHIs and, explicitly, demons. I say this because there appear to be too much variance between what the literature, mostly but not exclusively Roman Catholic, on exorcism reveals about demonic activity. Specifically, exorcists and those with scientific training who work with them, such as Gallagher, report that such activity is manifested in three principal ways: (1) infestation, its earliest state, when a demonic entity is attached to a place, a house, or an object, but not yet a person (knocking, footsteps, moving objects, noxious odors, changes in temperature, feelings of being watched or fear) ; (2) oppression, when the demon(s) has targeted a person but still lacks internal control of him (great fear, anxiety, depression, nightmares, physical attacks, suicidal thoughts, compulsive sinful acts, etc.); (3) possession, when the demon(s) has taken internal, full or partial, control of the person’s body but not his soul (speaking unknown languages, more than human strength, violent reaction to holy objects).
I will speak here only of (1) infestation, which the informed sources on demons describe as an essentially localized phenomenon, something that is bound to a particular place or object. This marked localization of demonic activity is not at all characteristic of UAPs, which are wide-spread, mobile phenomena, not tied to particular places. They also appear to be unique objects with mobile masses, rather than ordinary objects that are, as with infestation, moving unexplainably. Also, while the unusual movements of UAPs have been observed both visually and by radar, these, while astonishing, are not psychologically oppressive or frightening, as are the sounds, movements, and odors of a true infestation. And this is because the target of the latter is always the spiritual core of a person, with the demon employing preternatural powers to internally destabilize him as a means to exert control. Where is this or, indeed, the next stage (2) oppression, evident in the UAP sightings?
So, while I do not deny the possible existence of demonic spirits, I think that people like Dreher are rather too desperate to invoke them as an explanation for UAPs.
Vito
Vito,
Excellent comments, as usual. And thanks for reminding us of the tripartite distinction between infestation, oppression, and possession. One of the reasons you give why demons cannot infest UAPs is that the latter are typically mobile whereas demonic infestation afflicts “particular places or objects.” But why couldn’t a vehicle, a ‘flying saucer,’ be infested? Such a vehicle is a particular object, but a mobile one. There was a Seinfeld episode in which a car emanated a noxious odor that Jerry speculated was due to an ‘entity.’ Why couldn’t a car or any vehicle be demonically infested? Is that ruled out by the definition of ‘infestation’?
Your other reasons, however, strike me as unexceptionable.
I can’t recall whether I told you the following story. Years ago I was backpacking through the Grand Canyon. One night I was camped near Phantom Ranch (auspicious name!) at the bottom of the canyon. Before retreating into my tent for the night, I looked heavenward. I espied a bright object (more cautiously, a point of bright light) that SUDDENLY in a split second traversed my entire visual field. I had an experience of an UAP. What can I infer from that experience? Not much. A UFO? No, because it might not have been a discrete flying object. And even it was that, it would not follow that it was piloted by or sent by extraterrestrial non-demonic intelligent beings, let alone ETs possessed by demons, or spacecraft piloted by demons.
You will agree that a high degree of skepticism is called for. The world is full of gullible people, not to mention full of hustlers, mountebanks, and frauds.
Concerning the ‘intersectionality’ of the demonic and UAP, the correct attitude is one of suspension of judgment pending more evidence.
As for the existence of angels and demons, I would say that the correct attitude is neither dogmatic affirmation nor dogmatic denial, nor suspension of judgement. We ought not suspend judgment because too much is a stake WRT our (possible) future felicity. We ought to live as if we survive our bodily deaths in some individual personal form and that we will be judged (as Wittgenstein believed). To see things as I do, I suspect you would have to have the sense that this world is a ‘vanishing quantity,’ i.e., so transient as to lack plenary reality and value, and, taken on its own terms, deeply unsatisfactory. In Buddhist terms: sarvam dukkham!
Bill,
In speaking of “particular places or objects,” I should have indicated that these are ones to which the targeted person has a strong emotional or habitual attachment. So, while a flying saucer is, indeed, “a particular object but a mobile one,” it lacks this sort of intimate and potent psychological meaning for the victim. Specifically, demons choose places where the victim feels safe (a home, bedroom [very common, especially at night during sleep, when the person is most vulnerable), workplace.), since the violation of a such a space increases his fear, anguish, and oppression. As for objects, the ones that are often infested are those with which the target has strong, often even excessive, love or bond. UAPs don’t meet any of these criteria.
As for angels and demons, I agree that one has decide either to affirm or deny the existence of these spiritual beings. I think that there are good reasons to believe that they do exist, but I do not know that they do. So, I agree that we should eschew either dogmatic affirmation or dogmatic denial.
Vito
Bill,
One additional comment: In evaluating the explanation of UAPs as the work of demons, we should remind ourselves of the intentions and objectives of these malevolent spiritual beings in instances of infestation, oppression, and possession. First of all, they seek to separate the targeted person from God, ultimately dying in a state of mortal sin. The various manifestations of the preternatural powers of demons are means and not ends to achieve this goal. Secondly, they seek to inflict maximum suffering and destruction on the unfortunate victim in this life (the destruction of faith, personal relationships, and mental stability; the encouragement of addictions, perversions, violence, and scandal (the cause of others falling into sin); thirdly, they desire to mock and offend God through inducing the targeted person to engage in obscene gestures and language that degrade the body and mind, his creations. The link between these objectives, derived from the testimonies of exorcists and informed others, and the motions of UAPs would have to be established through the testimonies of those who have suffered one or more of the normal harms of demonic activity; and, the proponents of the demonic/UAP link have failed to do this. Dreher and others like him, in their obsession with “re-enchanting” the world, are highly prone to jump to these sorts of conclusions. I prefer the traditional cautious, skeptical but not dismissive approach of the RCC, which exhausts all other explanations before speaking of the demonic.
Vito
PS Happy Thanksgiving!