The Influence of Science-Fictional Content: A Non-Issue or a Ufological Pandemic?

Greetings. V. Star Trek. Dark Skies. The X-Files. Lost in Space. The Invaders. Battlestar Galactica. The list is prolonged to say the least. 

While science-fiction has offered the public a plethora of bizarre worlds, iconic characters, incredible technologies, and fascinating possibilities, has it contaminated the unconscious minds of some, specifically people who allege that they have witnessed alien spacecraft flying through the sky, or those who claim, without proof, that extraterrestrial intelligences abducted them from their bedrooms or during the course of nighttime trips on lonely roads? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Way back in the 19th Century, the science-fictional creations of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells helped to set the foundations for what Hugo Gernsback termed, in 1926, as "science fiction." Their stories usually centred on marvellous machines and devices that could help us explore our own world and the innumerable uncharted worlds that lay beyond. As an example, Jules Verne’s 31st novel (31st!) "Robur the Conqueror," opens with worldwide sightings of unexplained lights in the sky. It is eventually discovered that the sightings are the creation of a contraption named The Albatross, conceived by an individual named Robur, who subsequently abducts three non-believers and takes them on a tour of the world, with astronomers, being totally unaware of the actual perpetrator, explaining away the sightings of the craft as simple misidentifications and visual misperceptions. Sounds like the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book doesn't it?

By 1896 and 1897 hundreds of people reported observing strange objects in the sky and encounters with their odd pilots and inventors. The majority of these sightings were likely the result of misidentifications of mundane celestial phenomena, pranksters sending lighted balloons aloft, or outright journalistic hoaxes like the infamous Aurora, Texas hoax from April of 1897. It is obvious that these visions in the sky were based on the science-fiction of Verne, Wells, and their peers/imitators, with the objects reported being described in terms that read like their previous publications to a ufological tee.

As the UFO phenomenon moved into the 20th Century, the same scenario held true, with radio serials like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, along with science-fiction classics such as "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and "The War of The Worlds" capturing the general public's imagination, never to release its grip. It would be unrealistic to think that such science-fictional content had no influence whatsoever on what people thought about how potential aliens, and their spaceships, looked or operated, however, there are some UFO researchers who hold this very position. They seem to think that alleged UFO witnesses are describing, in vivid and completely accurate detail, their personal experiences with the UFO phenomenon. Nobody is ever wrong, nobody ever misidentifies anything, nobody is ever influenced by science-fictionalized content, and nobody ever lies. Nonsense.

Nowadays, the situation has not really changed to any significant degree, but one particular aspect has. The UFO "community" has become its own influence, its own echo chamber, and perhaps, just perhaps, it always has been so.

Thank you for your time and indulgence.