Brian Dunning attacks a local Missouri legend that, as he notes upfront, produced a “cottage industry” for a perhaps-unfortunately-named small town. Brian also has explanations for a variety of such local wonders worldwide. Dunning maintains that Native American lore seemingly predating such “spooklights'” did not see print “until well into the 1900s.” This is not an especially strong point. Indigenous peoples’ wisdom and memory were long undervalued by white colonials and have only recently become recognized and valued by traditional science. With that in mind we read Bibhu Dev Misra’s Native American Legends about the Star People and Their Flying Shields. “Flying Shields” are not just the property of ancient Mediterranean civilizations, Dev Misra shows, and finds connections between New World kachinas and Australian aboriginal Wandjina art. Dev Misra argues for “a possibility that our understanding of the UFO phenomenon can be enriched through an understanding of the indigenous beliefs and traditions.” The Native American Star People tradition has been explored in depth by Dr. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke in several books, including More Encounters with Star People: Urban American Indians Tell their Stories and Space Age Indians: Their Encounters with the Blue Men, Reptilians, and Other Star People, published by Anomalist Books. (WM)
— Delivered by Feed43 service