Gloria Dixon is Director of Investigations at BUFORA, the British UFO Research Organisation. She co-ordinates all reports that come into BUFORA, passing them on to teams of investigators throughout the UK.
Although BUFORA is now in its 40th year, building a reputation for solid research in the field of ufology, it has had its share of controversy over the last few years. Accusations and general invective have been directed its way, followed by key BUFORA resignations. Its probably fair to say that a lot of this is the result of professional rivalry and jealousy manifested in various forms; such a state of affairs is endemic to the field of UFO research, which would appear to be riven by more factions than a South American democracy.
However, Gloria Dixon’s reputation has always seemed to be above this sniping. Even BUFORA’s detractors praise her work and her commitment to the values of ethical research – the perfect interview subject, then, for an impartial observer such as myself. And so it proved. Gloria’s intelligence and open-mindedness are immediately obvious in the following transcript. I came away with more questions than answers regarding the subject of UFOs, but that’s what it is all about: Gloria doesn’t offer any easy solutions, because there are none. There is only hard work.
The mystery remains.
Gloria, how did you become interested in UFO research?
It was when I lived in the United States back in the 1970s. My father was a naturalised American and an aeronautical engineer who worked on the Space Program during the 1960s, which was of course a very exciting time. This led me to read “Project Blue Book”, the United States official Air Force investigation into UFOs from 1952 to 1969. Dr J Allen Hynek, one of the world’s leading ufologists, was scientific adviser to Project Blue Book for several years.
Have you ever witnessed a manifestation of the UFO phenomenon?
I have never observed anything in the sky for which I could find no possible explanation.
What drives you to pursue a field of research that is often the cause of derision and ridicule from media and scientific circles?
I am exploring the idea of UFOs and how perceptions and beliefs influence the way people observe things. UFOs mean “unidentified flying objects”, not extraterrestrial spacecraft. It is very important to understand the inaccuracy of most observations of lights and objects that people perceive to be UFOs, when within the correct resources and time parameters, these could actually be explained and become IFOs: “identified flying objects”.
A very high percentage of cases could be explained if reported within 24 hours and with the correct information from the witness. Of course there are many problems that emanate from media and scientific disciplines about this field of research, but this does not disturb me in the least. First of all, the scientific community has limited knowledge of the amount of raw data that organisations such as BUFORA receive. There is no doubt that this data should be investigated in order to evaluate just what could be going on with a residual of sightings that cannot be explained at this time.
The media is another matter: they are selling entertainment to the public. It is rare for a documentary or program to do much more than this, as they usually manage to misinform the public completely about the real possibilities of this field of research. And so the beat goes on, with the general public soaking up the idea of alien abduction and fleets of spaceships in our skies without an ounce of definitive proof to back this up. The real and significant issues are edited out or never addressed in the first place.
In your time with BUFORA, which case has stood out the most?
Obviously there are well-documented cases, some of which have certainly not withstood the test of time. There are several cases that I have personally investigated and that appear at this time to have no rational explanation. It is therefore difficult to select only one. However, in July of 1995 in West Yorkshire, some events occurred that were quite extraordinary and certainly have left the witnesses still searching for an explanation.
There were four people on a summer’s evening enjoying a barbecue in their back garden. They experienced a strange atmosphere prior to observing an unknown object over their garden, then a strange silence where all familiar sounds ceased. One witness described this as “one step below silence”. It then appears that all four people experienced a time discrepancy of one hour and ten minutes, and afterwards some physiological effects.
Two of the primary witnesses have been interviewed several times and they are ordinary people who underwent extraordinary experiences. There were no drugs involved. The BUFORA investigator who interviewed two of the witnesses is a paramedic and was convinced they were telling the truth. Several years on, this certainly appears to be the case. The incident is documented on the BUFORA web site.
How did BUFORA come into existence?
BUFORA was founded in 1962 as a federation of UFO groups throughout the UK. Many of these groups were formed in the 1950s. In 1962 the group was known as the “British UFO Association”, changing its name in 1964 to the present [(B]ritish [UFO R]esearch [A]ssociation. It became a company limited by guarantee in 1975. It is run entirely by volunteers, relying solely on its members to fund and conduct its research and investigation activities.
Would you say BUFORA is now the peak body for UFO research in Britain? Does BUFORA act as a kind of “umbrella” organisation for British UFO groups?
Well, it is certainly the only national UFO organization in the UK. We are sometimes regarded as the major body for UFO research and recognised by many agencies, including press and media, when information is required on UFOs. There have certainly been times when BUFORA has been perceived as an umbrella organisation, and local groups have been connected with BUFORA as associate groups in the past.
Can you explain a little about BUFORA’s “Psychology of Perception” project?
This is a long-term project addressing the many issues surrounding perception and beliefs, and particularly how they relate to UFO reports and experiences. This is in terms of how different people react to unknown events and experiences using the imagery they have in order to explain what has occurred. Together with their beliefs, desires and perception, this can affect how the content of these events is reported to BUFORA.
The BUFORA web site states that 10% of UFO cases relate to paranormal events. What kind of activity is this referring to?
This looks at how interpretations of strange events are being understood and drawn together by the witness. For example, the folklore of yesterday has transcended into the “grey alien” imagery of today. It has been fascinating to see how witness perception has changed during the ’80s and ’90s. Interpretation of strange events or experiences often mirror imagery the witnesses have downloaded into their unconscious mind, such as the idea of visiting aliens and flying saucers.
Interpretation of such events has changed to fit modern day beliefs. As our technology has advanced in a dramatic way over the last 20 years, people are looking to the skies for answers, in the form of visitors from outer space. They are asking more questions and seeking the answers on a scale unknown before. As people move from orthodox religion to New Age-type cults, they are becoming more spiritually aware with a need to explore that spirituality.
Is there much evidence to support a causal link between UFO reports and PSI experiences?
I believe there is a strong link between the residual of UFO experiences that cannot be explained and psychic phenomena. Actually, BUFORA has a new publication on this particular subject, UFOs and the PSI Interface, which addresses this question in detail.
A percentage of reports that come into BUFORA appear to have no actual observation of a UFO. The witness may instead see a strange figure or lights in their bedroom at night, or undertake a car journey where they feel they have experienced “missing time” and odd lights and events, along with fragmented memories of what has occurred. Because of the powerful representations of aliens and extraterrestrial craft carried within the media – press, books, magazines – some visions of ghostly figures and various other paranormal occurrences are now being perceived as some kind of alien presence, contact or visitation.
Can you explain a little why regression hypnosis is unacceptable to BUFORA as a tool for research?
Regression hypnosis is really problematic to use as a method for eliciting an accurate “truth” about a UFO experience, and cannot be regarded as giving any objective validity to the event or experience. It can be an extremely powerful tool and, in some instances, dangerous. During the trance state, witnesses can be in an extremely suggestive state and therefore fantasy can create a large part of their “memories”. They can subsequently regard the UFO or abduction event as having actually occurred in real time.
In other words, the recording or transcript of their hypnosis will be reinforced more by any further hypnosis sessions, each one accentuating the fantasy further and gradually taking on a life of its own. This is why BUFORA holds a moratorium on the use of regression hypnosis by any BUFORA investigator. There is no doubt at all that this method of investigation by other groups has caused problems for some witnesses.
Furthermore, memory itself is highly inaccurate, even though we feel that things are just as we remember them. This is not the case at all. The brain is very selective about what we choose to remember, and even then, every time we draw on that memory we can edit and change it. The emotions that may be involved in a memory can also change the way in which we recall it.
What does BUFORA hope to achieve with its research and investigations? Is there an eventual outcome – pressuring the government to release documentation, for example?
Little has ever been achieved with pressuring the government to release documents. Even the 30-year-release of documents by the PRO (Public Records Office) does not often give a lot of significant information. Anything that needs to be hidden from public scrutiny can be hidden forever. BUFORA is a research organisation. We gather reports and set up projects to research various aspects of the UFO phenomenon, looking at patterns that may emerge and tell us more about the people who report them. There would be no UFO reports without observers, and therefore it is crucial that we look very closely at the perceptions and beliefs of those who report UFO events.
Can you explain a little about BUFORA’s “Alternative to ETH” project?
This looks in a comprehensive way at the alternatives to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis, at explanations for UFOs other than “nuts-and-bolts” spaceships in our skies. There are a host of other possible explanations, such as unusual atmospheric phenomena. There’s also powerful electromagnetic fields that can interact with the brain, causing hallucinatory effects like “missing time” and all kinds of internally generated visual images, as well as physiological problems.
Some “high strangeness” UFO cases very possibly lie within the paranormal field of study, and have been misunderstood or misinterpreted by the witness to be associated with UFO and alien encounters. Sleep disorders such as “hypnagogia”, the altered stated of consciousness between waking and sleeping, can cause incorrect interpretation of an event. This “altered state” can allow visions or the sense of a presence, appearing very real indeed to the person who is having them.
Another disorder is “sleep paralysis“, which occurs during sleep in order to prevent the person acting out their dreams and having a nasty accident. Unfortunately this condition can sometimes transcend into “waking time” in some reasonably rare cases, causing severe panic for the person. Then there are “awakening dreams”, where people are convinced that their dream has actually been a reality of an event. It then becomes difficult for them to accept that it was a dream. This is quite a common occurrence. Mental health issues also come into the equation.
Does BUFORA enjoy cooperation and support from the scientific community? Or are you very much working in isolation?
We do not have a great deal of support from the scientific community. Certainly, there has been some support from psychology, particularly if we have had various BUFORA members who were professionals or involved in various aspects of science. But we do work independently from the scientific community. This is difficult at times, particularly as BUFORA is a very objective organisation and covers a wide-ranging area of possible explanations for anomalous phenomena.
What support do you get from mainstream British media?
Actually, the reverse is true: the media receive a lot of support from BUFORA when they contact us regarding research for TV documentaries, or chat shows, or items for radio programs on UFOs and related topics. We often have to contribute in a major way to these programs, in order to provide information about the whole UFO subject and the diverse area that this encompasses. This is so the media are informed enough in order to present a reasonable program or debate on aspects of the UFO field of study. I am sorry to say that often they still do not get it right and manage to focus on areas that entertain only, omitting very important issues concerning the UFO subject in general.
Does BUFORA pursue an active interest in crop circles?
Not to any great degree. There are certainly BUFORA members who are extremely interested in crop circles, but I fail to see that there is a mystery here at all. I have no doubt that the exotic circles are hoaxes, and the simpler ones have been around for a long time, maybe created by some kind of vortex, or whirlwind, or some other anomaly. I have to admit that crop circles do not interest me one little bit in the sense of them being created by UFOs.
A few years back, UFO symbols and myths were so popular in the media and general culture, whereas now their coverage is reduced to almost nothing, a parody if anything. Why do you think this is? How does this trend alter or shape your research?
Everything comes in ebbs and flows and trends, according to how reports have evolved. The idea of abduction by aliens became increasingly popular during the ’80s and ’90s, and certainly the literature that was published during this time reflected that idea. Examples are Whitley Strieber’s book Communion and the writings of American abduction researcher Budd Hopkins.
This was followed by followed by The X Files and other documentaries and programs. As alien abduction slowly entered the collective unconsciousness, it created enormous problems for BUFORA and other UFO groups. Obviously, various trends do present problems, but also it is a great learning curve about the enormous potential of the human consciousness and how we perceive extraordinary events and experiences according to modern day beliefs.
This gives us the ability to try to understand the underlying causes for why people believe in all kinds of things. It is also interesting to explore the patterns that emerge within different cultures and whether there is a conflict in the visual imagery they report.
What do you make of Timothy Good’s work? As someone who has undertaken rigorous, seemingly impartial research, he has now apparently come out in support of the “extraterrestrial hypothesis”.
Well, I know Tim and I admire him very much as a dedicated author and researcher into this field of study. I believe from his books and research he does seem to support the idea of extraterrestrial visitation. I do not share some of his ideas and views and neither does he share mine. Two sides of an issue are always needed in order to learn anything. Frankly, I feel there is no definitive proof that we are being visited by aliens from “out there”. There are however quite a few of them running around on our own planet at times!
The only real evidence we have comes from witnesses who feel they have observed something totally inexplicable or experienced various events and anomalies, which they cannot easily explain. However, this does not mean they cannot be explained eventually by something possibly far more fascinating than extraterrestrial visitation. I keep my mind open to the elusive possibility that there is something more going on and we are being visited – but by whom and from where? There are indeed many mysteries, but whether these are created by alien visitation from outer space or something else from “inner space” – the enormous unexplored potential of the human consciousness – I have no idea. It would be wrong for me to make a real and qualified judgment on these issues.
Is it fair to say that BUFORA shies away from attributing UFO cases and close encounters to the extraterrestrial hypothesis?
No, that would not be entirely fair. BUFORA is a broad church and our members hold many different opinions on what they believe is occurring. Our position is that BUFORA’s “accredited investigators” conduct investigation of any sighting or close encounter case within the guidelines of our aims and objectives. Therefore, it is our remit to do just this. This leads us to investigate all possibilities. As I’ve mentioned, there can be many reasons that people perceive and interpret a close encounter case as being extraterrestrial contact of some sort. This means the ETH is taken on board as one of the theories to explain a strange and disturbing event.
What does it take for a UFO case to be defined as “high strangeness”?
Cases can be defined as “high strangeness” for a variety of reasons, incorporating any experiences that do not just involve seeing something unusual in the sky, and where witnesses have problems in coming to terms with their experiences. For example, the report may feature some form of close range contact, or discrepancy involved. In some cases, there may be no actual UFO sighting. Witnesses may recall some occurrence during sleeping, such as awakening to odd lights or events in their bedroom. An event could also take place on a car journey, with totally inexplicable and disturbing events such as unusual objects or lights observed in very close proximity. This may lead witnesses to believe they have experienced a “time loss” of anything from minutes to several hours.
On the BUFORA web site, you state that “many anomalies have been dumped into the UFO pot during recent years including remote viewing, close encounter experiences, aliens, ghosts, visions, near-death experiences.” Is this desirable? Does it shed more light on the subject, or is it obscuring the point of your research?
I guess in some ways it can cloud the focus of our research, but actually the diversity of the reports that we receive is crucial. It is a question of belief or defining unknown experiences within the context of modern day trends and representations of these trends. Therefore, how these events are perceived triggers the agency to which people will make their reports. It has been apparent in the last few years that experiences that used to be perceived as paranormal events have now become identified as UFOs or aliens.
To answer your question, it is indeed desirable and actually essential that we incorporate all these cases within our research to look at the huge picture that surrounds the UFO subject. To focus within restrictive parameters just because we are a UFO research organisation would not further our understanding of the nature of this subject and, more importantly, the nature of people who report them.
In Britain, have UFO sightings abated, increased or remained constant in recent times? Why do you think this is?
Statistics for sighting reports to BUFORA have fallen steadily in the last few years, indicating that there is still a downward trend in interest. The year 2000 generated 163 reports and fell to a total of 142 in 2001. Out of these, 10 per cent fall into the high strangeness category. The rest remain purely as reports of unusual lights in the sky.
However, we are restricted by a lack of interest on the part of the witness when we try to obtain further information. There is enthusiasm in reporting to our web site, but continuity is lacking when the witnesses discover the mundane questions of form filling, or their interest fades. People want to believe they have reported something that is remarkable and unexplainable, and lose interest rapidly if this is not the case. The decline in reports started in 1998 and has continued to date.
Is there anything peculiar to the majority of British UFO cases – any general trend as opposed to the experience of other countries?
This is a difficult question to answer from an informed point of view. Certainly in Europe and America, reports that come in seem to have a similar theme, but of course there are cultural differences as to how people perceive the more exotic encounters. However, as more information has become available via the internet, it will be interesting to see if similar patterns emerge. Certainly, there are great similarities with cases from different countries and how people observe or experience unusual anomalies.
What’s BUFORA’s program for cutting through the confusion and divisions within the UFO community to present a coherent, focused program of research?
I don’t really have an answer to this one. BUFORA has been under attack through the years from a few people who perceive various problems. As stated before, this will always be a problem in a subject such as UFOs and related phenomena. It attracts many people with very conflicting beliefs and ideas and so there will be dissension between various researchers.
However, there is also excellent work being conducted by dedicated and visionary researchers in the field, which balances the problem of this discord.
BUFORA has also had real success in addressing some very important issues within ufology. We are at the cutting edge of understanding the diverse links between many anomalous phenomena, and also the idea that there are so many factors involved within this subject, which need to be focused on individually. Examples of this are perception, interpretation and memory in relation to how people perceive these experiences.
The BUFORA web site states that “personal invective and general non-ufological debate as well as vociferous character assassination is now rife in many areas of ufology”. Why do you think this is?
There are great divides in the beliefs of the researchers involved and this can generate a great conflict between some individual researchers and groups. You will have “believers” in the idea of alien contact, and skeptics and debunkers. The problem is there is no definitive proof either way.
This has influenced how progress in this subject has been slowed down. Politics takes time and energy away from many dedicated researchers, who have wasted a lot of time trying to defend themselves and their research. Ultimately, this has achieved nothing because when powerful beliefs become part of what is perceived to be objective research, then we remain uninformed.
