Manly P. Hall's Take on the UFO Mystery
Revisiting a key section from my book "Manly P. Hall: The Maestro of Esoteric Philosophy"
Today I’m sharing with you an excerpt from the book I published last year on Manly P. Hall. In it, I compile quotes from various articles and lectures of the famous philosopher which offer his take on the UFO mystery. As you’ll see, he concludes that the phenomenon is ultimately human-driven rather than extraterrestrial.
Hall is unique in that he also offers a deeper philosophical and psychological analysis of the UFO topic, discussing how the “flying saucer”, spinning-disc archetype heralds both the coming of the Aquarian Age and the widespread revelation of a universal energy field that surrounds us - the Ether.
If you want to read my full assessment of Hall’s take on the UFO, you’ll have to get my book on Hall (see chapter 3: “The Philosophy of the UFO”). For now, here’s an excerpt that breaks down why Hall thinks the UFO phenomenon suggests the existence of a secret research program within the government. (For paid subscribers, I’m sharing an additional section.)
Hall’s analysis confirms my own research on this topic, which I explore in depth in my forthcoming book The Coming World Nation. Notably, I had already put my thesis together by the time I stumbled upon Hall’s writings on the topic. It was quite gratifying to discover he had come to the same conclusions about it- only he had done so 70 years ago, well before any of the research I drew upon had even been published…
In a scattered selection of articles and lectures put out in the 1950s, ones featuring titles like “The Case of the Flying Saucers” (1950), “The Flying Saucers Fly Again” (1953), and “Dr. Jung and the Flying Saucers” (1959), Manly P. Hall offers a comprehensive assessment of the UFO topic, approaching it from different angles and analyzing its various layers and aspects.
Hall begins his assessment by offering a general definition of the UFO, writing: “Under the general heading of ‘Flying Saucers’ should be combined widely differing accounts of mysterious shapes, lights, glows, beams, gleams, etc.”
He also emphasizes that, when it comes to UFOs, “several distinct phenomena are present and more than one explanation is necessary to cover the subject.”
Hall points out that unidentified and mysterious flying objects “cover a period of nearly a thousand years” and that an even “greater antiquity could be established by reference to the accounts of mysterious forms seen hovering over Jerusalem at the time of the Roman conquest.”
A profound scholar of ancient mythology, Hall reminds us that “ancient myths and legends include accounts of gravity-defying mechanisms devised by magic and propelled by secret power.”
These myths trace back to the time of lost Atlantis, when the prehistoric priest-kings of the Atlantean race were said to have used their knowledge of alchemy to manufacture all manner of exotic technologies such as antigravity flying machines.
Modern-day UFO sightings began en masse around 1947, with the famous Roswell crash being the most well-known of the numerous incidents that took place that year.
Since 1947, UFO sightings have been reported with regularity, not just by the public, but also by the military and by national security officials within the US military-industrial complex.
Before the critical year of 1947, a number of UFO sightings had previously occurred during WWII, these being popularly dubbed “Foo Fighters” by onlookers at the time. Decades earlier, during the 1890s, an even older spate of sightings took place throughout North and South America, with onlookers describing mysterious steampunk-esque “flying airships” piloted by human operatives.
Writing and lecturing in the 1950s, Hall offered his take on various possible theories attempting to explain what could be the potential cause for the increase in UFO sightings in recent years.
The first possible explanation he considers is the most popular and well-known: that UFOs “come from outside the Earth’s atmosphere and originate somewhere among the outer worlds that dot the firmament.”
The second one he mentions is more overlooked, but also the most logical: that “the flying saucers bear witness to human ingenuity” and in truth are “included among the secret experiments carried out primarily to strengthen world armament.”
Putting these together, in his view, these are the “only two possible causes for (the phenomena that) seem worth considering. Either they are coming from some distant place outside our planet or else they are being manufactured here.”
Of the two, Hall is of the opinion that “until the physical (and human) phases of this question are thoroughly solved, I think we should be moderately reluctant to press the outer-space hypothesis. It is not to deny the possibility, but to rationalize the probability that should be the first concern.”
In Hall’s estimation, “we can say conservatively that the chances are seven to one that the mysterious disks are just one more new and useful improvement by which we hope to maintain a world balance of power.”
Actually, Hall offers a very low chance of possibility that UFOs are extraterrestrial in origin, given that “there are no reputable accounts of anyone arriving on this earth from other spheres in the long history of mankind.”
He further points out that “the matter of timing is also significant. If aerial visitors had landed on this planet prior to the modern age of invention, a very different situation would have arisen.” But the fact that “visitors from afar should appear riding in contraptions which merely anticipate our own ingenuity by a few years … is extremely fortuitous.” He wonders: “Is it a coincidence … that other planets are sending visitors (to us) at almost the same time that we are hoping to send visitors to them?”
Hall concludes that “the more we ponder, the more the circumstantial evidence grows in favor of an earth origin for the flying disks. … I suspect that it is possible that the UFOs could be in some way part of a research project” and that “these devices are actually ingenious productions in defense or military strategy."
Hall points out that “one of the supporting claims for this hypothesis is the general lack of profound anxiety among advanced scientists. … It is inconceivable that an unknown type of aerial machine could appear repeatedly in the Earth’s atmosphere without appropriate consternation. If the disks came from another star or a distant planet and were so highly efficient, they could well announce a danger of invasion or a plan for the destruction of the Earth.”
Consequently, one might expect scientists in such a situation to be in an uproar over the topic. But this is not what we find: our scientists are “not apparently suffering from unnervement. … (Instead), from their distant, austere ivory towers, there is a thundering silence.”
Hall therefore deduces that “not having observed any pandemonium among the physicists, one may be inclined to assume that they are in possession of information which they are holding in the strictest confidence.”
Either that, or our current crop of scientists are profoundly stupid. As Hall humorously observes, “either those in the best position to know do not believe that these mysterious projectiles come from the outer atmosphere, … or the whole group of them is the most idiotic combination ever recorded. They are stupid beyond concept if they believe or have any scientific evidence of penetration of our earth’s atmosphere from the outside and are still worrying about China, Korea, India, Russia, America, England, or any other nation on Earth.”
Stating his case further, Hall believes that “the most practical response to a potential invasion from space would be a highly organized defense program.” Confronted with the possibility of a real alien invasion, “it is inconceivable that the physicists of our globe would not immediately set in motion a worldwide program of common defense.”
It is therefore logical to assume that, if an alien invasion truly were at hand, an international agency or department of scientists would be set up “through such an instrument as the United Nations Organization, (where) the learned from all nations, including the Soviet Union, could be called together to study the most fascinating and extraordinary circumstance in the known history of the human race.”
“There is a sufficient body of trained physicians and astronomers to make a world congress of this kind not only feasible but practically mandatory.” So why haven’t we seen it happen?
The only rational explanation for what might prevent such “a union of world powers” from coming together for mutual protection from a perceived alien threat is the fact that the flying saucers are actually man-made and are part of a classified portfolio of secret military R&D projects, ones being kept secret because their development is taking place within a background context of geopolitical competition and social instability.
In his 1953 article, “The Flying Saucers Fly Again,” Hall offers further elaboration on this point, writing that: “the flying saucer is exactly the type of device with which militarists would be profoundly interested.”
He continues: “On the military hypothesis that the best defensive is an offensive, we would certainly have every motive to perfect such devices if only to prevent the aggression of other powers.”
“If the flying saucer represents an advanced type of armament, then those who have it will try to keep it and use it for themselves, and those who do not have it will resort to espionage and sabotage to intensify their own research until they do have it. (Therefore,) silence would not be unreasonable in the latter case, and might be imposed for strategic reasons and to prevent the collective demoralization of people.”
Hall is here referencing the existence of a secret black projects superstate within the inner architecture of the US national security complex, one that began during World War II before expanding into new heights during the Cold War.
Writing in the 1950s, Hall points out that “we should bear in mind that in the last ten years we have become accustomed to secret military projects of several kinds,” both at home and abroad. Certainly, the Manhattan Project is one obvious example of this type of secret military project, but Hall also acknowledges that Nazi Germany had their own version, as did Soviet Russia.
Mirroring a line of research I discussed previously in my book on the secret history of the 20th century, Hall writes that “during the rise of the Hitler regime in Germany, scientists were hard at work in remote places perfecting instruments of destruction.” Is he referencing Nazi Germany’s secret Kammlerstab program with this statement?
Hall wonders if, after the war, the Nazi scientists involved with this program, “whose whereabouts are unknown,” might have kept their research projects alive in either America or Russia. In both countries, “enormous regions comparatively unexplored are available for … research. … Under such conditions, and with the aid of German scientists, … it is not impossible that the flying saucers could be a product of (the continuance of Nazi Germany’s) intense scientific-military research endeavor.”
Between the two world superpowers of the Cold War era, America and Soviet Russia, Hall stated definitively his belief that the UFO mystery was centered in America.
More specifically, he wrote: “As these flying saucers have appeared principally over the United States and adjacent areas, one of two explanations presses in upon the mind. Either they are being created here, or they are being designed especially for use here.”
He further states: “That the United States has an elaborate research project we know too well to even question it, because the reports that come out, little by little, are backed up by every indication that we actually lead the world in that type of research.”
The idea that UFOs are the product of classified military research taking place within the inner recesses of the US national security state explains how and why we find an all-pervading policy of secrecy surrounding the subject in this country. Hall believes that this secrecy is best explained “as a practical precaution in the protection of a vital defense secret. … If these were indications of armament projects, then naturally it would be difficult for the average citizen to pierce the protective wall which the government has placed around such research under prevailing world conditions.”
Overall, Hall concludes that “the only conclusion that seems to be reasonable and carries a large part of the story is that which is now beginning to drift into our contemplation, and that is that the flying saucers and the floating cigars are the products of our own research equipment.”
“It is some type of research device, an experimental device for either defensive or offensive armament. It is the only practical explanation that exists. … and there is much to indicate the experimental work is being carried on in the United States.”
“The device in all probability is some highly specialized structure intended to advance research. … That some of them are comparatively small might indicate they are involved in a new principle, either of motion or focus of energy of some kind.”
Writing in 1950, Hall states that “we must assume (the technology) is (still) in an experimental stage. …The project seems to have been running for several years, but is gradually emerging.”
He also points out that “the device itself may not be the (final end goal of the) project, but some means of testing for something else. But whether it is a means to an end, or is the end itself, it is almost certainly humanly guided, humanly devised, and is being advanced in the unfoldment of necessary research into the great and powerful potentials of the planet.” Beyond this he declines to go further, stating: “Beyond that I think we shall simply have to wait until Uncle Sam decides to talk.”
In his coverage of the UFO issue, Manly Hall expands his analysis into the realm of human psychology. Here, he moves beyond the question of who or what is responsible for producing the physical technology and seeks instead to articulate a view of the phenomenon’s deeper psychological meaning and significance.
In taking this angle on the topic, Hall mirrors the work of famous 20th-century psychologist Carl Jung, who also wrote of the larger psychological themes underlying mankind’s experience of UFOs. Here, the focus isn’t necessarily on how the physical phenomenon is created, but rather how our interpretation of it reveals important aspects of our own psychological functioning.
In a 1959 lecture titled “Dr. Carl Jung and the Flying Saucers”, Manly Hall builds off Carl Jung’s analysis of the UFO topic, which was presented in his book “Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies”. In this lecture, Hall offers a number of interesting insights concerning the inner psychological aspects of the UFO mystery.