Sasquatch
legendary creature
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Also known as: Bigfoot
Britannica Editors Dec. 1, 2025 •History
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News • Somerset teenager hits the big screen in hunt for Bigfoot • Nov. 29, 2025, 11:46 PM ET (BBC)
Sasquatch, a large, hairy, humanlike creature believed by some people to exist in the northwestern United States and western Canada. It seems to represent the North American counterpart of the Himalayan region’s mythical monster, the Abominable Snowman, or Yeti. The name “Sasquatch” derives from the Salish word se’sxac, which means “wild men.” The creature is also commonly called Bigfoot.
Footprints, photographs, and the Ape Canyon incident
The British explorer David Thompson is sometimes credited with the first discovery (1811) of a set of Sasquatch footprints, and hundreds of alleged prints have been adduced since then. The Sasquatch legend grew in 1924, after five gold prospectors claimed to have had a violent encounter with “gorilla men” in a gorge (now called Ape Canyon) on Mount St. Helens, Washington. After the prospectors wounded one of the creatures during the day, the “mountain devils” returned that night, pelting the prospectors’ cabin with boulders and repeatedly ramming the structure. When the attack ended at daylight, the prospectors fled. Although their account was later discredited by U.S. forest rangers—who notably proved that the footprints were fake—the story spread. Subsequent sightings and even alleged photographs and filmings (notably by Roger Patterson at Bluff Creek, California, in 1967) have also contributed to the legend, though none of the purported evidence has been verified.
Description
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Sasquatch is variably described as a primate ranging from 6 to 15 feet (2 to 4.5 meters) tall, standing erect on two feet, often giving off a foul smell, and either moving silently or emitting a high-pitched cry. Footprints have measured up to 24 inches (60 cm) in length and 8 inches (20 cm) in width. A Soviet scientist, Boris Porshnev, suggested that Sasquatch and his Siberian counterpart, the Almas, could be a remnant of Neanderthals, but most scientists do not recognize the creature’s existence. Instead, it is thought to be a hoax or an animal, possibly a bear.
Also called: Bigfoot
Pop culture
Sasquatch is a popular character in media and entertainment. In addition to a number of horror films, it has inspired such comedies as Harry and the Hendersons (1987) and Sasquatch Sunset (2024). The creature is also a frequent topic of books—many of which are written by those claiming to have evidence of its existence—and various businesses have used Sasquatch in commercials and ads.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.
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Literature
Folk Literature & Fable
model of a chupacabra
model of a chupacabra Model of a chupacabra from the exhibit “Bloodsuckers: Legends to Leeches” at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
chupacabra
legendary creature
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Robert Lewis
Britannica Editors Dec. 1, 2025 •History
chupacabra, in Latin American popular legend, a monstrous creature that attacks animals and consumes their blood. The name is derived from the Spanish words chupar (“to suck”) and cabra (“goat”) and can be translated as “goat-sucker.” As a fearsome but probably nonexistent creature, the chupacabra has been characterized as the southern equivalent of the Sasquatch.
The chupacabra only recently joined the vampire in the bestiary of bloodsucking creatures. Chupacabras were first reported in 1995, in Puerto Rico, where they were blamed for attacks on goats, sheep, and other domestic animals, supposedly leaving uneaten carcasses that were drained of blood. Early reports described a creature that stood upright and resembled a large reptilian kangaroo with huge red eyes. No actual specimens were found, and skeptics suggested that “witnesses” may have been influenced by the Hollywood science-fiction horror film Species (1995), which features a monster of similar appearance. But other sightings were reported throughout the Americas and as far north as the United States.
A different type of chupacabra was also reported in many of the same places. These chupacabras were smaller and stood upon four feet. They were generally canine in appearance but hairless. Actual specimens were produced, but they were identified by biologists as coyotes, dogs, or canine hybrids. The animals owed their strange appearance to hair loss resulting from mange, an infestation of the mite Sarcoptes scabiei. It was suggested that the canines attacked livestock because the debilitating effects of the infestation put wild prey out of their reach.
Related Topics: history of Latin America canine 10 Legendary Creatures from Around the World legend
On the Web: National Geographic - Chupacabra legend and scientific explanation (Dec. 01, 2025)
The chupacabra soon found its way into popular culture. Both types of the creatures served as monsters in low-budget motion pictures.
Robert Lewis
folklore
Introduction & Top Questions
The beginnings of the field
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In the 21st century
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Images & Videos
Learn About the Study of Folklore as an Academic Discipline at University College Cork
The Brothers GrimmChhau folk dance
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Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.
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Red Riding Hood and the Wolf from "Journeys through Bookland" by Charles Herbert Sylvester, 1922. (Brothers Grimm, Little Red Riding Hood, fairy tales)
Grimm’s Fairy Tales Quiz
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Philosophy & Religion
Humanities
folklore
academic discipline
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Britannica Editors Nov. 7, 2025 •History
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folklore, in modern usage, an academic discipline dedicated to the study of the various forms of folk culture. Although in popular usage the term folklore is often restricted to oral literature—especially fairy tales, legends, ballads, and other forms of folk literature—it also refers to the traditional performances, material culture, and customs of a group or groups. As a discipline folklore tends to focus on subcultures within predominately literate and technologically advanced societies. The study of the traditional material and literary cultures among wholly or mainly nonliterate societies belongs to the disciplines of ethnology and anthropology.
For more on the subject of the field of folklore studies, check out our article on folk literature.
The beginnings of the field
The Brothers Grimm
The Brothers GrimmJacob Ludwig Carl and Wilhelm Carl Grimm collecting folktales.
Folklore studies began in Europe in the early 19th century. The first folklorists concentrated exclusively upon rural peasants, preferably uneducated, and a few other groups relatively untouched by modernization (e.g., the Roma). Their aim was to trace preserved archaic customs and beliefs to their remote origins in order to outline the intellectual history of humanity. In Germany, Jacob Grimm used folklore to illuminate pre-Christian Germanic religion. In Britain, Edward Tylor, Andrew Lang, and others combined data from anthropology and folklore to “reconstruct” the beliefs and rituals of ancient people. The best-known work of this type is James Frazer’s The Golden Bough (1890).
Large collections of material were amassed in the course of these efforts. Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, whose first collection of fairy tales appeared in 1812, scholars all over Europe began recording and publishing oral literature of many genres: fairy tales and other types of folktales, ballads and other songs, oral epics, folk plays, riddles, proverbs, etc. (see folk literature). Similar work was undertaken for music, dance, and traditional arts and crafts; many archives and museums were founded. Often the underlying impulse was nationalistic; since the folklore of a group reinforced its sense of ethnic identity, it figured prominently in many struggles for political independence and national unity.
Unidentified flying object
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"UFO" redirects here. For other uses, see Unidentified flying object (disambiguation) and UFO (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Unidentified submerged object.
Duration: 35 seconds.0:35Subtitles available.CC
"GIMBAL" Pentagon UFO video, January 2015
An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes reported to consider them all saucers or discs.[1] UFOs are also known as unidentified aerial phenomena or unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).[2][3][4] Upon investigation, most UFOs are identified as known objects or atmospheric phenomena, while a small number remain unexplained.
UFOs and ufology
Flying saucer from the National Archives and Records Administration
Notable sightings
1947 wave 1952 flap Barney and Betty Hill Belgian wave Calvine photo Chiles-Whitted Flatwoods monster Gorman dogfight Kenneth Arnold sighting Mantell crash Mariana film McMinnville photos Rendlesham Forest Roswell Sightings in outer space 'Swamp gas' Pentagon UFO videos Phoenix Lights
Hoaxes
Alien autopsy hoax Travis Walton Yankee Blue
Government investigations
Operação Prato - Brazil Project Magnet - Canada GEIPAN - France Institute 22 - Soviet Union Flying Saucer Working Party - UK Project Condign - UK History of government investigations - US All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office - US NASA's UAP independent study team - US Condon Committee - US Project Blue Book - US
Conspiracy theories
Area 51 Bob Lazar Majestic 12 Men in black Serpo
Lists of organizations, sightings, studies, etc.
UFO organizations Reported UFO sightings Sightings by country Investigations of UFOs by governments Identification studies of UFOs Ufologists Alleged extraterrestrial beings
vte
While unusual sightings in the sky have been reported since at least the 3rd century BC, UFOs became culturally prominent after World War II, escalating during the Space Age. Studies and investigations into UFO reports conducted by governments (such as Project Blue Book in the United States and Project Condign in the United Kingdom), as well as by organisations and individuals have occurred over the years without confirmation of the fantastical claims of small but vocal groups of ufologists who favour unconventional or pseudoscientific hypotheses, often claiming that UFOs are evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, technologically advanced cryptids, interdimensional contact or future time travelers. After decades of promotion of such ideas by believers and in popular media, the kind of evidence required to solidly support such claims has not been forthcoming. Scientists and skeptic organizations such as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry have provided prosaic explanations for UFOs, namely that they are caused by natural phenomena, human technology, delusions, and hoaxes. Although certain beliefs surrounding UFOs have inspired parts of new religions, social scientists have identified the ongoing interest and storytelling surrounding UFOs as a modern example of folklore and mythology understandable with psychosocial explanations.
The problems of temporarily or permanently non-knowable anomalous phenomenon or perceived objects in flight is part of the philosophical subject epistemology.[5][6]
The U.S. government has two entities dedicated to UFO data collection and analysis: NASA's UAP independent study team and the Department of Defense All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.
Terminology
During the late 1940s and through the 1950s, UFOs were often called "flying saucers" or "flying discs" based on reporting of the Kenneth Arnold incident.[7] "Unidentified flying object" (UFO) has been in-use since 1947.[8] The acronym "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt for the USAF. He wrote, "Obviously the term 'flying saucer' is misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance. For this reason the military prefers the more general, if less colorful, name: unidentified flying objects. UFO".[9] The term UFO became widespread during the 1950s, at first in technical literature, but later in popular use.[10][11] "Unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAP) first appeared in the late 1960s. UAP has seen increasing usage in the 21st century due to negative cultural associations with "UFO".[8] UAP is sometimes expanded as "unidentified anomalous phenomenon".[12][13]
While technically a UFO refers to any unidentified flying object, in modern popular culture the term UFO has generally become synonymous with alien spacecraft.[14] The term "extra-terrestrial vehicle" (ETV) is sometimes used to separate this explanation of UFOs from totally earthbound explanations.[15]
Identification
Main article: Identification studies of UFOs
A Fata Morgana, a type of mirage in which objects located below the astronomical horizon appear to be hovering in the sky just above the horizon, may be responsible for some UFO sightings.[16]
Studies show that after careful investigation, the majority of UFOs can be identified as ordinary objects or phenomena. The 1952–1955 study for the USAF used the following categories: "Balloon; Astronomical; Aircraft; Light phenomenon; Birds, Clouds, dust, etc.; Insufficient information; Psychological manifestations; Unknown; and Other".[17] Identified sources of UFO reports are:
Aircraft (including military, civilian, and experimental aircraft as well as such peculiarities as aerial advertising, missile and other rocket launches, artificial satellites, the International Space Station, re-entering spacecraft including space debris, kites, and various unmanned aerial vehicles often popularly termed "drones")[18][19][20]
Astronomical objects (bright stars, bolides, bright planets, and the Moon)[18][20][21]
Balloons (surveillance balloons, toy balloons, weather balloons, large research balloons, and sky lanterns)[18][19][20][22]
Hoaxes[23][20][24]
Light phenomena (mirages, Fata Morgana, sundogs, ball lightning, moon dogs, satellite flares, lens flare, searchlights and other ground lights, etc.)[18][25][21]
Other atmospheric objects and phenomena (birds, unusual clouds, flares, plasma)[18][20]
Psychological effects (pareidolia, suggestibility and false memories, mass psychogenic disorders, optical illusions, and hallucinations)[26]
Twilight phenomenon from a Falcon 9 rocket launch
An individual 1979 study by CUFOS researcher Allan Hendry found, as did other investigations, that fewer than one percent of cases he investigated were hoaxes and most sightings were actually honest misidentifications of prosaic phenomena. Hendry attributed most of these to inexperience or misperception.[27] Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi rejected the hypothesis that UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft and responded to the "onslaught of credulous coverage" in books, films and entertainment by teaching his students to apply critical thinking to such claims, advising them that "being a good scientist is not unlike being a good detective". According to Fraknoi, UFO reports "might at first seem mysterious", but "the more you investigate, the more likely you are to find that there is LESS to these stories than meets the eye".[28]
History
Early history before the 20th century
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People have always observed the sky and have sometimes seen what, to some, appeared to be unusual sights including phenomena as varied as comets, bright meteors, one or more of the five planets that can be readily seen with the naked eye, planetary conjunctions, and atmospheric optical phenomena such as parhelia and lenticular clouds.[citation needed] One particularly famous example is Halley's Comet: first recorded by Chinese astronomers in 240 BC and possibly as early as 467 BC as a strange and unknown "guest light" in the sky.[29] As a bright comet that visits the inner solar system every 76 years, it was often identified as a unique isolated event in ancient historical documents whose authors were unaware that it was a repeating phenomenon.[citation needed] Such accounts in history often were treated as supernatural portents, angels, or other religious omens.[citation needed] While UFO enthusiasts have sometimes commented on the narrative similarities between certain religious symbols in medieval paintings and UFO reports,[30] the canonical and symbolic character of such images is documented by art historians placing more conventional religious interpretations on such images.[31]
Some examples of pre-contemporary reports about unusual aerial phenomena include:
Julius Obsequens was a Roman writer who is believed to have lived in the middle of the fourth century AD. The only work associated with his name is the Liber de prodigiis (Book of Prodigies), completely extracted from an epitome, or abridgment, written by Livy; De prodigiis was constructed as an account of the wonders and portents that occurred in Rome between 249 and 12 BCE. An aspect of Obsequens' work that has inspired excitement in some UFO enthusiasts is that he makes reference to things moving through the sky. The descriptions provided bear resemblance to observations of meteor showers. Obsequens was also writing some 400 years after the events he described, thus the text is not an eyewitness account. No corroboration with those amazing sights of old with contemporary observations was mentioned in that work.[32][33]
Shen Kuo (1031–1095), a Song Chinese government scholar-official and prolific polymath inventor, wrote a vivid passage in his Dream Pool Essays (1088) about an unidentified flying object. He recorded the testimony of eyewitnesses in 11th-century Anhui and Jiangsu (especially in the city of Yangzhou), who stated that a flying object with opening doors would shine a blinding light from its interior (from an object shaped like a pearl) that would cast shadows from trees for ten miles in radius, and was able to take off at tremendous speeds.[34]
The celestial phenomenon over Basel in 1566.
A woodcut by Hans Glaser that appeared in a broadsheet in 1561 has been featured in popular culture as the "celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg" and connected to various ancient astronaut claims.[35] Skeptic and debunker Jason Colavito argues that the woodcut is "a secondhand depiction of a particularly gaudy sundog", a known atmospheric optical phenomenon.[36] A similar report comes from 1566 over Basel and, indeed, in the 15th and 16th centuries, many leaflets wrote of "miracles" and "sky spectacles" which bear resemblance to natural phenomena which were only more fully characterized after the scientific revolution.[37]
On January 25, 1878, the Denison Daily News printed an article in which John Martin, a local farmer, had reported seeing a large, dark, circular object resembling a balloon flying "at wonderful speed". Martin, according to the newspaper account, said it appeared to be about the size of a saucer from his perspective, one of the first uses of the word "saucer" in association with a UFO. At the time, ballooning was becoming an increasingly popular and sophisticated endeavor, and the first controlled-flights of such devices were occurring around that time.[38]
UFO-like alleged sightings before the 20th century
1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg as printed in an illustrated news notice.
November 22, 1896 illustration of a "mystery airship" published in The San Francisco Call
November 29, 1896 illustration of another "mystery airship" published in The San Francisco Call
"Mystery airship" illustrated in The St. Paul Globe, April 13, 1897
From November 1896 to April 1897, United States newspapers carried numerous reports of "mystery airships" that are reminiscent of modern UFO waves.[39] Scores of people even reported talking to the pilots. Some people feared that Thomas Edison had created an artificial star that could fly around the country. On April 16, 1897, a letter was found that purported to be an enciphered communication between an airship operator and Edison.[40] When asked his opinion of such reports, Edison said, "You can take it from me that it is a pure fake."[41] The coverage of Edison's denial marked the end of major newspaper coverage of the airships in this period.[42]
20th century and after
See also: Investigation of UFO reports by the United States government and UFO conspiracy theories
In the Pacific and European theatres during World War II, round, glowing fireballs known as "foo fighters" were reported by Allied and Axis pilots. Some explanations for these sightings included St. Elmo's fire, the planet Venus, hallucinations from oxygen deprivation, and German secret weapons (specifically rockets).[43] In 1946, more than 2,000 reports were collected, primarily by the Swedish military, of unidentified aerial objects over the Scandinavian nations, along with isolated reports from France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece. The objects were referred to as "Russian hail" (and later as "ghost rockets") because it was thought the mysterious objects were possibly Russian tests of captured German V1 or V2 rockets, but most were identified as natural phenomena as meteors.[44]
Science fiction depictions of spacecraft similar to flying saucers before the first widely-reported UFO sighting in 1947
Illustration from 1903 by Henrique Alvim Corrêa showing the first Martian emerging from a cylinder that had fallen from the sky for an edition of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.
Cover of French pulp magazine Le Chevalier Illusion from December 29, 1912 portraying a flying machine spreading a toxic gas among the passengers and crew of a ship below
A "space flyer" depicted on the February 1912 cover of Modern Electrics as an illustration for the science fiction story Ralph 124C 41+ by Hugo Gernsback
Illustration by Frank R. Paul from February 1922 in Science and Invention showing Nikola Tesla's vision of warfare in the future with sea and air craft "controlled and directed" by radio waves
Illustration for a story by Hugo Gernsback in pulp science fiction magazine Amazing Stories from April 1928 (originally published on 1915 with similar illustrations in The Electrical Experimenter)
Depiction of a flying saucer by illustrator Frank R. Paul on the October 1929 issue of Hugo Gernsback's pulp science fiction magazine Science Wonder Stories
Cover of Amazing Stories winter 1930 issue depicting a disc-shaped spacecraft
Back cover of Amazing Stories illustrated by Frank R. Paul in August 1946 featuring many disc-shaped spacecraft (published about a year before the flying disc wave of 1947)
Many scholars, especially those arguing for the psychosocial UFO hypothesis, have noted that UFO characteristics reported after the first widely publicized modern sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 resembled a host of science fiction tropes from earlier in the century.[45][46][47][48][49][50][51]
By most accounts, the popular UFO craze in the US began with a media frenzy surrounding the reports on June 24, 1947, of a civilian pilot named Kenneth Arnold who described seeing "a group of bat-like aircraft flying in formation at high speeds" near Mount Rainier that he said were "moving like a saucer would if skipped across water" which led to headlines about "flying saucers" and "flying discs".[52][53][54][55] Only weeks after Arnold's story was reported in 1947, Gallup published a poll asking people in the United States what the "flying saucers" might be. Already, 90% had heard of the new term. However, as reported by historian Greg Eghanian, "a majority either had no idea what they could be or thought that witnesses were mistaken" while "visitors from space were not initially among the options that anyone had in mind, and Gallup didn't even mention if anyone surveyed brought up aliens.[53][56][57]
Within weeks, reports of flying saucer sightings became a daily occurrence[58] with one particularly famous example being the Roswell incident in 1947 where remnants of a downed observation balloon were recovered by a farmer and confiscated by military personnel.[59] UFO enthusiasts in the early 1950s started to organize local "saucer clubs" modeled after science fiction fan clubs of the 1930s and 1940s, with some growing to national and international prominence within a decade.[53] In 1950, three influential books were published—Donald Keyhoe's The Flying Saucers Are Real, Frank Scully's Behind the Flying Saucers, and Gerald Heard's The Riddle of the Flying Saucers. Each guilelessly proposed that the extraterrestrial UFO hypothesis was the correct explanation and that the visits were in response to detonations of atomic weapons. These books also introduced Americans to, as Eghanian puts it, "the crusading whistleblower dedicated to breaking the silence over the alien origins of unidentified flying objects".[53]
Jung in 1955
Media accounts and speculation ran rampant in the U.S., especially in connection to the 1952 UFO scare in Washington, D.C. so that, by 1953, the intelligence officials (Robertson Panel) worried that "genuine incursions" by enemy aircraft "over U.S. territory could be lost in a maelstrom of kooky hallucination" of UFO reports.[60] A Trendex survey in August 1957, ten years after the Arnold incident, reported that over 25% of the U.S. public "believed unidentified flying objects could be from outer space".[53] The cultural phenomenon showed up within some intellectual works such as the 1959 publication of Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology.[61]
Starting in 1947, the U.S. Air Force began to record and investigated UFO reports with Project Sign looking into "more than 250 cases" from 1947 to 1949. It was replaced by Project Grudge up through 1951.[62] In the third U.S. Air Force program, from March 1952 to its termination in December 1969,[63] "the U.S. Air Force cataloged 12,618 sightings of UFOs as part of what is now known as Project Blue Book".[64] In the late 1950s, public pressure mounted for a full declassification of all UFO records, but the CIA played a role in refusing to allow this.[65] This sense was not universal in the CIA, however, as fellow NICAP official Donald E. Keyhoe wrote that Vice Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter, the first director of the CIA, "wanted public disclosure of UFO evidence".[66] Official U.S. Air Force interest in UFO reports went on hiatus in 1969 after a study by the University of Colorado led by Edward U. Condon and known as the Condon Report concluded "that nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge" and that further time investigating UFO reports "cannot be justified".[64]
Cover of the 1953 book The Flying Saucers Are Real by Donald Keyhoe
Cover of the pulp science fiction magazine Amazing Stories from October 1957
From the 1960s to 1990s, UFOs were part of American popular culture's obsession with the supernatural and paranormal. In 1961, the first alien abduction account was sensationalized when Barney and Betty Hill underwent hypnosis after seeing a UFO and reported recovered memories of their experience that became ever more elaborate as the years went by.[67] In 1966, 5% of Americans reported to Gallup that "they had at some time seen something they thought was a 'flying saucer'", 96% said "they had heard or read about flying saucers", and 46% of these "thought they were 'something real' rather than just people's imagination".[68] Responding to UFO enthusiasm, there have always been consistent yet less popular efforts made at debunking many of the claims,[53] and at times the media was enlisted including a 1966 TV special, "UFO: Friend, Foe or Fantasy?", in which Walter Cronkite "patiently" explained to viewers that UFOs were fantasy.[60] Cronkite enlisted Carl Sagan and J. Allen Hynek, who told Cronkite, "To this time, there is no valid scientific proof that we have been visited by spaceships".[69]
Such attempts to disenchant the zeitgeist were not very successful at tamping down the mania. Keith Kloor notes that the "allure of flying saucers" remained popular with the public into the 1970s, spurring production of such sci-fi films, as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Alien, which "continued to stoke public fascination". Meanwhile, Leonard Nimoy narrated a popular occult and mystery TV series In Search of... while daytime talk shows of Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, and Phil Donahue featured interviews with alien abductees and people who credulously reported stories about UFOs .[53] In the 1980s and 1990s, UFO stories featured in such pulp "true crime" serials as Unsolved Mysteries[70] while the 33 Volume Time-Life series Mysteries of the Unknown which featured UFO stories sold some 700,000 copies.[71] Kloor writes that by the late 1990s, "other big UFO subthemes had been prominently introduced into pop culture, such as the abduction phenomenon and government conspiracy narrative, via best-selling books and, of course, The X-Files".[69]
Eghigian notes that, by this point, the UFO problem had become "far more interesting to ponder than to actually solve."[53] Interest was particularly fevered in the 1990s with the publicity surrounding the television broadcast of an Alien autopsy video marketed as "real footage" but later admitted to be a staged "re-enactment".[72] Eghigian writes that "there had always been outlier abduction reports dating back to the '50s and '60s" but that in the '80s and '90s "the floodgates opened, and with them a new generation of UFO advocates". Leaders among them were the artist Budd Hopkins, horror writer Whitley Strieber, historian David Jacobs, and Harvard psychiatrist John Mack. They all defended the "veracity of those claiming to have been kidnapped, examined, and experimented upon by beings from another world", writes Eghigian, as "new missionaries who simultaneously played the role of investigator, therapist, and advocate to their vulnerable charges".[53] Eghigian says that Mack "signaled both the culmination and end of the headiest days of alien abduction". When Mack began working with and publishing accounts of abductees—or "experiencers", as he called them—in the early 1990s, he brought a sense of legitimacy to "the study of extraterrestrial captivity". By the late 1990s, however, the Harvard School initiated a review of his position which allowed him to retain tenure. However, after this review, as the review board chairman Arnold Relman later put it, Mack was "not taken seriously by his colleagues anymore". Claims of alien abduction have continued, but no other clinicians would continue to speak of them as real in any sense.[53] Nonetheless, these ideas persisted in popular opinion. According to a 1996 poll by Newsweek, 20% of Americans believed that UFOs were more likely to be proof of alien life than to have a natural scientific explanation.[73]
In December 2017, a new round of media attention started when The New York Times broke the story of the secret Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program that was funded from 2007 to 2012 with $22 million spent on the program.[74][75] Following this story, along with a series of sensationalized Pentagon UFO videos leaked by members of the program who became convinced that UFOs were genuine mysteries worth investigating, there was an increase in mainstream attention to UFO stories. In July 2021, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb announced the creation of his Galileo Project which intended to use high-tech astronomical equipment to seek evidence of extraterrestrial artifacts in space and possibly within Earth's atmosphere. This was followed closely by the publication of Loeb's book Extraterrestrial, in which he argued that the first interstellar comet ever observed, 'Oumuamua, might be an artificial light sail made by an alien civilization.[53] Two government sponsored programs, NASA's UAP independent study team and the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office were charged in part by Congressional fiat to investigate UFO claims more fully,[76][77][78] adopting the new moniker "unexplained aerial phenomenon" (UAP) to avoid associations with past sensationalism.[79] On 17 May 2022, members of the United States House Intelligence Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation held congressional hearings with top military officials to discuss military reports of UAPs.[80] It was the first public congressional hearing into UFO sightings in the US in over 50 years. Another Congressional hearing took place on July 26, 2023, featuring the whistleblower claims of former U.S. Air Force (USAF) officer and intelligence official David Grusch.[81][82][83]
A Harris Poll in 2009 found that 32% of Americans "believe in UFOs".[84] A National Geographic study in June 2012 found that 36% of Americans believe UFOs exist and that 10% thought that they had spotted one.[85] In June 2021 a Pew research poll found that 51% in the United States thought that UFOs reported by people in the military were likely to be evidence of intelligent life from beyond the Earth.[86] In August 2021, Gallup, with a question not specific to military reports, only found that 41% of adults believed some UFOs involve alien spacecraft from other planets. This Gallup poll showed 44% of men and 38% of women believed this. This average of 41% in 2021 was up from 33% in a 2019 Gallup poll with the same question. Gallup further found that college graduates went in 2019 from being the least likely educational group to believe this to being on par in 2021 with adults who have no college education.[87] An October 2022 poll by YouGov only found that 34% of Americans believe that UFOs are likely to involve alien life forms.[88]
Historian Greg Eghigian wrote in August 2021 that "over the last fifty years, the mutual antagonism between paranormal believers and skeptics has largely framed discussion about unidentified flying objects" and that "it often gets personal" with those taking seriously the prospect that UFOs are extraterrestrial in origin dismissing those who consider UFOs to be worth studying as "narrow-minded, biased, obstinate, and cruel" while the skeptics brushed off "devotees" as "naïve, ignorant, gullible, and downright dangerous". Such "mudslinging over convictions is certainly familiar to historians of religion, a domain of human existence marked by deep divisions over interpretations of belief", and science too has found itself engaged increasing amounts of "boundary work" (which is "asserting and reasserting the borders between legitimate and illegitimate scientific research and ideas, between what may and what may not refer to itself as science") with regard to UFO questions. Eghigian points out our current "stark divide did not happen overnight, and its roots lie in the postwar decades, in a series of events that—with their news coverage, grainy images, celebrity crusaders, exasperated skeptics, unsatisfying military statements, and accusations of a government cover-up—foreshadow our present moment".[53]
UFOs have been taken up by religious studies scholars in various scholarly books.[89][90][91] Jeffrey Kripal, chair of the Department of Religion at Rice University, has said that "both the material and the mental dimensions [of UFOs] are incredibly important to get a sense of the full picture".[92] As Adrian Horton writes "from The X-Files to Men in Black, Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Star Wars to Marvel, Hollywood has for decades provided an engrossing feedback loop for interest in the extraterrestrial: a reflection of our fears and capaciousness, whose ubiquitous popularity has in turn fueled more interest in UFOs as perennially compelling entertainment tropes not to be taken seriously". Horton observes that these "alien movies have generally reflected shifting cultural anxieties, from the existential terror of nuclear war to foreign enslavement to loss of bodily control". American entertainment has explored both "hostile aliens" as well as the "benevolent, world-expanding encounters" seen in films such as Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[93] In her research on the relationship of media to UFO beliefs, Diana Walsh Pasulka, a professor of philosophy and religion at the University of North Carolina, says that what is seen on a screen, "if it conforms to certain criteria, is interpreted as real, even if it is not real and even if one knows it is not real" and that "screen images embed themselves in one's brain and memories" in ways that "can determine how one views one's past and even determine one's future behaviors".[94]
Investigations of reports
UFOs have been subject to investigations over the years that varied widely in scope and scientific rigor. Governments or independent academics in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Peru, France, Belgium, Sweden, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Spain, and the Soviet Union are known to have investigated UFO reports at various times. No official government investigation has ever publicly concluded that UFOs are indisputably real, physical objects, extraterrestrial in origin, or of concern to national defense.
Among the best known government studies are the ghost rockets investigation by the Swedish military (1946–1947), Project Blue Book, previously Project Sign and Project Grudge, conducted by the USAF from 1947 until 1969, the secret U.S. Army/Air Force Project Twinkle investigation into green fireballs (1948–1951), the secret USAF Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14[95] by the Battelle Memorial Institute, and the Brazilian Air Force's 1977 Operação Prato (Operation Saucer). France has had an ongoing investigation (GEPAN/SEPRA/GEIPAN) within its space agency Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) since 1977; the government of Uruguay has had a similar investigation since 1989.
Americas
Brazil (1952–2016)
A document about a sighting of a UFO that occurred on December 16, 1977, in the state of Bahia, Brazil
On October 31, 2008, the National Archives of Brazil began receiving from the Aeronautical Documentation and History Center part of the documentation of the Brazilian Air Force regarding the investigation of the appearance of UFOs in Brazil. Currently, this collection gathers cases between 1952 and 2016.[96]
Chile (c. 1968)
In 1968, the SEFAA (previously CEFAA) began receiving case reports of the general public, civil aviators and the Chilean Air Force regarding the sightings or the appearance of UFOs in Chile, the initial work was an initiative of Sergio Bravo Flores who led the Chilean Committee for the Study of Unidentified Space Phenomena, supported even by the Chilean Scientific Society. Currently, the organization changed its denomination to SEFAA and its a department of the DGAC(Chile) which in turn depends on the Chilean Air Force.[97]
Canada (c. 1950)
In Canada, the Department of National Defence has dealt with reports, sightings and investigations of UFOs across Canada. In addition to conducting investigations into crop circles in Duhamel, Alberta, it still considers "unsolved" the Falcon Lake incident in Manitoba and the Shag Harbour UFO incident in Nova Scotia.[98]
Early Canadian studies included Project Magnet (1950–1954) and Project Second Storey (1952–1954), supported by the Defence Research Board.
United States
Synopsis
U.S. investigations into UFOs include:
Project Sign, by the Air Materiel Command (AMC) USAF, precursor to Project Grudge, 1948.
Ghost rockets investigations by the Finnish, Swedish and British militaries, later the US and Greece, 1946–1947.
Project Grudge, USAF from February 1949, succeeded by Project Blue Book, from March 1952.
Project Twinkle investigation into green fireballs, by the U.S. Army/Air Force, briefly, from December 1949.
The Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology (DS&T), study 1952–53.
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, by USAF Cpt (rtd.), later director of Project Blue Book, 1956.
The Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 by the Battelle Memorial Institute for USAF, 1951–1954
The Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), a private research group, 1952–1988.
The Robertson Panel was a scientific committee which met in January 1953 to review the Project Blue Book report January 1953
The Brookings Report, Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs, in conjunction with NASA's Committee on Long-Range Studies, reported to Congress 1960
The Condon Committee, an informal University of Colorado UFO Project funded by the USAF, 1966 to 1968.
The RAND Corporation study, a private and internal study, 1968.[99]
The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), is a US-based, civilian, non-profit, volunteer organization studying reported UFO sightings, May 1969 and continuing.
The National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) is a UFO research group most active in the United States from the 1950s to the 1980 and remains as an informational depository on UFO phenomena.
The Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS), a privately funded UFO research group, 1973 and continuing.
The Sturrock panel, private investigation arising from the Society for Scientific Exploration, 1982.
The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program which was funded from 2007 to 2012.[74][75]
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, a continuing program within the United States Office of Naval Intelligence which was acknowledged in 2017.
The Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, the Pentagon, to investigate unidentified objects that may compromise the airspace of the United States, from November 24, 2021, ongoing.[100]
In addition to these, thousands of documents released under FOIA also indicate that many U.S. intelligence agencies collected (and still collect) information on UFOs. These agencies include the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), FBI,[101] CIA, National Security Agency (NSA), as well as military intelligence agencies of the Army and U.S. Navy, in addition to the Air Force.[note 1]
USAAF and FBI response to the 1947 sightings
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Following the large U.S. surge in sightings in June and early July 1947, on July 9, 1947, United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) intelligence, in cooperation with the FBI,[101] began a formal investigation into selected sightings with characteristics that could not be immediately rationalized, such as Kenneth Arnold's. The USAAF used "all of its top scientists" to determine whether "such a phenomenon could, in fact, occur". The research was "being conducted with the thought that the flying objects might be a celestial phenomenon," or that "they might be a foreign body mechanically devised and controlled."[102] Three weeks later in a preliminary defense estimate, the air force investigation decided that, "This 'flying saucer' situation is not all imaginary or seeing too much in some natural phenomenon. Something is really flying around."[103]
A further review by the intelligence and technical divisions of the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field reached the same conclusion. It reported that "the phenomenon is something real and not visionary or fictitious," and there were disc-shaped objects, metallic in appearance, as big as man-made aircraft. They were characterized by "extreme rates of climb [and] maneuverability", general lack of noise, absence of a trail, occasional formation flying, and "evasive" behavior "when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar", suggesting a controlled craft. It was therefore recommended in late September 1947 that an official Air Force investigation be set up. It was also recommended that other government agencies should assist in the investigation.[note 2]
USAF
Projects Sign (1947–1949), Grudge (1948–1951), and Blue Book (1951–1970)
Main articles: Project Sign, Project Grudge, and Project Blue Book
Project Sign's final report, published in early 1949, stated that while some UFOs appeared to represent actual aircraft, there was not enough data to determine their origin.[104]
The Air Force's Project Sign was created at the end of 1947, and was one of the earliest government studies to come to a secret extraterrestrial conclusion. In August 1948, Sign investigators wrote a top-secret intelligence estimate to that effect, but the Air Force Chief of Staff Hoyt Vandenberg ordered it destroyed. The existence of this suppressed report was revealed by several insiders who had read it, such as astronomer and USAF consultant J. Allen Hynek and Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, the first head of the USAF's Project Blue Book.[105]
Another highly classified U.S. study was conducted by the CIA's Office of Scientific Investigation (OS/I) in the latter half of 1952 in response to orders from the National Security Council (NSC). This study concluded UFOs were real physical objects of potential threat to national security. One OS/I memo to the CIA Director (DCI) in December read that "the reports of incidents convince us that there is something going on that must have immediate attention ... Sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and traveling at high speeds in the vicinity of major U.S. defense installations are of such a nature that they are not attributable to natural phenomena or any known types of aerial vehicles."[106]
The matter was considered so urgent that OS/I drafted a memorandum from the DCI to the NSC proposing that the NSC establish an investigation of UFOs as a priority project throughout the intelligence and the defense research and development community. It also urged the DCI to establish an external research project of top-level scientists, now known as the Robertson Panel to analyze the problem of UFOs. The OS/I investigation was called off after the Robertson Panel's negative conclusions in January 1953.[106]
Project Sign was dismantled and became Project Grudge at the end of 1948. Angered by the low quality of investigations by Grudge, the Air Force Director of Intelligence reorganized it as Project Blue Book in late 1951, placing Ruppelt in charge. J. Allen Hynek, a trained astronomer who served as a scientific advisor for Project Blue Book, was initially skeptical of UFO reports, but eventually came to the conclusion that many of them could not be satisfactorily explained and was highly critical of what he described as "the cavalier disregard by Project Blue Book of the principles of scientific investigation".[107] Leaving government work, he founded the privately funded CUFOS, to whose work he devoted the rest of his life. Other private groups studying the phenomenon include the MUFON, a grassroots organization whose investigator's handbooks go into great detail on the documentation of alleged UFO sightings.
USAF Regulation 200-2 (1953–1954)
Air Force Regulation 200-2,[108] issued in 1953 and 1954, defined an Unidentified Flying Object ("UFOB") as "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object." The regulation also said UFOBs were to be investigated as a "possible threat to the security of the United States" and "to determine technical aspects involved." The regulation went on to say that "it is permissible to inform news media representatives on UFOB's when the object is positively identified as a familiar object" but added: "For those objects which are not explainable, only the fact that ATIC [Air Technical Intelligence Center] will analyze the data is worthy of release, due to many unknowns involved."[108]
Blue Book and the Condon Committee (1968–1970)
Main article: Condon Committee
A public research effort conducted by the Condon Committee for the USAF and published as the Condon Report arrived at a negative conclusion in 1968.[109] Blue Book closed down in 1970, using the Condon Committee's negative conclusion as a rationale, thus ending official Air Force UFO investigations. However, a 1969 USAF document, known as the Bolender memo, along with later government documents, revealed that non-public U.S. government UFO investigations continued after 1970. The Bolender memo first stated that "reports of unidentified flying objects that could affect national security ... are not part of the Blue Book system," indicating that more serious UFO incidents already were handled outside the public Blue Book investigation. The memo then added, "reports of UFOs which could affect national security would continue to be handled through the standard Air Force procedures designed for this purpose."[note 3]
In the late 1960s, a chapter on UFOs in the Space Sciences course at the U.S. Air Force Academy gave serious consideration to possible extraterrestrial origins. When word of the curriculum became public, in 1970, the Air Force issued a statement to the effect that the book was outdated and cadets instead were being informed of the Condon Report's negative conclusion.[110]
Controversy surrounded the report, both before and after its release. It has been observed that the report was "harshly criticized by numerous scientists, particularly at the powerful AIAA ... [which] recommended moderate, but continuous scientific work on UFOs."[109] In an address to the AAAS, James E. McDonald said he believed science had failed to mount adequate studies of the problem and criticized the Condon Report and earlier studies by the USAF as scientifically deficient. He also questioned the basis for Condon's conclusions[111] and argued that the reports of UFOs have been "laughed out of scientific court".[112] J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer who worked as a USAF consultant from 1948, sharply criticized the Condon Committee Report and later wrote two nontechnical books that set forth the case for continuing to investigate UFO reports.
Ruppelt recounted his experiences with Project Blue Book, a USAF investigation that preceded Condon's.[113]
FOIA release of documents in 1978
According to a 1979 New York Times report, "records from the C.I.A., the F.B.I. and other Federal agencies" ("about 900 documents—nearly 900 pages of memos, reports and correspondence") obtained in 1978 through the Freedom of Information Act request, indicate that "despite official pronouncements for decades that U.F.O.'s were nothing more than misidentified aerial objects and as such were no cause for alarm ... the phenomenon has aroused much serious behind‐the‐scenes concern" in the US government. In particular, officials were concerned over the "approximately 10%" of UFO sightings which remained unexplained, and whether they might be Soviet aircraft and a threat to national security.[114] Officials were concerned about the "risk of false alerts", of "falsely identifying the real as phantom", and of mass hysteria caused by sightings. In 1947, Brigadier General George F. Schulgen of Army Air Corps Intelligence, warned "the first reported sightings might have been by individuals of Communist sympathies with the view to causing hysteria and fear of a secret Russian weapon."[114]
White House statement of November 2011
In November 2011, the White House released an official response to two petitions asking the U.S. government to acknowledge formally that aliens have visited this planet and to disclose any intentional withholding of government interactions with extraterrestrial beings. According to the response:
The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race...no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye....
— Statement by the White House[115][116]
The response further noted that efforts, like SETI and NASA's Kepler space telescope and Mars Science Laboratory, continue looking for signs of life. The response noted "odds are pretty high" that there may be life on other planets but "the odds of us making contact with any of them—especially any intelligent ones—are extremely small, given the distances involved."[115][116]
ODNI report 2021
On June 25, 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report on UAPs.[117] The report found that the UAPTF was unable to identify 143 objects spotted between 2004 and 2021. The report said that 18 of these featured unusual movement patterns or flight characteristics, adding that more analysis was needed to determine if those sightings represented "breakthrough" technology. The report said that "some of these steps are resource-intensive and would require additional investment."[118] The report did not link the sightings to extraterrestrial life.[119][120]
Uruguay (c. 1989)
The Uruguayan Air Force has conducted UFO investigations since 1989 and reportedly analyzed 2,100 cases of which they regard approximately 2% as lacking explanation.[121]
Europe
Finland (1967–1971)
See also: Finnish Air Force UFO sighting
Many people reported UFO sightings in and around the Pudasjärvi area in the North Ostrobothnia region in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[122][123][124] UFO researchers and the press only became interested in UFOs in the area after a sighting in September 1969, after which UFO researchers from other parts of Finland and Sweden visited the area.[122] An earthquake light has been proposed as an explanation for the Pudasjärvi phenomena.[125]
France (1977–2008)
In March 2007, the French space agency CNES published an archive of UFO sightings and other phenomena online.[126]
French studies include GEPAN/SEPRA/GEIPAN within CNES (French space agency), the longest ongoing government-sponsored investigation. About 22% of the 6,000 cases studied remain unexplained.[127] The official opinion of GEPAN/SEPRA/GEIPAN has been neutral, stating on their FAQ page that their mission is fact-finding for the scientific community, not rendering an opinion. They add they can neither prove nor disprove the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), but their Steering Committee's clear position is that they cannot discard the possibility that some fraction of the very strange 22% of unexplained cases might be due to distant and advanced civilizations.[128]
Possibly their bias may be indicated by their use of the terms "PAN" (French) or "UAP" (English equivalent) for "Unidentified Aerospace Phenomenon" (whereas "UAP" is normally used by English organizations stands for "Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon", a more neutral term). In addition, the three heads of the studies have gone on record in stating that UFOs were real physical flying machines beyond our knowledge or that the best explanation for the most inexplicable cases was an extraterrestrial one.[129][130][131] In 2007, the CNES's own report stated that, at that time, 28% of sightings remained unidentified.[132]
In 2008, Michel Scheller, president of the Association Aéronautique et Astronautique de France (3AF), created the Sigma Commission. Its purpose was to investigate UFO phenomena worldwide.[133] A progress report published in May 2010 stated that the central hypothesis proposed by the COMETA report is perfectly credible.[134] In December 2012, the final report of the Sigma Commission was submitted to Scheller. Following the submission of the final report, the Sigma2 Commission is to be formed with a mandate to continue the scientific investigation of UFO phenomena.[135][136]
Italy (1933–2005)
Alleged UFO sightings gradually increased since the war, peaking in 1978 and 2005. The total number of sightings since 1947 are 18,500, of which 90% are identifiable.[137]
United Kingdom (1951–2009)
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The UK's Flying Saucer Working Party published its final report in June 1951, which remained secret for over fifty years. The Working Party concluded that all UFO sightings could be explained as misidentifications of ordinary objects or phenomena, optical illusions, psychological misperceptions/aberrations, or hoaxes. The report stated: "We accordingly recommend very strongly that no further investigation of reported mysterious aerial phenomena be undertaken, unless and until some material evidence becomes available."[138]
Eight file collections on UFO sightings, dating from 1978 to 1987, were first released on May 14, 2008, to The National Archives by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).[139] Although kept secret from the public for many years, most of the files have low levels of classification and none are classified Top Secret. 200 files are set to be made public by 2012. The files are correspondence from the public sent to the British government and officials, such as the MoD and Margaret Thatcher. The MoD released the files under the Freedom of Information Act due to requests from researchers.[140] These files include, but are not limited to, UFOs over Liverpool and Waterloo Bridge in London.[141]
On October 20, 2008, more UFO files were released. One case released detailed that in 1991 an Alitalia passenger aircraft was approaching London Heathrow Airport when the pilots saw what they described as a "cruise missile" fly extremely close to the cockpit. The pilots believed a collision was imminent. UFO expert David Clarke says this is one of the most convincing cases for a UFO he has come across.[142]
A secret study of UFOs was undertaken for the Ministry of Defence between 1996 and 2000 and was code-named Project Condign. The resulting report, titled "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Defence Region", was publicly released in 2006, but the identity and credentials of whoever constituted Project Condign remains classified. The report confirmed earlier findings that the main causes of UFO sightings are misidentification of man-made and natural objects. The report noted: "No artefacts of unknown or unexplained origin have been reported or handed to the UK authorities, despite thousands of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena reports. There are no SIGINT, ELINT or radiation measurements and little useful video or still IMINT."[143]
It concluded: "There is no evidence that any UAP, seen in the UKADR [UK Air Defence Region], are incursions by air-objects of any intelligent (extraterrestrial or foreign) origin, or that they represent any hostile intent." A little-discussed conclusion of the report was that novel meteorological plasma phenomenon akin to ball lightning are responsible for "the majority, if not all" of otherwise inexplicable sightings, especially reports of black triangle UFOs.[143]
On December 1, 2009, the Ministry of Defence quietly closed down its UFO investigations unit. The unit's hotline and email address were suspended by the MoD on that date. The MoD said there was no value in continuing to receive and investigate sightings in a release, stating that "in over fifty years, no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom. The MoD has no specific capability for identifying the nature of such sightings. There is no Defence benefit in such investigation and it would be an inappropriate use of defence resources. Furthermore, responding to reported UFO sightings diverts MoD resources from tasks that are relevant to Defence." The Guardian reported that the MoD claimed the closure would save the Ministry around £50,000 a year. The MoD said it would continue to release UFO files to the public through The National Archives.[144]
UFO reports, Parliamentary questions, and letters from members of the public were released on August 5, 2010, to the UK National Archives. "In one letter included in the files, a man alleges Churchill ordered a coverup of a WW II-era UFO encounter involving the Royal Air Force".[145][139]
Reports of UFO sightings continue. According to The Independent, there were 957 reported UFO sightings across the UK between January 2021 and May 2023, with Manchester, London, Liverpool, and Glasgow being hotspots.[146]
Studies
Critics argue that all UFO evidence is anecdotal[147] and can be explained as prosaic natural phenomena. Defenders of UFO research counter that knowledge of observational data, other than what is reported in the popular media, is limited in the scientific community and further study is needed.[148][149] Studies have established that the majority of UFO observations are misidentified conventional objects or natural phenomena—most commonly aircraft, balloons including sky lanterns, satellites, and astronomical objects such as meteors, bright stars and planets. A small percentage are hoaxes.[note 4]
Fewer than 10% of reported sightings remain unexplained after proper investigation and therefore can be classified as unidentified in the strictest sense. According to Steven Novella, proponents of the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) suggest these unexplained reports are of alien spacecraft, however the null hypothesis cannot be excluded; that these reports are simply other more prosaic phenomena that cannot be identified due to lack of complete information or due to the necessary subjectivity of the reports. Novella says that instead of accepting the null hypothesis, UFO enthusiasts tend to engage in special pleading by offering outlandish, untested explanations for the validity of the ETH, which violate Occam's razor.[150]
Scientific
Main article: Ufology § Research
Historically, ufology has not been considered credible in mainstream science.[151] The scientific community has generally deemed that UFO sightings are not worthy of serious investigation except as a cultural artifact.[152][112][109][153][154][155][156]
Allen Hynek (left) and Jacques Vallée
Studies of UFOs rarely appear in mainstream scientific literature. When asked, some scientists and scientific organizations have pointed to the end of official governmental studies in the U.S. in December 1969, following the statement by the government scientist Edward Condon that further study of UFOs could not be justified on grounds of scientific advancement.[109][157]
Nevertheless, on 14 September 2023, NASA reported the appointment, for the first time, of a NASA Director of UAP Research (known earlier as U.F.O.), identified as Mark McInerney, to scientifically, and transparently, study such occurrences.[158]
Status as a pseudoscience
This section is an excerpt from Ufology § Status as a pseudoscience.[edit]
Despite investigations sponsored by governments and private entities, ufology is not embraced by academia as a scientific field of study, and is instead generally considered a pseudoscience by skeptics and science educators,[159] being often included on lists of topics characterized as pseudoscience as either a partial[160] or total[161][162] pseudoscience.[163][164][165][166][167] Pseudoscience is a term that classifies arguments that are claimed to exemplify the methods and principles of science, but do not adhere to an appropriate scientific method, lack supporting evidence, plausibility, falsifiability, or otherwise lack scientific status.[168]
Some writers have identified social factors that contribute to the status of ufology as a pseudoscience,[169][170][171] with one study suggesting that "any science doubt surrounding unidentified flying objects and aliens was not primarily due to the ignorance of ufologists about science, but rather a product of the respective research practices of and relations between ufology, the sciences, and government investigative bodies".[170] One study suggests that "the rudimentary standard of science communication attending to the extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) hypothesis for UFOs inhibits public understanding of science, dissuades academic inquiry within the physical and social sciences, and undermines progressive space policy initiatives".[172]
Jacques Vallée
Jacques Vallée, a scientist and ufologist, claimed there were deficiencies in most UFO research, including government studies. He criticized the mythology and cultism often associated with UFO sightings, but despite the challenges, Vallée contended that several hundred professional scientists—a group both he and Hynek termed "the invisible college"—continued to study UFOs quietly on their own time.[148]
Studies
UFOs have become a prevalent theme in modern culture,[148] and the social phenomena have been the subject of academic research in sociology and psychology.[151]
This section is an excerpt from Ufology § Current interest.[edit]
In 2021, astronomer Avi Loeb launched The Galileo Project[173] which intends to collect and report scientific evidence of extraterrestrials or extraterrestrial technology on or near Earth via telescopic observations.[174][175][176][177]
In Germany, the University of Würzburg is developing intelligent sensors that can help detect and analyze aerial objects in hopes of applying such technology to UAP.[178][179][180][181]
A 2021 Gallup poll found that belief among Americans in some UFOs being extraterrestrial spacecraft grew between 2019 and 2021 from 33% to 41%. Gallup cited increased coverage in mainstream news and scrutiny from government authorities as a factor in changing attitudes towards UFOs.[182]
In 2022, NASA announced a nine-month study starting in the fall to help establish a road map for investigating UAP—or for reconnaissance of the publicly available data it might use for such research.[183][184][185]
In 2023, the RAND Corporation published a study reviewing 101,151 public reports of UAP sightings in the United States from 1998 to 2022.[186] The models used to conduct the analysis showed that reports of UAP sightings were less likely within 30 km of weather stations, 60 km of civilian airports, and in more–densely populated areas, while rural areas tended to have a higher rate of UAP reports. The most consistent and statistically significant finding was that reports of UAP sightings were more likely to occur within 30 km of military operations areas, where routine military training occurs.
Sturrock panel categorization
Besides anecdotal visual sightings, reports sometimes include claims of other kinds of evidence, including cases studied by the military and various government agencies of different countries (such as Project Blue Book, the Condon Committee, the French GEPAN/SEPRA, and Uruguay's current Air Force study).
A comprehensive scientific review of cases where physical evidence was available was carried out by the 1998 Sturrock panel, with specific examples of many of the categories listed below.
Radar contact and tracking, sometimes from multiple sites. These have included military personnel and control tower operators, simultaneous visual sightings, and aircraft intercepts. One such example was the mass sightings of large, silent, low-flying black triangles in 1989 and 1990 over Belgium, tracked by NATO radar and jet interceptors, and investigated by Belgium's military (included photographic evidence). Another famous case from 1986 was the Japan Air Lines flight 1628 incident over Alaska investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Photographic evidence, including still photos, movie film, and video.
Claims of physical trace of landing UFOs, including ground impressions, burned or desiccated soil, burned and broken foliage, magnetic anomalies[specify], increased radiation levels, and metallic traces. (See, e. g. Height 611 UFO incident or the 1964 Lonnie Zamora's Socorro, New Mexico encounter of the USAF Project Blue Book cases.) A well-known example from December 1980 was the USAF Rendlesham Forest incident in England. Another occurred in January 1981 in Trans-en-Provence and was investigated by GEPAN, then France's official government UFO-investigation agency. Project Blue Book head Edward J. Ruppelt described a classic 1952 CE2 case involving a patch o roots.
Physiological effects on people and animals including temporary paralysis, skin burns and rashes, corneal burns, and symptoms superficially resembling radiation poisoning, such as the Cash-Landrum incident in 1980.
Animal/cattle mutilation cases, which some feel are also part of the UFO phenomenon.
Biological effects on plants such as increased or decreased growth, germination effects on seeds, and blown-out stem nodes (usually associated with physical trace cases or crop circles)
Electromagnetic interference (EM) effects. A famous 1976 military case over Tehran, recorded in CIA and DIA classified documents, was associated with communication losses in multiple aircraft and weapons system failure in an F-4 Phantom II jet interceptor as it was about to fire a missile on one of the UFOs.[187]
Apparent remote radiation detection, some noted in FBI and CIA documents occurring over government nuclear installations at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1950, also reported by Project Blue Book director Edward J. Ruppelt in his book.
Claimed artifacts of UFOs themselves, such as 1957, Ubatuba, Brazil, magnesium fragments analyzed by the Brazilian government and in the Condon Report and by others. The 1964 Lonnie Zamora incident also left metal traces, analyzed by NASA.[188][189] A more recent example involves a teardrop-shaped object recovered by Bob White and was featured in a television episode of UFO Hunters[190] but was later found to be accumulated waste metal residue from a grinding machine.[191]
, possibly explained in some cases as nests from ballooning spiders or chaff.[192]
Scientific skepticism
A scientifically skeptical group that has for many years offered critical analyses of UFO claims is the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). One example is the response to local beliefs that "extraterrestrial beings" in UFOs were responsible for crop circles appearing in Indonesia, which the government and the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) described as "man-made". Thomas Djamaluddin, research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at LAPAN stated: "We have come to agree that this 'thing' cannot be scientifically proven. Scientists have put UFOs in the category of pseudoscience."[193]
Governmental
See also: Investigation of UFO reports by the United States government
UFO drawing, authenticity unknown, attribution and date unspecified. One of hundreds of files resulting from US President Bill Clinton's 1995 order to the CIA to declassify all documents with "historical value" that were at least 25 years old.
UFOs have been the subject of investigations by various governments that have provided extensive records related to the subject. Many of the most involved government-sponsored investigations ended after agencies concluded that there was no benefit to continued investigation.[194][195] These same negative conclusions also have been found in studies that were highly classified for many years, such as the UK's Flying Saucer Working Party, Project Condign, the U.S. CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel, the U.S. military investigation into the green fireballs from 1948 to 1951, and the Battelle Memorial Institute study for the USAF from 1952 to 1955 (Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14).
Some public government reports have acknowledged the possibility of the physical reality of UFOs, but have stopped short of proposing extraterrestrial origins, though not dismissing the possibility entirely. Examples are the Belgian military investigation into large triangles over their airspace in 1989–1991 and the 2009 Uruguayan Air Force study conclusion (see below).
Claims by military, government, and aviation personnel
In 2007, former Arizona governor Fife Symington claimed he had seen "a massive, delta-shaped craft silently navigate over Squaw Peak, a mountain range in Phoenix, Arizona" in 1997.[196] Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell claimed he knew of senior government employees who had been involved in "close encounters", and because of this, he has no doubt that aliens have visited Earth.[197]
In May 2019, The New York Times reported that American Navy fighter jets had several instances of unidentified instrumentation and tracking data while conducting exercises off the eastern seaboard of the United States from the summer of 2014 to March 2015. The Times published a cockpit instrument video that appeared to show an object moving at high speed near the ocean surface as it appeared to rotate, and objects that appeared capable of high acceleration, deceleration and maneuverability. In two separate incidents, a pilot reported his cockpit instruments locked onto and tracked objects but he was unable to see them through his helmet camera. In another encounter, flight instruments recorded an image described as a sphere encasing a cube between two jets as they flew about 100 feet apart.[198] The Pentagon officially released these videos on April 27, 2020.[199] The United States Navy has said there have been "a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years".[200]
According to former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Ryan Graves, UAPs spotted by US Navy crew aboard the USS Nimitz, the USS Princeton, and other carriers in 2014 prompted flight safety concerns by some Navy pilots.[201][202] Graves, described as "one of the most vocal advocates for UAP transparency", said the appearance of UFOs was frequent near aircraft carriers.[201] In 2019, a US Navy spokesperson, Joseph Gradisher stated that "For safety and security concerns, the Navy and the [US Air Force] takes these reports very seriously and investigates each and every report." and because of the sightings, the "Navy is updating and formalising the process" of reporting,[203][204] with the reporting process updated by 2020 [205]
In May 2021, military pilots recalled their related encounters, along with camera and radar support, including one pilot's account noting that such incidents occurred "every day for at least a couple of years", according to an interview broadcast on the news program, 60 Minutes (May 16, 2021).[206][207] Science writer and skeptic Mick West suggested the image was the result of an optical effect called a bokeh which can make out of focus light sources appear triangular or pyramidal due to the shape of the aperture of some lenses.[208][209] In August, 2022, an article by West provided his detailed analysis of the video.[210]
The 2021 Pentagon UFO Report
On June 25, 2021, U.S. Defense and intelligence officials released the nine pages Pentagon UFO Report (Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) on what they know about a series of unidentified flying objects that have been seen by American military pilots in the skies between 2004 and 2021.[211][212] It observed that "UAP probably lack a single explanation", but identified airborne clutter and foreign adversary systems as among possible objects that "clearly pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to U.S. national security".[213][214][215][216] The report also mentioned dangers associated with "an increasingly cluttered air domain" .[214] The issue of safety with commercial airlines has also been raised.[217][218] The report does not mentions extraterrestrials, but concludes that the objects found by the US military appear to be real in the majority of the 144 occurrences documented.[212] "Most of the UAP reported probably do represent physical objects given that a majority of UAP were registered across multiple sensors, to include radar, infrared, electro-optical, weapon seekers, and visual observation", according to the report.[212] The report also stated that "UAP probably lack a single explanation", and proposed five possible categories of explanation: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, US government or industry development technology, foreign craft, and an "Other" category.[219] Commenting on the document, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that he did not think we are alone, but the UFO sightings by pilots "may not be extraterrestrial."[220]
In December 2021, further official governmental investigations into UAPs and related, along with annual unclassified reports presented to Congress, have been authorized and funded.[221] Some have raised concerns about the new investigations.[222]
President of the United States Joe Biden in 2023 signed the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act into law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 on December 14, 2023.[223] The 64-page amendment defined and codified 22 technical definitions related to UFOs and non-human intelligence under the law.[224]
Conspiracy theories
See also: UFO conspiracy theory, Steven M. Greer, Men in black, and Brookings Report
UFOs are sometimes an element of conspiracy theories in which governments are allegedly intentionally "covering up" the existence of aliens by removing physical evidence of their presence or even collaborating with extraterrestrial beings. There are many versions of this story; some are exclusive, while others overlap with various other conspiracy theories.
In the U.S., an opinion poll conducted in 1997 suggested that 80% of Americans believed the U.S. government was withholding such information.[225][226] Various notables have also expressed such views. Some examples are astronauts Gordon Cooper and Edgar Mitchell, Senator Barry Goldwater, Vice Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter (the first CIA director), Lord Hill-Norton (former British Chief of Defense Staff and NATO head), the 1999 French COMETA study by various French generals and aerospace experts, and Yves Sillard (former director of CNES, new director of French UFO research organization GEIPAN).[126]
In June 2023, United States Air Force officer and former intelligence official David Grusch claimed that the U.S. federal government has maintained a highly secretive UFO retrieval program since the 1940s and that the government possesses multiple spacecraft of "non-human" origin.[227][228]
In May 2025, Matthew Brown, another former intelligence official, claimed elements of the US Government executive branch had conspired to prevent the US Congress from exercising its lawful powers of oversight with respect to UAP, Technology of Unknown Origin (TUO) and Non-Human Intelligence (NHI) issues. He also claimed there was a "criminal conspiracy" to keep the elected government of the United States ignorant of "the profound discoveries and dire threats originating from the existence of UAP, NHI, and their technologies." He claimed there was an Unacknowledged Special Access Program (USAP) called "Immaculate Constellation" that consolidated observations of UAP etc. and used "sophisticated internal information security controls" to enforce the detection, quarantining and compartmentalisation of UAP imagery collection incidents before they were circulated within the various branches of national and military intelligence. This was how such sightings and observations could be denied to exist by intelligence officials when questioned on it because it had been hidden to them by systems of internal secrecy they were unaware about.[229][230][231][unreliable source?]
A document written by an anonymous whistleblower (since revealed to have been authored by Matthew Brown in about 2018) was submitted to the Congressional Record at a public hearing of the House Oversight Committee in November 2024.[232]
In a later interview with Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp, released online in May 2024, Brown claimed that a secret group of people had successfully "reverse engineered" TUO from downed UAP and the rest of humanity had been "left behind".[233]
"Disclosure" advocates
In May 2001, a press conference was held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., by an organization called the Disclosure Project, featuring twenty persons including retired Air Force and FAA personnel, intelligence officers and an air traffic controller.[234][235][236][237][238][239][240] They all gave a brief account of their claims that evidence of UFOs was being suppressed and said they would be willing to testify under oath to a Congressional committee. According to a 2002 report in the Oregon Daily Emerald, Disclosure Project founder Steven M. Greer is an "alien theorist" who claims "proof of government coverup" consisting of 120 hours of testimony from various government officials on the topic of UFOs, including astronaut Gordon Cooper.[241]
In 2007, the German UFO conspiracy forum Disclose.tv was created. The website's name references the concept of disclosure.[242]
On September 27, 2010, a group of six former USAF officers and one former enlisted Air Force man held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on the theme "U.S. Nuclear Weapons Have Been Compromised by Unidentified Aerial Objects"[243] in which they claimed they had witnessed UFOs hovering near missile sites and even disarming the missiles.
From April 29 to May 3, 2013, the Paradigm Research Group held the "Citizen Hearing on Disclosure" at the National Press Club. The group paid former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel and former Representatives Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Roscoe Bartlett, Merrill Cook, Darlene Hooley, and Lynn Woolsey $20,000 each to hear testimony from a panel of researchers which included witnesses from military, agency, and political backgrounds.[244][245]
Religious
UFOs have been interpreted by some groups in a religious way, often influenced by the Theosophical tradition. Some Christians have interpreted UFOs as demonic entities.[246]
Ufology
Main article: Ufology
Swirling multicolored cloud like object in the sky
A photograph of an unusual atmospheric occurrence observed over Sri Lanka, forwarded to the UK Ministry of Defence by RAF Fylingdales, 2004
Ufology is a neologism describing the study of UFO reports and associated evidence.[247][248] Limited institutional or scientific study has given rise to independent researchers and UFO organizations, including the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in the mid-20th century and, more recently, the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)[249] and the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS).[250]
In popular culture
Main article: UFOs in fiction
A UFO monument in Tenjo, Colombia
UFOs have constituted a widespread international cultural phenomenon since the 1950s. Gallup Polls rank UFOs near the top of lists for subjects of widespread recognition. In 1973, a survey found that 95 percent of the public reported having heard of UFOs, whereas only 92 percent had heard of U.S. President Gerald Ford in a 1977 poll taken just nine months after he left the White House.[251][252]
A 1996 Gallup Poll reported that 71 percent of the United States population believed the U.S. government was covering up information regarding UFOs. A 2002 Roper Poll for the Sci-Fi Channel found similar results, but with more people believing UFOs are extraterrestrial craft. In that latest poll, 56 percent thought UFOs were real craft and 48 percent that aliens had visited the Earth. Again, about 70 percent felt the government was not sharing everything it knew about UFOs or extraterrestrial life.[253][254]
Another effect of the flying saucer type of UFO sightings has been Earth-made flying saucer craft in space fiction, for example the United Planets Cruiser C57D in Forbidden Planet (1956), the Jupiter 2 in Lost in Space, and the saucer section of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek. UFOs and extraterrestrials have been featured in many movies.
The intense secrecy surrounding the secret Nevada base, known as Area 51, has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component of UFO folklore. In July 2019, more than 2 million people replied to a joke proposal to storm Area 51 which appeared in an anonymous Facebook post.[255] Two music festivals in rural Nevada, "AlienStock" and "Storm Area 51 Basecamp", were subsequently organized to capitalize on the popularity of the original Facebook event.[256] 150 people showed up to the Area 51 entrance and attendance at the festivals was 1,500.[257]
See also
Unidentified submerged object
Notes
Many of these documents are now online at the FOIA websites of these agencies such as the "FBI FOIA site". Archived from the original on May 24, 2008., as well as private websites such as The Black Vault Archived September 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, which has an archive of several thousand U.S. government UFO-related documents from the USAF, Army, CIA, DIA, DOD, and NSA.
The so-called Twining memo of September 23, 1947 Archived February 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, by future USAF Chief of Staff, General Nathan Twining, specifically recommended intelligence cooperation with the Army, Navy, Atomic Energy Commission, the Defense Department's Joint Research and Development Board, Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), Project RAND, and the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) project.
For example, current USAF general reporting procedures are in Air Force Instruction (AFI)10-206 Archived June 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Section 5.7.3 (p. 64) lists sightings of "unidentified flying objects" and "aircraft of unconventional design" as separate categories from potentially hostile but conventional, unidentified aircraft, missiles, surface vessels, or submarines. Additionally, "unidentified objects" detected by missile warning systems, creating a potential risk of nuclear war, are covered by Rule 5E (p.35).
For example, the USAF's Project Blue Book concluded that less than 2% of reported UFOs were "psychological" or hoaxes; Allan Hendry's study for CUFOS had less than 1%.
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General
Bullard, Thomas; (2012). The Myth and Mystery of UFOs. Lawrence: University of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1729-6.
Clark, Jerome (1998). The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial. Detroit, MI: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 1-57859-029-9. LCCN 97035767. OCLC 37370629. Many classic cases and UFO history provided in great detail; highly documented.
Curran, Douglas (2001) [1st edition originally published 1985; New York: Abbeville Press]. In Advance of the Landing: Folk Concepts of Outer Space. Foreword by Tom Wolfe (Revised ed.). New York: Abbeville Press. ISBN 0-7892-0708-7. LCCN 00052589. OCLC 45270419. Non-sensational but fair treatment of contemporary UFO legend and lore in N. America, including the so-called "contactee cults". The author traveled the United States with his camera and tape recorder and directly interviewed many individuals.
Deardorff, J.; Haisch, B.; Maccabee, B.; Puthoff, H. E. (2005). "Inflation-Theory Implications for Extraterrestrial Visitation". Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. 58. London: British Interplanetary Society: 43–50. Bibcode:2005JBIS...58...43D. ISSN 0007-084X. Archived from the original on July 8, 2024. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
Friedman, Stanton T. (2008). Flying Saucers and Science: A Scientist Investigates the Mysteries of UFOs. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books. ISBN 978-1-60163-011-7. LCCN 2008006291. OCLC 179812690.
Greer, Steven M.; (2001). Disclosure. Crozer: Crossing Point. ISBN 0-9673238-1-9.
Hall, Richard H., ed. (1997) [Originally published 1964; Washington, D.C.: National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP)]. The UFO Evidence (Reissue ed.). New York: Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 0-7607-0627-1. LCCN 64006912. OCLC 39544334. Well-organized, exhaustive summary and analysis of 746 unexplained NICAP cases out of 5000 total cases—a classic.
Hall, Richard H., ed. (2001). UFO Evidence: Volume II, A 30-year Report. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3881-8. LCCN 00055624. OCLC 44391782. Another exhaustive case study, more recent UFO reports.
Hendry, Allan (1979). The UFO Handbook: A Guide to Investigating, Evaluating, and Reporting UFO Sightings. Foreword by J. Allen Hynek. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-14348-6. LCCN 78008211. OCLC 4642190. Skeptical but balanced analysis of 1300 CUFOS UFO cases.
Hynek, J. Allen (1972). The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company. LCCN 76183827. OCLC 341112.
Hynek, J. Allen (1997) [Originally published 1977; New York: Dell Publishing Company]. The Hynek UFO Report. New foreword by Jacques Vallée. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 0-7607-0429-5. OCLC 3601609. Analysis of 640 high-quality cases through 1969 by UFO legend Hynek.
Jacobs, David M., ed. (2000). UFOs and Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1032-4. LCCN 00028970. OCLC 43615835.
Kean, Leslie (2010). UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record. Harmony Books.
Kérizo, Alain (1997). Les OVNI identifiés: les extraterrestres dans le mystère d'iniquité (in French). Villegenon: Éd. Sainte Jeanne d'Arc. ISBN 978-2-9504914-8-0. OCLC 465784973. Archived from the original on July 8, 2024. Retrieved October 21, 2020. (associated article Archived April 12, 2015, at the Wayback Machine)
Keyhoe, Donald (1950). The Flying Saucers are Real. New York: Fawcett Publications. LCCN 50004886. OCLC 1674240. Archived from the original on September 6, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
Keyhoe, Donald E. (1953). Flying Saucers from Outer Space. New York: Henry Holt and Company. LCCN 53009588. OCLC 181368. Archived from the original on May 14, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
Latagliata, Rosamaria (2006). UFO: verità o menzogna?. Gli atlanti di Voyager (in Italian). Florence: Giunti Editore. ISBN 978-88-09-04698-6. OCLC 635701671.
McCarthy, Paul E. (1975). Politicking and Paradigm Shifting: James E. McDonald and the UFO Case Study (Thesis/dissertation) (Internet ed.). Canterbury, CT: Sign Historical Group. OCLC 663722044. Archived from the original on September 10, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
Menzel, Donald H.; Taves, Ernest H. (1977). The UFO Enigma: The Definitive Explanation of the UFO Phenomenon. Introduction by Fred L. Whipple. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-03596-9. LCCN 76016255. OCLC 2597609.
Mitchell, Edgar; (2008). The Way of the Explorer. Franklin Lakes: Career Press. ISBN 978-1-56414-977-0.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence (USA); (2021). Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
"Reasons to Believe (a collection of short articles by nine different authors)". New York. April 1, 2018. pp. 25–33.
Rose, Bill; Buttler, Tony (2004). Flying Saucer Aircraft. Secret Projects. Hinckley, England: Midland Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-233-7. OCLC 99774524.
Sagan, Carl; Page, Thornton, eds. (1996) [1972]. UFO's: A Scientific Debate (Reprint ed.). New York: Barnes & Noble. ISBN 978-0-7607-0196-6. LCCN 72004572. OCLC 35840064.
Scully, Frank (1950). Behind the Flying Saucers. New York: Henry Holt and Company. OCLC 1467735.
Sheaffer, Robert (1981). The UFO Verdict: Examining the Evidence. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-146-0. LCCN 80084406. OCLC 7364885.
Sheaffer, Robert (1998). UFO Sightings: The Evidence. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-213-7. LCCN 98006410. OCLC 38738821. Revised edition of The UFO Verdict.
Stanford, Ray (1976). Socorro 'Saucer' in a Pentagon Pantry. Austin, TX: Blueapple Books. ISBN 0-917092-00-7. LCCN 76013768. OCLC 2524239.
Sturrock, Peter A.; Holzer, T. E.; Jahn, R.; et al. (1998). "Physical Evidence Related to UFO Reports: The Proceedings of a Workshop Held at the Pocantico Conference Center, Tarrytown, New York, September 29 – October 4, 1997" (PDF). Journal of Scientific Exploration. 12 (2). Stanford, CA: Society for Scientific Exploration: 179–229. ISSN 0892-3310. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 7, 2010. Retrieved September 8, 2013.[unreliable source?] Sturrock panel report on physical evidence.
Sturrock, Peter A. (1999). The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-52565-0. LCCN 99066643. OCLC 42645835.
Vallée, Jacques (2008) [Originally published 1991; New York: Ballantine Books]. Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception. San Antonio, TX: Anomalist Books. ISBN 978-1-933665-30-6. LCCN 91091858. OCLC 225866107.
Viberti, Pier Giorgio (2010) [Originally published 1997]. Incontri ravvicinati: Avvistamenti e contatti da mondi lontani. Atlanti del sapere (in Italian). Florence: Giunti Editore. ISBN 978-88-09-75032-6. OCLC 800130536.
History
Clarke, David (2009). The UFO Files: The Inside Story of Real-Life Sightings. Kew: The National Archives. ISBN 978-1-905615-50-6. OCLC 316039535. Reports from the UK government files.
Cohen, Daniel (1981). The Great Airship Mystery: A UFO of the 1890s. Dodd, Mead & Co. ISBN 0-396-07990-3.
Dolan, Richard M. (2000). UFOs and the National Security State: An Unclassified History, Volume One: 1941–1973. Rochester, NY: Keyhole Publishing Company. ISBN 0-9677995-0-3. LCCN 00691087. OCLC 45546629. Dolan is a professional historian.
Downes, Jonathan; Wright, Nigel (2005). The Rising of the Moon (Revised ed.). Bangor, Northern Ireland: Xiphos Books. ISBN 978-0-9544936-5-3. OCLC 70335856.
Fawcett, Lawrence; Greenwood, Barry J. (1992) [Originally published 1984 as Clear Intent; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall]. The UFO Cover-up: What the Government Won't Say. Foreword by J. Allen Hynek (1st Fireside ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-76555-8. LCCN 84009818. OCLC 28384401. Many UFO documents.
Good, Timothy (1988). Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-Up. Foreword by Lord Hill-Norton (1st Quill ed.). New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0-688-09202-0. LCCN 88208434. OCLC 707516815. Many UFO documents.
Good, Timothy (1997) [1996]. Beyond Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Security Threat. Foreword by Lord Hill-Norton (Fully revised and updated ed.). London: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-34928-7. OCLC 38490850.
Good, Timothy (2007). Need to Know: UFOs, the Military, and Intelligence. New York: Pegasus Books. ISBN 978-1-933648-38-5. OCLC 180767460. Update of Above Top Secret with new cases and documents
Graff, Garrett M. (2023). UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here―and Out There. Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-9677-6.
Hall, Michael D.; Connors, Wendy A. (1998). Alfred Loedding & the Great Flying Saucer Wave of 1947 (PDF). Albuquerque, NM: White Rose Press. OCLC 41104299. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 25, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
Keel, John (1996) [Originally published 1970 as UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons]. Operation Trojan Horse (PDF). Lilburn, GA: IllumiNet Press. ISBN 978-0-9626534-6-9. LCCN 96014564. OCLC 34474485. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 20, 2013.
Kocher, George (November 1968). UFOs: What to Do (PDF). RAND Corporation. DRU-1571. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 19, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2013. UFO historical review, case studies, review of hypotheses, recommendations.
Maccabee, Bruce (2000). UFO FBI Connection: The Secret History of the Government's Cover-Up. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 1-56718-493-6. LCCN 00028277. OCLC 43634902.
Randle, Kevin D. (1997). Project Blue Book Exposed. New York: Marlowe & Company. ISBN 1-56924-746-3. LCCN 97072378. OCLC 37047544.
Ruppelt, Edward J. (1956). The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. LCCN 56005444. OCLC 1941793. Archived from the original on May 16, 2011. Retrieved August 28, 2004. A UFO classic by insider Ruppelt, the first head of the USAF Project Blue Book.
Swords, Michael; Powell, Robert; et al. (2012). UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry. San Antonio, TX: Anomalist Books. ISBN 978-1-933665-58-0. OCLC 809977863.
Weinstein, Dominique F. (February 2001). Unidentified Aerial Phenomena: Eighty Years of Pilot Sightings (PDF). Boulder Creek, CA: National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP). NARCAP TR-04. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 12, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
Psychology
Haines, Richard F., ed. (1979). UFO Phenomena and the Behavioral Scientist. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-1228-2. LCCN 79014878. OCLC 5008381.
Jung, C G (1978) [Originally published 1958 as Ein moderner Mythus: von Dingen, die am Himmel gesehen werden]. Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. Translation by R.F.C. Hull. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01822-7. LCCN 78004325. OCLC 4762238.
Simón, Armando (February 1976). "UFOs: Testing for the existence of Air Force censorship". Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior. 13 (1): 3–5. ISSN 0033-3077.
Simón, Armando (1981). "A Nonreactive, Quantitative Study of Mass Behavior with Emphasis on the Cinema as Behavior Catalyst". Psychological Reports. 48 (3). Ammons Scientific: 775–785. doi:10.2466/pr0.1981.48.3.775. ISSN 0033-2941. S2CID 143670471.
Simón, Armando (1984). "Psychology and UFOs". Skeptical Inquirer. 8. Amherst, NY: Committee for Skeptical Inquiry: 355–367.
Technology
Ford, L. H.; Roman, Thomas A. (1996). "Quantum field theory constrains traversable wormhole geometries". Physical Review D. 53 (10): 5496–5507. arXiv:gr-qc/9510071. Bibcode:1996PhRvD..53.5496F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.53.5496. ISSN 0556-2821. PMID 10019835. S2CID 18106362.
Hill, Paul R. (1995). Unconventional Flying Objects: A Scientific Analysis. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company. ISBN 1-57174-027-9. LCCN 97109204. OCLC 34075199. Analysis of UFO technology by pioneering NACA/NASA aerospace engineer.
Krasnikov, S. (2003). "The quantum inequalities do not forbid spacetime shortcuts". Physical Review D. 67 (10) 104013. arXiv:gr-qc/0207057. Bibcode:2003PhRvD..67j4013K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.67.104013. S2CID 17498199.
Skepticism
Plait, Philip C. (2002). "Misidentified Flying Objects: UFOs and Illusions of the Mind and Eye". Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax". Illustrations by Tina Cash Walsh. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-40976-6. LCCN 2002277382. OCLC 48885221.
Ridpath, Ian. "Astronomical Causes of UFOs". Ian Ridpath. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
Seeds, Michael (1995) [1981]. Horizons: Exploring the Universe (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0-534-24889-6. LCCN 94013521. OCLC 30156735.(Appendix A)
Sheaffer, Robert (2012) [2011]. Psychic Vibrations: Skeptical Giggles from the Skeptical Inquirer (2nd ed.). Charleston, SC: CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1-4636-0157-7. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
External links
UFO
at Wikipedia's sister projects
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Resources from Wikiversity
Travel information from Wikivoyage
"Government Reports on UFOs" from the Government Information Library at the University of Colorado Boulder
"CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90" Archived October 1, 2019, at the Wayback Machine by Gerald K. Haines, Central Intelligence Agency
"UFOs: Fact or Fiction?" Declassified CIA documents from the 1940s through the early 1990s.
"UFO Reports in the UK" from 1997 to 2009 by the Ministry of Defence
"Newly released UFO files from the UK government" at The National Archives
"Canada's UFOs: The Search for the Unknown", a virtual museum exhibition by the Library and Archives Canada
Declassified files on UFOs from many countries
Declassified video – Chilean UAP event of November 11, 2014 (official; video (9:59))
An astrophysicist's view of UFOs (Adam Frank; NYT; May 30, 2021)
A list of skeptical resources (astronomer Andrew Fraknoi)
UFO Explanations (videos; scientist Mick West)
Some UAPs may be laser-generated holograms? (WSJ; July 29, 2021).
UAPs need a high-resolution image (Avi Loeb; Scientific American; August 2, 2021).
Video (92:50): U.S. Congressional Hearing on UFO/UAP (May 17, 2022) on YouTube.
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UFOs
Ufology
Claimed sightings
General
List of reported UFO sightings Sightings in outer space Sightings near atomic sites UFO reports and disinformation
Pre-20th century
Ezekiel's Wheel (circa 622–570 BC) Airship of Clonmacnoise (740s) 1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg 1566 celestial phenomenon over Basel 1665 celestial phenomenon over Stralsund José Bonilla observation (1883) Airship wave (1896–97) Aurora (1897)
20th century
Los Angeles (1942) Ängelholm UFO memorial (1946) Kenneth Arnold (1947) 1947 craze Flight 105 (1947) Roswell (1947) Rhodes (1947) Mantell (1948) Chiles-Whitted (1948) Gorman Dogfight (1948) Mariana (1950) McMinnville photographs (1950) Sperry (1950) Lubbock Lights (1951) Nash-Fortenberry (1952) Washington, D.C. (1952) Flatwoods monster (1952) Kelly–Hopkinsville (1955) Lakenheath-Bentwaters (1956) Antônio Villas Boas (1957) Levelland (1957) Barney and Betty Hill abduction (1961) Lonnie Zamora incident (1964) Solway Firth Spaceman (1964) Exeter (1965) Kecksburg (1965) Westall (1966) Falcon Lake (1967) Shag Harbour (1967) Jimmy Carter (1969) Finnish Air Force (1969) Pascagoula Abduction (1973) John Lennon UFO incident (1974) Travis Walton incident (1975) Tehran (1976) Petrozavodsk phenomenon (1977) Operação Prato (1977) Zanfretta incident (1978) Valentich disappearance (1978) Kaikoura Lights (1978) Robert Taylor incident (1979) Val Johnson incident (1979) Manises (1979) Cash–Landrum incident (1980) Rendlesham Forest (1980) Trans-en-Provence (1981) Japan Air Lines (1986) Ilkley Moor (1987) Voronezh incident (1989) Belgian UFO wave (1990) Ariel School (1994) Varginha (1996) Phoenix Lights (1997)
21st century
USS Nimitz UFO incident (2004) Campeche, Mexico (2004) O'Hare Airport (2006) Alderney (2007) Norway (2009) USS Theodore Roosevelt UFO incidents (2014) Jetpack man (2020–21) High-altitude object events (2023) David Grusch claims (2023)
Confirmed hoaxes
Maury Island hoax (1947) Twin Falls, Idaho hoax (1947) Aztec, New Mexico hoax (1949) Southern England (1967) Majestic 12 (1985) Gulf Breeze (1987–88) Alien Autopsy (1995 film) Morristown (2009)
Sightings by country
Africa (South Africa) Albania Argentina Australia Belarus Belgium Brazil Canada China Czech Republic France Greece India Indonesia Iran Italy Mexico Nepal New Zealand Norway Poland Russia Spain (Canary Islands) Sweden United Kingdom United States
Types of UFOs
Black triangle Flying saucer Foo fighter Ghost rockets Green fireballs Mystery airship Space jellyfish
Types of alleged
extraterrestrial beings
Energy beings Grey aliens Insectoids Little green men Nordic aliens Reptilian humanoids
Studies and timeline
Investigation of UFO reports by the United States government The Flying Saucers Are Real (1947–1950) Project Sign (1948) Project Grudge (1949) Flying Saucer Working Party (1950) Project Magnet (1950–1962) Project Blue Book (1952–1970) Robertson Panel (1953) Ruppelt report (1956) National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (1956–1980) Condon Report (1966–1968) Institute 22 (1978–?) Project Condign (1997–2000) Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (2007–2012) Identification studies of UFOs Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (current) NASA's UAP independent study team Archives of the Impossible
Hypotheses
Ancient astronauts Cryptoterrestrial Extraterrestrial Interdimensional Psychological perspectives on UFO belief Psychosocial Nazi UFOs Time-traveller Posadist Trotskyism
Conspiracy theories
Area 51
Storm Area 51 Bob Lazar Dulce Base Men in black Project Serpo
Involvement
Abduction claims
History Entities Narrative Perspectives Insurance
Other
Implants Cattle mutilation Close encounter Contactee Crop circles Government responses
GEIPAN Organizations Ufologists
Culture
The Age of Disclosure Fiction Religions
list
Skepticism
List of scientific skeptics Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
Government and law
United States Congress hearings on UFOs (2022) Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act (UADPA), USA law (2023)
Category
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Extraterrestrial life
Events and objects
Shergotty meteorite (1865) Nakhla meteorite (1911) Murchison meteorite (1969) Viking lander biological experiments (1976) Allan Hills 77005 (1977) Allan Hills 84001 (1984) Yamato 000593 (2000) CI1 fossils (2011)
Signals of interest
Misidentified
CP 1919 (misidentified pulsar) CTA-102 (misidentified quasar)
Stars
KIC 8462852 (unusual light fluctuations) EPIC 204278916 (unusual light fluctuations) VVV-WIT-07 (unusual light fluctuations) HD 164595 signal (unknown origin)
Other
SHGb02+14a (radio source) Wow! signal (inconclusive) Fast radio burst (unknown origin) BLC1 (radio signal)
Life in the Universe
Earliest known life forms Planetary habitability in the Solar System Life on Venus Life on Mars Life on Titan
Planetary
habitability
Catalog of Nearby Habitable Systems Circumstellar habitable zone Earth analog Extraterrestrial liquid water Galactic habitable zone Habitability of binary star systems Habitability of natural satellites Habitability of neutron star systems Habitability of red dwarf systems Habitability of K-type main-sequence star systems Habitability of yellow dwarf systems Habitability of F-type main-sequence star systems List of potentially habitable exoplanets Planetary habitability Superhabitable planet Tholin
Space missions
Beagle 2 Biological Oxidant and Life Detection BioSentinel Curiosity rover Darwin Dragonfly Enceladus Explorer Enceladus Life Finder Europa Clipper ExoMars
Rosalind Franklin rover ExoLance EXPOSE Foton-M3 Icebreaker Life Journey to Enceladus and Titan Laplace-P Life Investigation For Enceladus Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment Mars Geyser Hopper Mars sample-return mission Mars 2020 Northern Light Opportunity rover Perseverance rover SpaceX Red Dragon Spirit rover Tanpopo Titan Mare Explorer Venus In Situ Explorer Viking 1 Viking 2
Interstellar
communication
Active SETI Allen Telescope Array Arecibo message Arecibo Observatory Berkeley SETI Research Center Bracewell probe Breakthrough Initiatives
Breakthrough Listen Breakthrough Message Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence Gauss's Pythagorean right triangle proposal Astrolinguistics Lincos language NIROSETI Pioneer plaque Project Cyclops Project Ozma Project Phoenix SERENDIP Search for extraterrestrial intelligence SETI@home setiQuest Voyager Golden Record Water hole Xenolinguistics
Hypotheses
Cosmic pluralism Directed panspermia Drake equation Extraterrestrial hypothesis Extraterrestrial intelligence Fermi paradox Hypothetical types of biochemistry Interplanetary contamination Kardashev scale Mediocrity principle Non-planetary abiogenesis Panspermia
Fermi paradox solutions
Aestivation hypothesis Berserker hypothesis Dark forest hypothesis Firstborn hypothesis Great Filter Hart–Tipler conjecture Neocatastrophism Planetarium hypothesis Rare Earth hypothesis Zoo hypothesis (Uniformity of motive)
Related topics
Ancient astronauts Astrobiology Astroecology Biosignature Brookings Report Definition of life Exotheology Extraterrestrials in fiction Extremophile Hemolithin History of the extraterrestrial life debate List of alleged extraterrestrial beings Nexus for Exoplanet System Science Noogenesis Planetary protection Potential cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact Post-detection policy San Marino Scale Technosignature UFO religion Xenoarchaeology
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Conspiracy theories
List of conspiracy theories
Overview
Core topics
Antiscience Cabals
deep state éminence grise power behind the throne Conspiracy
Civil Criminal Political Crisis actors Deception Dystopia Espionage Global catastrophe scenarios Hidden message Pseudohistory Pseudoscience Secrecy Secret societies Urban legends and myths
Psychology
Attitude polarization Cognitive dissonance Communal reinforcement Confirmation bias Denialism Locus of control Manipulation Mass psychogenic illness
moral panics Paranoia Psychological projection
Astronomy and outer space
2012 phenomenon
Nibiru cataclysm Ancient astronauts Expanding Earth Apollo Moon landings Flat Earth Hollow Earth Hollow Moon Reptilians
UFOs
(Alleged aliens)
Alien abduction Area 51 Black Knight satellite Cryptoterrestrial / Extraterrestrial / Interdimensional hypothesis Dulce Base Estimate of the Situation (1948) Lake Michigan Triangle MJ-12 Men in black Nazi UFOs
Die Glocke Project Serpo
Hoaxes
Dundy County (1884) Maury Island (1947) Roswell (1947) Twin Falls (1947) Aztec, New Mexico (1949) Southern England (1967) Ilkley Moor (1987) Gulf Breeze (1987–88) Alien autopsy (1995) Morristown (2009)
Deaths and disappearances
Assassination /
suicide theories
Zachary Taylor (1850) Ludwig II of Bavaria (1886) Louis Le Prince (1890) Lord Kitchener (1916) Tom Thomson (1917) Władysław Sikorski (1943) Benito Mussolini (1945) Adolf Hitler (1945) Subhas Chandra Bose (1945) Johnny Stompanato (1958) Marilyn Monroe (1962) John F. Kennedy (1963) Lee Harvey Oswald (1963) Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966) Harold Holt (1967) Martin Luther King Jr. (1968) Robert F. Kennedy (1968) Salvador Allende (1973) Aldo Moro (1978) Renny Ottolina (1978) Pope John Paul I (1978) Airey Neave (1979) Olof Palme (1986) Zia-ul-Haq (1988) GEC-Marconi scientists (1980s–90s) Turgut Özal (1993) Vince Foster (1993) Kurt Cobain (1994) Yitzhak Rabin (1995) Diana, Princess of Wales (1997) Vatican murders (1998) Nepalese royal family (2001) Yasser Arafat (2004) Benazir Bhutto (2007) Osama bin Laden (2011) Hugo Chávez (2013) Seth Rich (2016) Alejandro Castro (2018) Jeffrey Epstein (2019) Chan Yin-lam (2019) Sushant Singh Rajput (2020) John McAfee (2021)
Accidents / disasters
Mary Celeste (1872) RMS Titanic (1912) Great Kantō earthquake (1923) Lynmouth Flood (1952) Dyatlov Pass (1959) Lost Cosmonauts (1950s–60s) JAT Flight 367 (1972) United Air Lines Flight 553 (1972) Itavia Flight 870 (1980) South African Airways Flight 295 (1987) Khamar-Daban (1993) MS Estonia (1994) TWA Flight 800 (1996) EgyptAir Flight 990 (1999) Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (2014)
Other cases
Joan of Arc (1431) Roanoke Colony (1585) Yemenite children (1948–54) Elvis Presley (1977) Jonestown (1978)
Body double hoax
Paul McCartney Avril Lavigne Vladimir Putin Melania Trump
Energy, environment
Agenda 21 Climate change denial
false theories Free energy suppression Red mercury
United States
California drought manipulation HAARP 2024 Atlantic hurricanes Camp Fire disinformation
False flag allegations
USS Maine (1898) RMS Lusitania (1915) Reichstag fire (1933) Pearl Harbor (1941) USS Liberty (1967) Lufthansa Flight 615 (1972) Widerøe Flight 933 (1982) KAL Flight 007 (1983) Mozambican presidential jet (1986) Pan Am Flight 103 (1988) Oklahoma City bombing (1995) 9/11 attacks (2001)
advance knowledge WTC collapse Madrid train bombing (2004) London bombings (2005) Smolensk air disaster (2010) Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (2014) Denial of the 7 October attacks (2023)
Gender and sexuality
Alpha/beta males Anti-LGBTQ
Anti-gender movement Chemicals Drag panic Gay agenda
Gay bomb Gay Nazis myth HIV/AIDS stigma
United States Homintern
Lavender Scare Recruitment Grooming Litter box hoax Transvestigation Finger pinching Gamergate Ideology in incel communities Larries / Gaylors Satanic panic Soy and masculinity
Race, religion, ethnicity
Bhagwa Love Trap CERN ritual hoax and xenophobia Freemasons French Revolution [fr] Gas chambers for Poles in Warsaw (1940s) Prisoners of war
Germans (post-WWII) Priory of Sion Product labeling
Halal Kosher Tartarian Empire War against Islam White genocide
Antisemitic
Andinia Plan Blood libel Cohen Plan Doctors' plot During the Black Death Epsilon Team George Soros Holocaust denial
Trivialization International Jewish conspiracy
Committee of 300 Cultural Bolshevism / Jewish Bolshevism
Żydokomuna Judeo-Masonic plot The Protocols of the Elders of Zion World War II Z.O.G. Judeopolonia Killing of Jesus Kalergi Plan New World Order Rothschilds Stab-in-the-back myth
Christian
Bible conspiracy theory Christian persecution complex Christ myth theory
Caesar’s Messiah Jesus bloodline
Anti-Christian
Anti-Catholic
Vatican
John Paul Giuseppe Siri Popish Plot Jesuits
Islamophobic
Counter-jihad Bihar human sacrifice Eurabia Great Replacement Love jihad Proposed "Islamo-leftism" inquiry Trojan Horse scandal
Genocide denial /
Denial of mass killings
Armenian Assyrian Bangladesh Bosnian Cambodian The Holocaust Holodomor Nanjing Rwandan Serbs during WWII
Regional
Asia
India
Cow vigilante violence Pakistan
Jinnahpur Philippines
Tallano gold South Korea
Finger-pinching Thailand
Finland Plot
Americas
(outside the United States)
Argentina
Andinia Plan Canada
Avro Arrow cancellation Trudeau-Castro conspiracy Leuchter report Peru
Casa Matusita Venezuela
Daktari Ranch affair Golpe Azul
Middle East / North Africa
In the Arab world
10 agorot Cairo fire Kissinger Plan in Lebanon Israel-related animal theories Iran
Western-backed Iranian Revolution Israel
Pallywood
Russia
Alaska payment Dulles' Plan Golden billion Petrograd Military Organization Rasputin Ukraine bioweapons
Turkey
2016 coup attempt
Ergenekon Operation Sledgehammer Gezi Park protests Sèvres syndrome Üst akıl
Other European
Euromyth Georgia
Global War Party Germany
Vril Society Ireland
German Plot Lithuania
Statesmen Roman Republic
First Catilinarian conspiracy Spain
Mano Negra affair Sweden
Lilla Saltsjöbadsavtalet UK
Clockwork Orange plot Elm Guest House Harold Wilson Voting pencil
United States
Barack Obama
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This list of legendary creatures from mythology, folklore and fairy tales is sorted by their classification or affiliation. Creatures from modern fantasy fiction and role-playing games are not included.
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.
Animals, creatures associated with
Arthropods
See also: Category:Mythological arthropods
Carbuncle (Chilote) – One of its many descriptions is a greenish-red fiery light reminiscent of fireflies
Karkinos (Greek) – Cancer the crab
Gold-digging ant (Greek) – Reported by Herodotus to live in either Ethiopia or the Indian subcontinent
Khepri (Ancient Egyptian) – Beetle who pushes the sun
Mothman (American cryptid) – Man with moth wings and features
Myrmecoleon (Christian) – Ant-lion
Myrmidons (Greek) – Warriors created from ants by Zeus
Pabilsag (Babylonian) – Sagittarius-like creature with scorpion tail
Scorpion man (Babylonian) – Protector of travellers
Selket (Ancient Egyptian) – Scorpion death/healing goddess
Zaratan (Arabic) – Giant crab mistaken for an island
Spiders
See also: Category:Mythological spiders
Aiapæc (Moce) – Creator god, often seen as a spider with an anthropomorphic face and jaguar fangs
Anansi (West African) – Trickster spider
Arachne (Greek) – Weaver cursed into a spider
Areop-Enap (Nauru) – Creator god, made the earth and sky from a giant clam shell
Chaffee Spider (American cryptid) – Large cave spider kept as pest control and guard dogs by early settlers in Chaffee, Colorado, before mysteriously vanishing off the face of the earth
Christmas Spider (Ukrainian) – Spider whose webs became the first tinsel on a tree
Djieien (Seneca) – Man-sized spider who survived most attacks because its heart was buried underground.
Iktomi (Lakota) – Trickster spider. Also known in parts of the Rockies
Jorōgumo (Japanese) – Ghost woman who shapeshifts into a spider
Spider_Grandmother (Native American) – Important figure across many North West Native American Cultures
Tsuchigumo (Japanese) – Shapeshifting giant spider
Birds
See also: Category:Legendary birds
Ababil (Islamic) – A miraculous bird
Adarna (Philippine) – Colorful bird with healing powers, puts people to sleep, and turns people into stone
Avalerion (English) – Eagle-like bird; only a single pair was said to live at any time
Alicanto (Chilean) – Bird with luminescent feathers which feeds on gold or silver [1]
Anqa (Arabian) – Large, mysterious, or fabulous female bird
Anzû (Mesopotamian) – Massive bird who can breathe fire and water
Bare-fronted Hoodwink (Cryptid) – Bird with the ability to be "almost seen", created to satirize birdwatchers
Caladrius (Roman) – White bird with healing powers
Chalkydri (Jewish) – Heavenly creatures of the sun
Chamrosh (Persian mythology) – Creature with the body of a dog, and the head and wings of a bird
Cinnamon bird (Greek) – Arabian bird in Greek mythology that builds nests out of cinnamon
Devil Bird (Sri Lankan) – Shrieking bird who predicts death
Gagana (Russian) – Miraculous bird with an iron beak and copper claws
Gandabherunda (Hindu) – Two-headed magical bird
Garuda (Hindu) – Known as the primordial bird and the progenitor of all birds; vehicle of Lord Vishnu
Hakawai (Māori) – Bird that was sometimes heard but not usually seen
Hudhud (Islamic) – Messenger to prophets
Jingwei (Chinese) – A bird who is determined to fill up the sea
Luan (Chinese) – A bird which carries a shield and tramples on snakes while wearing one on its breast
Minokawa (Philippine) – Giant, dragon-like bird
Nine-headed Bird (Chinese) – A totem creature, predecessor to the Fenghuang
Oozlum bird (English) – A satirical creature that flies in ever-decreasing circles until it disappears into its own backside
Pamola (Abenaki) – A bird/moose spirit who causes cold weather
Peng (Chinese) – An enormous bird transformed from a giant fish which flies over the great oceans
Phoenix (Greek) –
Bennu (Egyptian) – self-creating bird deity
Chol (Biblical) – regenerative bird
Firebird (Slavic) – legendary bird with glowing eyes and feathers, brings misfortune if captured.
Fenghuang (Chinese) – a phoenix who reigns over all other birds
Huma bird (Persian) – a bird that flies too high to be seen and never lands
Konrul and Toghrul (Turkic)
Paskunji (Georgian/ Caucasus) phoenix like underworld dwelling bird. Kills the snakes on the path to the afterlife & aid heroes on quests.
Vermilion Bird (Chinese)
Piasa (Native American) – Based on monster depicted on Illinois rock painting near the Mississippi River
Qingniao (Chinese) – Blue or green messenger birds of the Queen Mother of the West
Ra (Ancient Egyptian) – Sun deity often depiccted with falcon features
Rain Bird (Native American) – Bird who brought rain
Raróg (Slavic) – Fiery demon falcon
Roc (Arabian) – Enormous legendary bird of prey
Shangyang (Chinese) – Rainbird
Shedu (Mesopotamian) – Male counterpart to Lamassu
Simurgh (Persian) – Phoenix-like bird of enormous size and great longevity and wisdom
Stymphalian birds (Greek) – Man-eating birds
Thoth (Ancient Egyptian) – Ibis-headed god of the moon, wisdom, and art
Three-legged bird (various cultures)
Thunderbird (Native American) – Legendary bird spirit that brings storms, found primarily among the cultures of the Pacific Northwest, but also the American Southwest, Great Lakes, and Great Plains
Turul (Hungarian) – Mythological bird of prey
Veðrfölnir (Norse) – Hawk that sits atop an eagle that rests atop the world tree, Yggdrasil
Vucub Caquix (Mayan) – Bird demon
Wampum Bird (Native American) – Giant heron with shell armor instead of feathers
Zhenniao (Chinese) – Poisonous bird
Avian Humanoids
Main article: List of avian humanoids
See also: Category:Avian humanoids
Alkonost (Slavic) – Female with body of a bird
Gamayun (Slavic) – Prophetic bird with woman's head
Gumyōchō (Yōkai) – Twin-headed human-bird
Harpy (Greek) – Ugly winged bird woman, steals food
Aello – Name meaning "storm"
Ocypete – Name meaning "swift wing"
Celaeno – Name meaning "the dark one"
Podarge – Name meaning "fleet-footed"
Horus (Ancient Egyptian) – Tutelary deity and god of the sky and kingship
Inmyeonjo (Korean) – Bird with a human face
Itsumade (Japanese) – Monstrous bird with a human face
Kalavinka (Buddhist) – Fantastical immortal creature with a human head and a bird's torso and long flowing tail
Karura (Japanese) – Divine creature with human torso and bird-like head
Kinnara (Buddhist) – Half-bird musicians
Lamassu (Mesopotamian) – Goddess with a human head, the body of a bull or a lion, and bird wings
Siren (Greek) – Bird-women known for their compelling singing
Achelois – Name meaning "she who drives away pain", surname for the daughters of Achelous
Aglaonoe – Daughter of Achelous and Terpsichore
Agalaope – Name meaning "with lambent voice", daughter of Achelous and Terpsichore
Leucosia – Name meaning "white", daughter of Achelous and either Melpomene or Terpsichore
Ligeia – Name meaning "clear-toned", daughter of Achelous and either Melpomene or Terpsichore
Parthenope – Name meaning "maiden-voiced", Daughter of Achelous and Terpsichore
Pisinoe – Daughter of Achelous and either Melpomene or Sterope
Thelxinoë – Name meaning "mind charming"
Swan maiden (Multi-cultural) – Shapeshifts from human to swan
Tengu (Japanese) – Has human and bird characteristics, name means "dog"
Chickens
See also: Category:Mythological galliforms
Alectryon (Greek) – Rooster charged with announcing the arrival of Helios
Basan (Japanese) – Fire-breathing chicken
Cockatrice – Chicken-headed dragon or serpent, visually similar to the Basilisk
Gallic rooster – Symbolic rooster used as an allegory for France
Gullinkambi – Rooster who lives in Valhalla in Norse mythology
Rooster of Barcelos – A mythological rooster from Portugal
Sarimanok (Philippine) – Legendary chicken of the Maranao people who originate from Mindanao
Víðópnir – Rooster that sits atop Yggdrasil in Norse mythology
Corvids
Main article: Cultural depictions of ravens
See also: Category:Mythological corvids
Badb (Irish) – War goddess who takes the form of a crow
Corone (Greek) – Woman turned into a crow to flee Poseidon
Huginn and Muninn (Norse) – Two ravens that serve as messengers
Kutkh (Indigenous Russian) – Raven spirit involved in the creation myth
Nachtkrapp (German) – Raven who kidnaps children out at night
Rainbow crow (Lenape (supposed)) – Crow who brought fire to earth
Raum (Demonology) – Demon crow and a great earl of Hell
Three-legged crow (East Asian) – Crow with three legs representing the sun
Yatagarasu (Shinto) – Three-legged crow
Tulugaak (Inuit) – Raven god and creator of light
Waang (Australian Aboriginal) – Trickster crow and culture hero
Eagles
See also: Category:Mythological birds of prey
Aethon (Greek) – Eagle tormentor of Prometheus
Griffin (Greek) – Guards treasure and priceless possessions
Hippogriff (Italian) – Winged horse with the head and upper body of an eagle
Huracán (Mayan) – Type of thunderbird that lives beneath the Gulf of Mexico. Etymological origin of "hurricane"
Hræsvelgr (Norse) – Jötunn who takes the form of an eagle
Poukai (Māori) – Monstrous predatory bird, likely based on an extinct species
Shahbaz (Persian) – Eagle god who helped the Iranian peoples and guided the Faravahar to the Iranian lands
Triple-headed eagle (multi-cultural) –
Wuchowsen - (Abenaki) One of the four wind spirits in Abenaki lore. Depicted as a giant eagle who lives atop a mountain.
Ziz (Jewish) – Giant griffin
Zu (Mesopotamian) – Divine monster depicted as a lion-headed eagle
Owls
See also: Category:Owls in culture
Chickcharney (Bahamas) – Magical owl with powers over fate, sometimes encountered by travellers in pine forests.
Nyctimene (Roman) – Princess transformed into an owl by Minerva.
Owlman (English) – Owl-like humanoid compared to America's Mothman
Sirin (Slavic) – Birds with women's heads who lured men to their deaths
Strix (Greek) – Owl that ate human flesh
Fish
See also: Category: Legendary fish
Fish People
Mermaid / Merman – half-human, half-fish (worldwide)
Water spirit – (worldwide)
Undine – water elementals in the alchemical writings of Paracelsus
Abaia
Gurangatch
Hippocamp
Ika-Roa
Il Belliegha - (Malta) Eel like monster with a frog tongue and a hand on the tip of its tail that eats children who get too close to open wells.
Isonade
Namazu
Ningyo
Kun
Salmon of Wisdom
Shachihoko (Japanese) – a creature with the head of a tiger and the body of a carp
Mug-wamp - Canadian giant sturgeon monster said to inhabit Lake Temiskaming in Ontario. Name is of Native origin.
Mammals
Aquatic and marine-based
Aspidochelone (Greek) – Island sized whale mentioned in bestiaries
Bahamut (Arabic) – Whale monster whose body supports the earth. Word seems far more ancient than Islam and may have the same origin as the word Behemoth in modern Judeo-Christian lore
Bake-kujira (Japanese) – Ghost whale
Cetus (Greek) – A monster with the head of a boar or a greyhound, the body of a whale or dolphin, and a divided, fan-like tail
Devil Whale (English) – Whale capable of swallowing ships
Dobhar-chú (Scottish) – King otter
Encantado (Brazilian) – Shapeshifting trickster dolphins
Glashtyn (Celtic) – Horse goblin from the sea
Gveleshapi (Georgian) - Snake-whale monster associated with lakes, rivers and springs. Said to be causes of floods and other water related disasters
Lavellan (Scottish) – Water shrew or water vole with poisonous abilities, said to be able to injure cattle over a hundred feet away
Makara (Hindu mythology) – Half terrestrial animal in the frontal part (stag, deer, or elephant) and half aquatic animal in the hind part (usually of a fish, a seal, or a snake, though sometimes a peacock or even a floral tail is depicted)
Sea goat (Greek) – Half goat, half fish
Selkie (Scottish) – Shapeshifting seal people
Water bull (Scottish) – Nocturnal amphibious bull
Water Horse – General name for mythical water dwelling horses of many cultures
Ceffyl Dŵr (Welsh) – Water horse
Each-uisge (Scottish) – Malevolent shapeshifting oceanic water horse
Enbarr (Irish) – Manann's horse, capable of traversing land and sea
Hippocampus (Greek) – Horse with a fish tail
Ichthyocentaurs (Greek) – Upper body of a man, the lower front of a horse, tail of a fish
Kelpie (Scottish) – Water horse
Morvarc'h (Breton) – Legendary horse that could gallop on the waves
Nixie (Germanic) – Shapeshifting water being, known for appearing as horses
Nuckelavee (Orcadian) – Skinless oceanic water horse with pestilent breath
Nuggle (Scottish) – Mischievous male water horse
Tangie (Scottish) – Shapeshifting sea water horse
Bats
See also: Category:Bats in religion
Balayang (Australian Aboriginal) – Bat-god and brother to Bunjil
Camazotz (Mayan) – Bat spirit and servant of the lords of the underworld
Leutogi (Polynesian) – Samoan princess rescued by bats
Minyades (Greek) – Three sisters who refused to take part in the worship of Dionysus, and turned into bats by Hermes
Tjinimin (Australian Aboriginal) – Ancestor of the Australian people
Vetala (Hindu) – Vampiric entity that takes over cadavers
Carnivorans
Bears
See also: Category:Mythological bears
Bjarndyrakongur (Icelandic) – King of bears. Stems from Polar Bear sightings in Iceland being extremely rare, but not unheard of. Has a shining horn on its head topped with a ball and red patches on cheeks
Bugbear (Celtic) – Child-eating hobgoblin
Callisto (Greek) – A nymph who was turned into a bear by Hera
Stiff-Legged Bear (Native American) – Gigantic, hairless bear monster in tribal folklore, predominantly Iroquoians and Algonquians, possibly inspired by mammoths
Canines
See also: Category:Mythological canines
Adlet (Inuit) – Tribe of hybrid dog people birthed from a woman who married her dog. Were banished for preying on humans.
Akhlut (Inuit) – Wolf-orca hybrid monster that hunts on both land and sea.
Amarok (Inuit) – Giant solitary wolf that hunts at night
Anubis (Egyptian) – Jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife
Aralez (Armenian) – Winged dogs that descend from heaven and resurrect fallen warriors by licking their wounds
Asena (Altai/Turkish) – She-wolf impregnated by mythical founder of a tribe called the Golturks. They came to Turkey from Altai in Siberia during the empire of Ghengis Khan
Axehandle hound (North American) – Axe-shaped dog that reputedly subsists on axe-handles left unattended
Black dog (British) – Also known as Barghest, Black Shuck, or Grim; associated with the Devil, Hellhound
Beast of Gévaudan (French) – Man-eating wolf, terrorized the province of Gévaudan
Carbuncle (Chilote) – One of its many descriptions is a small, luminescent dog [2]
Cerberus (Greek, Roman) – Multi-headed dog, guards the gates of the Underworld, son/brother of Orthrus
Chupacabra (Latin American) – Alleged creature reputed to attack and drink the blood of livestock, occasionally described with bat-like features. Sometimes thought to resemble, or mistaken for a hairless coyote
Cu Sith or Cusith (Irish, Scottish, Hebridean) – A hellhound, a highland harbinger of death
Crocotta – Mythical dog-wolf that can imitate human voices, supposedly found in India or Ethiopia
Cynocephaly – Humanoids with the head of a dog or jackal
Dogs of Actaeon (Greek) – Hunting dogs that turned on Actaeon after he was turned into a deer
Failinis (Irish) – Legendary hound with a number of abilities
Fenrir (Norse) – Monstrous wolf destined to kill Odin
Gelert (Welsh) – Dog killed out of error by Welsh King, thinking it had murdered his infant child
Hellhound (Worldwide) – Supernatural dogs, bringers of death
Huodou (Chinese) – a large black dog that can emit flames from its mouth
Hvcko Capko (Seminole) – Also Long Ears, Stinky Wolf. A horse sized wolf with extra large, pointed ears, a horse's tail and reeks of rot and death. Prolonged exposure to its stench causes deadly illness
Kludde (Belgium) – demon summoned from the ashes of witches taking the form of a black wolf with bat wings, a birds beak and bear claws. Has glowing eyes, shapeshifting abilities and great speed
Orthrus (Greek) – two headed dog, father/brother of Cerberus
Papa-mel or Papamel – Dog of the Amazonian Curupira
Penghou (Chinese) – tree spirit that appears like a black dog and tastes like dog-meat
Petitcrieu – Fairy dog in Tristan romance
Psoglav (Bosnia) – Humanoid monster with dog's head, horse's legs, one eye and iron teeth.
Salawa – the "Typhonian Animal," a slender, vaguely canine-animal that is the totemic animal of Set
Sigbin (Philippine) – is a creature in Philippine mythology
Shug Monkey – dog/monkey creature found in Cambridgeshire (Britain)
Tanuki (Japanese) – Japanese raccoon dog, legends claim is a shapeshifting trickster
Vǎrkolak, or "Vukodlak" (Slavic) – Undead vampire werewolf
Werewolf – human, shapeshifts to a wolf because of an affliction, lycanthrope (Worldwide)
Foxes
See also: Category:Mythological foxes
Aguara (Chané) – Trickster fox associate with the constellation Scorpius.
Amaterasu (Japanese) – Sun goddess who sometimes takes the form of a dragon-fox.
Tulikettu (Finnish) – Fox with flaming fur, whose skin is said to be a safer alternative for lighting than fire. Catching on in a hunt will guarantee riches. Gives name to the northern lights
Huli jing (Chinese) – Fox spirits, like Fairies
Kitsune (Japanese) – Fox spirits, like Fairies
Kumiho (Korean) – Fox spirits, like Fairies
Sky Fox (mythology) (Chinese) – Celestial nine-tailed Fox Spirit that is 1,000 years old and has golden fur
Felines
See also: Category:Mythological felines
Bael (Demonology) – First king of Hell with three heads: a man, a toad, and a cat
Ball-tailed cat (North American) – a feline similar to a mountain lion, except with a long tail with a bulbous end used for striking its prey
Cactus cat (North American) – a feline of the American Southwest with hair-like thorns that intoxicates itself by the consumption of cactus water
Canaima (Mexico) – Term for a sort of were-jaguar. May be related to skinwalkers
Cat-sìth (Celtic mythology) – Spectral cat that haunts the Scottish Highlands
Cath Palug (Welsh) – Monstrous cat said to have killed 180 warriors
Carbuncle (Chilote) – One of its many descriptions is a cat with a luminescent chin [3]
Demon Cat (North American) – a ghost cat who is purported to haunt the government buildings of Washington, D.C.
Kaibyō (Japanese) – Various forms of cat Yōkai
Bakeneko (Japanese) – Two-tailed cat yōkai
Kasha (Japanese) – Corpse stealing yōkai, sometimes originating as a cat
Nekomata (Japanese) – Cat yōkai from both mountains and domestic areas
Nue (Japanese) – Hybrid of monkey, tiger, tanuki and snake. Considered a yokai
Panther (Greek) – Wildcat with multicolored hide. Attracts prey with sweet smelling breath and is often ridden by and associated with the god, Dionysus
Pard (Greek) – Early Greek understanding of a leopard. It was also surmised that cheetahs were a hybrid of a lion and a pard, hence calling those leopards instead of what we now call leopards
Phantom cat, Alien Big Cat (Modern, Worldwide) – Wildcat that seems to appear far beyond its native range by unknown circumstance
Blue Mountains panther (Australian) – Alleged unknown wildcats sighted in Australia
Glawackus (American) – Hybrid bear-panther-lion monster that sounds like a hyena and can erase the memory of those who look into its eyes
Tyger (English) – Heraldic being that looked like a cross between a lion, horse and wolf, said to be red and speckled
Underwater panther (Native American) – Shapeshifting being known by many names among tribes in Eastern US
Vapula (European, Christian, Demonology) – A demon with insight into mechanics and science which takes a winged lion form
Vassoko (Africa, Chad) – Cat the size of a horse with long fangs and burning eyes. Always accompanied by an entourage of butterflies
Wampus cat (American) – Cat with six legs and a long tail; originally a man who was transformed into the creature by a curse
White Tiger (Chinese) – a Guardian Of The West cardinal point
Winged cat – Archaeological designation for depictions of any mythological creature that can fit that description
Lions
See also: Category:Mythological lions
Arimanius (Greek) – Minor lion-headed Greek god
Ammit (Egyptian) – Goddess with the forequarters of a lion, the hindquarters of a hippopotamus, and the head of a crocodile
Barong (Balinese) – Benevolent king of spirits
Beast of the First Kingdom (Christian) – A beast like a lion with eagle's wings seen in the Book of Revelations
Brunswick Lion (German) – Loyal companion of Henry the Lion after the two slew a dragon together
Chimera (Greek)
Chinese guardian lions (Chinese) – Statues depicted in pairs believed to be protectors
Komainu (Shinto)
Shisa (Ryukyan)
Sin-you (Japanese)
Xiezhi (Chinese)
Dawon (Tibetan) – Mount of the goddess Durga
Egyptian lion gods – Lions were a symbol of warfare and most all of these gods were warriors
Aker – Earth and underworld god
Ȧmi-Pe – A lion god
Apedemak – Depicted as a figure with a male human torso and a lion head
Bast – Lioness goddess of fertility and protection against disease.
Hert-ketit-s
Ḥuntheth – A lioness goddess
Ipy (goddess) – Head and feet of a lion, body of a hippo, arms of a human
Maahes – Name means "he who is true beside her"
Matit – A funerary cat goddess who had a cult center at Thinis
Mehit – Depicted as a reclining lioness with three bent poles projecting from her back
Menhit
Pakhet
Repyt
Sekhmet – Warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing
Seret – A lioness goddess possibly originally from Libya
Shesmetet
Taweret – Depicted as a hippopotamus with lion paws and crocodile tail
Tefnut –
Tutu – Body of a striding, winged lion, the head of a human, other heads of hawks and crocodiles projecting from the body, and the tail of a serpent
Urit-en-kru – A lioness headed hippopatomus goddess
Griffin (Europe)
Lamassu (Mesopotamian)
Lampago (Heraldic) – Mythical beast in the form of a "man-tiger or man-lion"
Leo (Greek) –
Lion of Cithaeron (Greek)
Nemean lion (Greek)
Lion of Al-lāt (Arabian) – Lion icon of Al-Lat
Manticore (Persian)
Manussiha (Burmese) – Statue with a human head and two lion hindquarters
Merlion (Singaporean) – Fish with a lion's head
Narasimha (Hindu) – Part-lion avatar of Vishnu
Nian (Chinese) – Flat-faced lion with the body of a dog and prominent incisors, warded away by New Year's celebrations
Nongshāba (Sanamahism) – Lion god who created the sun
Pixiu (Chinese) – Powerful, winged lions who protect Feng shui practitioners
Questing Beast (Arthurian) – Beast with the head and neck of a snake, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion, and the feet of a hart
Sea-lion (Heraldic) – A half-lion half-fish beast found in heraldry
Serpopard (Egyptian) – Lion/leopard body with a snake head.
Sharabha (Hindu) – Part lion, part bird-beast, with eight legs.
Simhamukha (Tibetan) – A wisdom dakini of the Dzogchen tradition with the head of a snow lion
Snow Lion (Tibetan) – Celestial animal of Tibet
Sphinx (Egyptian) –
Criosphinx (Egyptian) – Ram-headed sphinx
Gopaitioshah (Persian) – Winged bull or lion with human face
Hieracosphinx (Egyptian) – Has the head of a hawk and the body of a lion
Stratford Lyon
Tigris (Jewish) – Giant lion of the forest of Bei Ilai
Vaikuntha Chaturmurti (Hindu) – a four-headed aspect of the Hindu god Vishnu: a human head, a lion head, a boar head and a fierce head
Winged lion
Yali (Hindu) – Portrayed with the head and the body of a lion, the trunk and the tusks of an elephant, and sometimes bearing equine features
Yaghūth – A god of the era of the prophet Noah
Yaldabaoth (Gnostic) – Lion-headed serpent god.
Hyenas
Werehyena
Musteloids and non-hyena herpestoids
Azeban
Gef
Ichneumon
Kamaitachi
Kushtaka (Tlingit) – shapeshifting "land otter man"
Mujina
Ramidreju
Raijū
Procyonids
Azeban – trickster raccoon spirit in Abenaki mythology
Marsupials
See also: Category:Mythological marsupials
Drop bear
Bunyip (Australian Aboriginal)
Primates
See also: Category:Mythological monkeys
Agropelter – a beast that amuses itself by hurling twigs and tree branches at passersby (United States & Canada)
Bigfoot or Sasquatch – Cryptid, animal of the Northwest (North America)
Hibagon or Hinagon – ape-like, similar to Bigfoot, or the Yeti (Japan)
Jué yuán – blue-furred man-sized rhesus monkey that abducts human women (China & Japan)
Satori – mind-reading magical ape or monkey (Japan)
Shōjō – anthropomorphic spirit, depicted as furred, somewhat confounded with orangutan (Japan)
Shug Monkey – dog/monkey (Britain)
Sun Wukong (proper name) – powerful warrior-magician in the form of a monkey who hatched from a stone egg (China)
Vanara – humanoid apes or monkeys (India, Hindu)
Yeren – man-monkey, cryptid hominid, resides in remote mountainous (China)
Yeti – Abominable Snowman, ape-like cryptid similar to Bigfoot, that inhabits the Himalayas (Nepal, Tibet)
Yowie – hominid said to live in the Australian wilderness, a cryptid similar to the Himalayan Yeti (Australia)
Rabbits and hares
See also: Category:Mythological rabbits and hares
Al-Mi'raj – rabbit with unicorn horn (Arabia)
Jackalope – (North America)
Moon rabbit – a rabbit living on the moon (Chinese)
Skvader
Wisakedjak - (Native American) aka Whiskeyjack. One of several names for rabbit trickster spirit of the eastern woodlands and Great Plains
Wolpertinger
Rodents
See also: Category:Mythological rodents
Afanc
Lavellan (Scottish) – Water shrew or water vole with poisonous abilities, said to be able to injure cattle over a hundred feet away
Ratatoskr
Rat king; phenomenon in which a number of rats become intertwined at their tails (Germany, France)
Wolpertinger
Ungulates
Antelopes and deer
See also: Category:Mythological deer
Actaeon (Greek) – a hunter turned into a deer and torn apart by his dogs
Ceryneian Hind (Greek) – Artemis' large, sacred golden hind
Deer Woman (Native American) – female human above the waist, deer below. Male version is Elk Man.
Eikþyrnir (Norse mythology) – stag which stands upon Valhalla
Goldhorn (Slavic) – white golden-horned antelope
Jackalope (North American) – jackrabbit with antelope horns
Keresh (Jewish) – giant deer of the forest of Bei Ilai
Peryton (Argentina) – Stag that is part bird
Qilin (Chinese) – East Asian chimerical good-luck symbol
Tarand (European) also Parandrus. Antelope or deerlike creature said to be found in Ethiopia that can change the color of its fur at will to camouflage itself
White stag (worldwide) – magic white deer
Xeglun (Tungusic mythology) – celestial elk
Bovines
See also: Category:Mythological bovines
Auðumbla
Bai Ze
Kujata (Arabic) – Cosmic bull that bears the angel who holds the earth. Kujata, in turn, stands on Bahamhut.
Bicorn and Chichevache
Bonnacon
Hodag (American) – monster born of the cremated remains of an abused bull
Minotaur – monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man (Greek)
Nandi
Sarangay – a bull with a huge muscular body and a jewel attached to its ears (Philippines)
Shedu
Tē-gû – a giant buffalo living underground which causes earthquakes (Taiwan)
Ushi-oni – (Japan)
Camelids
Allocamelus – A donkey-headed camel.
Heavenly Llama[4]
Caprids
See also: Category:Mythological caprids
Amalthea
Aries
Barometz
Capricornus
Chimera
Dahu
Faun – a Roman version of satyr. It has a human head and torso and a goat waist and legs.
Goldhorn – also known as Zlatorog
Heiðrún – goat in Norse mythology, which produces mead for the einherjar
Khnum
Satyr – a goat legged human that is associated to the deity Dionysus. Known to be drunk partiers.
Sidehill gouger
Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr – Thor's magical goats
Chrysomallos – a sheep with golden fleece from Greek mythology
Equines
Main articles: List of horses in mythology and folklore and List of winged horses
See also: Category:Horses in mythology
Anggitay – is a creature with the upper body of a female human and the lower body of a horse from waist down (Philippines)
Arion – Talking immortal horse (Greek)
Balius and Xanthus (Greek) – immortal offspring of harpies
Buraq – Al-Burāq, steed from the heavens that transported the prophets (Islam)
Centaur – head, arms, and torso of a human, the body and legs of a horse (Greek)
Cheval Gauvin – horse which tries to kill its rider (French/Swiss)
Cheval Mallet; horse that tempts and kidnaps weary travelers (French)
Chiron – centaur believed to be exceptional among his brethren (Greek)
Chollima – a winged horse too swift to be mounted by any mortal (Chinese)
Drapé - (France) Ghostly horse who spirits away children wandering at night to an unknown location, never to be seen again.
Gytrash (English) – shapeshifting spirit usually taking the form of a horse, mule or other animal that appears to the lost and leads them to their destination
Haizum – horse of the archangel Gabriel (Islam)
Hippogriff – winged horse with the head and upper body of an eagle (French, English)
Ipotane – half-horse, half-humans, original centaurs (Greek)
Karkadann – monstrous, highly aggressive unicorn (India, Persia)
Kotobuki (Japanese) – Yokai with traits of all members of the Chinese zodiac
Longma – fabled winged horse with dragon scales (China)
Mankayia (Kiowa) – tornado spirit in the form of a horse
Onocentaur – part human, part donkey (Greek)
Pegasus – winged white stallion (Greek)
Pooka – spirits or fairies who lived near ancient stones; could be good or bad (Ireland)
Sleipnir – Odin's eight-legged horse, which he rode to Hel (Norse)
Simurgh – like the Hippogriff with the head of a human (Persian)
Sihuanaba – shapeshifting spirit that typically appears as a beautiful, long-haired woman when seen from behind, before revealing her face to be that of a horse
Tikbalang – creature with the body of a man and the head and hooves of a horse that lurks in the mountains and forests (Philippines)
Uchchaihshravas – seven-headed flying white horse (Hindu)
Unicorn – horse-like creature with a single horn, often symbolizing purity (worldwide)
Winged unicorn
Water Horse – general name for mythical water dwelling horses of many cultures
Ceffyl Dŵr (Welsh) – water horse
Each-uisge (Scottish) – Malevolent shapeshifting oceanic water horse
Enbarr (Irish) – Manann's horse, capable of traversing land and sea
Hippocampus (Greek) – Horse with a fish tail
Ichthyocentaurs (Greek) – upper body of a man, the lower front of a horse, tail of a fish
Kelpie (Scottish) – water horse
Morvarc'h (Breton) – legendary horse that could gallop on the waves
Nixie (Germanic) – Shapeshifting water being known for appearing as a horse
Nuckelavee (Orcadian) – Skinless oceanic water horse with pestilent breath
Nuggle (Scottish) – Mischievous male water horse
Tangie (Scottish) – shapeshifting sea water horse
White horse
Pachyderms
Main article: List of elephants in mythology and religion
See also: Category:Mythological elephants
Abath
Baku
Behemoth
Quugaarpak - (Inuit) Explanation for Mammoths & other Ice Age remains washing out of riversides. Underworld monsters who dig their way up to the human world, but die upon breathing our air.
Taweret
Pigs and boars
See also: Category:Mythological pigs
Calydonian Boar
Erymanthian Boar
Zhu Bajie
Xenarthrans
Mapinguari
Molluscs
See also: Category:Mythological molluscs
Akkorokamui – octopus monster (Ainu, Japan)
Amikuk (Yup'ik) - Shapeshifting four armed 'octopus' that can swim through land as easily as water.
Carbuncle (Chilote) – one of its many descriptions is a luminescent bivalve[3][2]
Lou Carcolh – A giant, man-eating snail with fur and tentacles (France)
Kraken – squid monster (Worldwide)
Shen – A clam-dragon that creates mirages and fata morgana at sea (China)
Reptiles
Limbed
See also: Category:Legendary reptiles
Agoa (American) – turtle monster of West Virginian lore centered around the Monongahela River
Ammut – female demon, funerary deity and animal hybrid (Egypt)
Bakunawa – serpentine dragon in Philippines
Basilisk – king of serpents with the power to cause death with a single glance (Europe)
Black Tortoise – one of the four symbols of the Chinese constellations
Chalkydri
Chinese Dragon – serpentine creature with four legs
Cipactli – sea monster, part crocodile, fish and toad. Always hungry, thousands of mouths (Aztec)
Dragon – serpentine, reptilian traits (worldwide)
Dungavenhooter – a crocodilian creature with no mouth and huge nostrils who uses its tail to pound victims into a vapor, which it then inhales
Knucker – sea serpent-like dragon
Kurma
Loch Ness Monster – sea monster cryptid (Scotland)
Loveland frog – Humanoid cryptid (The United States (Ohio))
Luu – (Mongol) – serpentine water dragons capable of causing great floods if angered.
Makara
Mokele Mbembe
Moʻo (Hawaiian) class of shapeshifting lizard monsters
Morgawr (Cornish) – crocodilian sea serpent that affects fishing
Mungoon-Gali – a giant goanna (Australia)
Peluda
Reptilian humanoids
Sewer alligator
Sobek
Taniwha
Whowie – a giant frog-headed goanna with six legs (Australia)
Wyvern
Zaratan
Serpents and worms
See also: List of dragons in mythology and folklore, Category: Legendary serpents, and Serpents in the Bible
Alicante
Amphisbaena
Amphithere
Apep/Apophis
Azhi Dahaka
Basilisk
Bakonawa
Biscione
Cockatrice
Dragon
Drake
Echidna
Fáfnir
Feathered serpent
Garafena (Russian)
Gorgon
Hoop snake
Indus worm
Hydra
Jaculus/Jaculi
Jasconius
Jörmungandr — the Midgård serpent
Lamia
Lindworm
Madame White Snake
Meretseger
Mongolian Death Worm
Naga
Níðhöggr
Orm
Ouroboros
Python
Rainbow serpent
Sea serpent
Tarasque
Tolba — the world turtle that supports North America upon its back
Tsuchinoko
Typhon
Ur
Wyvern
Yamata no Orochi
Zilant
Megafauna
Main article: List of megafauna in mythology and folklore
Giants
Main article: List of giants in mythology and folklore
Artificial creatures
This listing includes creatures that are man-made, mechanical or of alchemical origins.
Automaton (worldwide) – self-operating machine; most famous example is Greek mythology's Talos
Blodeuwedd (Welsh) – wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes
Brazen head (Medieval legends) – living head of brass purported to be able to answer any question given to it
Doll Woman- (Lenape) lifelike doll spirit. Must stay properly appeased, or will cause mischief in the home.
Frankenstein's monster
Galatea (Greek) – ivory statue carved by Pygmalion
Gingerbread man – from German folk tales
Golem (Jewish) – animated humanoid construct
Homunculus (Alchemy) – diminutive, animated construct
Nephele (Greek) – nymph formed from a cloud by Zeus to resemble the goddess Hera
Shabti (Egyptian) – clay model used as workers
Tokeloshe (Zulu mythology) – diminutive, hairy humanoid with various magical powers
Tilberi (Iceland) – creations of witches from a rib bone and wool for the purpose of stealing milk
Tsukumogami (Japanese) – objects that come to life, of their own accord, after 100 years
Tulpa (Tibetan Buddhism) – creature brought to life through meditation
Tupilaq (Inuit) – large statues brought to life to serve witches and shamans
Ushabti (Egyptian) – clay guardians/assistants
Various objects animated by gods, demons and spirits in mythology, legend and folklore
Body parts, creatures associated with
Blood
See also: Category:Mythological hematophages
Alan
Chupacabra
Dhampir
Preta
Golden Hind
Kappa
Kekkai
Lamia
Manananggal
Mandurugo
Redcap
Rokurokubi
Sigbin
Vampire
Werewolf
Yuki-onna
Bone
Bloody Bones
Gashadokuro
Grim Reaper
Skeleton
Eye
Argus Panoptes
Basilisk
Catoblepas
Cockatrice
Cyclopes
Gorgon
Hitotsume-kozou
Lamia
Lynx
Mokumokuren
One-eyed
Main article: List of one-eyed creatures in mythology and fiction
Face
Asura
Deva / Devi
Noppera-bō
Hair
Futakuchi-onna
Harionago
Mavka
Medusa
Head
Further information: Polycephaly
Amphisbaena
Cerberus
Chimera
Chonchon
Double-headed eagle
Dullahan
Hekatonkheires
Kishi
Hydra
Lernaean Hydra
Nine-headed Bird
Nukekubi
Rokurokubi
Orthrus
Shesha
Penanggalan
Wanyūdō
Xing Tian
Yacuruna
Yamata no Orochi
Limbs
Asura (Indian)
Deva / Devi (Indian)
Hekatonkheires
Hinkypunk - (English) variation on Will o the wisp. A single, incorporeal leg hopping around bogs with a lantern.
Kui
O'nya:ten (Iroquoian) aka Dry Fingers. Mummified hand. Appears and leaps out at people after certain transgressions, such as speaking ill of the dead, or butting into other people's personal business.
Sleipnir
Three-legged bird
Mouth
Futakuchi-onna
Kuchisake-onna
Skin
Selkie
Skin-walker
Swan maiden
Tail
Bakeneko
Kitsune
Yamata no Orochi
Kumiho
Hulder
Nguruvilu
Neck
Serpopard
Rokurokubi
Vampire
Torso
Manananggal
Geryon[5]
Abdomen
Pixiu
Concepts, creatures associated with
Battle, Vengeance, Violence, and War
See also: Category:War deities
Androktasiai
Erinyes
Hipag
Hysminai
Keres
Lemures
Makhai
Onryō
Phonoi
Valkyrie
Vengeful ghost
Birth and Rebirth
See also: Category:Phoenix birds
Aralez
Phoenix
Ubume
Death and Immortality
See also: List of ghosts
See also the categories Undead and Personifications of death
Abasy
Ammit
Banshee
Demon
Devil
Dullahan
Ghost
Grim Reaper
Ox-Head and Horse-Face
Phoenix
Undead
Valkyrie
Vampire
Dream, the Mind, and Sleep
See also: Category:Sleep in mythology and folklore
Alp
Baku
Carbuncle
Devil
Drude
Incubus / Succubus
Mermaid
Nightmare
Nue
Oni
Sandman
Satori
Zduhać
Evil Eye and Sight
Alp (folklore)
Basilisk
Balor of the Evil Eye – king of the Fomorians, a race of giants, and a cyclops (Irish)
Catoblepas
Cockatrice
Gorgon – woman with hair made of living, venomous snakes, and eyes that turned men to stone (Greek):
Medusa – once a human, Medusa and her sisters were cursed to be terrible monsters by Athena (Greek)
Euryale – second eldest of the three vicious Gorgon sisters (Greek)
Stheno – eldest of the Gorgon Sisters (Greek)
Fertility and Human Sexuality
Alan
Boto
Faun
Gancanagh
German
Incubus / Succubus
Maenad
Nymph
Pombero
Popobawa
Satyr
Sileni / Silenus
Unicorn
Zemyna / Zemepatis
Simurgh
Fortune, Luck, and Wealth
Carbuncle (Chilote) – said to be the "guardian of the metals"[3]
Dwarf
Egbere
Genie
Leib-Olmai
Leprechaun
Matagot
Pixiu
Sarimanok
Sigbin
Yaksha / Yakshini
Light
Angel
Chalkydri
Deity
Lampetia
Will-o'-the-wisp
Dragon
Love and Romance
See also: Category:Love and lust gods
Cupid / Eros / Cherub
Gancanagh
Selkie
Swan maiden
Madame White Snake
Melusine
Tennin
Undine
Sound
Banshee
Encantado
Fenghuang
Fossegrim
Mermaid
Nue
Siren
Yamabiko
Speech
Main article: Talking animal
Gef
Satan
Time and Technology
See also: Category:Time and fate gods
Chronos
Father Time
Gremlin
Wisdom
Baba Yaga
Bai Ze
Griffin
Salmon of Wisdom
Sphinx
Demons
See list of theological demons
Elements, creatures associated with
Aether
Chalkydri
Deity
Elemental
Spirit
Angel
Demon
Devil
Yokai
Nymph
Elf
Fairy
Air and wind
See also: List of flying mythological creatures
Ala
Elemental
Feldgeister
Zduhać
Darkness
Black dog
Bogeyman
Enenra
Ghost
Grim Reaper
Wechuge
Wendigo
Shadow People
Vampire
Werewolf
Oni
Gashadokuro
Camazotz
Wild Hunt
Hell Hound
Earth and subterranean
See also: Category:Earth spirits
Asag
Bluecap
Elemental
Dwarf
Earth Dragon
Gargoyle
Giant
Gnome
Goblin
Golem
Knocker (folklore)
Monopod
Nymph
Ogre
Oread
Ten Ten-Vilu
Troll
Fire
Further information: Fire-breathing monster
Basan
Bluecap
Cherufe
Chimera
Dragon
Elemental
Enenra
Ifrit
Hellhound
Lampad
Phoenix
Salamander
Light and rainbow
Angel
Chalkydri
Light Elf
Rainbow crow
Rainbow Serpent
Metal and gold
Alicanto[1]
Pixiu
Carbunclo[3]
Chrysomallos
Cyclopes
Griffin
Gnome
Leprechaun
Bulgasari
Thunder and lightning
Chinese dragon
Cyclopes
Feldgeister
Kitsune
Raijū
Thunderbird
Valkyrie
Water
See also the categories Mythological water creatures and Water spirits
Afanc
Amefurikozō
Aspidochelone
Bloody Bones
Buggane
Bunyip
Camenae
Capricorn
Cetus
Charybdis
Chinese Dragon
Cai Cai-Vilu
Crinaeae
Davy Jones' Locker
Draug
Each uisge
Elemental
Fish People
Fossegrim
Fur-bearing trout
Gargouille
Grindylow
Haetae
Hippocamp
Hydra
Ichthyocentaur
Jasconius
Jengu
Kappa
Kelpie
Kraken
Lake monster
Lavellan
Leviathan
Loch Ness monster
Lorelei
Lusca
Makara
Melusine
Mami Wata
Mermaid / Merman
Merrow
Morgens
Muc-sheilch
Naiad
Näkki
Nereid
Nix
Nymph
Pisces
Ponaturi
River gods
Rusalka
Samebito
Sea monster
Sea serpent
Selkie
Shen
Siren
Taniwha
Tiamat
Triton
Ondine
Vodyanoy
Water dragon
Water leaper
Water sprite
Yacuruna
Zaratan
Habitats, creatures associated with
Cave and underground
Dwarf
European dragon
Gnome
Goblin
Golem
Grootslang
Leprechaun
Troll
Yaoguai
Celestial and heaven
Angel
Chalkydri
Deva / Devi
Feathered serpent
Heavenly Llama[4]
Pegasus
Grim Reaper
Swan Maiden
Tennin
Three-legged bird
Valkyrie
Desert
Amphisbaena
Basilisk
Cockatrice
Ghoul
Mongolian Death Worm
Sphinx
Temperate forest and woodland
See also: Category:Forest spirits
Äbädä (Turkic) – forest spirit with shoes on the wrong feet
Ajatar
Bigfoot
Dryad
Elf
Green Man
Irrwurz
Leshy
Lindworm
Mavka
Moss people
Owlman
Satyr
Unicorn
Tropical forest and jungle
Curupira
Dingonek
Mapinguari
Manticore
Saci
Temperate grassland and garden
Fairy
Gnome
Savanna
Ennedi tiger
Werehyena
Lake and river
See also: Category:Lake monsters
Ahuitzotl
Bak
Bunyip
Chinese dragon
Dobhar-chú
Encantado
Grootslang
Iara
Jiaolong
Kappa
Kelpie
Lake monster
Hydra
Loch Ness Monster
Mizuchi
Mugwump
Naiad
Nixie
Ogopogo
Ondine
Rainbow serpent
Rusalka
Ryujin
Shellycoat
Warlock
Yacuruna
Mountain and hill
See also: Category:Mining spirits
Alp
Dwarf
Fenghuang
Griffin
Hippogriff
Mountain Giant
Kamaitachi
Mavka
Oread
Patupaiarehe
Rübezahl
Satyr
Tengu
Yeti
Sea
See also: Sea monster and Greek sea goddesses
Amikuk
Aspidochelone
Bishop-fish
Charybdis
Cai Cai-Vilu
Dragon King
Fish People
Hippocamp
Leviathan
Jormungand
Kraken
Mermaid / Merman
Nereid
Sea monk
Sea serpent
Selkie
Shen
Siren
Tritons
Umibōzu
Water Dragon
Yacuruna
Swamp and marsh
See also: Category:Swamp monsters
Błudnik
Bunyip
Grootslang
Lernaean Hydra
Honey Island Swamp monster
Mokele-mbembe
Swamp monster
Will-o'-the-wisp
Volcano and lava
Cherufe
Phoenix
Salamander
Polar, ice, and winter
Akhlut
Amarok
Hrimthurs
Ijiraq
Jotun
Qiqirn
Saumen Kar
Tizheruk
Wechuge
Wendigo
Yeti
Ymir
Yuki-onna
Frau Holle
Urban and house
Main article: Household deity
See also: Category:Household deities
Banshee
Boggart
Brownie
Domovoi – Slavic house spirit
Dvorovoi – Slavic yard spirit
Duende
Jinn
Kobold
Tomte
Vampire
Zashiki-warashi
Underworld and hell
See also: Category:Underworld deities
Cerberus
Ammit
Cerberus
Cyclopes
Demon
Devil
Earth Dragon
Garm
Hekatonkheires
Hellhound
Ifrit
Ox-Head and Horse-Face
Preta
Humanoids
See Mythic humanoids
Hybrids
See List of hybrid creatures
Astronomical objects, creatures associated with
Sun
Chalkydri beings from the Second Book of Enoch[6]
Kua Fu a giant in China
Three-legged bird in China, Korea, and Japan
Phoenix in Greek Mythology
Moon
Jade rabbit
Werewolf
Werejaguar
Alien
Constellation
Azure Dragon
Black Tortoise
Capricorn
Centaur
Heavenly Llama[4]
Ladon
Nemean Lion
Pegasus
Phoenix
Vermilion Bird
Yellow Dragon
White Tiger
World
See also: List of mythological places
World Elephant
World Tree
World Turtle
Creatures associated with plants
See also: Category:Trees in mythology
Alraune
Clickbok Tree- (American) An oak tree planted by a slave which later comes to life to protect his wife and son from a vengeful slave overseer.
Dryad
Ghillie Dhu
Green Man
Hamadryad
Jubokko
Kodama
Leshy
Mandrake
Penghou
Snake Tree- (Lakota) Tree brought to life by a witch. Lashes out at anything that comes close with branches covered in poisonous thorns that paralyze the victim.
Spriggan
Tree of life
Vampire pumpkins and watermelons (Romani)
Vegetable Lamb of Tartary
Zapam Zucum
Zaqqum
See Trees in mythology
Shapeshifters
Main article: List of shapeshifters
Creatures associated with times
Day and diurnal
Griffin
Jackalope
Unicorn (rather resembles the moon)
Wolpertinger
Night and nocturnal
Amarok
Bigfoot
Ennedi tiger
Ghoul
Owlman
Werewolf
Vampire
Undead
See also: Undead and Category:Ghosts
Aswang
Banshee – (Scottish, Gaelic, Irish)
Chindi - (Navajo) The dark side of the soul which has the ability to remain behind in the earth after death and become a sort of dark spirit.
Drekavac (Croatia) Name used for several distinct undead monsters.
Ghost – (Worldwide)
Inipi- (California Native) shapeshifting ghosts
Jikininki
Kuchisake-onna
Lugat (Albanian)
Poltergeist – (Worldwide)
Preta
Revenant
Sluagh
Spirit – (Worldwide)
Tei Pai Wanka - (Wampanoag) Term for swamp lights in Algonquian lore. Enslaved souls of people taken by the Little People who are used to scare people who've done wrong or lure them to their deaths.
Wanagi- (Lakota) Lakota name for Siouan shadow people. Essentially ghosts.
Wewe Gombel
Wili
Will o' the wisp – Jack o lantern (English)
Wraith
Yurei
Ghosts in Hindu Mythology: Bhoot, Baital and Pishacha
Corporeal
See also: List of vampires in folklore and mythology and Category: Corporeal undead
Draugr
Fext
Ghoul
Jiangshi
Lich
Manananggal
Mullo (Romani) variation on a vampire.
Mummy (undead) (modern interpretation)
Myling
Nukekubi
Pontianak
Skeleton
Vampire
Zombie
Miscellaneous
Anaye - (Navajo) various monsters that take the forms of animals, living objects and other things. Derived from a time where men and women bet on who would last the longest without the other sex and the women pleasuring themselves with whatever random things they thought would do the job, which caused their chosen toys to father them monstrous, man-eating children.
Daimon
Demon
Fairy
Familiar
Genie – or Jinn, Djinn
Monster
Sprite
Yōkai
References
Montecino Aguirre, Sonia (2015). "Alicanto". Mitos de Chile: Enciclopedia de seres, apariciones y encantos (in Spanish). Catalonia. pp. 47–48. ISBN 978-956-324-375-8.
Quintana Mansilla, Bernardo. "El Carbunco". Chiloé mitológico (in Spanish).
Montecino Aguirre, Sonia (2015). "Carbunclo". Mitos de Chile: Enciclopedia de seres, apariciones y encantos (in Spanish). Catalonia. p. 130. ISBN 978-956-324-375-8.
Montecino Aguirre, Sonia (2015). "Llamas". Mitos de Chile: Enciclopedia de seres, apariciones y encantos (in Spanish). Catalonia. p. 415. ISBN 978-956-324-375-8.
"Geryon". Theoi. Retrieved 10 February 2017. a three-bodied, four-winged giant
Platt, Rutherford (1926). The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden. Entry: The Book of the Secrets of Enoch chapter XII
vte
Lists of fictional life forms
Plants
Plants
Animals
Animal superheroesArthropodsFishInvertebratesParasitesWorms
Amphibians
Frogs and toads
Reptiles
CrocodiliansDinosaursSnakesTurtles
Birds
Birds of preyDucks animationPenguins
Mammals
Canines
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Specific
AlienAquaticAvianReptilianSquid-faced
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ExtraterrestrialsParasitesSymbionts
Legendary
Fictional dragons popular culturefilm and televisiongamesliteratureFictional ghostsFictional mermaidsFictional vampiresFictional werewolves
Theological
Fictional angelsFictional demonsFictional deities
Related
CryptidsLegendary creaturesDragons in mythology and folkloreEquines Winged horsesWinged unicornsGiantsHybridsVampires by region
Categories: Lists of legendary creaturesMythology-related lists