The Humanness Of UFOs

Jonathan Kendall just published The Metaphysics Of UFOs (Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 2026). I'm agnostic about or disagree with some portions of it, but it has a lot of useful information. I want to cite some parts of the book in the coming days.

He repeats an account from Michael Grosso that I've heard before, but haven't written about. I'll use this as an opportunity to post about that account. It's a good case to use to illustrate my view of UFOs (that they're produced by human psi, as I've discussed here and elsewhere). Jonathan thinks the human psi hypothesis is a good explanation of some UFO phenomena, but also appeals to other explanations. Here's the part of the book about Grosso's account:

Philosopher Michael Grosso relates an experience he had while listening to a jazz composition by John Coltrane, "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost." Through the window of his sixth-floor New York City apartment in Greenwich Village, Grosso and his companion, Jane, saw a collection of lights materialize seemingly from nothing. The lights made "impossible movements." Most remarkably, the movements seemed to literally be dancing in tune with the music of Coltrane! At a certain point, the lights shot due north and hovered for a short time over a Catholic church, Our Lady of Pompeii. At this point, the lights "stopped and beamed, on and off, clearly (to our minds) signaling us." Finally, the light cluster zigzagged further north and vanished over the Empire State Building. At least three people witnessed the spectacle, including Michael’s neighbor, Louie, who was on the roof of the apartment building at the time.

Grosso’s interpretation of the event echoes mine:

"What did we see that night? Could it have been a flying saucer? The idea that some aircraft should travel light years across galaxies to interact with me, Jane, and Louie, while listening to John Coltrane for a few seconds—is, in my opinion, not credible. I’ve gradually come to suspect that we somehow unwittingly evoked this strange display, unconsciously, of course. Whatever it was, I’m inclined to believe it came from another dimension of reality, perhaps from the unknown depths (or heights) of our own minds. And it felt more spiritual than extraterrestrial."

(approximate Kindle location 3053)

There have been many other instances of UFO reports aligning with human psychology in one way or another, and Kendall's book discusses some other examples. UFOs have a lot of weaknesses (frivolity, not seeming to serve much of a purpose, seeming to be nonsensical, being fragmentary, etc.) that make more sense coming from a human than coming from a source like aliens, interdimensional beings, or demons.