The Flying Saucers Are Real

Synopsis

It was printed in paperback by Gold Medal Books, in 1950, and sold for 25 cents. In December, 1949, prior to the publishing of the book, Keyhoe published an article by the same name in True magazine, with similar material. The book was a huge success and popularized many ideas in ufology that are still widely believed today.

The Flying Saucers Are Real is short: only 175 pages. It is referenced by footnotes, and cites a panoply of sources: newspapers, magazines, Air Force records and press statements, and personal interviews. It is written in a dramatic, narrative style reminiscent of mystery novels and spy thrillers (Keyhoe also wrote fiction in these genres).

Keyhoe contended that the Air Force was investigating these cases of close encounter, with a policy of concealing their existence from the public until 1949. He stated that this policy was then replaced by one of cautious, progressive revelation.

Keyhoe further stated that Earth had been visited by extraterrestrials for two centuries, with the frequency of these visits increasing sharply after the first atomic weapon test in 1945. Citing anecdotal evidence, he intimated the Air Force may have attained and adapted some aspect of the alien technology: its method of propulsion and perhaps its source of power. He believed the Air Force or the US Government would eventually reveal these technologies to the public when the Soviet Union was no longer a threat.

Reception

"Keyhoe's book Flying Saucers Are Real ... was the first influential attempt to promote the idea of "flying saucers" as alien spacecraft." A loose parody of Keyhoe's book and of reports of UFO sightings and alien abductions is The Flying Saucers Are Very Very Real (2016).