This article originally appeared in The Skeptic, Volume 5, Issue 2, from 1991.

Ufology in Europe has diverged considerably from that in the USA in recent years. Whereas in Europe ufologists have concentrated much more on psycho-social and links-with-folklore explanations and the comparatively new tectonic strain or ‘earthlights’ theories, in the US the current views are much more oriented towards the Extra-Terrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) and, in particular, two main ETH offshoots: abductions and crashed saucers. Abductions have been written about ad nauseam in the literature, so I shall deal only with the crashed saucer fad as it now stands.