Silent Invasion: Bigfoot & UFOs

Stan Gordon is a well-known, long-term researcher, writer and authority on many things of a Fortean nature - as is clearly evidenced by his new book, Silent Invasion: The Pennsylvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook.

Now, I know for sure that any book suggesting Bigfoot may somehow be inextricably linked with the UFO phenomenon - and vice-versa, of course! - is bound to raise hackles in certain quarters.

However, the fact of the matter is that there is surely not a Bigfoot researcher out there who has not been exposed to (at the very least) a few creature cases that absolutely reek of high-strangeness, and that place the hairy man-beasts into definitively Fortean - rather than zoological or cryptozoological - realms.

Whether those same Bigfoot researchers are willing to admit they have come across such cases - or are willing to give such reports some degree of credence - is a very different matter, however!

Fortunately, there are a number of researchers who recognize that as much as it would be preferable to place Bigfoot in a purely flesh-and-blood category, there is a significant body of data and testimony that points in a very different direction. And it's a direction that, to his credit, Stan Gordon does not shy away from. Indeed, Stan's new book is a first-class study of a truly weird wave of Bigfoot-UFO activity that swamped the good folk of Pennsylvania in the period from 1972 to 1974.

In many ways, reading Silent Invasion reminded me of John Keel's classic The Mothman Prophecies and Jon Downes' The Owlman and Others - as a result of the fact that it focuses on the in-depth research of a dedicated, investigative author who duly finds himself up to his neck in monstrous bizarreness, ufological weirdness, and downright Fortean menace!

Silent Invasion is a swirling cauldron filled with dark and ominous woods; glowing-eyed beast-men prowling the countryside by night; strange lights in the sky; UFO landings; neighborhoods gripped by terror and fear; and much, much more, too. And, it's thanks to Stan's research, as well as his in-depth files prepared back when all the dark drama was going on, that we're now able to appreciate the curious chaos and calamity that collectively hit the unsuspecting folk of Pennsylvania all those years ago.

But, that's not all: macabre Men in Black, paranormal activity, psychic possession, secret government interest in Bigfoot, and prophetic visions of a dark and foreboding future all come to the fore in a book that is guaranteed to make you think twice about the true nature of Bigfoot.

To his credit, Stan does not take the simplistic approach that Bigfoot is some sort of "pet of the aliens," as some might assume. Instead, he logically, forthrightly and with supportive data in-hand, makes it abundantly clear that - even if we don't have all the answers - addressing the Bigfoot controversy from a purely zoological perspective does not work - at all.

He notes the problematic lack of a body (even just one would be nice!), the meager evidence of Bigfoot's eating habits, and its uncanny ability to always avoid capture - not to mention that the beast appears to be nigh-on bullet-proof. And I do mean that literally! And Stan hammers home, time and again, that where Bigfoot turns up, so - very often - do a host of other Fortean favorites.

Something strange and diabolical was afoot in Pennsylvania between 1972 and 1974. Bigfoot, UFOs and a plethora of paranormal activity were all in evidence. Somewhere, somehow, there is a connection - even if it's one we're not fully able to understand, just yet. Until we do, however, Silent Invasion will provide you with much to think about, to muse upon, and to ponder. And it may just make you totally revise your views on North America's most famous ape-man.

A great, atmospheric and uncanny tale best devoured by a flickering candle as the witching-hour looms!