"He cites the example of "Communion: A True Story" (1987), the bestseller in which horror author Whitley Strieber describes his alleged alien encounters the book was later was later made into a film starring Christopher Walken. "The book's cover featured the now-iconic grey face the kind seen by people who've claimed to have had abduction experiences or first contact events [with aliens]," he tells DW."
"The media too has helped cement enduring alien visions. In 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold described nine shiny objects darting across the sky near Mount Rainier, saying they moved "like saucers skipping across water." Perhaps for brevity, the press described the craft as saucer-shaped and thus the term "flying saucer" was born. The image stuck, shaping decades of UFO iconography. Today, any object or phenomenon in the air, sea, or space that defies immediate explanation is termed a UAP unidentified anomalous phenomenon."
Alien imagery in popular culture evolved from eyewitness accounts, cultural discourse, and media coverage, shifting from little green men and silver-suited figures to grey-skinned extraterrestrials. Whitley Strieber's Communion (1987) popularized the grey face associated with alleged abduction and first-contact experiences. The 1947 Kenneth Arnold sighting led the press to coin 'flying saucer,' shaping decades of UFO iconography. The acronym UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomenon) now labels unexplained aerial, sea, or space occurrences. Scientific and policy interest in UAPs is growing, exemplified by the planned first European UAP symposium in Italy.
Read at www.dw.com
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