Black Swan Ghosts: A sociologist encounters witnesses to unexplained aerial craft, their occupants, and other elements of the multiverse

Dr. Hein is a sociologist with a strong interest in a variety of anomalous phenomena , including crop circles, remote viewing, and ufology. He has pursued studies in these areas for over 20 years. His interactions with numerous individuals and hearing about their own experiences, along with his attending and participating in relevant conferences gave him significant insight into what he refers to as Black Swan Ghosts, which are unusual events not generally talked about and are frequently associated with “social danger zones”. The nature and structure of secrecy, particularly as it relates to ufology, is a common theme in the book. He discusses the Robertson Panel, a review board set up in 1953 by the CIA to study the large number of UFO sightings occurring around the US including those in 1952 over Washington DC. He notes the psychological warfare campaign recommended by the panel to reduce the public interest as a way to maintain secrecy. Hein does a nice job of describing the Citizens’ Hearing on Disclosure held at the National Press Club in 2013. The event, organized by Steven Bassett and involving participation of 40 highly credentialed witnesses from around the world, was presided over by 5 former US congressmen and one senator. Witnesses included former Air Force officers who described how in the 1960s and -70s American ICBMs in a number of missile silos went off line while UFOs were hovering above. On a separate occasion, former NASA astrobiologist Richard Hoover told Hein of an incident he was aware of that occurred in the early 1980s involving the mysterious initiation of a missile launch sequence in the Ukraine associated with a large hovering disc. The countdown stopped in time to prevent a launch. Most of the stories presented in the book involve events that are not well know and will be of interest to both novices and “experts” in the field. I found the book extremely interesting and well worth the read.

The book examines 15 eye-witness accounts of people who experienced incredible things. Most of these stories I'd never heard before. These aren't witness accounts from people who simply saw a disc dart across the sky. These eyewitness accounts are from people who experienced something profound and inexplicable. Every witness was changed by the event. The stories are believable and told by credible people, mostly average folks and their stories have a ring of truth that's hard to deny. They've stepped forward because they feel compelled to tell the world, "Hey, this is what happened to me, this is what I saw and it was real." It could happen to you is implied.There are also stories about much darker events, life changing encounters that were far from benign. They are terrifying to contemplate. The book tells the true story of an event that took the world within thirty seconds of global thermal nuclear war in 1982. It happened in the Ukraine when a UFO hovered over ICBM launch facility while the missiles began a countdown sequence to launch. Armageddon avoided by thirty seconds. The United States has had it's own encounters with UFO and ICBMs. Most have been benign, missiles going off line for seconds or minutes. The UFOs can take the missiles off-line, but on at least one occasion the missile launch sequence was initiated. It happened at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. This wasn't a system failure, this was a result of extraterrestrial interference. This is an amazing book and I highly recommend it.

I liked this book very much....all kinds of wild stories of UFO's and aliens. If you found this book convincing, be sure to get Jacque Vallee's book REVELATIONS: Alien Contact and Human Deception...then take an agnostic view of these extraordinary experiences.

Dr. Simeon Hein's Black Swan Ghosts is an excellent book for anyone interested in the paranormal, the supernatural, and aliens. I enjoy his command of the topics and knowledge and experience. Extremely well-written and enjoyable. Highly recommended.

It was like a weak fortean catalogue. I thought it would be interesting. I will read pretty much anything these days. So I figured a book on the paranormal with a good title by a sociologist might be interesting? Not really. It was like him recounting bar stories... Also, the book could've used an editor, there were a lot (a lot) of typos. Not sure what the author's PHD is in ... typos?

Dr. Simeon Hein is a scientist who has an incredible ability to tell his story in a very approachable manner. His experiences seem credible and his perspective is open and positive, even when dealing with very controversial subject matter. His books are always a treat to read!

I absolutely loved this book and am very impressed with the author. I listened to him on the radio program Coast to Coast am and was fascinated so I immediately purchased this book. I couldn't put it down. Great book.

Interesting book, author brought out several incidents that I had never heard of before. A fairly short book that I read in one afternoon. Worth reading.

This was the first time that I came across Dr Simeon Hein's work and all I can say is WOW! It makes such a change to read a book where the author has personally researched the subject matter and not just gotten the information online. Dr Hein travelled over from the USA to England to meet some of the key eyewitnesses to some of the most bizarre and in some cases terrifying encounters that you could imagine. What I also loved about the work is that you can go online and actually watch the videos of the interviews of the eyewitness to these events and I would strongly encourage you to do this as it brings a new perspective to the subject matter. Well done Dr, you have a new fan and I have now bought one of your other books on crop circles.

I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to anyone who is in doubt of the subject matter but is open minded enough to have their minds changed. A good rational and gentle introduction to a very real phenomena.