Raymond Fowler has spent more than forty years as a ufologist and is the author of eleven books on subjects related to UFOs and paranormal phenomena. Five of these books, including The Watchers (1990) and The Andreasson Affair (1994), are connected to the alien abduction case of Betty Andreasson Luca, who, in describing her experiences, insisted that the aliens (whom she calls “the Watchers”) are caretakers of Earth who only abduct humans in order to test them for damage due to environmental pollution. A devout Christian, Luca’s positive view of the aliens is similar to her view of God as benevolent rather than punitive. In interviews, Fowler has said that the main reason he was attracted to the Luca case was that he particularly wanted to study how the alien abduction experience affected a devout Christian since Christian beliefs tended to conflict with beliefs regarding paranormal phenomena. At one time Fowler himself was a fundamentalist Christian who believed that all paranormal phenomena were the work of the devil or were a symptom of a serious mental illness in the persons reporting such phenomena. He brought this attitude to his first investigations of UFO sightings but gradually changed his view as he met more and more UFO witnesses, most of whom struck him as sane, credible, and clearly not aligned with Satan. As he became more open to the possibility that paranormal phenomena were real experiences, Fowler developed his own theories regarding the source of UFOs. While still considering the reason behind UFO-related experiences to be a mystery, he has speculated that UFOs, near-death experiences, and psychic abilities are closely related phenomena with the same source: an alternate reality. He lectures on this subject and others related to UFOs and alien abductions, and he also sponsors courses on these subjects and appears on numerous television shows to discuss them. Fowler has also participated in several UFO-related organizations, including the National Investigations Committee of Aerial Phenomena and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), where he was once director of investigations and edited MUFON’s Field Investigator’s Manual, a guide to collecting and investigating UFO reports. An amateur astronomer, Fowler built the Woodside Planetarium and Observatory in Wenham, Massachusetts, and presented shows there from 1970 to 2001 as its director of operations. He has written books on astronomy, cosmology, telescope use, gardening, and fishing in addition to his books on the paranormal.

SEE ALSO:

• Mutual UFO Network
• National Investigations Committee of Aerial Phenomena
• the Watchers

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning