AudioBlog: UFOs as Sky Creatures - Podcast UFO

Summary4 min read

Podcast UFO – AudioBlog: UFOs as Sky Creatures
Host/Producer: Donna Killeen
Author: Charles Lear (read by Sam Milo Dragovich)
Date: July 5, 2026
Episode Overview:
This episode explores one of the more unusual theories in the UFO field—the idea that some UFOs might not be craft or technology, but living sky creatures. Drawing on UFO history, literature, and classic investigations, the episode traces the development of the “sky creature” hypothesis and the thinkers who have contributed to it, while highlighting intriguing historical sightings and their impact on both scientific speculation and popular culture.

Main Theme

The episode investigates the hypothesis that UFOs could be living organisms inhabiting Earth's atmosphere—“sky creatures”—as opposed to alien spacecraft or secret military technology. It traces this concept through science fiction, ufological speculation, and specific case studies from the late 19th century through to modern times.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Origins of the Sky Creatures Hypothesis

Trevor James Constable's 1958 Influence:
- Constable introduced the idea that UFOs might be invisible “bioforms,” providing infrared photographs as evidence in his book They Live in the Sky (02:12).
Earlier Influences in Fiction and Literature:
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Wrote about fictional sky creatures in “The Horror of the Heights,” published in 1913.
- Charles Fort: First to seriously speculate about living things in our skies in his books New Lands (1923) and Lo! (1931).
  - Quote: “It seems no more incredible that up in the seemingly unoccupied sky there should be hosts of living things than that the seeming blank of the ocean should swarm with life.” — Charles Fort, New Lands (04:07)

The Scientific and Military Reception

Post-Kenneth Arnold Sighting Speculation:
- John Philip Besser: In 1947, theorized that the objects seen by Arnold were “a form of space animal or creature, of a highly attenuated ectoplasmic substance capable of materialization and dematerialization, whose propellant is a form of telekinetic energy.”
  - Air Force Response: “It was one of the most intelligent theories we have received.” (05:48)
Project Sign (U.S Air Force):
- 1949 summary noted, “Although the objects as described act more like animals than anything else, there are few reliable reports on extraterrestrial animals.”
Alfred Letting (Aerospace Engineer):
- “I suspect that UFOs may be a kind of space animal.”
- Trenton Times Advertiser, Oct 10, 1954 (06:42)

Civilian Saucer Intelligence (CSI) and Thought Evolution

CSI New York newsletter (1957) and articles in Fantastic Universe raised the possibility that angel hair, a mysterious substance sometimes linked to UFO sightings, might be tissue shed by “stratospheric creatures.”
Ivan T. Sanderson: Major mid-century advocate for the sky creatures theory, influenced by articles such as Countess Zoe Wasilco’s 1955 piece in American Astrology describing “ionospheric energy feeding quasi-electrical entities.”

Alternative Theories and Broader Advocacy

French Engineer Rene Feuer: Suggested UFOs are “disk beings.”
Commander Walter Krieg: Described UFO behavior as being “more like puppies than spaceships.”
Desmond Leslie: Posited that some cylindrical UFOs might actually be living things.

Kenneth Arnold’s Own Position

Quote: “I believe that whatever they are, they are living organisms and not controlled by any type of man from Mars.” — Kenneth Arnold (08:14)

Notable Cases and Sightings

“Angel Hair” Phenomenon

Speculation that “angel hair” (wispy material sometimes found after UFO sightings) could be organic tissue from “jellybirds” or sky creatures. (08:56)
Theories included possibilities such as creatures shedding appendages after mating, or remnants left after death.

1950 Philadelphia Melting UFO Case

Witnesses, including police officers, observed a parachute-like object that “gave off a purplish glow… looked as though it contained crystals.” When touched, it “dissolved and left a sticky, odorless residue.” Within 25 minutes, it “completely dissolved,” leaving only “a magic circle on the ground.”
This case reportedly inspired the 1958 movie The Blob. (09:28)

Sky Creatures in Pop Culture

Only recently, in 2022, did a major film (Nope) feature a sky creature as its main antagonist, named “Jean Jacket.” (10:41)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Charles Fort:
“It seems no more incredible that up in the seemingly unoccupied sky there should be hosts of living things than that the seeming blank of the ocean should swarm with life.” (04:07)
Air Force on Space Animals:
“It was one of the most intelligent theories we have received.” (05:48)
Alfred Letting:
“I suspect that UFOs may be a kind of space animal.” (06:42)
Kenneth Arnold:
“I believe that whatever they are, they are living organisms and not controlled by any type of man from Mars.” (08:14)

Timestamps for Key Segments

02:03 — Introduction to the 'sky creatures' hypothesis; Trevor James Constable and early literature
04:07 — Charles Fort’s early speculation
05:48 — Military takes on the hypothesis; Besser’s theory and the Air Force response
06:42 — Alfred Letting and other mid-century proponents
08:14 — Kenneth Arnold’s take on living UFOs
08:56 — “Angel hair” phenomenon and biological theories
09:28 — 1950 Philadelphia “melting UFO” case
10:41 — Sky creatures’ continued influence in popular culture; Nope (2022)

Further Resources

Charles Lear — Author of The Flying Saucer Investigators, available in its second edition on Amazon.

Summary

This episode provides a thorough exploration of the “sky creatures” hypothesis in UFO studies, revealing its roots in early science fiction, the musings of Charles Fort, and decades of UFO investigation. The belief that there may be living zoological phenomena in Earth's atmosphere has persisted among a significant minority of researchers and remains a fascinating, if fringe, perspective in the ongoing conversation about UFOs.

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Transcript7 lines

[00:00]
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[02:04]
Charles Lear
Ufo's as Sky Creatures by UFO history buff and author Charles Lear, read by Sam Milo Dragovich. Among the many possible explanations for UFOs is that some might be creatures that live in the sky. The person who became best known for this idea was Trevor James Constable, who presented it along with infrared photos of what he claimed were bioforms invisible to the naked eye in his 1958 book How's Trevor James? They Live in the Sky. James wasn't alone in his belief, and the concept of sky creatures goes back farther than 1958 in both speculative literature and science fiction. A good starting point for the history of the sky creatures Hypothesis is the 1997 paper by Jerome Clark, Spacemen, Demons and Conspiracies, published by the Fund for UFO Research. Clark explores the many explanations for UFOs put forward throughout the years and looks at the sch in the section. Secret Weapons and Space Animals after going into the speculation by people such as James Mosley, Leon Davidson, and Jacques Vallee that flying saucers or UFOs can be explained as classified secret weapons, Clark delves into the history of the sky creature concept. According to Clark, sky creatures originally appeared in fictional form, possibly for the first time, in the story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Horror and the Heights, published in the November 1913 issue of the Strand magazine. The first person to offer the speculation that our skies might truly be full of living creatures was Charles Fort in his 1923 book New Lands. In what Clark calls a casual aside, Fort wrote, it seems no more incredible that up in the seemingly unoccupied sky there should be hosts of living things than that the seeming blank of the ocean should swarm with life. In his 1931 book Lo, he wrote, Unknown luminous things or beings have often been seen, sometimes close to this earth and sometimes high in the sky. It may be that some of them were living things that occasionally come from somewhere else. After Kenneth Arnold's June 24, 1947, sighting on July 7, John Philip Besser wrote the Army Air Forces, giving his opinion that what Arnold and the many others that had followed him had seen were a form of space animal or creature, of a highly attenuated ectoplasmic substance capable of materialization and dematerialization, whose propellant is a form of telekinetic energy. Besser posited that their presence might explain blood and meat falls reported throughout history. Fort wrote about such events and in the assumption that they were hostile predators with a taste for human flesh might explain missing persons. As silly as Besser's theory might seem, according to Clark, an Air Force spokesman replied to Besser, saying, it was one of the most intelligent theories we have received. In a 1949 summary of Project Sign's investigations, it was noted, although the objects as described act more like animals than anything else, there are few reliable reports on extraterrestrial animals. Clark adds that aerospace engineer Alfred Letting, who worked with Project SIGN as a civilian he was a corps member when it was established, is quoted in the October 10, 1954, Trenton Times advertiser as saying, I suspect that UFOs may be a kind of space animal. Much of Clark's paper seems to have been sourced from the December 15, 1957, Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York newsletter. CSINY was a science minded organization founded in 1954 by Isabel Davis, Ted Bletcher, and Lex Mabain. On page 31 of the newsletter is the article page 33 of the PDF headlined who discovered Space Animals? Which has most of the same information provided by Clark. Clark references another CSI article on the subject that appeared in the September 1957 issue of Fantastic Universe. The newsletter article begins with a reference to the Fantastic Universe article. After we'd written an article for the September Fantastic Universe suggesting that angel hair might be interpreted as organic tissues cast off by stratospheric creatures, we began to wonder who was the first to think of UFOs as animals. Ivan T. Sanderson is the first person mentioned as possibly being the most eminent advocate of the idea at the time, and is said to have been principally influenced by an article by Countess Zoe Wasilco, C.K.I. published in the September 1955American Astrology. Clark provides an excerpt and says her article was the most influential of all articles written on the subject because it gave the theory concrete shape. It's summed up in the CSI newsletter this this theory postulated ionospheric energy feeding quasi electrical entities, according to the CSI article. Others came up with their own sky creature theories at about the same time French engineer Rene Feuer published his theory in the summer 1954 Paris Montparnasse that UFOs were disk beings. Commander Walter Krieg suggested that UFOs behaved more like puppies than spaceships, and Desmond Leslie suggests that in flying saucers have landed that, in the CSI reporter's words, the cylindrical UFO of Olorongayc might have been a huge living thing. The CSI article brings up the same early post1947 theorists as Clark and adds Arnold to the list sometime during this period too. We don't have definite references. The idea was publicly advanced by pioneer saucer investigator Kenneth Arnold. A search on our part came up with a quote from Arnold in the article by Fred Schneider headlined Eerie Blue Light Set Alive thing in the January 29, 1955 issue of the observer out of La Grande, Oregon. I believe that whatever they are, they are living organisms and not controlled by any type of man from Mars. Going back further in time, the CSI article, like Clark's, ultimately attributes Charles Fort with the origin of the SCH and includes the same quote from New Lands at the end. The Civilian Saucer Intelligence article on the subject that appeared in the September 1957 issue of Fantastic Universe is mostly about the angel hair phenomenon, the first part of a series headlined Shapes in the Sky. It begins with a description of an investigation by CSI of an angel hair report begun after the witness had contacted Ivan T. Sanderson. Other contemporary cases are described with the source provided for each of them, and then there are several more cases presented going back to 1741. The reader is told that the latter cases were mostly taken from Fort, but we quote in all cases from the original reference. This all leads to the speculation that angel hair might come from live large flocks of spherical entities or creatures about six feet in diameter, which the authors admit is un unquestionably in conflict with present scientific view of what is possible. The two possibilities offered are that these jellybirds shed their appendages after mating or burst open after death, leaving behind their COBwebby remains. A 1950 case in Philadelphia is referenced that is said to have been described in the second of the Shapes in the sky series published in the May 1957 issue of Fantastic Universe. Clark also described this case in his article, and its Source is the September 27, 1950 Philadelphia Inquirer. According to the article Flying Saucer Just dissolves at around 10pm the night before, Patrolman John Collins and Joseph Keenan spotted what seemed to be a parachute and watched through their patrol car windshield as it settled into a Field near 26th Street Vaer Boulevard. They called in Street Sergeant Joseph Cook and Patrolman James Casper, and the four of them went to investigate. According to them, when the object was hit by the light of their flashlights, it gave off a purplish glow, almost a mist that looked as though it contained crystals. Collins went to pick it up and the area where he made contact dissolved and left a sticky, odorless residue. Within 25 minutes, the entire object, which was so light it didn't even bend the reeds it sat on dissolved. Cook notified the FBI, but there was nothing to show but a magic circle on the ground where something purple and quite evanescent once had been. According to many sources, including the classic Movie Hub blog, the case was the inspiration for the 1958 movie The Blob. As for sky creatures appearing as movie monsters, it wasn't until 2022 that such a creature was featured in a major film. The creature has the UN monster like name of Jean Jacket and is the nemesis of earthbound humans in Nope. Charles Lear is the author of the Flying Saucer investigators in its second edition on Amazon.com.
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