The Dangers of UFO Obsession

That's the subject of a new Mysterious Universe article from me, which you can find here.

And here's how it begins...

Time and again I tell people that if you’re interested in UFOs, don’t let the subject rule and dictate your life. The same goes for every other aspect of Forteana, too, whether it’s Bigfoot, ghost-hunting, lake-monsters, etc, etc. I don’t know why I bother though. They seldom listen. But, they should. As someone who has been in the UFO subject for more than a few years, I have seen plenty of what I call ufological screw-ups of the personal kind. By that, I mean people who – step by step and bit by bit – go down a pathway that ultimately takes them far away from reality and into a world of downright unreality. And that realm of unreality is rarely, if ever, a positive one.

Now, don’t get me wrong: after all, I write books, I write articles, and I give lectures on the world of the paranormal, and on a regular basis. But, I’m very good at keeping a balance. Unless I’m out of town for a gig, or doing a radio-show to promote a new book, I work from roughly 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday to Friday. And that’s it. When 5-ish comes around, I’ll close the Word document of the relevant book I’m working on and forget about it until the next morning. Evenings during the week are all Forteana-free. As for weekends, there’s no writing, no researching, and Bigfoot is nowhere in sight (or in mind). Nessie and the Men in Black? They can all wait until Monday morning comes around. Evenings and weekends are for something else: it’s called a social life. For me, that’s soccer, friends, women who look like Abby from NCIS, cold beer, and going to see a band etc., etc.