Reading Jacques' Diary
Jacques Vallée forgets to lock his diary and Bernie O'Connor takes full advantage in his review of the latest offering from Anomalist Books!
Forbidden Science 6 – Scattered Castles The Journals of Jacques Vallée: 2010 – 2019
Published by Anomalist Books, January 2025, 554 Pages
Review By: Bernie O’Connor - bernieolooksforufos@gmail.com
No one alive today knows more about UFOs than Jacques Vallée. He is the Elder Statesman of Ufology—recognized as a true pioneer (alongside Dr. J. Allen Hynek) for advocating strict adherence to the scientific method when analyzing UFO reports. Considering his lifelong work investigating UFOs, Vallée must be applauded in his successful balancing act of preserving his sterling reputation as an Astronomer and Computer Scientist. Ordinarily, delving into such a “fringe” topic would immediately qualify you as a charter member of the tinfoil hat brigade in the eyes of mainstream science.
Sadly, Forbidden Science 6: Scattered Castles will be the last book in his Journal series. And unfortunately, number six begins on a sad note. Vallée is mourning the recent loss of his longtime wife, Janine. The entries in his journal charts his many battles with depression while he tries to concentrate on his writing, his research, and his day job as a Venture Capitalist.
Traveling between meetings and across time zones, we are afforded a privileged, insider’s view of a lifelong search for the truth about UFOs. Vallée visits The Skinwalker Ranch numerous times. He travels frequently to Argentina and Brazil. In Brazil he reopens a case he investigated 35 years ago when the key witness was just 14 years old. Besides numerous media appearances, Vallée also attends and addresses many conferences all over the world.
During Vallée’s travels and day-to-day work, he collaborates with the “Who’s Who” of contemporary Ufology: Peter Strurrock, Leslie Kean, Richard Haines, Robert Bigelow, Ray Boeche, George Knapp, and countless more movers and shakers in the UFO community. Even the notorious Joe Firmage gets a quick mention.
Reading Vallée’s notes we learn about behind the scenes conversations that take place between all the above mentioned personalities regarding their discoveries of new cases and personal research into them. We also learn of the frustration when research projects are canceled too soon, or aren’t properly managed due to national security compartmental constraints.
Which brings us to the interesting title of this book: Scattered Castles. It’s a term used by intelligence organizations to refer to different locations where sensitive files are stored. Finding out what files are stored where, and gaining access to them, is a daunting challenge even for the most adept and determined Freedom of Information Act filer. (Kudos to John Greenwald Jr. of The Black Vault.)
Revealed for the first time is Vallée’s out of body experience leading to an encounter with a tall glowing entity. Vallée’s fear was so great that it caused this frightening episode to end quickly and he returned back to his body. But Vallée, ever the scientist, instantly regrets missing the chance to communicate with the being to gather data. This was not Vallée’s first encounter with the unknown. In 1955, when he was a 16 year old boy growing up in France, Jacques and his mother watched “a disc shaped craft with a clear bubble on it” hover briefly up in the sky before it quickly sped away.
This is a different kind of UFO book, or for that matter, so is the entire series of Vallée’s Journals. If you’re looking for “gee-whiz” UFO cases, there are plenty of them in its pages. Various entries detail how Vallée kept a watchful eye on the orb phenomenon sweeping the globe, outlining their characteristics and apparent ability to cause great harm to those who encounter these glowing spheres.
I think the most important aspect of Vallée’s journals is the historical timeline of his comments, as they reflect the changes Ufology has gone through over the years. Luckily for us, the world’s preeminent ufologist was kind enough to record and share his personal journey in this regard.
Here in his own words, Jacques Vallée explains why he decided to make his journals public. The following quote is taken from the first Forbidden Science Journals: 1957-1969, published in 1992. It’s as relevant today as when it was first written:
“It is unusual for scientists to keep diaries and even more unusual for them to make them public... I have followed this rule of silence for the last thirty years, but I have finally decided that I had no right to keep them private anymore... They provide a primary source about a crucial fact in the recent historical record: the appearance of new classes of phenomena that highlighted the reality of the paranormal.
Governments took notice, organizing task forces, encouraging secret briefings and study groups, funding classified research and all the time denying before the public that any of the phenomena might be real...The major revelation of these Diaries may be the demonstration of how the scientific community was misled by the government, how the best data was kept hidden, and how the public record was shamelessly manipulated.”
Let’s hope Congress’ promises for more transparency opens the right doors to air out these “Scattered Castles.” And who knows—maybe Vallée’s timely and important book will provide them with some of the keys.
Glad you like Mike. Appreciate it. As they say, "Hide in plain sight."
Thanks Bernie - sounds like another 'must have' in my library. I too hope for more transparency with this government, but won't get my hopes up. No one has perfected lying as well as the three-letter agencies. Can't place the name, but I recall reading a quote by one of the heads of the CIA (probably from the 90's) stating, when asked how they would know with they have succeeded, answered (paraphrasing) 'when everything the American people believe is a lie'. They don't even try to hide it. Cheers!