UFOs get mentioned in MAD MEN

The restaurant sequence.

I had a curious thing happen over the winter, it happened while watching the episodic television drama MAD MEN. (Episode title THE GOOD NEWS)

At about the 12 minute mark the characters are having dinner in a small dimly lit restaurant, it features Don Draper and a women from California. As I watched I had the strangest sort of day dream, what if I was in that restaurant, sitting at the table with those fictional people. I wanted to ask these fake TV characters their views about the UFO phenomenon.

This episode takes place in 1965 and the world hadn't yet been quite as saturated on the topic. I sat there watching, and this narrative played out in my head. I would ask them questions in the hopes of getting some different perspective on this stuff.

This was really odd. I've watched a lot of movies and TV in my life, and that feeling of wanting to enter the fictional scene and ask questions simply doesn't happen. But it did that night, and it was decidedly unusual.

The next scene was them driving home from the restaurant. This is followed by a curious scene that takes place the next morning in the full light of day. Don Draper is seen painting the wall (in his underwear) at the women's house. She sits on the couch and they talk.

Then, at the 21:20 time count the women, Anna, says something that gets my attention.

Anna: "I've seen UFOs."

Don: "You saw a UFO?"

Anna: "Does that scare you? The idea of another civilization on another planet smart enough to find a way to get here."

Don: "It doesn't scare me, but the odds are against it."

Anna: "Well I saw something once, and I'm telling you, it knocked me sideways. I started thinking of everything I was sure was true, and how flimsy it all might be."

Don: "You don't need to see a UFO to know that. That's not a great way to think about things."

So, I had a curious thought where I projected my self into a TV drama. I wanted to ask the characters their views on UFOs, and within minutes I get their answer! I'm not sure what it means, but lemme tell you, it felt strange.

Note that the woman says: "I've seen UFOs" Plural!

Any UFO investigator would ask why has she seen more than one. The implication would be that she might be an abductee?

The 1966 publication of John G. Fuller's The Interrupted Journey matches the time line of this episode. This was the story of Betty and Barney Hill's abduction account, the first such book in any popular form. The title of the episode, THE GOOD NEWS, is often used as a synonym for the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus.

The actress who plays Anna is Melinda Page Hamilton, and she shares my birthday. Also like me, she went to the Tish School of the Arts at NYU.

text added: Mar 4, 2026

There’s more to the story. I’m adding this new account sixteen years later, and a LOT has happened in those years.

I will often walk at a park near my home here in the Pacific Northwest. This is a densely wooded area with a maze of twisty-turny trails, and I can walk fast and burn off some energy. I usually listen to music as I walk. 

On this afternoon (Sunday 2/22), I was moving through my favorite part of the trail system, and the music was loud. I thought about that old blog post about Mad Men. I hadn’t thought about it and I don’t know how long, but it popped into my head right then. I played it out in my mind again, how I saw myself asking these fictional characters from the 1960s what they thought about UFOs—and how in the next scene, they explained their thoughts on UFOs. I was mulling it over in my mind, and I was thinking: “That experience was genuinely odd.”

In that moment, I heard something behind me, my first thought was that it was a dog whining. I turned around and there was nothing there. Then I took my headset off and within seconds heard the clear sound of a barred owl somewhere in the forest. I stood and waited. Then I heard the loud booming call again, followed by a faint reply from another owl somewhere further away. This call and response is something I’ve heard many times.

The forest is dense, and I was scanning the trees in the direction of the loud call. It didn’t take long, and I saw a large owl drop gracefully from high in a tree and glide off deeper into the forest. After that, everything was silent.

Right then, it felt like the owl had told me to pay attention to that story! Yes, that experience from 2011 was no mere coincidence, it was a moment of genuine psychic intrusion, and it happened for a reason.

Now, thinking that doesn’t make it true, but the feeling in that moment was crystal-clear.

Also: The song I was listening to was “Things Get Better” by Eddie Floyd. Lemme add that I saw Eddie Floyd with Booker T. and the MGs at a small club in NYC around 1988, and this was the single most powerful live show I’ve ever experienced.

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One more thing: This morning, on 3/3 at 3:33 a.m., we had a Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse. I slept outside hoping to see it. I saw the big beautiful Full Moon as I set up my sleeping bag in a meadow behind the house. Alas, as is typical here, it got cloudy and started raining. But, the forest was ringing with owls all night long! I didn’t see any but heard a lot of ‘em. Great horned owls, barred owls, and the happy tooting of a mountain pygmy-owl.

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