Owls, UFOs and Area 51

Actor and author Tucker Smallwood

The 2011 documentary The Truth is Out There features Dean Haglund (of the X-Files) playing the host and asking questions. There is one point in the film where an actor sits alone on stage and reads from his autobiography. He tells the familiar story of a seeing owls and a UFO. 

The man on stage is Tucker Smallwood, a veteran of theater and screen who’s long list of credits include Coppola’s The Cotton Club, Contact and The X-Files. He also played God on the Sara Silverman Show.

Documentary on UFO and consciousness from 2011

Tucker steps on stage at the 15:00 minute mark in the video above. 

His account begins in a car full of buddies, all of them UFO enthusiasts. It was February of 1993 and they were driving through the desert at night—heading towards Area 51. Tucker writes:

Suddenly from out of the darkness, a winged figure appeared on my left and flew directly toward my windshield. At the last possible moment, it veered and flew over the roof of my car. It was huge...and I suddenly realized (as my heart retraced its steps) that it must have been an owl, with perhaps a five-foot wingspan. I was now very alert and remained that way.

This is, in many ways, the ancient totem of the owl. Tucker was on a path towards the unknown—seeking. Suddenly he was VERY alert. For me, the owl plays the role of an alarm clock, telling the seeker to wake up and pay attention. 

Not long after seeing the owl they arrived atop a mesa just outside the ring of mountains encircling the mythic Area 51. His small team camped out that night on a hilltop within sight of the secret military base. They were hoping to see something that would confirm their suspicions. 

I awoke at 3:30 AM and exited the camper...and marveled at the clarity of the high mountain desert sky... I opened up a beach chaise lounge, slipped into a sleeping bag, lay back and surveyed the heavens.

As if on cue, from within the circle of mountains a light slowly rose up and above the peaks...and hung there in the night. THE LIGHT was yellowish-white and its intensity and hue varied with its movement. It was perfectly silent throughout the experience. I cannot say what shape the craft had, I cannot define its size, I cannot assert that it was built by or occupied by a man... or something else. It was, for me, simply THE LIGHT.

He goes on to describe the strange motions of this light in the sky. It seemed to float graceful and leisurely. Then he watched the commonly reported falling leaf movements as this light arched side to side like a heavy pendulum. He wrote that seeing this light, “...forever changed my belief systems.”

The next night was cold and clear. Once again he took up vigil in his sleeping bag, looking up at the ocean of stars.

As I lay back remembering the names of the sharply defined constellations above, the sky was suddenly blotted out—the stars disappeared! And as I rose in fear, the sky reappeared, and I defined the shape (like a huge manta ray, cruising along the ocean floor) of a gliding, hunting owl. He'd passed perhaps five feet over my head and I watched him as he flew, ‘nap of the earth’ along the desert floor...and disappeared into the night. 

Now, I'd seen zero owls in forty years...and within twenty-four hours, I'd had close encounters with two. Presumably different owls — but who knows? As much as I enjoyed the coincidence, I thought little about it for some time thereafter. Until in my reading (which was prodigious afterwards, dozens of books) I discovered Jung's description of what are called ‘screen memories.’ They arc a protective device of our minds when faced with anomalous or upsetting events. And apparently, for whatever reason, owls tend to be a rather common screen memory, particularly for other entities. But what they represented to me, I have yet to recall.

Tucker Smallwood begins a journey, he wants to see a UFO. He was seeking on the path (a lonely highway in Nevada) when he sees an owl, and is suddenly VERY alert. He has a golden UFO sighting that changes his belief systems. The next night an owl blots out the stars. He then ask deeply personal questions of himself and his place in this reality.

2006 autobiography

Maybe I am reading too much into this, but both his experiences and reactions, parallel the core of my research. On the surface, there is an odd connection between owl and UFOs. But there is a deeper connection, one of personal transformation.

These excerpts are from Tucker’s book Return to Eden. They come from the short chapter titled Dreamland, which begins on page 111, a prescient number indeed! His book was published on my 44th birthday, August 22, 2006. This is the year I point to as the start of my awakening.

Tucker makes this enticing statement in the foreword of his book:

I’ve been told that the four words ‘once upon a time’, when read or heard create an altered state of consciousness. Let’s see.

Now that’s somethin' I can get behind! 

_____________________________________________