At its peak, tens of thousands would await the latest lurid tales of alien autopsies and flying saucers spying on sleepy market towns. Yet the publication that took UFOs from the sci-fi hinterland to the mainstream has now enjoyed its final print run. After almost 25 years, UFO Magazine was quietly shut down last week. Suggestions of paranormal interference or alien involvement have been ruled out. The reason is more down-to-earth: not enough people care these days. Sources said its closure had been inevitable since the death of editor and world UFO expert Graham Birdsall last September. Birdsall along with younger brother Mark founded the Leeds-based magazine in 1981. Soon it became the world's top UFO publication, selling up to 35,000 copies at its height. Subscribers still talk about the puncture marks on sheep carcasses which offered proof that extra-terrestrial visitors had arrived to suck the juices of livestock. Andy Roberts, author of UFO books and former magazine contributor, said the public's fascination with mysterious flying objects had faded. 'Ufology is really a thing of the last century. The end of the X-Files series didn't help, and there has been a decline since the televised alien autopsy of the mid-1990s. Basically it was a hobby that broke into the mainstream... Ultimately there was only a hardcore following,' said Roberts.
View: Full Article | Source: The Guardian
