Steig Larsson's UFO reference

Dear readers,

Recently, someone asked me whether I read books on topics, other than intelligence agencies and UFOs. Well, yes, I do.

At the moment I am making my way through Steig Larsson's "The Girl Who Played With Fire." Maclehose Press. London. 2009. It is a delightful, if somewhat dark, read. However, even in the most unexpected of books you cannot escape the UFO phenomenon!

Ten pages into the 569 page work, one of the lead characters, Salander, visits the island of Grenada, and behold "The gist of it was that Bishop was a popular folk leader who had deposed an insane dictator, a U.F.O. nutcase who had devoted part of the meagre national budget to chasing flying saucers."

The reference to Grenada and UFOs shows Larsson's attention to detail. Indeed, on the 28 November 1978, Sir Eric Gairy, the Prime Minister of the island of Grenada spoke to the United nations about studying UFOs. (Click here for a photograph and more details of one of the meetings.)

Other speakers included Allen Hynek, Jacques Vallee, Colonel Larry Coyne; followed by a video by Lee Spiegal.

All did not go well, and the UN decided not to pursue Gairy's request.

Jacques Vallee has a telling comment in volume 2 of his diaries. "If the video hadn't ruined the meeting, the press conference that followed wrecked it completely. Eric Gairy launched into a garbled apology full of esoteric mumbo-jumbo, adding that he had once seen a flying saucer as he came out of a night club!" (Vallee p448.)

Gairy died in 1997 (click here for further details.)