When science journalist Sarah Scoles was working on a few articles for Wired magazine, she was assigned the task of following up on a 2017 New York Times piece about The Pentagon’s “shadowy” UFO investigation program. The program was originally founded as part of the Defense Intelligence Agency, according to the story, and for years officials had been studying unidentified objects and aircraft. Scoles’ editor asked if she wanted to go out and confirm—or not confirm—what the New York Times found. While she had written a book about the science behind the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, she had never reported on UFOs. Moved enough by the opportunity, she told her editor, “Sure,” thereby sealing her fate.
It was this astronomical moment that lead to Scoles’ immaculate conception of a book now being birthed onto store shelves today: They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers.
The book chronicles Scoles’ encounters with the UFO phenomenon and the people who devote their lives to it. She rockets through both the weirdest and most rational of claims—picking up a series of warped puzzle pieces that may never fit into a logical explanation.
As a journalist who has covered various fringe beliefs myself, I reached out to Scoles to learn about her experiences and research, wanting to compare notes. So we got on the phone and shot the breeze about UFO facts, fiction, and the fantasy of ever finding the whole truth.