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and primary cause of the Flood, according to Corenlius a Lapide in his Commentary on Genesis. If the intercourse in question has given birth to beings of monstrous proportions, we must see there not the ordinary intercourse of men with women but the operation of the incubi who, owing to their nature, can very well be called sons of God. This opinion... is not in contradiction with that of Tertullian, according to whom these incubi could be angels who had allowed themselves to commit the sin of luxury with women. What we have here is a complete theory of contact between our race and another race, nonhuman, different in physical nature, but biologically compatible with us. Angels, demons, fairies, creatures from heaven, hell, or Magonia: they inspire our strangest dreams, shape our destinies, steal our desires.... But who are they? Apparitions "They speak all the languages of the earth. They know all about the past and future of the human race — of any human being." This statement was made in 1968 by a Spanish clerk who claims he has been in contact with extraterrestrials since 1954. "The inhabitants of planet Wolf 424 [sic] are among us in human form and with false identities. They are far superior to us and very peace-loving. I am in permanent contact with them. They either write to me or call me. We have meetings." How did he contact these allegedly superior entities? It seems that in 1954 a saucer threw a stone covered with hieroglyphics into the University Gardens, Madrid. Fernando Sesma copied these symbols down, and presto!, two-way communication began. These absurd stories are the nucleus of many modern-day cults. In Great Britain, similar fantastic rumors are spreading. British scientists, some people claim, have been contacted by a mysterious source through radio and have become involved in undercover activities at the request of extraterrestrials. Some of these scientists have disappeared. Through such contacts, so the story goes, the extraterrestrials hope to control our history. For what purpose? I myself have received letters from induviduals claiming to be members of secret organizations whose headquarters are, quite literally, out of this world. These correspondents informed me that the purpose of their group is to prevent mankind from reaching other worlds in space. Of course, other contactees make exactly opposite claims. The fact remains that irrational belief in nonhuman control of terrestrial destinies is as old as ordinary human politics. Thus, a Madrid newsman, Armando Puente, claims that Sesma warned him three months before Robert Kennedy's assassination that the senator would be killed. Sesma similarly predicted a wave of UFO sightings in Argentina (a much easier task!). The same power attributed to saucer people was once the exclusive property of fairies. This was believed by ignorant medieval peasants and scholars as well. Thus, one of the first questions put to Joan of Arc by her inquisitiors was "if she had any knowledge or if she had not assisted at the assemblies held at the fountain of the fairies, near Domremy, around which dance malignant spirits." And another question and answer was thus recorded: "Asked whether she did not believe — prior to the present day — that fairies were malignant spirits, [she] answered she did not know." Without reopening the entire problem of witchcraft, it is important to note the continuum of beliefs, which leads directly from primitive magic, through mystical experience, the fairy-faith, and religion, to modern flying saucers. The study of witchcraft has shown these subjects to be closely interrelated. And while we are not concerned with individual beliefs in this chapter, we are 5. The Celestial Component: Signs in Heaven