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In recent years they have been bequeathed the huge libraries of Peter Rogerson and Hilary Evans, and much of the UFO collection of former Flying Saucer Review editor Gordon Creighton. When two of the Archive's organisers recently visited the UK we were able to pass on to them more items from the Magonia collection to ensure their permanent preservation, and we urge other Forteans to consider AFU as a possible future depository for their own collections.
Nigel Watson reviews a book published by AFU explaining their history, collections, on-going work and their plans for the future:
Clas Svahn, Files of the Unexplained. Archives for the Unexplained (AFU), 2019.
Clas Svahn and his fellow AFU members are on a relentless mission to collect the books and archives of UFO and paranormal researchers before they end up in a skip (the books not the researchers, I hasten to add).
In Files of the Unexplained, Svahn tells the story of how the AFU library began in 1973 near Stockholm and how it transferred to Norrkoping where they have over 1.4 miles of shelf space in several buildings. Besides the books and magazines, the archives contain case files, audio recordings, films, photographs, toys, models, stamps and posters. More obscure items include the late Flying Saucer Review editor Gordon Creighton’s tropical helmet, alleged UFO fragments and Alan Godfrey’s police uniform jacket that he wore when he was abducted.
The bulk of the book consists of double-page chapters that provide a lively description of specific topics and how they relate to the archive. The chapters cover the whole gamut of Fortean phenomena from astronomical and meteorological enigmas, UFO detectors, contactee stories, ghost rockets, foo fighters, the early USAF investigations, UFO music, flat earth believers, moon landing conspiracy theories, UAPs, ancient astronauts, Loch Ness, Bigfoot, frogs in stone, lost continents, ghosts to the prophecies of Nostradamus.
BOXES LINED UP READY FOR SHIPPING
TO THE AFU LIBRARY IN SWEDEN
Every page features high-quality colour photographs and illustrations printed on glossy paper, making it a neat pictorial guide not only to the AFU collection but to the subject of UFOs and Forteana in general. The last page of this 128-page book has a splendid gallery of ufologists’ mug shots beginning with Hilary Evans at the top left and ending with Peter Rogerson in the bottom right.
It is a thankless task gathering all this stuff and Svahn is an expert at discovering hidden ufological treasures and at persuading reluctant ufologists or their relatives to donate their collections for posterity. In his introductory chapter Svahn tells the humorous story of how much hard work he put in to actually meet Peter Rogerson before he was willing to donate his vast collection of books. Svahn also tells of the difficulties encountered tracking down and obtaining the files of Contact International and Gordon Creighton’s collection of documents and books. Sometimes he is able to rescue this material before it is too late but even now such collections are quickly disposed of before anyone even knows about it, or they just get forgotten or destroyed by fire or flood.
Pictures of boxes upon boxes of files stacked outside Bob Rickard’s house ready for shipping to Sweden are a testament to the vast amount of material saved from landfill. And, with AFU’s storage and digitisation of such material we all benefit from their tireless efforts.
This truly is an insight into the real X-Files.
- Archives for the Unexplained (AFU), P O Box 11027, S-600 11 Norrköping, Sweden
- Website: https://www.afu.se/
- Email: afu@ufo.se
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