Belief in UFO's is like faith in the supernatural - but, today credulity among the public for tales of the astonishing is less than even a generation ago. The standard explanation attributes this to a growing scepticism. But scepticism alone is a convenient short-hand for a deeper psycho-social, historical and cultural phenomenon spanning the duration of the last two centuries. This is a book about our search for extraterrestrials, but this is a story mostly about us, people like you and I. How we have come to forge belief and what countervailing powers bring about certainty and doubt. In the classic mise-en-sc ne, at remote, deserted locations, country roads or woodland at nights: UFO sightings reflect our yearning of what may lay beyond, romanticised impresses of more civilised lives, of wonder, imagination, anticipation and the unknown - all at once in opposition with incredulity, suspicion and doubt.