In the five years since Seth Breedlove and his production company, Small Town Monsters released The Minerva Monster they’ve certainly been busy. They’ve released several documentaries on UFOs and cryptozoology. Such as The Flatwoods Monster: A Legacy of Fear and The Mothman Of Point Pleasant. Now they’re expanding into series such as On The Trail Of Bigfoot and now On The Trail Of UFOs.
Over eight episodes On The Trail Of UFOs gives a nice overview of the phenomenon. Hosted by author and podcaster Shannon Legro, each episode is centred around a particular aspect of Ufology and focuses on a prominent case to illustrate it. Among those covered are Area 51, The Exeter NH Incident and The Betty and Barney Hill Abduction.
We also get an episode on possibly related phenomena such as spook lights. That one features a look at the ones around Brown Mountain. The aim of On The Trail Of UFOs is to bring back some of the sense of wonder that the subject used to have. Having a look at something similar fits into that, as does mentioning the works of John Keel and Jacques Vallee.
The series actually gives a fair amount of time to the idea that UFOs may not be from outer space. The idea that they may be from parallel dimensions gets quite a bit of discussion. When I was younger and reading everything I could on the subject this was the idea that most interested me. It also tied in with sightings of truly strange creatures like Mothman. And even some supernatural phenomena like ghosts and EVP.
Small Town Monsters have covered some of the more bizarre UFO/cryptozoology crossovers in Invasion On Chestnut Ridge and Momo: The Missouri Monster. It would be interesting to see a series looking at some of the fringes of these fields. The kinds of oddities Keel described in The Mothman Prophesies, which is nothing like the movie. Or some of the incidents chronicled in The Unidentified and Creatures of the Outer Edge by Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman. There are probably more recent works to draw from. But I haven’t followed the subject that closely in quite a while.
Overall, On The Trail Of UFOs is interesting and entertaining. The eight episodes clock in at around a half-hour each. I found the episodes easier to watch individually. But I’m not a fan of binge-watching in general so your mileage might vary. Those with a bit of background on the subject might not find too much new, but it was a nice bit of nostalgia for me. And something I’d recommend to anyone curious about the field.
On The Trail Of UFOs will be available on DVD and Blu Ray as well as streaming platforms March 20th.