235. What Are the Scariest Stories About Aliens Among Us?

Fantastical Truth

Most fantasy fans don’t truly believe that dragons lurk in caves or the Fae are dancing in the woods by moonlight. But if you’re a sci-fi or horror fan, you might truly believe that real creatures from space have come to Earth for nefarious ends. Or that they might dwell among us today. Now that we might know the name of the U.S. Pentagon’s secret UFO or UAP program, let’s consider: what are the scariest alien stories? And why do so many fans want to be scared by these narratives about unearthly beings on Earth?

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Concession stand

• This is the ninth part in our occasional series Armies of the Aliens.
• If we don’t mention your favorite alien theory, perhaps we did before.
• As of this recording, extraterrestrial species have not been officially confirmed.
• All of our stories about aliens, therefore, are based on imagination—not an actual species.
• So, we’re going to focus on what all these fictional species reflect about humanity’s view of itself, the world, and even God.

Quotes and notes

• Zack on Parker J. Cole’s podcast The Write Stuff: “When Faith Meets UFOs: A Christian Perspective on The Immaculate Constellation”
• Pentagon holds briefing as Israel says they killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar
• Michael Shellenberger tweet on Oct. 8, 2024
  

1. Wicked aliens can invade your personal space.

• Many alien movies are very simple: a horror creature chases people in some kind of haunted house.
• These stories prey on our primal fears of the unknown, our disgust with the horrible, and the dread of the superior.
• H. P. Lovecraft is the inspiration of many of these stories of cosmic horror.
• This type of alien is seen in movies like Alien, Predator, The Thing, Virus, Event Horizon, Pitch Black, Doom, Monsters, Dreamcatcher, and A Quiet Place.
• What draws us to these stories is the desire to conquer the unknown. It’s a new frontier to brave, and for Americans, the frontier is a key part of our culture.
• We also value conquering our own internal demons, inspired by the famous quote, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
• These stories alternately act as a crude metaphor for the Enlightenment and a rebuke of it. We’re either conquering our ignorance or being reminded that there’s a limit to what we can know.
• Often these stories have a theme of “they dug too deep.”

2. Powerful aliens can attack our cities and nations.

• In this second category, what’s at stake is not merely the lives of a few people, but the entire area in which they live.
• These stories are often a metaphor for the horrors of war, especially the overwhelming odds when facing a far superior military.
• Movies about this include War of the Worlds, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2017), Independence Day, Cloverfield, Battleship, Skyline, and Oblivion.
• TV shows include Falling Skies, V, Colony, and The Three Body Problem (but please watch the Amazon Prime–distributed version, not the Netflix one)
• The fear we face in these stories is whether or not civilization itself has an expiration date.
• These stories echo back what must have been the traumatizing experience of The Tower of Babel.
• They remind us that, as powerful as our technology becomes, there is still Someone mightier.

3. Demonic aliens can destroy our very humanity.

• These types of aliens won’t simply hunt you down or blow up all the skyscrapers.
• Instead, they want to capture your soul and alter your very nature.
• There’s something terrifying about your body and even your mind being hijacked by an alien creature.
• We see this in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Host, Annihilation, The 5th Wave, Sphere, and Star Trek episodes with The Borg.
• The fear being explored here is the fear of going insane and/or becoming evil. Can someone become too far gone for rehabilitation? For salvation?

Com station

Top question for listeners

• What’s your favorite most frightening alien story?
  

Next on Fantastical Truth

What’s the red-headed stepchild of Christian-made fiction? If you said science fiction, you’re partly right. But here’s a happy prediction: this other wandering genre is probably getting adopted! That might leave outside the other orphaned books—in the genre called horror. Is this one genre above others doomed to be rejected? Mike Duran, author of the nonfiction book Christian Horror, returns to challenge our preconceptions of spooky stories.