Library of Congress: UFOs and Aliens Among Us

Above, yours truly at the International UFO Museum in Roswell, New Mexico.

The Library of Congress has hoards of documents (and, I guess, books) on all kinds of topics.

One topic is of UFOs and Aliens Among us. 

I perused a webpage from the Library of Congress on UFOs and Aliens and it is loaded with additional pages on UF0-related subject matter.

The page begins with:

UFOs and Aliens Among Us

In the 1940s and 50s reports of "flying saucers" became an American cultural phenomena. Sightings of strange objects in the sky became the raw materials for Hollywood to present visions of potential threats. Posters for films, like Earth vs. the Flying Saucers from 1956 illustrate these fears.  Connected to ongoing ideas about life on the Moon, the canals on Mars, and ideas about Martian Civilizations, flying saucers have come to represent the hopes and fears of the modern world.

Are these alleged visitors from other worlds peaceful and benevolent or would they attack and destroy humanity? The destructive power of the Atomic bomb called into question the progressive potential of technology. Fear of the possibilities for destruction in the Cold War-era proved fertile ground for terrestrial anxieties to manifest visions of flying saucers and visitors from other worlds who might be hidden among us in plain sight.

For those who want to delve deeper into aliens and UFOs, go here. 

Remember, Keep Watching the Skies!

Guns of "Night of the Living Dead" (1968)

Above, Ben finds the Winchester 94 rifle.

One of the most popular cult movies ever is Night of the Living Dead, the 1968 George A. Romero zombie movie that wound up being named by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry for preservation. I remember first seeing it with my parents at the movies when it was first released.

From the IMFDB:

Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 horror movie directed by George A. Romero and was the first in Romero's "Dead Series" which includes Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of The Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), and Survival of the Dead (2010). Night of the Living Dead of the living dead is credited for creating the modern horror archetype of the Zombie, flesh eating undead that can be killed only through the destruction of the brain, despite being referred to only as Ghouls during the films actual dialog. A 1990 remake was directed by make-up special effects artist/actor Tom Savini. The movie was selected in 1999 by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry. In order for a movie to be selected for preservation in the NFR it has to be deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant"

During the movie, a number of firearms were featured, including a Winchester 94. 

On the Winchester 94, the IMFDB wrote:

Ben (Duane Jones) finds a Winchester 1894 who uses it for most of the film until it is taken away from him by Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman).

Other firearms included a Winchester Model 70, Winchester Model 250M, Pattern 1914 Enfield, Lee Enfield No.I MkIII, Ithaca 37 Shotgun, Smith & Wesson Model 10 and a Walther PP.