"In my home region, I saw a silent orange sphere. Out of the sphere came a kind of device like a flat plate. I couldn't understand it. Then the contraption rose higher and entered a sort of giant sphere. It disappeared immediately."
"I worked for an oil company in Port-Gentil. I know that people saw strange lights above the oil platforms."
"We have to be aware that UFOs and aliens are science fiction for us. And perhaps our spirituality lacks the height to analyse that."
"There's an old Myènè legend about the man who left with an iron bird. "
"What seems strange, bizarre, even frightening, no one will talk about. [...] You mustn't say things, otherwise it's bad luck."
How can we deal with the subject of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) in French-speaking Africa? By asking Africans. Some of them have a lot to say and share. Jann Halexander, a singer-songwriter from Libreville, Gabon, interviewed Gabonese and Congolese citizens about their perceptions of UFOs and extraterrestrials. This is a subject that is increasingly present on the international scene, particularly since the sworn statements made to the US Congress by veteran whistleblower David Grusch on 26 July 2023, who claimed that the United States was in possession of non-human technological material.
In this book, made up of ten interviews and around fifteen personal accounts, Jann Halexander takes stock of the situation: how do Gabonese and Congolese societies view this issue in 2023? How do they analyse it? As the pages turn, the reader learns that the complex UFO issue is not just a matter for the United States or Europe.
Jann Halexander, born on 13 September 1982 in Libreville, is a major figure in the French-speaking world. He celebrated twenty years in the music business on 30 March 2023 in a Paris venue. His songs include C'était à Port-Gentil, Le poisson dans mon assiette and Rester par habitude, as well as several novels, including La Bête Immonde and Nuit à Hogsback. A former geography student with a major in regional planning, he is the author of a dissertation entitled Effets de l'apartheid sur l'aménagement d'une ville moyenne sud-africaine durant la période 1948-1991 (Effects of apartheid on the planning of a medium-sized South African town during the period 1948-1991), submitted in 2004 to the geography department of the University of Angers. Through his writings, whatever their nature, Jann Halexander regularly explores themes that go against the grain.
Foreword by Nicolas Dumont
Illustration by Anne-Cécile Makosso-Akendengué
Translation: Ema.
