Inside the handbook
Okay. Here is what the record supports, and how well.
Everything above is a cited record, an excerpt, or a labeled drawing, and each carries its source. The handbook is where it stops being a pile. Each case is broken into what is documented, what is only claimed, what is disputed and what skeptics say, and every statement carries two labels: a class, which says what kind of statement it is, and an evidence status, which says how far the checking got.
The classes
- Verified fact
An ordinary fact (date, place, name, event) confirmed by primary or strong sources.
- Official record
An official record or statement exists and says this. That shows what the record says, not that the content is true.
- Documented testimony
A named person's own account, documented in a source. The account is on record; its extraordinary content is not established.
- Reported
Reported by a secondary source; primary source not independently checked.
- Allegation
An accusation or serious claim that is not established.
- Disputed
Credible sources conflict.
- Unverified
No adequate source found. Kept, attributed, and flagged.
- Theory / interpretation
An explanation or hypothesis, including skeptical explanations. Not established fact.
- Folklore / historical account
A legend or later retelling of uncertain origin.
Ancient and religious material is labeled differently
An ancient text is evidence of what the text says. A later extraterrestrial reading of it is a separate, attributed idea. In Origins & Belief those stay apart.
- What the text says
What a source text itself says. Evidence of the text, not of any later interpretation of it.
- A modern reading
A later interpretation by a named author, such as an extraterrestrial reading of an old text. Attributed, not established.
- Scholar says
A named scholar or reference work on what the text, history or dating shows.
- Science finds
A finding from archaeology, genetics, physics or another empirical field.
- History of the idea
Who proposed, published or popularised the idea, and when.
Free on this site
- Start here: the field in ten minutes
- Glossary
- A condensed timeline
- One full sample case file
- Selected public sources
The full handbook, $9.99 once
- 26 case files, briefings and Origins & Belief cards, with 966 labeled research claims and their evidence sheets, plus 177 claims from the Grusch interview record, each with its source
- Full timeline, bestiary, search and relationship graph
- Origins & Belief: ancient and religious texts shown separately from modern readings of them
- Deeper source trails
- Works offline after your first visit; updates as described in the Terms
One purchase, no subscription. $9.99. United States buyers only. See the purchase page.
