Only Weirdos See UFOs

About the Author

This article establishes the first coverage of Jason McClellan on this site. He is a Phoenix-based journalist, podcaster, and media producer with roughly two decades in UFO-focused media, including more than six years as a full-time UFO researcher and journalist. He is a founding member of Open Minds, a UFO media company, and was a writer and editor for the now-defunct print publication Open Minds Magazine. He organized and produced the International UFO Congress for five years -- billed by Guinness World Records in 2015 as the largest annual UFO conference -- and co-hosted the web series Spacing Out! He later worked for Tom DeLonge's To The Stars media company, and currently hosts the podcast/newsletter "UFO? UAP? WTF?"

This article's own research directly checked, and did not confirm, two claims sometimes associated with McClellan. First, no source ties him to MUFON in any official capacity (board member, state director, or field investigator); his documented affiliation is with Open Minds, a separate organization. Second, his connection to History's Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation does not hold up against that show's own Wikipedia-documented production and cast credits, which name Anthony Lappé, Kristy Sabat, Mike Stiller, Steve Ascher, and Tom DeLonge as executive producers and Luis Elizondo, Christopher Mellon, and Leslie Kean as featured personnel -- McClellan appears in none of these lists. The only verified connection this article found is that McClellan discussed and reviewed the show's premiere episode on his own podcast, a commentator relationship rather than a production one. His own confirmed on-camera television credits are Hangar 1: The UFO Files (History/A&E, 2014, 8 episodes) and Roswell: The Final Verdict (Travel Channel/Discovery+, 2021, 6 episodes).

Historical Context & Origins

This article's own research found no evidence McClellan holds formal academic credentials in psychology, sociology, or media studies -- his own site describes "decades of experience in marketing, communication, and media production" rather than research credentials. The book's perspective is best understood as that of a longtime UFO-media journalist and producer writing about the culture and coverage of the subject, not a scholarly or clinical study of misperception, despite its academic-sounding subtitle.

This article's own research was not able to confirm whether the book directly engages named psychological or sociological frameworks -- such as the bystander effect or selective-attention research -- that might formally explain a single-witness, no-corroboration scenario like Choisy-le-Roi. No table of contents, chapter breakdown, or detailed synopsis was available to verify this level of specificity, and readers should not assume the book applies a specific academic framework to this exact scenario type simply because this site cites it as relevant context.

Core Arguments & Key Concepts

The book's central argument, per its own publisher description, is that the "only weirdos" stereotype is empirically false -- sightings are reported by ordinary people across all walks of life -- and that this stereotype itself functions as a social mechanism suppressing open discussion and legitimate inquiry into the subject, including, the book suggests, inquiry that might otherwise move faster toward resolving basic questions about extraterrestrial life.

Applied to this site's own Choisy-le-Roi Shape-Shifting Object case, the book's stigma argument offers one possible partial explanation for the case's defining puzzle -- why a shape-shifting object over a densely populated Paris suburb produced only one report -- consistent with the site's own citation framing. This article notes that framing as a reasonable inference from the book's general thesis rather than something the book itself specifically addresses regarding this case, since Choisy-le-Roi (2012) is not established to be discussed in a 2016 general-audience book with no confirmed case-by-case structure.

Key Cases & Evidence Discussed

This site's own Choisy-le-Roi Shape-Shifting Object case file documents the May 21, 2012 sighting near Choisy-le-Roi, France, classified D1 by GEIPAN (observation of an object of unknown nature) in far greater depth than this general-audience book allows. Readers wanting the complete case record should consult that case file directly; this book's relevance is thematic rather than case-specific.

This site's own Why People Believe Weird Things essential-reading entry covers Michael Shermer's broader psychological study of anomalous belief -- a more rigorously sourced companion to this book's own witness-stigma argument, useful comparative reading from the skeptical-psychology end of the same general question.

Critical Reception & Controversies

As of this article's research (August 2026), the book holds a 4.13-out-of-5 average on Goodreads, but from only 8 ratings and no written reviews -- too small a sample for any real conclusion. Search-indexed Amazon customer review snippets located during this research were positive but sparse, including one reviewer calling it "this little jewel of a book" that "completely shatters the myth that only 'weirdos' report having witnessed UAP phenomena"; this article was not able to verify the total review count or check for less favorable reviews given access limitations.

This article found no UFO-research press coverage, academic citation, or notable researcher endorsement of the book. Available sources consistently position McClellan as a media, journalism, and conference-production figure within UFO pop culture rather than a field investigator or credentialed researcher -- a fair, neutral characterization this article applies rather than either inflating or dismissing his standing in the field.

Influence & Legacy

The book's legacy is modest and specific: it functions as a concise statement of the "witness stigma" argument within a media-focused strand of UFO commentary, consistent with McClellan's broader career organizing conferences and producing UFO-focused media rather than conducting field investigations.

Set alongside this site's own Choisy-le-Roi Shape-Shifting Object case file, the book's value is thematic: a general argument for why credible single-witness reports might go uncorroborated even in populated areas, rather than a source of new facts about this or any other specific case.

The Book

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