Sky People is actually the sequel to the author´s former Encounters With Star People (2012), a documentation of alien encounters among the North American indians. This is one of the most fascinating books I have read in years with many intriguing physical contact stories and close encounters. I have eagerly awaited the sequel and was not disappointed. Sky People is a very personal and exciting travelogue giving an inside view of alien experiences among the indigenous people. As a woman with American Indian ancestry and a professor emeritus of Montana State University Ardy Sixkiller Clarke was highly respected by the men and women she met who shared their personal stories and experiences. One of the witnesses gives her this special credit: "Occasionally I see someone looking for stories about UFOs, but they do not possess the methods needed to get the local people to talk. You, on the other hand, seem to be able to touch people´s hearts and souls."
These books by Ardy Sixkiller Clarke should not be regarded as ufological studies in the ordinary sense. She is not the critical investigator trying to determine the ontological status of the experiences. Instead her approach is what in Anthropology is named the emic or insider perspective simply recording the narratives avoiding judgements about the observations: "In doing so, I never questioned the existence of the Sky People, Sky Gods, or the traditional myths and legends of the indigenous people, nor was I skeptical of their reported encounters." For more information on this aspect read Brent Raynes´interview with the author in Alternate Perceptions Magazine.
The 46 chapters are a fascinating mix of legends and very interesting close encounters and contact experiences with a wide variety of entities, most of them similar in type described in the international UFO literature. Chapter ten, An Encounters With the Old Ones, is of special interest as Ardy Sixkiller Clarke herself becomes the percipient of a UFO. The incident happened in Copan, Honduras, The village holy man presents Ardy with a prophecy: "... if you are the woman sent by the gods, you will se the ancients." In the middle of the night Ardy is escorted to the ancient ruins by a local man, Teodoro. They enter the steps of a temple. At the top they lean back and wait in the darkness. After some time small balls of light flicker around them in formation. But that was only the beginning: "While I was lost in thought dawn came and sunlight flooded the plaza. Suddenly a large, circular, rotating wheel-like craft appeared overhead. I watched speechless as the revolving wheel disappeared toward the east, and the sun appeared in its saffron glory. I squinted my eyes and looked in the direction of the sun but the craft was gone." The next morning Ardy learns that there were reports on TV of a UFO observed and disappearing in the direction of Copan. The author makes no more comments regarding this spectacular observation but in another chaper she concludes: "What began as a teenager´s dream became a passion. It was there, among the ancient ruins of the Maya, that my life changed significantly."
In several of the humanoid cases mentioned the entities are first seen as balls of light that transform into human-looking aliens. What can be interpreted as classic materialization phenomena. One witness reports: "Sometimes they come as balls of light and turn into men that look just like them. Other times they look like people but are not people." Sky People also contain some very intriguing physical abduction stories, where several witnesses in secret hiding places have observed how aliens led, obviously paralysed, local people into their craft and watching them come out again.
In an epilogue Ardy Sixkiller Clarke concludes "I believe there is a literal truth to the accounts... It confirmed in my mind that something is definitely happening to the people of Earth, and the problem is not isolated, nor is it confined to one region of the planet." In a very special way the author rejects the ancient astronaut theory: "From my research, I believe the Maya of today are the descendants of those who came to Planet Earth from another world. The were not "assisted" by alien astronauts; they were the ancient astronauts."
