Los OVNIS en Canarias by José Gregorio González Gutierrez
Tenerife: Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria, 1995
230 pages w/illustrations. Price not available

Regional UFO and paranormal studies are perhaps among the most interesting books in the field, because as opposed to books devoted to a single subject (say, Roswell...) the author often casts his or her nets farther afield in an effort to provide background information for the paranormal, cryptozoological or saucerian thrust of the book. Good examples of these are Mike Marinacci's Mysterious California or Bob Teets's West Virginia UFOs.

Los OVNIS en Canarias is precisely this type of book: author González takes us on a tour of this mysterious and alluring archipelago off the African coast, which is best known as a year-round tourist destination. González takes a close look at the UFO-related phenomena which have made his islands a hotspot of weird activity for over 30 years: the mysterious objects which have emerged from the sea (and whose photographs have been widely printed in magazines all over the world); the CE3K event popularly known as the "Giants of Galdar", in which elements of the Spanish army opened fire on towering non-human entities; the mysterious cattle mutilations of 1979 and 1983, which rivalled their U.S. counterparts in complexity and eeriness; sightings of diminutive Bigfoot-like creatures (Smallfoots?) in remote corners of the islands, and last, but not least, cases involving fairy-like entities in remote mountain valleys and canyons which are almost impossible to enter.

Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, González's work is sufficiently documented and well written to have merited publication by a state-run publisher, the Center for Popular Culture of the Canary Islands.  This regional study deserves a space on the bookshelves of anyone interested in learning more about those corners of the world which have experienced brushes with the unexplained since before the "official" start date of 1947.