This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
UFO Movements gathers three groups built around belief in extraterrestrial intelligence guiding humanity, chosen because together they span the founding of the category itself through to its most studied tragedy.
The Aetherius Society, founded in 1955 by the British occultist George King after he reported contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence called Aetherius, one of a group of benevolent Cosmic Masters said to guide humanity's spiritual development, blended New Age, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian millenarian themes with UFO contact narratives. Scholars of new religious movements widely regard it as the first major UFO based religion, and headquartered between Los Angeles and London it remains one of the longest continuously operating movements of its kind.
The Raelian Movement, founded by the French former journalist Claude Vorilhon under the name Rael, teaches that life on Earth was created scientifically by an extraterrestrial species called the Elohim, and promotes a message of peace, science and sensual freedom while awaiting these beings' return. It drew wide media attention in 2002 when an associated company claimed to have produced the first human clone, a claim never substantiated.
Heaven's Gate, often classified as a UFO religion, combined Christian apocalyptic themes with belief in extraterrestrial salvation, teaching that the Earth was about to be recycled and that members could reach a higher evolutionary level, described as the level above human, by leaving their physical bodies. The group is widely studied in the sociology of religion and was described in the press as a cult after its dissolution.