Underground realms are always coded malevolent in UFO folklore

Evidence

The underground denizens are always described as malevolent. They are never enlightened “space brothers”—perhaps a refl ection of the long-standing identifi cation of underground realms with the domain of the dead. Hell is always below, heaven above. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 533

Categorization

• CANDY: A compact, shareable observation about why folklore always places evil below and good above.
• XREF: connects to: Inner-earth and reptilian themes fuse through shared associations with death and evil — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 591