When a novel by American writer Vanna Bonta hit bookstores, theories from readers soon surfaced that the FLIGHT 'quantum fiction' tale had more to it than a good adventure. The story about a mysterious girl who doesn't remember any past, finds modern news painful, and doesn't understand why she wistfully longs for someplace in the stars phoned home to the hearts of literary aficionados, and encountered fans of a different kind as well.

In today's X Files culture, many jump to pop culture explanations for life experiences.

The several hundred thousand to several million Americans who report alien abduction or abduction-related experiences is being investigated by Allan Cheyne of the University of Waterloo for correlation to sleep paralysis, a phenomenon with a long history, and a variety of paranormal explanations that hinge on whatever the current folklore of the times.

More young people in Britain believe in aliens and ghosts than in God, according to a survey. Some 67% of 15 to 24-year-olds had some belief in ghosts, and 61% in aliens, but only 39% felt the same way about religion.

Vanna Bonta's heroine lightbeing, Aira Flight, while appearing perfectly human, did not have a navel, saw modern life through eyes of an innocent, and sent impassioned readers into spiraling convictions: some called for investigation into the book's alien spacecraft, speculating it existed hidden in a barn in the middle of cornfields in the deep South; soon the author was herself an extraterrestrial...with no navel...and national television talk show audiences were asking her questions like 'Do you eat?-

Some of the fuss was attributable to Bonta's novel itself. A prize-winning multitalent with unique inner and outer beauty, Bonta's work proves her uncanny knack for moving stone to tears. But a predisposition may be underlying the adulation and the way her readers alchemize fact out of fiction.

It could be explained by findings of a recent survey that reveals half of the US population believes there is extraterrestrial life.

One thing is certain, Shirley MacLaine is not alone.

Does life exist on other planets?

60% of Americans believe it does, a CSRA (Center for Research Survey & Analysis) study found. The 2005 survey in association with the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and National Geographic Channel (NGC) found that 90% of that group say we should return the call if contacted. A similar survey by Focus magazine in England determined that 58% of men and 48% of women surveyed are believers in extra terrestrial life.


How far is too far fetched?

Humanity has historically fueled alien myths and legends of the persistent kind. Call the belief wishful thinking for intelligent life, however, because rumors do not require proof as much as they require an absence of disproof to be held as belief.

Film footage exists of Vanna Bonta belly, for example. In her movie role as Zed's bride in the fantasy film classic The Beastmaster, as the expecting queen of a mythological kingdom, Bonta wore a SFX prosthetic tummy. The famous pregnancy scene where witches transfer her unborn child to the womb of an ox shows it clearly. Believers in Bonta's no navel status used that to support the theory: the rubber belly and its rubber navel were hiding lack of a real navel.

Once a rumor begins, experts say that facts feed and support an unproven premise. In Bonta's case, the novelist's world travel, eclipse viewing, interest in mechanics, outer space, design of outer space wear, all function to support the legend some readers enjoy about her.

Like any good fiction, rumors themselves develop lives of their own with spin offs. This rumor persists, surfacing among some of the faithful public waiting for the FLIGHT sequels and upcoming audio versions. When no news is forthcoming, it doesn't stop news from happening.

In an encounter of the Hollywood kind, Vanna Bonta recently had her belly done; she got a "button job." The purported umbilicoplasty, a cosmetic surgery procedure that converts "innies" to "outies" or vice versa, supposedly installed a belly button.

Otherwise intelligent, educated people perpetuate pop-culture mythology, and the reason for it, experts explain, is that fiction feeds on fact.

Ironically, the opposite is also a theme in Bonta's novel FLIGHT: fact also feeds on, and is often preceded by fiction, which creates it. "Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to be believable," the novel reads.

So, a good belly laugh may be in order. But to play alien's advocate, a quote from the mythical author defines parameters: "Impossible is not a scientific term."

How about those neighbors? Ever seen them without a shirt?


Related stories:

Does Vanna Bonta Have A Navel? take part in the latest poll
http://www.waleg.com/celebrities/archives/004733.html