UFOs Are Demonic Forces Rather Than Extraterrestrial Visitors, Apollo 16 Moonwalker Charlie Duke Claims

Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke's belief that UFOs are demonic rather than alien has resurfaced online in October 2026 as he acknowledges never encountering one during his NASA career.

The 91-year-old moonwalker grounds that belief in his Christian faith, not an observation made in space.

Renewed attention follows reporting on Duke's remarks to CBN News and a Reddit discussion on 11 October, as his account centres on a conversation he regarded as an answer to prayer.

Duke served as lunar module pilot on Apollo 16 in April 1972, and NASA identifies him as the 10th and youngest person to walk on the Moon.

Why Charlie Duke Believes UFOs Are Demonic

Duke has suggested that apparent extraterrestrial encounters could challenge people's religious beliefs and draw them away from Christianity.

In remarks reported from a CBN News interview, he recalled sharing his suspicions at Rotary clubs. 'I felt like UFOs were demonic,' he said, adding that 'people were laughing me off the stage.' His recollection describes an established conviction, not a recent discovery.

Duke explained his personal reasoning in a September 2025 episode of the Mission Chats podcast. He said he prayed for confirmation and asked a particular friend to start discussing UFOs at breakfast the next morning.

According to Duke, the friend unexpectedly raised the subject, despite them rarely discussing it before. He took the coincidence as a divine answer. No sighting was reported, and his interpretation does not establish a supernatural cause.

Duke has invoked the biblical description of Satan appearing as an angel of light. He believes an apparently otherworldly encounter could be spiritual deception rather than a visitor from another planet.

This isn't a new theory for him. An August 2023 interview with Glenn Beck featured Duke discussing his belief that UFOs were demonic.

What Charlie Duke Saw During Apollo 16

Duke says he never witnessed a UFO while working as an astronaut. NASA selected him in April 1966, and he later served as a spacecraft communicator during Apollo 11's Moon landing.

On Apollo 16, he and commander John Young landed in the Descartes highlands. They remained on the Moon for 71 hours and two minutes, including time inside their lunar module.

Their three excursions outside lasted 20 hours and 14 minutes combined. According to NASA's mission history, the astronauts collected samples, deployed scientific equipment, and used a lunar rover.

Duke recalled flashes of light during spaceflight, but such experiences were not sightings of craft. NASA research links flashes reported by Apollo crews to cosmic radiation interacting with the eyes or visual system.

That distinction matters. Duke's Moon work is documented in mission records and experiments. His claims about UFOs' spiritual nature rely on personal belief, not comparable evidence.

Charlie Duke's UFO Views Draw Debate Beyond NASA

An 11 October Reddit discussion revealed contrasting reactions to Duke's account. One commenter asked, 'Connected to what UFO????'

Another objected to criticism of his prayer experience, writing, 'Not sure how him praying constitutes an appeal to emotion.'

Vice-President JD Vance has expressed a similar religious interpretation. During a 27 March 2026 interview with Benny Johnson, Vance suggested supposed aliens were demons while discussing government UFO records.

The official approach remains different. NASA says it has found no credible evidence of extraterrestrial life or evidence that unidentified anomalous phenomena have extraterrestrial origins. That finding also does not establish any supernatural cause.

The Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office reached a similarly limited conclusion in its historical review, reporting no verifiable evidence that investigated sightings represented extraterrestrial activity.

Duke's Moon landing gives him direct knowledge of space exploration, but he has not claimed a UFO encounter of his own. Whether others share his religious interpretation is separate from what observations can demonstrate.

For investigators, an unidentified sighting remains a question requiring reliable data. For Duke, the answer he favours comes from his faith, which he has been explaining publicly for years.