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One night a couple of years ago, while lying in bed at 2 a.m., Irene Chen says she was overcome by a surge of "tingling heat energy" that entered through her head, exited through the bottom of her feet and warmed her entire house to the point where her roommate thought she had turned up the heat.
Then, she says, she saw a holographtype vision hovering in space in her bed room that depicted the name Unicus at the top of a 17-story building. A telepathic voice told her to start publishing a magazine by this name about unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and extraterrestrials (ETs), and that the magazine would eventually achieve worldwide recognition.
The telepathic voice also told her that if she started the magazine on her own, the "spirits from the other side" would find people to help her with it.
Chen, who was working as a freelance art director for advertising agencies, soon started publishing Unicus at home on her Macintosh computer. Now Unicus has a circulation of more than 35,000 nationwide, and Chen has 15 volunteers along with one other paid staff member helping her with the magazine.
Unicus is one of dozens of Los Angeles County-based businesses selling products that are just out of this world. There are two other locally based magazines, along with businesses that sell videos of UFO sitings, UFO caps, T-shirts and books. Then there are the UFO and ET conventions, and groups of earthlings who meet solely to bond with others who have had UFO and ET experiences.
Long an active business sphere, it has become increasingly popular during the past five years, said Edward Foster, editor in chief...