Håkan Blomqvist´s blog

In George Van Tassel magazine Proceedings, Feb-March 1961 there is an interesting statement regarding real and fake UFO contactees: ”… the authentic, publicly known ”contactees” can be counted on one hand.” (Flying Saucer Activity Analysis, Proceedings vol 7, no 1, p. 14). In other articles Van Tassel explained how he was able to determine who is who in the controversial world of contact claims. To know who was a genuine contactee or fake Van Tassel was given a secret code by his visitors. Like a covert agent he used this code several times in his meetings with various people in the UFO movement. In 1961 there were obviously only five public contactees who had stood the test.

George Van Tassel at Giant Rock

Using this secret code was one of the reasons he could say that Howard Menger was genuine. Van Tassel personally investigated the Menger contact claims and interviewed several of the witnesses. His defence of the Menger story was presented in Proceedings, Feb-March 1957, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 4-6: "In my contact with the four men who landed here on August 24th of 1953, they gave me information which they told me to use as a "key" to establish authentic, or phoney, contactees in the future. Howard Menger used the words of this "key" properly and correctly." That code words were used was also revealed by Howard Menger´s wife in her book Song of Saturn (1968): Connie Menger mention a meeting Howard had with one of the visitors at the local post office: "He smilingly spoke the code word to Alyn (Howard) which Alyn recognized immediately as one of the means of identification between friends and agents of the visitors from other planets." (p. 109).

To my knowledge George Van Tassel never revealed the names of the other four authentic public contactees. My guess would be Orfeo Angelucci, George Adamski, Daniel Fry and of course Van Tassel himself. Using secret code words and hand shakes is not a foolproof method in checking identities. Both the public and hidden or silent contactees were sometimes seemingly deceived by impostors, whether U.S. intelligence operatives or Russian spies, as documented by Nick Redfern in his latest book Flying Saucers From The Kremlin. George Van Tassel also mention this in his article Flying Saucer Activity Analysis: ”… hypnotists and other agents are employed by the ”hush-hush” group to create dissension in many of the organized saucer clubs and groups.”

Readers of my blog are aware of that I have advanced the theory that several individuals in the 1950s were involved in a psychological and cultural influence test. An experiment implemented by a group of benevolent aliens, earth based or extraterrestrial, a group with access to “vimana” technology. Some of the people contacted tried their best to implement the projects and ideas received by the visitors. Others couldn´t stand the psychological strain and social stigma of the experiences or invented fake stories when the real contacts ended.

That this ”esoteric intervention” was a carefully orchestrated project by the alien group is revealed in the article Venusians Walk Our Streets by California journalist och esotericist Paul M. Vest (Mystic Magazine, no. 5, Aug. 1954). In my view this is one of the most interesting and informative articles ever written on the UFO contactee phenomenon. Vest´s experiences and articles in Fate and Mystic Magazine has been decisive in my formulation of an alternative Esoteric Intervention Theory.

Paul M. Vest

In the Summer of 1953 Paul Vest was contacted at his home in Santa Monica by the alien visitor ”Bill” who asked Paul to help his group publicize the experiences of Orfeo Angelucci. This was part of a experiment in contacting ordinary citizens in various ways by physical meetings, ham radio, clairvoyance and clairaudience. Paul Vest was exceptionally well equipped to handle this delicate project as an investigator of paranormal phenomena as well as an experienced esotericist with a profound knowledge of the Esoteric Tradition: "I have met swamis, yogis, mediums, clairvoyants, mystics and self styled messiahs by the score, but I have never been duped by any one of them, even those who were sincere but self-deceived. Also I have met several persons whom I know without any doubt to be true spiritual adepts; even as I have known several sensitives, or mediums, who are honest, sincere and able to produce authentic paranormal phenomena." Bill makes it clear that the choice of Paul Vest was not random but that his group were well aware of Vest´s deep interest and unusual experiences in the field of ”metaphysics, religions and the supra-normal.”

The alien group behind Bill had obviously done a lot of preparation before contacting Paul Vest. He is given a list of names, addresses and telephone numbers of people in the Southern California area who had been contacted by space visitors or would be useful because of their special knowledge. Later Vest spent several months contacting the people on the list given by Bill to get a verification of his claims: "Several of these had met him only briefly. Others didn´t even know who he was and were startled to learn of the data he had given me about them in connection with the saucers.”

Orfeo Angeluccis wife Mabel was seemingly not amused by the visit from Bill: "Oh, that man gave me the creeps. He rang the doorbell one day and introduced himself with an odd name I can´t remember. He seemed to know everything about us. It frightened me - there was something so strange and downright weird about him." Paul Vest decided to help Bill and his group with their contact project and wrote three articles for Mystic Magazine on the experiences of Orfeo Angelucci, published in November 1953, May 1954 and October 1954. After the publication of Vest´s articles Bill visited him again and explained that he and his group were pleased with the result and reaction that followed the articles, ”but it would require considerable time and efforts, understanding and experiences of many persons before earthlings would be able to attain even the haziest understanding of the true nature of extra-terrestrials and the saucers.”

Orfeo and Mabel Angelucci

The contacts that were made in the 1950s were not only a test of the public reaction to contact with alien visitors but also a somewhat novel way to present the Ancient Wisdom. Upon a careful rereading of he classic books of George Adamski, Orfeo Angelucci, George Van Tassel, Daniel Fry and Howard Menger I discovered that the world view and philosophy of the alien visitors given in these boks was actually a simplified version of esoterism or in the terms used by Adamski and others, cosmic philosophy and universal laws. This discovery, that present day alien visitors were involved in what is called The Externalisation of the Hierarchy and the ongoing ”disclosure” of The Ancient Wisdom, became another heureka moment in my formulation of the Esoteric Intervention Theory, involving some of the 1950s contactees.

I found a possible confirmation of this operation in a statement made by the Tibetan to Alice Bailey: ”The movement for the spreading of the Secet Doctrine is eighteen million years old… The work (impusive and controlling) lies now in the hands of three groups of lives, if it may be so expressed:
a. In the hands of those of our Earth Humanity who have equipped themselves so as to serve.
b. In the hands of certain Existences who have come into our earth scheme of evolution from other planetary schemes.
c. In the hands of a large number of devas of superhuman evolution.
These in their aggregate, form the occult Hierarchy of the planet, working in three main divisions, and in seven groups.” (Alice Bailey, A Treatise On White Magic, p. 377).

Trying to make the inhabitants of this unhappy little planet understand the deeper aspects of existence and live in a spirit of goodwill and tolerance must be regarded as mission impossible and also dangerous. The visitor Bill emphasized the need for secrecy and mystery surrounding the visitors, the contacts and their work. The experiment with public contacts made in the 1950s was only partially successful and was terminated around 1960. Bill was no naive mystic and had a very realistic view of human nature och the cultural level of humanisty on earth: "Upon your earth the mere colour of one´s skin - a slight difference of religious belief - merely belonging to a different race or country - in fact the most trivial deviations precipitate animalistic belligerencies, hideous brutalities and the bloody slaughter of millions of your fellow creatures. Can you then truly be surprised when I tell you the the beings of certain other worlds view earth as earthlings might look upon a den of deadly serpents stinging each other to death."

There is still very much research to be done to fully understand the implications of the UFO contacts made in the 1950s. It is an exciting and fascinating study and much data is still buried in various archives, correspondence and personal memoirs. The group of alien visitors that initiated the contact experiment are probably still around, working behind the scenes for the good, the true and the beautiful on this planet. Making a summary of the earlier work together with their friends upstairs Howard and Connie Menger wrote: "... they were intelligent, advanced people who had a technology to be envied and a philosophy that was inspiring." (The High Bridge Incident. The Story Behind the Story, 1991 p. 108.

In Sweden we have several very talented artists who have devoted part of their work; paintings, drawings and digital illustrations to the UFO enigma. I have always been fascinated by UFO iconography which is one reason visitors to AFU will find many of the walls in our different premices covered with paintings and posters. On July 24 my wife Margaretha and I was visited by one of these talented artists, Andreas Crownow, living not far from our home in Örebro. Andreas fascination with UFOs and astronomy was partly inspired by a close encounter when he was nine years old.

Andreas illustration of his UFO sighting 1981

In a email July 26 he related his encounter which occurred In February 1981. Andreas was then living with his parents at Burkarls väg 3 in Borlänge, Sweden.

”When I was nine years old I had a UFO observation or rather I saw something I could not understand at that time. I didn´t even know what a UFO was and had never pondered on visitors from other worlds and things like that. It happened in February 1981. I don´t remember the exact date but my birthday had recently been celebrated and I am born on February 4, 1974.

Andreas Cromnow

It was evening, bedtime and I stood upstairs in our house brushing my teeth. Through the window in our bathroom I noticed a luminous, elongated object, possibly triangular coming slowly gliding in the sky, right above the trees. The object is moving very slow, stop a few seconds and then continue to glide. I noticed two steady lights in the middle and at the edges of the craft was also some unknown light source. My first thought was that it was a helicopter but later I realized that was impossible. It apperared rather close and there was no noice. The only thing I can think of is some form of dirigible but I find that inconceivable. Why would a dirible be moving here is an ordinary residential area on a cold February evening?

Illustration by Andreas Cromnow

The craft continou gliding to the right coming closer to our house and then disappears in the dark of the night. What I found difficult to understand was the total lack of sound. I have many times tried to understand what I saw. Maybe it was a craft from another world? Personally I believe some UFOs could be time machines. Who knows what types of craft mankind can create in 600 hundred years. It is like bringing a Galaxy Samsung to the eighteeth century. The people living then would not be able to comprehend it. That telephone would be something heavenly, frightening and fantastic, impossible to explain – like a UFO. So if some UFOs are time machines I hope they appear in our world for the good of humanity.”

Illustration by Andras Cromnow

Andreas is today very interested in UFO and space research and an avid readers of books on mysteries of all kinds. He is also helping UFO-Sweden with illustations to our magazine UFO-Aktuellt.

Let me also give a few examples of other UFO illustrations made by various Swedish artists. We sure have many talented illustrators in Sweden.

Eugen Semitjov

Dezsö Sternoczy

Max Magnus Norman

Tobias Lindgren

When Anders Liljegren, Kjell Jonsson and I founded, what was later to become, Archives for the Unexplained (AFU) in 1973 much of our ideological inspiration came from the writings of John A. Keel. His iconoclastic and heretical books coupled with a wonderful Fortean humour influenced a whole generation of ufologists. Keel was an intellectual challenge to the UFO community of the 1960s and 70s with his brilliant criticism of the then dominant ET theory. Finally we have an in-depth biography of this legendary pioneer. As longtime researcher, author and editor of Alternate Perceptions Magazine Brent Raynes is eminently qualified for this task. John A. Keel: The Man, Myths and Mysteries is more than an ordinary biography as the author present a treasure trove of new data, experiences and interviews all relating to Keel and his ideas.

Now and then on this strange planet we are stranded on comes a man or woman whos life and ideas challenge a whole generation. They are true pioneers, making their own waves in the ocean of mainstream authors, researchers and philosophers. Such a man was John A. Keel. He introduced himself as a ”professional cliffhanger” in chapter one of his first book Jadoo, published in 1957. That his life would be radically different than his workmates in the 1950s, at the American Forces Network in Frankfurt, Germany is clearly evident in this quote: "I wanted to see Timbuctu and Baghdad, not Stuttgart and Mannheim. I wanted to walk among the ruins of temples, not factories. I wanted to dig into the dark secrets of Egypt and India and write about jadoo instead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization."

When Brent Raynes announced he was writing a book about John Keel I was delighted and provided Brent with documents, photos and reminiscenses of Keel´s visit in Sweden 1976. The front cover photo is actually part of a photo from Sweden, taken by former UFO-Sweden board member Karl-Olof Pettersson on October 16, 1976. Brent has also included the interview Anders Liljegren and I made with Swedish Mothman investigator Åke Franzén, May 19, 1973 and further data in chapter Seven, John Keel and Swedish Ufology.

Original photo used as front cover

Just when I started reading the foreword by author and investigator of paranormal phenomena Rosemary Ellen Guiley I was reached by the sad news of her untimely death. It felt like a bizarre form of synchronicity. This 315 page book has eighteen chapters filled with a wealth of data from the life of John Keel coupled with cases documented by Brent Raynes and other UFO and Fortean investigators. Some of them well known to Keel aficionados but also many encounters and stories, to my knowledge, not published before. I was not aware of that John Keel had received two honorary doctorate degrees in herpetology and archeology or that much of his full-time field investigations in the 1960s was financed by his 1966 novel The Fickle Finger of Fate, that sold over 800,000 copies. Fans of John Keel can also find lots of interesting data on Doug Skinner´ s excellent website.

Brent Raynes

Very appropriate Brent Raynes devotes chapter 13 to the enigmatic MIB – Men In Black, presenting many cases involving these not too charming gentlemen from the twilight zone. John Keel was deeply intrigued by this enigma of the threatening and spooky individuals who often appeared to be quite physical and real only to suddenly disappear into thin air in front of bewildered witnesses. Brent Raynes narrates the remarkable MIB encounter Keel disclosed to fellow investigator Brad Steiger in 1967. One night three men suddenly manifested or materialized in Keel´s apartment threatening him to cease all UFO research. After about a half hour of intimidation one of the men asked if Keel wanted a demonstration of their abilities. He then went to the kitchen sink and fetched a bottle of bleach. In turn the trio took several swallows of the deadly liquid from the bottle until it was empty. I learned of this ”confidential encounter” in a email from Brad Steiger 2013 but had hoped that Brent Raynes had made a follow up. Unfortunately there is no more data in his book and I am not aware of anyone who know more about this MIB encounter.

Swedish Mothman investigator Åke Franzén reading The Mothman Prophecies 1978

In the public mind John Keel is usually associated with Mothman, because of the 2002 film The Mothman Prophecies starring Richard Gere. But Mothman or other winged monsters have been observed not only in West Virginia and Brent Raynes documents several cases from around the Unites States. Madeline Teagle, a UFO contactee from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio witnessed four ”half bird, half human” beings that appeared during a rain dance ceremony performed by a shaman.

As there are very few ufologists and cryptozoologists who are connoisseurs of the Esoteric Tradition they have probably missed a very fascinating account by the clairvoyant theosophist Geoffrey Hodson. In April 1922 he observed several sylphs or air-spirits: ”Watching the approach across the valley of some dense storm-clouds, the presence was observed of a number of bird-like air-spirits travelling swiftly in front of the approaching clouds. Many of them are dark and unpleasant to look upon – slightly reminiscent of bats… Their faces are human and well formed, their expression is unpleasant; the rest of the body is not fully formed, and they rather resemble birds with human faces… They utter a weird shrieking noise, and occasionally shoot almost vertically upwards into and beyond the clouds… It is evident that there are many different species of storm-sylphs, varying in size, power, and evolutionary position.” (Geoffrey Hodson, Fairies at Work and at Play, pp. 84-85).

During his extensive field investigations in some 20 states Keel interviewed more than 200 contactees, cases that most of the ”scientific” ufologists ignored or dismissed without investigation. Open minded contactee research was not regarded as scientifically respectable by organizations like APRO and NICAP. Swedish UFO research pioneer and APRO representative K. Gösta Rehn regarded the theories of John Keel and Jacques Vallee as "a terrible blind alley". This ideological trend began to change in the 1970s with the books and theories of John Keel. Based on years of field investigation he concluded that the contactee enigma was far more complicated and intriguing than a simple black and white issue. In a letter to Brent Raynes 1970 Keel even defended the controversial contactee George Adamski: ”When I got into the business publicly in 1966, I was immediately appalled byt the utter irresponsibility of the UFO groups… I reviewed all the UFO zines of the past twenty years that I could locate. Keyhoe´s attacks on Adamski, for example, were emotional, groundless and slanderous.”

John Keel in Sweden with girl friend, Oct 17, 1976

After a lifetime of travel, field investigation and study of UFO, Fortean and paranormal phenomena Keel reached the conclusion shared today by many researchers into these areas: we live in a multiverse inhabited by a variety of diverse intelligences. He usually referred to these intelligences as ultraterrestrials or elementals and their emergence into our reality as transmogrifications, another word for materializations. Although this was Keel´s favourite theory he was open to other explanations. Brent Raynes mention Keel´s column in Fate Magazine, Beyond the Known, April 2002 where he stated: ”With me, the ultraterrestrials were only one possible explanation of certain weird phenomena. I never actually said that it was the only true solution to anything – just speculation.”

It is only human and natural that error and mistakes are made during a lifetime of research and writing. Keel of course was not perfect or always reliable. In chapter four, Keel´s Ups and Downs, Brent Raynes present the Tom Menteleone case, a 21-year old psychology major who told of having met the same aliens as West Virginia contactee Woodrow Derenberger. The story was a hoax but Keel was taken in by Menteleone´s claims. Two critics that are not mentioned in the book are Lucius Farish and Riley Crabb. In the Nov-Dec. 1973 issue of Caveat Emptor ufologist Lucius Farish wrote an article, On Maintaining an Even Keel, presenting data which indicated the Keel was not always realiable when it came to source studies.

Criticism of a different kind was given by Riley Crabb, director of Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (BSRF) 1959-1985. I corresponded for several years with Riley Crabb and expressed my admiration for John Keel. But here our opinions clashed. In a letter to me March 23, 1980 Crabb writes: "John Keel has been discussed at length in the Journal in the past. He is a wilderness crying for a voice, and I´ve told him so. His writings, like those of Jacques Vallee, leave one hopeless. Their general conclusion is that the Flying Saucer phenomenon is beyond understanding; it´s the creation of malevolent forces here on the earth; there´s nothing we can do about it... There is no inspirational lift from Keel and Vallee, and there can´t be because the two men aren´t even metaphysical kindergartners, they are metaphysical illiterates." This in my opinion was a very onesided view of Keel´s groundbreaking research and writings and I was surprised that an competent esotericist like Riley Crabb couldn´t see that Keel´s writings expanded our horizon and looked beyond the materialist/reductionist interpretation of the UFO phenomenon?

In the final chapter eighteen, What Next?, Brent Raynes try to come to grips with what Keel actually believed about all the phenomena he investigated, his Theory of Everything. Not an easy task because of the enormous amount of articles and interviews aviable. You can find support for just about any theory in the voluminous writings of Keel as he often speculated in different directions. He was mostly pessimistic and often referred to the phenomena as demonic and destructive to mankind. ”I have no theory. We just don´t know, and we never will” he wrote in the Fate column April 2002. A somewhat more hopeful tone was given in his last book The Eighth Tower(1975): "Today many scientific disciplines are moving in the same direction, not realizing they are mapping a very old country. In a few years, perhaps even in our own lifetime, all sciences will suddenly converge at a single point, and the mysteries of the superspectrum will unravel in our hands."

If John Keel, as Riley Crabb stated, had discovered the Esoteric Tradition he could very well have developed a more optimistic view of paranormal phenomena and their implications. But in spite of his demonology theories he had a wonderful humour and an iconoclastic way of writing that is truly inspiring. When he visited Sweden in 1976 and I had the good fortune of meeting him for a long and interesting chat, he signed my copy of Operation Trojan Horse with the words: "The secret to the UFOs is on page 321." The book ends on page 320. That´s John Keel.

John A. Keel: The Man, The Myths, and The Ongoing Mysteries is an eminent tribute to a pioneer researcher, a fine contribution to the UFO literature. Experienced ufologists and forteans will not be disappointed as they will find a lot of new data and cases. The only thing missing is an index but perhaps that can be added in a new edition. Brent Raynes´ book is definitely must reading for all fans of Keel and the mysteries of our world.

When investigating physical contactee cases we are faced with one very special and controversial issue. How do we know the visitors are what they claim to be? My favourite heretic among ufologists, John Keel put it this way: ”Suppose a strange metallic disk covered with flashing colored lights settled in your backyard and a tall man in a one-piece silver space suit got out. Suppose he looked unlike any man you had ever seen before, and when you asked him where he was from, he replied, "I am from Venus. " Would you argue with him?” (Operation Trojan Horse, p. 214). From the early 1950s there has been on ongoing discussion whether some ”space people” may actually be foreign spies. This is the theme of the latest book from the pen of prolific author Nick Redfern: Flying Saucers From the Kremlin.

In an article in New York Daily News April 4, 1957 zoologist and Fortean Ivan T. Sanderson said: ”Some of these who tell such stories can´t be dismissed as liars, psychotics or conscious charlatans… So there is a definite possibility that some form a craft have landed here, unknown to the authorities.” It is no surprise that the FBI and various intelligence agencies in the 1950s became concerned about the claims of the early UFO contactees. Daniel Fry helped his alien visitor Alan to find work covertly as an international businessman while engaged in work for peace. Howard Menger and George Van Tassel used secret code words to identify the real space people and their homes sometimes functioned as safe houses for the alien visitors. Obviously communist spies realized very early on that the contactee movement was an ideal community to infiltrate. In his book Nick Redfern give several examples of this hidden work.

In his introduction Redfern writes: ”In the latter part of the 1940s, the Soviet Union embarked on a program designed to use the UFO phenomenon as a dangerous weapon. Not by attacking us with real flying saucers, But, by using the lore, the legend, and the belief-systems that surround the UFO subject. And, in the process, hoping to provoke hysteria and paranoia in the western world.” Rumors that Stalin was the driving force behind some UFO events started already with the Roswell case. According to Alfred O´Donnell, an elite engineer from Edgerton, Germeshausen and Grier, EG&G, the craft and the crew at Roswell originated from the Soviet Union and was a manipulative plot to make the U.S. Government think that an alien invasion was underway leading to a state of fear and terror in the United States.

In the early 1950s FBI informants hinted that some of leading contactees could actually be closet communists used by the Russians in psychological warfare-based operations. FBI began investigating och keeping an eye on George Adamski, George Van Tassel, Orfeo Angelucci a.o. Because of a few statements about Russia and war made by Adamski early in his public appearances Nick Redfern imply communist motives. Citing author Colin Bennett he writes: ”They collectively suggest Adamski may actually have had some genuine alien encounters, but chose to combine the nature of those encounters his personal admiration for communism and the Russians.” But this conclusion must be regarded as definitely wrong. I have never found any later statements by Adamski indicating an ”admiration for communism”. In Messengers of DeceptionJacques Vallee suggested that George Adamski and George Hunt Williamsonharbored fascist ideas because of Williamsons connection with William Dudley Pelley.George Adamski never met Pelley and certainly never endorsed his prewar fascist ideas. Williamson did work for Pelley´s magazine Valor a few months in 1954 but his interest in Pelley was the channelled material he had presented in books such as Star Guests (1950). There is a tendency among many authors to project political extremist views on the early contactees based on very little evidence. Unfortunately Nick Redfern falls into this trap in his estimation of George Adamski.

Definitely better documented is the chapter on Orfeo Angelucci, A Subversive Element, who actually was contacted by a group of communists. During his lecturing on the east coast in the middle of the 1950s Angelucci was approached by a group of four people who bought him dinner on three occasions in plush New York hotels and bars. He was flattered by their attention but felt very uneasy about their motives until he realised that the group attempted to ”convert me to communism and slant my talks along the Party Line”. When Angelucci refused to go along with their plans the tone became distinctly unpleasant and it was hinted that ”things might become extremely difficult for Angelucci”. He related all the details of the affair and threats to the FBI.

Orfeo Angelucci

How much was and is the international UFO movement used or influenced by communist agents? This is of course a tricky question to answer. According to a man named Charles Samwick, who had a background in counter-intelligence work for the U.S. Army, ”The Communist Party has planted an agent in every civilian saucer club in the United States.” This information was disclosed to ufologist James Moseley in 1955. Nick Redfern documents several instances of possible communist infiltration in UFO groups in countries like Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, including the controversial Ummo affair. In the final chapter Nick Redfern adress the important question: ”does this strange game of aliens, disinformation and lies still continue in today´s world?” His answer is ”certainly”, providing information even indicating that the Majestic 12 documents could have a Russian origin.

In my extensive investigation and documentation of the Swedish contactee Richard Höglund I advanced as an alternative theory that the story was a cover for Russian espionage. Richard was during a phase in his life a card-carrying member of the Swedish Communist party. He was told by the aliens to start a peace movement and was once asked to provide maps of the Muskö Naval Base, a Swedish underground naval facility south of Stockholm. Richard also translated secret codes on paper for the aliens. He was definitely incontact with a group alien visitors but whether Russian agents interfered in his operations is difficult to determine.

Richard Höglund in Nassau, Bahamas 1968

Flying Saucers From the Kremlin is a fascinating survey of the strange world of UFOs, Cold War secrets and spies. Like a good detective Nick Redfern has a knack for discovering new dimensions to the UFO enigma and unearthing unknown documents. Reading his book makes it obvious that there is still much research needed before all the pieces in this confusing puzzle have been found.

One of the failures of the scientifically oriented ufologists of the 1950s and 60s was neglecting to thoroughly investigate and document the first generation contactees and their experiences. By dismissing them all as charlatans and mystics lots of interesting empirical data was lost. But mainstream ufologists also neglected or didn´t recognize another important aspect of the contactee era. The core contactee movement as represented by a.o. George Adamski, Orfeo Angelucci, George Van Tassel, Daniel Fry and Howard Menger actually represented a unique and positive cultural impulse and a philosophy of hope for a whole generation of humanity. They advocated a philosophy in accordance with the Esoteric Tradition, the third intellectual force or pillar i cultural history alongside science and religion.

Open minded contactee research was not regarded as scientifically respectable by the early UFO-organizations like APRO and NICAP. Neither was the message of the core contactee movement regarded as anything of value by these groups. In The Gods Have Landed religious scholar J. Gordon Melton summarize this general view of the contactees: ”That such people began to populate the gatherings of flying saucer buffs became a concern of many who proceeded to condemn them as kooks or dismiss them as the lunatic fringe. There were few who saw any value in what the contactees, as they came to be known, had to say. They were an embarrassment to sober research into the unusual aerial phenomena called unidentified flying objects.” (p. 1).

This very negative assessment of the contactee movement was also reflected in the academic world. In his 1976 doctoral thesis The UFO Controversy in America, historian David Michael Jacobs wrote: ”This group was completely different from the psychologically aberrant individuals who, apparently because of mental problems, had delusions of communicating with extraterrestrial beings. These people often claimed to receive signals from outer space or to have mystical encounters with spacemen. Their experiences did not constitute deviations from their daily lives, and their stories usually were incoherent, inconsistent, or part of a pattern of psychical or occult experiences. Like the first group, these people generally did not seek publicity or fabricate hoaxes intentionally. The contactees represented an entirely different type of UFO witness. They exhibited behavior consistent with the assertion that they fabricated hoaxes… The five major contactees who rose to national stardom in the 1950s were George Adamski, Truman Bethurum, Daniel Fry, Orfeo Angelucci, and Howard Menger.” (p. 96, pocket edition).

The contactee movement of the 1950s was of course of a very mixed quality. It housed a plethora of more or less bizarre cult figures like George King, founder of the Aetherius Society and Ruth and Ernest Norman who in 1954 founded Unarius Academy of Science. And then we had the many mediums who jumped on the bandwagon and instead of channeling orientals and relatives from the spirit world changed to messages from space people. In a letter to George Adamski, written soon after Flying Saucer Have Landed was published in 1954, esotericist Desmond Leslie wrote: ”I don´t know what has happened , George, but all the mediums have suddenly disposed of their Indian guides, etc., and have replaced them with space people traveling in Vimanas.”

As very few mainsteam ufologists cared to investigate the early contactee claims they also failed to notice the positive cultural impact from the core contactee movement. Daniel Fry founder of Understanding,Inc. 1955 expressed the aim of his organization in these words in various leaflets: ”Understanding is a non-profit organization dedicated to the propagation of a better understanding among all the peoples of the earth, and of those who are not of earth.” In a later brochure the purpose was somewhat expanded: ”Understanding, Inc. Is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the propagation of a better understanding among all the peoples of the earth so that they may live in harmony and be better prepared psychologically and sociologically for the space age. It is made up of many types of people who have come together to seek better understanding of each other and of the mysteries of the universe.”

One of the members of Understanding, Merlin Unit no.1, Mrs. Aleta Johnson, wrote a very insightful summary of the purpose and work of the organization. The article was published in Understanding Magazine, September 1972, and is reproduced here in extenso.

A ufologist who also understood the cultural impact of the contactee movement was journalist Cleve Twitchell, author of The UFO Saga (1966), a congenial presentation of some of the 1950s contactees. Twitchell attended a lecture by George Van Tassel in San Francisco, December 1958 and became intensively fascinated by the subject. He spent several years interviewing close encounter witnesses and contactees, attending lectures and conventions. In 1960-1961 Twitchell was director of the El Monte, California Unit No. 1 of Understanding. After these years of inside experiences in the contactee movement Twitchell concluded: ”… it should be remembered that many individuals of the past who today are regarded as pioneers of their time were in their own days considered crckpots. And so perhaps it is not illogical to assume that some of today´s flying saucer ”crackpots” are tomorrow´s great men in the making… Whatever the case, an excusion into the UFO world has benefits. There is much to be be gained in the way of broadening one´s horizons, encountering some worthwhile philosophy and simply opening one´smind. The philosophical aspect, causing men to reflect upon himself and his tiny place in an enormous universe, is perhaps the greatest contribution the saucer field has offered to those who have observed or taken part in its activities.” (p. 93)

Cleve Twitchell

George Adamski did not found a formal organization like Understanding but in 1958 initiated his International Get Acquainted Program (IGAP). The movement conveyed a general message of hope, peace, goodwill and inspired members to contact and friendship with people from all over the globe, regardless of race, creed or color. Lou Zinsstag, who became the Adamski´s Swiss representative in 1957 tried to convey the importance of this decision in her book George Adamski – The Untold Story, written in collaboration with Timothy Good: ”… in the early Fifties, my interest become polarized around UFO literature. This was the turning point in my life. From then on, I led a full intellectual and emotional life. My world was full of penfriends, many of whom I met in later years. Some wonderful friendships and moving human relationships were founded…” (p. 4).

Lou Zinsstag

In the Summer of 1954 Danish citizen Edith Nicolaisen read Flying Saucers Have Landed by Desmond Leslie and George Adamski. It became the prime heureka moment in her life and led to the founding of the publishing house Parthenon in Sweden 1957. Parthenon published several of the classic contactees of the 1950s: George Adamski, Daniel Fry, Ray and Rex Stanford, Elisabeth Klarer. These books had a strong influence on Swedish ufology in the 1950s and 60s. in fact Edith Nicolaisen can be regarded as the mother of the Swedish UFO movement. The aim of Parthenon was presented in a small leaflet: ”Parthenon was founded in 1957 as a link in the global work dedicated to peace and enlightenment, and for the purpose of awakening the Scandinavian people, especially the young generation, to a perception of our time´s epoch-making interplanetary occurences… It is our hope that the Scandinavian youth will join in this educational work. Future generations will thus be given the opportunity of a harmonic development in a new world where universal brotherly love within a fellowship spanning the whole world has swept away all the present barriers between human beings: national, social and political; different creeds and philosophies, racial prejudices etc.”

There are few books written by people who were involved in the contactee movement and also tried to grasp the big picture. An exception is Flying Saucer Pilgrimage (1957), written by Bryant and Helen Reeve. This early work gives a very good overview of the contactee movement of the 1950s. In an interview in the book Helen Reeve is asked whether their pilgrimage has finished?: ”No. We feel it has just begun. Our appetite for knowledge of the space-ships, the space-people and outer-space itself has been whetted by our trip. We want to know more. The quest for knowledge of outer-space has turned into the quest for knowledge of LIFE itself – and that never ends!”

Readers of my blog are aware of that I have advanced the theory that a core group of contactees was involved in a psychological and cultural influence test in the 1950s. An experiment implemented by a group of benevolent aliens, earth based or extraterrestrial, a group with access to “vimana” technology. Some of the people contacted tried their best to implement the projects and ideas received by the visitors. Others couldn´t stand the psychological strain and social stigma of the experiences or invented fake stories when the real contacts ended. But the cultural impact of this experiment was awesome, inspiring millions of people, some in humanitarian projects, others into UFO research and or a personal spiritual quest. There are few serious ufologists today who have noticed or commented on this positive cultural effect of the contactee movement.

Continuing my organizing and scanning of the Parthenon archive at AFU I now and then come upon fascinating and historically unique documents. Sometimes I also discover documents that make me raise my eyebrows in astonishment. A real surprise this week was finding the early correspondence between two pioneers of the Swedish UFO movement, K. Gösta Rehnand Edith Nicolaisen, discussing translations of the books by George Adamski and Desmond Leslie. Rehn was a hardline intellectual rationalist, advocating a materialist-reductionist worldview and a fierce opponent of the classic contactees, whose writings he regarded pure fantasy. Imagine then my surprise when finding correspondence where Rehn present himself as a fervent supporter of George Adamski and his philosophy.

K. Gösta Rehn

K. Gösta Rehn (1891-1989) was an intellectual and erudite scholar. He was well acquainted with the latest works in Humanities as well as Natural Science and wrote articles on economy, neurology, sematics, philosophy and psychology. In 1954 he read Donald Keyhoe´s classic Flying Saucers From Outer Space and became intensely fascinated by the UFO enigma. Rehn made a Swedish translation of the Keyhoe book which was published in 1955.

K. Gösta Rehn was 60 years when he became an APRO representative in 1958. In spite of his age he was in good health with an exuberant intellect and soon engaged in field investigations, documenting Swedish close encounter cases and regularly sending manuscripts to be published in The APRO Bulletin. He introduced himself in a letter September 12, 1958: "I am grown-up, all right, 60, not a crank or crack-pot, ex-American with 20 years stay in the USA, since 1939 amanuens in the Swedish State Power Board, Stockholm. I have been writing some articles for a Swedish magazine, engaged in cultural debate. I am a Batchelor of Law and Batchelor of Arts (Fordham)."

In 1956 Miss Edith Nicolaisen (1911-1986) was heavily engaged in planning for the founding of the Swedish publishing house Parthenon, which started in 1957. She had spent eight years studying at the universities of Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin and Heidelberg. Her academic credentials are impressive: Modern languages such as English, German, French, Latin, Russian but also Philosophy, History, Science, Mathematics a.o. Fluent in several modern languages she worked as a translator, after the Second World War, for the United States Armed Forces in the European Theater and also in the Civil Censorship Division. Always with excellent ratings in work and personal qualifications. Between 1953-1957 she worked as a saleswoman for the Swedish publishing company Diana Bildreportage AB, Hälsingborg.

Edith Nicolaisen

For several years she devoted much spare time reading books on Antroposophy, Theosophy, Rosicrucianism (Max Heindel), Spiritualism and mysticism. From her American friend Carl Vett she was told about flying saucers and during the summer of 1954 she read the classic Flying Saucers Have Landed by Desmond Leslie and George Adamski, a book that completely changed her life. She wrote her first letter to Adamski on August 12, 1954 detailing her plans to publish his book in Swedish. She succeeded in getting the publishing rights for Swedish editions of Flying Saucers Have Landedand Inside The Space Ships. As K. Gösta Rehn had translated Keyhoe´s Flying Saucers From Outer Space she wrote a letter to Rehn in 1956, asking for his help. Rehn replied in a letter May 25, 1956, which is a real surprise: ”I have read Inside The Space Ships by Adamski and found it very interesting and worthy of an elaborate translation. I am also in total sympathy with the outlook both Adamski and you represent and have studied the booklets (Graal a.o.) lent by you.” In the letter Rehn also mention that he is very well qualified as a translator with a profound knowledge of philosophy, psychology etc. In her letter May 26, 1956 Edith Nicolaisen asked if Rehn would like to translate Inside The Space Ships.

Rehn answered that he was very interested in undertaking the translation and continued: ”I find Adamski´s book fascinating and well written. He convinces us of this ”invisible reality of a magical, romantic and spiritual quality”, as related by Ingeborg Fjellander in the ”Grail Legend”. It is noble-minded in its presentation of mankind´s discord and inability to live in peace. It is evident that beings on other planets have developed a technology and wisdom far superior to ours. Yes, it is only natural to suppose that some of these beings are here unnoticed among us on earth, continuing the message of Jesus. The electromagnetic vibrations is the force of nature used by the saucers, which is in accordance with Cramp´s book ”Space, Gravity And The Flying Saucers”… This book, which is in my collection, is also in need of translation, as Adamski´s first book ”Flying Saucers Have Landed”, which I have read. That Adamski has been allowed to visit and see the inside of the saucers is a wonderful experience.” (Letter from K. Gösta Rehn to Edith Nicolaisen, May 29, 1956.

Maybe because of her female intuition or because she ”smelled a rat” Edith Nicolaisen was somewhat apprehensive regarding Rehn´s enthusiastic support for Adamski and she expressed this hesitation in the correspondence. Rehn was obviously somewhat offended by these remarks and wrote in a reply: ”I don´t quite understand how you beforehand can doubt my ability to translate the inspiring, sublime expressions used in ”the three Masters speak”. I believe we are on the same wave-length here… I hope you will look upon me as a kindred soul, tender-hearted, loving, cherishing our common interests. (Letter from K. Gösta Rehn to Edith Nicolaisen, June 2, 1956).

To decide whether Rehn was the best person to translate the Adamski books Edith Nicolaisen wrote that she listened to ”my inner voice”. Edith also reiterated that she did not work for personal gain but for the cause of humanity, serving the Master and his work on this planet. Her final decision regarding co-operating with Rehn was expressed in a letter July 27, 1956: ”My answer to you in my letter dated Copenhagen 26.6.56 had the intention to find out, if your enthusiasm was inspired by entire unselfish love to your fellow man, - eager to enlighten him and warn him against all the disasters mankind is going to encounter, if our so-called civilized world is continuing on the road of materialism and atheism, - or whether your enthusiasm was inspired by selfish interests, just as 95% of all enthusiasts and footballfans etc. you meet today everywhere. By selfish interests, I mean just to nourish your own curiosity-hunger and to get as much joy out of it for your own personal benefit – without running any risk at all or undertaking any responsibility whatsoever. So I had my reason, when I proposed that some high spiritual-minded person should undertake the translation of the Masters´speeches… it seems to me that you take the attitude of an American business man, for whom the money-question and the security is the deciding factor and not the cause for which we are going to work.”

The correspondence continued for a few more weeks but in September 1956 Edith Nicolaisen realized that co-operation would be impossible as she and Rehn were too far apart in ”wave-length” to attain a harmonious and positive communication. In this respect her intution would prove to be correct.

In 1958 K. Gösta Rehn became the APRO representativefor Sweden and from now on his attitude to George Adamski and other contactees was completely changed. Whenever possible he heaped ridicule and sarcastic comments on contactees and the contactee movement. A complete about-face compared to his former views as expressed to Edith Nicolaisen. In a letter to J. Allen Hynek, October 6, 1961, discussing the theories of Dr. Leon Davidson, Rehn wrote: ”There is a lot of arguments against Davidson´s fancy idea. I grant there may be some truth in his idea that CIA played a sort of Disney-land hoax upon poor psychopathic Adamski – just in order to spread his crazy stories and to discredit the saucer problem in USA and elsewhere. All the world laugh at flying saucers just because of the great number of nut stories disseminated.”

Jim and Coral Lorenzen

Rehn naturally received a lot of criticism for his hardline, black and white attitude towards George Adamski and other contactees. To some of his correspondents he did express doubts about these conclusions: ”I received information from America on Adamski that appeared correct, but maybe they are wrong. So many have objected to my writings on Adamski that I think I repent. You claim to have evidence that his photos and contacts are valid, so I guess I will have to revise my opinion. But you also know that scientists are not happy with occultism and Adamski.” (Letter from K. Gösta Rehn to Lars-Uno Bernhardsson, August 22, 1969).

These doubts were soon forgotten and when Daniel Fry visited Sweden in 1970 Rehn was back at his usual scathing criticism of contactees, Parthenon and Edith Nicolaisen. Here a few quotes from various letters:

”Adamski and Menger are superstitious fantasy products. Several of these have been translated and distributed in Sweden, to the detriment of the saucer cause.”
(Letter from K. Gösta Rehn to N. Ericson, July 30, 1969).

”Parthenon is leading you astray with their twaddle about superstitious fantastic stories. Most of the UFO pilots are 120 cm short and not at all as Adamski describes them.”
(Letter from K. Gösta Rehn to Mats Nilsson, March 3, 1970).

”Dear Coral,
Help… Help!!! Daniel Fry is in Sweden… What will happen if faker Fry succeeds getting time on TV – irreparable damage!!... he has written three masterpieces of drivel (yes some translated here by the occult, shitten, little woman publisher here)… Believe me, I shall feel his pulse. Coming up here, thinking he can fool stupid Swedes.”
(Letter from K. Gösta Rehn to Coral Lorenzen, July 28, 1970).

”I met Fry at a gathering. ”Doctor” Fry looked like a somewhat dilapidated, shrunk little heap of a middle-aged man, face like a red, wrinkled apple. It is beyond me how he could talk – very fluently, breezily, in cultivated intellectual-technical terms – for hours.”
(Letter from K. Gösta Rehn to Coral Lorenzen, August 24, 1970).

Daniel Fry (left) in conversation with K. Gösta Rehn 1970

What made K. Gösta Rehn change his mind so definitely regarding Adamski and other contactees? Or did he really change his mind? Could the 1950s letters to Edith Nicolaisen have been just a front to make some money on translation, as hinted by Edith - who later would be referred to as ”the occult, shitten, little woman publisher here”.

Rehn could have adopted much of the generally critical opinion on contactees from Donald Keyhoe and Coral Lorenzen. In a letter to Rehn, August 5, 1970 Coral wrote: ”I don´t know what to do about Fry – we generally ignore characters of his ilk. They like attention of any kind, good or bad, and we don´t want to get drawn into any kind of debate or verbal exchange. I can tell you one thing; he was not any kind of a scientist at White Sands… Fry was a lousy electrician, and that was all.”

K. Gösta Rehn was, in spite of his materialistic philosophy, a visionary. In the 1972 book, Tefaten är här (UFOs. Here And Now, English ed. 1974) he writes: "The saucers give us inspiration, a promise of contact with cosmos." He used to say the he experienced the mystical in his love for music. In the Rehn files at AFU I found a document from a Swedish employer giving this assessment of his character: "Hard working but something of a dreamer".

”We have a theory. It is not very scientific but it is based on upon the known facts. These creatures and strange events tend to recur in the same areas year after year, even century after century. This, in itself, indicates that the creatures somehow live in those areas which we call ”windows”.”. This idea or theory was formulated by John Keel in his by now classic Strange Creatures From Time and Space (1970, p. 15). He also originated the theory that these phenomena often seemed to appear on certain dates, referred to as The Wednesday Phenomenon. October 29, 1965 was a very special day in Swedish UFO history with a concentration of many unusual events and encounters.

On Thursday night, October 28, American contactees Wayne Aho (1916-2006) and Mrs. Leonora Croft lectured at the Swedish UFO society Ifologiska sällskapet. They were on a world lecture tour and told the audience of their meetings and telepathic contacts with the space people. Aho also mentioned that the space people followed them on this tour and many people had observed the saucers in connection with the lectures.

Wayne Aho

Friday October 29 began as usual for the contactee couple Sture and Turid Johansson, then living in the little village Ösmo, south of Stockholm. But during the day Turid received a telepathic message that the couple should go to a place called Väggarö, south of Stockholm at 10 pm. Turid had once received a similar message by phone when an unknown voice broke in during a conversation with a lady friend and told them to go to Väggarö. Now the voice also said, "be careful, there is a power struggle on Earth". They had visited Väggarö several times before and found it to be a peaceful place for meditation. But this time it would not be so peaceful.

Around 7 pm on the evening of October 29 thousands of people all over Sweden are confronted with a very majestic sight. A large elongated and extremely bright object is observed, slowly gliding across the sky. The object is photographed by Erik Ehnmark in Södertälje, south of Stockholm. There is a lot of speculation of what has caused this phenomenon. Olof Lagercrantz, editor in chief of Sweden´s largest daily Dagens Nyheter, said in an interview that it appeared as a large cigar shaped airship with windows or a train with illuminated windows. After some research it could be determined that the object was the re-entry of the American spy satellite 1965-79A that caused the beautiful spectacle this October evening.

Photo by Erik Ehnmark, October 29, 1965

Trajectory of the spy satellite 1965-79A

This Friday evening many members of Ifologiska sällskapet (Ifological Society) had gathered at an apartment in the center of Stockholm belonging to Ms. Diana Berglöw. Invited were also Wayne Aho and Leonora Croft. When the group heard on the radio of the object just observed over Sweden they was great excitement and Wayne Aho explained that he had received a telepathic message from the spaceman Val Thor, who was commander in one of the ships recently passing over Stockholm. Swedish contactee Sten Lindgren arrived at the meeting around 7.30 and heard Aho announce that several smaller craft would soon be observed over Stockholm. He then went to the balcony to have a better look. In an interview June 21, 1977 Sten Lindgren mentioned that six Adamski-type craft were circling the area:

”Håkan Blomqvist: Could you see them?

Sten Lindgren: Yes, they were in plain sight. Possibly at a distance of 400-500 meters or closer. So much happened so suddenly. We were there to listen to Aho and then all these other things happened. There was a balcony there but not everyone could go out.

Håkan: How did the objects appear? Were they like lights or distinct craft?

Sten Lindgren: Well, the contours I could see were these bells shining read and orange. There was six of them but not at the same distance, circulating all the time.”

Sten Lindgren, December 25, 1984

The group in the Stockholm apartment continued listening to Wayne Aho and discussing all the observations that had happened during the evening. About 9.30 pm Sture and Turid Johansson make themselves ready to go by car to Väggarö, as Turid had been told in a telepathic message. They arrive at Väggarö around 10 pm. On October 27, 1973 I interviewed Sture and Turid of what happened. Here are some excerpts from the tape:

"Sture: When we arrived at the place we were told to visit those entities were already there but we did not observe them until we had parked the car. It was not totally dark but twilight. We noticed them first over the field and then they came very close to the car, about 50 centimeter. We believe they were five or six, between 1,25-1,50 meter with large heads and shining eyes. The eyes were red, phosphorous. The entities didn´t walk but floated around in straight lines. I wished for all my life that another car would come but no one showed up. After some time the entities disappeared over the field and then it was like a saucer tried to land on the car. Our whole car shook and the radio screamed in the back seat. We took cover below the dashboard.

The Väggarö incident. My car at the spot during a field investigation

Håkan: For how long did the observation last?

Sture: Maybe five minutes but for me it felt like eternity.

Håkan: Did you see any ears or fingers?

Sture: Imagine yourself sitting in twilight gazing through the car window. Would you notice the type of ears or fingers the entities had when you are absolutely terrified. You just don´t do that. Then you have to be enormously cold-livered and I couldn´t act like that. But I am sure they had arms."

Drawing by Sture Johansson

After this frightening experience Sture and Turid just sit in the car for a while before going home. But they arrive home in the early morning. Several hours are missing. They never wanted to know what eventually had happened during that missing time. When Sture Johansson later became a famous deep trance medium I asked the entity (Simenon) speaking through Sture what had actually happened on October 29, 1965:

”Håkan: I am thinking about the negative entities that my friends Sture and Turid encountered. What are they, where do they come from?

Turid: The ones at Väggarö.

Sture (Simenon): Yes, the negative forces appear in many shapes. They are created by humans themselves and have a certain intelligent life. As long as they are nurtured they live… A sort of vampires, you could say.

Turid: Thought energies with no soul maybe – from us?

Sture (Simeno): Yes, and they can also appear in physical shape. We know of these thought creations.

Sture and Turid Johansson

Håkan: May I ask, was it a magician that created the thought forms Sture and Turid observed at Väggarö?

Sture (Simeno): I am aware of this, yes.

Håkan: Were these entities created or did they simply exist at this place?

Sture (Simeno): Are you defining a magician as someone evil?

Håkan: No, not necessary. But was there a magician behind this event, someone who had sent them?

Sture (Simeno): Yes.

Turid: We were very frightened and then you often have a black-out, paralyzed. Did we leave the car?

Sture (Simeno): No.

Turid: Yes, that was an assurance to hear.”

So, what actually happened on this fateful day, October 29, 1965, in Sweden? Was it simply a bizarre coincidence that the spy satellite re-entered over Sweden at the same time as several contactees told of telepathic and physical close encounters? In 1965 there were very few active field investigators in Sweden and to my knowledge no one interviewed the many witnesses gathered at the Stockholm apartment. Today we are left with more or less anecdotal accounts of what happened. But the events on this date is certainly intriguing. Maybe the Gods played a joke on us that October evening.

In January 2017 AFU received a rather unusual email from archivist Cheryl Brown and her assistant Gayle Tinnerman. It was an offer to buy the archive of the UFO Education Center, an organization active in the 1970s headed by former George Adamski co-worker and secretary Charlotte Blob. In an email to me January 29, 2017 Cheryl Brown mentioned that the archive included ”personal correspondence with the public, government, Presidential officials and military personnel; audio cassette tapes & 8 mm video, newspaper articles, lecture files, radio & TV files, many hardback & paperback books, Photos (with their negatives), slides, artwork, crystal wine glasses ingraved for G. Adamski & also his personal telescope… the list goes on and on.”

Photo of the UFO Education Center archive

The George Adamski telescope at the UFO Éducation Center archive

The offer had also been sent to several other people a.o. Glenn Steckling of the George Adamski Foundation. He contacted Cheryl Brown and informed her that she could not sell material that was under copyright protection by the GA Foundation. Steckling visited the archive and succeeded in retrieving documents that legally belonged to the GA Foundation. I later tried several times to contact Cheryl Brown as we were still interested in buying the archive but there was no reply and I still don´t know what happened to this unique collection.

Charlotte Blob (1936-2009), born Modersohn. She became interested in UFOs when employed as a ground observer for the U.S. Air Force in 1952, during which time she observed UFOs several times. Later she met George Adamski and around 1964 became his secretary, replacing Alice Wells. When Adamski died in 1965 Blob continued on her own but keeping a close contact with Adamski co-workers. In a letter to Ernst Linder,, chairman of the Swedish Ifological Society, December 29, 1966 she wrote: ”I am not affilliated with any groups, clubs, organizations, or so on, but prefer to stay separate from any so called group thereby not limiting myself.”

In 1963 Danish IGAP representative and Air Force Major H. C. Petersen was oppointed by George Adamski to build a center for cosmic studies 35 miles north of Guadalajara, Mexico. When Fred Steckling became active in the GA Foundation he continued this plan in 1968, working together with a.o. Charlotte Blob. She also wrote the Introduction to his book Why Are They Here, published in 1969.

Charlotte Blob in Vista, June 1964

Both Fred Steckling and Charlotte Blob told of personal meetings with space people living among us on earth. In the Daily Times Advocate, December 23, 1973 Charlotte told of one such contact: ”… she was lecturing on UFOs once in a home in a remote section of Wisconsin and only the scientists and teachers invited were given the address. As it got under way there was a knock on the door, and two young men, with golden suntans that you just don´t get in a Wisconsin Winter, she said, asked to come in. Believing that they were students told about the meeting by one of the professors, she let hem in and only after considerable conversation which they carried on in an unusual accent and a singsong tone, and after the intensity with which they followed each speaker and the information he contributed, did she even begin to believe they might be visitors from a ship.”

Around 1970 Charlotte Blob started lecturing on UFOs, space people and the cosmic philosophy together with Mr. Thomas Heiman. In September 1970 they visited the UFO society FUFOS in Denmark, Charlotte lecturing and Thomas playing guitar and singing songs like Silverships From Heaven. She became quite well known as a lecturer and even made a short appearance, talking about the space people, in the 1971 movie Rainbow Bridge, filmed at the island of Maui, Hawaii. It is a sort of documentary of the life and discussions of various New Age people and hippies. Included are scenes from an outdoor concert with Jimmy Hendrix July 30, 1970. The idea of the film was to shoot an antidote to Easy Rider, showing the positive side of the youth movement.

The Mexico Project was abandoned in 1971 and around 1970-71 there was a growing dissension among the former Adamski co-workers. Alice Pomeroy, who had given three years of voluteer service to Alice Wells in Vista, wrote in a letter to co-workers September 8, 1970: ”The confusion seems to be centering around the group in Mexico (Fred) the group in Valley Center (Charlotte) the group in Europé (Hans Petersen and Dora Bauer) and Vista (the two Alice´s). All of these groups, Except Vista, seem to differ in their loyalties and each one has certain others he wishes to support, pushing the rest aside… This confusion… grows increasingly wider and broader. First Steve and Alice B., as individuals. Then Fred and Charlotte as part of a group. Then Fred´s group against Charlotte´s group, and now Europé against the USA.”

Alice Pomeroy left Vista och in 1970 founded a small magazine the Roundletter and later the International Cosmic Council (ICC): ”A new organization is emerging, borne out of George Adamski´s experiences with our noble Brothers from other planets, and their teachings of Universal Law. Through the study and practice of these teachings, The International Cosmic council will be able to bring new Life to all mankind.” ICC was a shorlived effort and the Roundletter was folded in 1974.

In the beginning of the 1970s Charlotte Blob, joined by Thomas Heiman, founded a new organization UFO Education Center, based at Valley Center, California with a Midwest Headquarters in Appleton, Wisconsin, headed by Miss Catherine Reid, and a branch in Guadalajara, Mexico. I wrote a letter to Charlotte Blob in 1973 and received some of the Cosmic Newsletter, which she edited. On January 31, 1974 I received a letter from Thomas Heiman, testifying that Charlotte had met the space people and describing their work together.

Thomas Heiman obviously succeeded in influencing Jimmy Carter, before his election as president of the United States 1977. In an article, Jimmy Carter, The UFO President, by Ian T. Cruz, Barcelona, Spain some interesting facts are revealed:

”Carter, however, did say something very similar during a campaign stop in Appleton, Wisconsin on the morning of March 31, 1976. During a news conference at the airport, Thomas Heiman, Associate Director of the UFO Education Center in Appleton Wisconsin, asked Carter a question.

Heiman: As President, would you air what’s "behind-closed-doors" today in regards to UFOs?

Carter: I don’t know what to make of it. However, some of the sightings have been witnessed by 20 to 25 people, law enforcement officers, and everyone in the cockpit of a major airplane, and so forth. But I can’t tell you what to make of it. If I knew, I’d be the only one in the world who does. But, yes, I would make these kinds of data available to the public, as President, to help resolve the mystery about it.

Heiman: On a public basis?

Carter: Yes, on a public basis.

Following the news conference, Jimmy Carter spoke with the questioner Thomas H. Heiman, Associate Director of the UFO Education Center in Appleton. Heiman told Carter of the extensive films and evidence held by the Center. In reply, Carter thanked Heiman for the offer to review the evidence. Further he told Heiman that " a meeting could be arranged sometime after the election" when he could meet with the group and review the material they had.

Following Carter’s election, the White House staff moved to distance themselves from the UFO Education Center. One meeting, with the members of the UFO Education Center, was held in the Executive Office Building with Richard Reiman, from the Office of Public Liaison. Phone calls and letters were exchanged, but despite the fact that Carter had promised to meet with the group, in the end Fran Voorde, the Director of Scheduling for the President gave the group the kiss-off.”

In the 1970s the midwest bransch of UFO Education Center became involved in a complicated cult affair. A young couple, Thomas and Susan Colb observed, in Janury 1973, an orange flashing light in Kiel, Wisconsin. They contacted the UFO Education Center in Wisconsin. Thomas Colb wasn´t very impressed by the group by Susan became very enthusiastic and eventually moved into the Wisconsin headquarters. Susan´s father and the husband Thomas was not happy with this situation. They arranged a rescue party that broke down the front door and carried Susan off. She escaped from them and signed complaints of false imprisonment.

In 1977 Thomas Kolb and Susan´s father contacted the famous deprogrammer Ted Patrick, specializing in rescuing cultists. In October 1977 Ted Patrick ”kidnapped” Susan from the UFO Education Center and in four days succeeded in changing her mind, at a cost of several thousand dollars. Following her release Susan joined Patrick on the lecture circuit where she told that ”It got to the point where we weren´t interested in UFOs anymore. We were completely obsessed with the philosophy of Orthon and with spreading that philosophy.” (James Oberg, UFO Update, Omni, October 1980, p.32.). I have not been able to find out more about what happened in this case and how it affected UFO Education Center.

As Charlotte Blob and the UFO Education Center announced and sold a lot of George Adamski writings and material the copyright issue finally emerged as a controversy among the various Adamski groups. It ended in a long lawsuit between the George Adamski Foundation and UFO Education Center. It was settled on February 9, 1981 where the GA Foundation ”shall have the sole, exclusive, and enequivocal rights and ownership to all publications and copyrights of the late George Adamski.” (Cosmic Bulletin, June 1981).

Not much information is aviable of what happened to UFO Education Center after this lawsuit. Charlotte became involved with the case of the Mexican Dr. Leopoldo Diaz, who claimed to have examined an intriguing alien visitor on November 28, 1976. She eventually married Dr. Diaz and they settled in Mexico. The UFO Education Center archive seems to be lost forever unless the goddesses of fate intervene.

While discussing the UFO Education Center archive with Glenn Steckling a few days ago I received a most unwelcome surprise. In his email to me September 21 Glenn wrote that upon his death the archive of the George Adamski Foundation will be destroyed: ”Upon my death, my attorneys and remaining family have been instructed to destroy by fire that which I have indicated. Archives such as articles and historical newspaper clippings may either go in the library and telescope facility I hope to one day to earn enough money to build upon Mt. Palomar.” This means that Adamski´s unpublished 4th manuscript, Alice Wells memoirs, photos, correspondence and the archive of Carol Honey will end up in flames. To me this is an incomprehensible and tragic decision.

I must admit that this was chocking news and I wrote an email to Glenn asking him to reconsider this unhappy decision. I quote from this email:
”Thank you for your detailed email, which I must confess leaves me both somewhat sad and upset. As you know I am a professional librarian and AFU archivist, a co-founder of Archives for the Unexplained, which is today the worlds largest UFO, Fortean and paranormal phenomena archive and library. I have spent my entire life trying to preserve valuable research material and documents from all over the globe, relating to our common interests. Academic scholars, authors, researchers, ufologists and various organizations worldwide are continually donating unique archives and collections to AFU.

When you now tell me that upon your death the GA Foundation archive will be destroyed by fire I simply think you are planning a great mistake and a disservice to humanity. Why destroy the legacy of the man you have worked for all your life? You are of course right that the masses on this planet only want sensationalism and entertainment but there are also thousands, if not millions, who are serious researchers and spiritual seekers and who would greatly benefit by the material and ideas you have preserved at the GA Foundation…The GA Foundation archive is unique in world history and should be preserved for the benefit of coming generations ”

With Glenn Steckling at the annual UFO Sweden field investigator seminar October 20, 2018

I do hope that my old friend Glenn Steckling will change his mind regarding the preservation of the GA Foundation archive. It is the policy of AFU to build, maintain and salvage unique archives from all over the globe – not to burn them. I reiterate once again what I have said so many times: Without libraries and archives we have no history, only anecdotes, myths and hazy memories. Without archives and libraries serious and scientific research becomes very difficult and in some areas almost impossible.

During the last year I have spent between two and four hours every day sorting, organizing and scanning the very extensive Parthenon archive at AFU. This collection is especially valuable as a research source for a study of the contactee movement of the 1950s and 60s. Edith Nicolaisen, founder of the Parthenon publishing house in 1957, corresponded with many of the well known first generation contactees and organizations. I have scanned 3260 documents from the Parthenon archive, whereof about 1900 letters. The main correspondence file has been scanned earlier by our AFU colleague Leif Åstrand. My estimation is that the total correspondence file must exceed 10,000 letters.

Perusing the various correspondence collections at AFU I notice that very few writers have made and saved copies of their own letters. But Edith Nicolaisen was exceedingly meticulous in all her work and also saved copies of all her own letters. This makes the Parthenon correspondence archive even more unique and complete. I assume this must be one of the largest collection of letters giving the inside view of the contactee movement. With the thousands of documents in the Parthenon archive there is enough material for at least two or three doctoral dissertations, besides being a treasure trove for ufologists.

Letter from Elisabeth Klarer to Edith Nicolaisen 1957

Another treasure trove for ufologists is the AFU Downloads website. AFU has around 80,000 magazine issues on paper, from 57 nations across the world. Of these 22,500 issues are digitized and many of these are aviable to download for free at the our website. Isaac Koi, of AFU’s International Advisory Board, is making an herculean effort to trace editors and publishers of journals and newsletters asking for the rights to scan the contents of old magazine volumes and making them available as PDFs. This is an ongoing work with new magazines added on a regular basis. An invaluable reference source for all types of research into UFO history.

Here you can find complete volumes of many rare old UFO and Fortean magazines: Australian Saucer Record 1955-1962, Saucers, Space & Science (Canada) 1957-1972, Topside (Canada) 1960-1971, Ouranos (France) 1952-1980), Flying Saucers (New Zealand) 1953-1957, Approach (South Africa) 1958-1960, Weltraumbote 1955-1961, Flying Saucer News (United Kingdom) 1953-1956), CSI Quaterly (USA) 1952-1954, Saucer Scoop (USA) 1966-1969 – to name just few.

While I am writing this blog post AFU chairman Clas Svahn, together with Håkan Ekstrand are touring England, visiting ufologists and authors who have promised to donate collections and archives to AFU. In a couple of weeks we can expect another Schenker lorry filled with thousands of books, magazines, organizational archives etc.

313 boxes in London 2012 on their way to AFU

To get an excellent overview and summary of AFU history and collections I suggest reading Clas Svahn´s recently published book Files of the Unexplained, with hundreds of unique photographs. It is almost impossible to give a detailed exposition of all that is happening every year at AFU but you get a fairly good estimation of our work by reading some of the AFU Annual Reports.

All this work would be impossible without the generous donors from around the world. Take a look at the impressive list of donors at our website, who all have contributed to AFU. On behalf of AFU I once again would like to express our deep gratitude to all our idealistic friends worldwide. After all these years I can still experience a profound fascination, looking back to our humble beginning in 1973, when we started with two bookshelves in the small one room apartment of our late friend, librarian and AFU co-founder Kjell Jonsson.

Kjell Jonsson at our two bookshelves in August 1977

AFU is not only about thousands of books, magazines and documents but essentially an organized effort to understand the nature, origin and implications of the many types of intriguing phenomena, hitherto not generally recognized by mainstream science and society. In a couple of decades when we oldtimers have left this strange planet, or at least left our physical bodies, we hope the torch of research will be carried on by a new generation of heretic, non-conformist investigators and scholars, who dare to cross the threshold into what Jacques Vallee has named Forbidden Science. And we hope that AFU will be the international center for this inquiry.

”…the history of ufology should be placed within an esoteric context. Throughout history there has been a tradition of higher knowledge, and the claim that it was accessible to us, if only we agreed to be tested, to work through certain spiritual problems… That´s the meaning of the hermetic schools. The UFO problem, the question of parapsychology, are central to this business. Looking for the solution isn´t just a scientific project; it´s a quest, an initiation, an enigma like that of the Sphinx…”. (Jacques Vallee, Forbidden Science II, p. 211).

I am often reminded of this thoughtful quote from Jacques Vallee when looking back at the many years of UFO research and the spiritual quest of my own life. Several colleagues and friends in the UFO research community have recognized this profound idea and besides being committed to the scientific, empirical method in research have also, sometimes in secret, being sincere students of the Forbidden Science– The Esoteric Tradition. This quest is no easy path to tread alone, offering a djungle of metaphysical schools and teachers with conflicting ideas. I had the good fortune of, early in life, finding a group of ufologists who were also spiritual seekers. This blog post is the story of this group.

One Winter evening in the beginning of the 1960s, when I was around ten years old, my mother and I went for a walk to get rid of some bulky trash nearby our then place of living in Södertälje. It was a beautiful, starry night and mother told me about various constellations and stars. This awe-inspiring experience so greatly influenced me that I as soon as possible visited the local public library to borrow books on astronomy. My mother was from early in life a spiritual seeker and an avid reader. This deep interest was reflected in the library she built up at our home. There were books on Spiritualism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, ancient mysteries and all the early UFO contactee books from the Swedish publishing house Parthenon. Authors like George Adamski, Daniel Fry, Ray and Rex Stanford, Elisabeth Klarer a.o. As a young teenager I discovered these books in our family library and became deeply fascinated by all these subjects, especially UFOs.

In November 1970 my friend Kjell Jonsson and I formed a local UFO group in Södertälje. We were young, naive and idealistic and spent many evenings skywatching and waiting for the space people to appear in their craft. When our UFO interest became more realistic and research oriented we founded, in 1973, an informal working group Arbetsgruppen för ufologi (AFU), later Archives for UFO Research, together with UFO colleague Anders Liljegren, Norrköping. Today the acronym is well known as Archives for the Unexplained.

A local UFO group, Stockholms UFO-Center (SUFOC), had been formed in 1971. I became aquainted with the leaders of this group, especially Tony Eckardt and Lennart Johansson and we cooperated on several UFO projects and exchanged newsletters during 1972-1973. Sture and Turid Johansson were invited for a lecture at SUFOC in 1973. Sture and Turid were deeply involved in the UFO contact scene in the 1960s and 70s with several UFO observations and personal contact experiences. Now they planned to form a meditation group and several members of the Stockholm UFO-Center joined this group which began in the Autumn of 1973, meeting every Friday evening.

Tony Eckardt during one of our field investigations, July 1972

Although living in another city I was also invited and attended my first meditation session on November 1, 1973 at the home of Sture and Turid Johansson, then living in Lidingö, Stockholm. Stockholms UFO-Center was a rather small group, not more than 20 members. Only a few of the more spiritually oriented members joined the meditation group. Besides Sture and Turid Johansson the core group consisted of Tony Eckardt, Lennart Johansson, Eva Helderud, Solveig Simlin, Sune Nordwall and Pia Ringstrand. Our meetings always started with the Lord´s Prayer followed by around 15 minutes meditation. During the first months we tried studying The Secret Doctrine by Blavatsky but soon realized that this tome was not for beginners. The rest of the evenings were spent drinking tea or coffee coupled with vivid discussions of UFOs, paranormal phenomena, mysticism, esotericism and meditation methods.

Pia Ringstrand and Lennart Johansson

Sune Nordwall and Solveig Simlin

Me during a meditation meeting, August 1974

We all became close friends and fellow spiritual seekers in the meditation group, studying and discussing all aspects of philosophy and paranormal phenomena. These were joyous and inspiring gatherings. Although the subjects discussed were serious we often joked heartily and rather irreverently about spiritual teachers and ourselves. As almost all of us were active in various UFO, parapsychological and spiritual organizations we referred to our group as The Occult Mafia (O.M.)

We often gathered together at holidays, New Year´s Eve and other occasions. We had summer parties, visiting lectures, exhibitions and interesting persons among our acquaintances. We also sometimes invited representatives from various New Age and occult groups to hear of their experiences and views. One evening we spontaneously decided to place our meditation session deep in the forest, a few Swedish miles south of Stockholm at a place called Paradiset, Paradise. After having walked in the dark forest for about a mile we arrived at a small lake, Trehörningen. There the group settled together, meditating and gazing at the beautiful night sky filled with stars and occasional meteors. It way an awe-inspiring evening full of magical beauty and mystery. Many times later we gathered at this place for recreation and bathing in the lake, a few times sleeping in a lapp cot or tepee built close to the lake.

Me in the lapp cot in, August 1974

Turid Johansson in the meditation group 1974

Beach party with the meditation group and friends, Summer 1975

Although differing in age and occupation we became a tightly knit group united by our spiritual quest and friendship. Tony Eckardt and Lennart Johansson were engineers active in Stockholms UFO-Center. Lennart donated his entire collection of UFO literature, 200 titles, to AFU during Spring 1974. This became the cornerstone and beginning of the AFU library and archive. His interest and research changed to the more esoteric like the Keely mystery, the Juvelius cipher and Rennes le Chateu. Pia Ringstrand had for several years worked together with Edith Nicolaisen, founder of the Parthenon publishing house. In September 1972 Pia, together with the Parthenon board, had attended the 10th Deutsche UFO/IFO-Studiengemeinschaft (DUIST) Congress in Wiesbaden. Sune Nordwall was a dedicated student of Rudolf Steiner ´s Anthroposophy. I shared his interest in Anthroposophy but had joined Alice Bailey´s The Arcane School in September 1972.

Celebrating New Year´s Eve with the group 1974. From left Sture and Turid Johansson, Lennart Johansson

Lennart Johansson, group meeting August 1974

The meditation group became for me very much the spiritual and social homebase and I moved to Sundbyberg, close to Stockholm to be closer to my spiritual friends. Another reason for the change of city was my entering studies of History of Religions at Stockholm University in September 1974. During my student years at Stockholm University I did a rather extensive study of the Kabbalah, resulting in a short thesis on the early Merkabah mysticism, presented at the History of Religion department. As an addition to my academic studies I also read every book I could find on the Kabbalah, written by various exponents of the Western Mystery Tradition, authors such as Dion Fortune, Gareth Knight, W.E. Butler, A.E.Waite a.o.

A couple of days ago I asked Tony Eckardt what the meditation group meant to him and how he regard this activity today. In an email October 10 he wrote: ”… for me personally it became a mystery school and a unique education for life because of the group.” I can only agree. The group met every Friday evening for about three years. We discussed and investigated all kinds of UFO and paranormal phenomena, distant healing, telepathy etc. We visited mediums, mystics, healers and various spiritual groups like the Liberal Catholic Church. In 1974 several members of our group participated in an Tibetan Buddhist initiation ceremony officiated by Kalu Rimpoche, teacher of Tibetan Buddhism and meditation from Bhutan.

Kalu Rimpoche

During 1974-1975 I was heavily influenced by the well known Swedish nature therapist Birger Ledin. He was clairvoyant and a strong advocate of Steiner´s Anthroposophy and regarded Steiner as the foremost spiritual adept in Europé. Our meditation group visited him at his home on August 8, 1975. This inspired me to suggest that the group be transformed to an esoteric order. We chose the acronym O.M. again but changed it to Ordre de Michel – the Order of Saint Michael. We bought chalices and on September 29, 1975 we founded the order in a sacred ceremony. But this activity and idea soon faded.

In 1975-1976 I studied Theoretical Philosophy at Stockholm University and was very much occupied with the intellectual and epistemological difficulty in accepting the reality of a multiverse in the esoteric sense. In my diary from January 8, 1976 I wrote: “My thinking is now very much occupied with the problem whether it is consistent with intellectual integrity to accept a worldview that cannot be verified by empirical science? If this is possible than esotericism can be philosophically established and motivated.” Up until 1975 I was very much influenced by the writings of Rudolf Steiner on these issues. His ideas regarding a Spiritual Science that could be verified by special training appealed to my own theories. But in December 1975 I read Kunskapen om verkligheten(The Knowledge of Reality) by the eminent and erudite Swedish esotericist Henry T. Laurency. His penetrating criticism of Steiner´s Anthroposophy became a watershed and an eye-opener in my own thinking which resulted in a comment in my diary for December 2, 1975: “By studying Laurency, Bailey and other authors I have found that Laurency´s criticism of Steiner is tenable. I didn´t expect that my view on Steiner could be so radically modified and altered.”

A seminal event occurred during our meditation meeting on November 19, 1976. Turid told the group that Sture had recently begun going into a trance state and a spirit, Simeno, had started talking through him. Although members of the group had read about many paranormal events we were all somewhat apprehensive when Sture started to gasp and shake, rised up and a completely foreign voice said: ”I greet you. Do not be afraid. It is not as dangerous as it looks. What you call the instrument does not suffer from this… But the instrument is still afraid so please tell him that he represents no hazard to you. I am very glad to be here.” Then followed a short explanation of how trance channeling worked and assurance that the man speaking through Sture would be back again many times.

Sture and Turid Johansson during a deep trance session

The trance communications marked the beginning of the end for the meditation group. Sture och Turid Johansson became more and more involved in spreading the messages from Simeno, and later an old Egyptian calling himself Ambres. I entered The Swedish School of Library and Information Science in Borås. Tony Eckardt became active in an organization for psychobiophysics and producer of the radio programme New Dimensions. Today he run the company Shekinah Media together with his wife Eva. Pia Ringstrand was for a few years a board member of the organization InCal, an information center for alternative lifeviews and new research. Sune Nordwall continued as an advocate of Antroposophy and Lennart Johansson later became active in the Green Party of Sweden. I continued working with AFU and studying the Esoteric Tradition in the writings of a.o. Helena Blavatsky, Alice Bailey and Henry T. Laurency.

Today some of the members of the meditation group have left this world, Turid Johansson, Leif Johansson and Solveig Simlin. When looking back on this time of my life I can only express my deepest gratitude to the Gods of Fate for this opportunity of learning. Our joyous meetings and activities coupled with the varm friendships will always stay in my memory.

One of the advantages of being a librarian with access to the worlds largest UFO, Fortean and paranormal phenomena archive, AFU, is now and then discovering documents giving new data and unique insights into some aspect of the UFO contactee enigma. Presently I am examining the late George Adamski co-worker H.C. Petersen´s archive, part of which was donated to AFU in 2013. Recently I found a very intriguing article, Chemical Analysis, written by George Adamski in 1961. An article implying a possible connection to or involvement in the once secret CIA MK-Ultra mind control program. Experiments conducted during the 1950 and 60s.

Here is a relevant quote from this article:

H C Petersen

”In the past several years the space people have tested our various chemicals that are supposed to be for health and the betterment of human beings. As a result 62 out of 80 space people, who took these drugs, had to be taken back to their home planet in order to get them back to normal, while 6 out of the 18 left were able to stand the test longer. But eventually they started doing things and spreading false information, where reason was no longer their guide. And recently they had to be taken back. Two of these 6 were almost insane at the time. While the 12 are still here, being closely watched by their superior… I know this to be true for I have met these space people who were taken away. I was given the privilege to watch them from the beginning and how these things affected them.

(George Adamski, Chemical Analysis, Aug. 24, 1961).

George Adamski in Denmark 1963

This quote certainly raised my eyebrows. What kind of space people would come to our planet and use their own people in dangerous and cruel medical experiments? A scientifically and spiritually advanced civilisation would of course have detailed knowledge of the biological and psychological effects of various chemicals and would never engage in such unethical acts. If these statements by George Adamski are to be taken seriously then he must have, during his last years, been involved with a shady and possibly dangerous group of ”space people.” Or could Adamski have been used in some black ops mindcontrol program like MK-Ultra?

Today there are hundreds of books and thousands of articles about Project MK-Ultra, in many respects an illegal program officially implemented between 1953-1973. Details of the project were not brought to public attention until 1975. A large number of people became unwitting test subjects of mind manipulation through drugs, electroshocks, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse. CIA worked with some 80 U.S. institutions in these tests, using front organizations. How come that George Adamski already in 1961 described a mind manipulation program almost identical with MK-Ultra?

Readers of my blog are aware of that I have advanced the theory that several individuals in the 1950s and 60s were involved in a psychological and cultural influence test. An experiment implemented by a group of benevolent aliens, earth based or extraterrestrial, a group with access to “vimana” technology. Some of the people contacted tried their best to implement the projects and ideas received by the visitors. Others couldn´t stand the psychological strain and social stigma of the experiences or invented fake stories when the real contacts ended. Circumstantial empirical evidence indicates that the following contactees were involved in this test: George Adamski, Orfeo Angelucci, George Van Tassel, Daniel Fry, Howard Menger a.o.

As many of his co-workers noted, something happenend to George Adamski in the beginning of the 1960s. His behavior and ideas changed and he started to refer to a ”new set of boys”, a new group of space people that had contacted him. Quoting Carol Honey, New Zealand journalist Tony Brunt writes in his Adamski biography: ”Later in 1962 he wanted to get into fortune telling. ”He asked me to publish in my newsletter that he would give an analysis of photographs for $5, a recent photo and the person´s date of birth,”Honey wrote. ”I refused to do this. He claimed that he was shown how to do this on his ”Trip To Saturn.” I could not go along with his new idea and told him I couldn´t understand how the ”brothers” could propose such a thing. He preplied he couldn´t understand it either but he trusted them and they wouldn´t let him down.”
Tony Brunt, George Adamski. The Toughest Job in the World, p. 24.

Tony Brunt

In the 1960s there was much discussion and speculation among Adamski co-workers and friends what had happened. Former co-worker Lou Zinsstag concluded: ”In 1964 Henk and I had come to similar conclusions. George had got into the wrong hands. Either, we reasoned, his ”new set of boys” was an extremely clever fake organization, a group of secret agents (not necessesarily governmental), trained experts in mind control and hypnosis, or else George was dealing with a new group of space people who were deliberately feeding him false information in order to confuse an issue which had been established by the earlier friendlier group.”

(Lou Zinsstag, Timothy Good, George Adamski – The Untold Story, p. 71)

How much was CIA and other more secret intelligence organizations involved in and using UFO contactees in the 1950s and 60s for medical and sociological test purposes? The fear of communism was one reason they kept an eye on contactees. But could the influence have been more profound? In 1978 ufologist Rick Reynolds was approached by a mysterious man named Bosco Nedelcovic, who claimed to have worked for the CIA and the Department of Defense. One of his projects involved destabilizing prominent figures in the civil rights movement. Nedelcovic also revealed that he had been involved in the Vilas-Boas abduction which was a part of the CIA´s mind control program called MK-Ultra. With the help of a helicopter and a chemical derivative in gas form the MK-Ultra operatives wanted to find out how the human mind could be altered and manipulated by hallucinogenic substances. And Antonio Vilas-Boas became the unfortunate human guinea pig.

That there were many groups, not always benevolent, involved with the early contactees was often mentioned by the contactees themselves in books and lectures. Howard Menger was warned by his space people that he should be aware of false contacts:

"Who are these people? I thought I could listen to any of you.
They´re not US Howard. there are OTHERS operating. I´ll speak of them simply as The Conspiracy... My friend, this earth is the battlefield of Armageddon, and the battle is for men´s minds and souls... You don´t know Howard, that there is a very powerful group on this planet, which possesses tremendous knowledge of technology, psychology, and most unfortunate of all, advanced brain therapy...They use people not only from this planet... but also other people of your own planet - people you don´t know about. People who live unobserved and undiscovered as yet. It is a kind of underground in your popular terminology."
(Howard Menger, From Outer Space to You, 1959, pp. 142-144).

Researching the history of the 1950s contactees is like opening Chinese boxes. You open one and find another box inside – with a still deeper mystery.

From two book shelves in a small one room apartment to 14 premises housing more than 2,5 Swedish kilometer shelf capacity. This is the ”physical” history of AFU from a bird´s-eye view. But AFU is essentially an idea and a vision. In several blog posts I have documented the archive history and development in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Blog readers may find it of interest to know how the idea and vision was born and formulated during the first years of our existence.

Already in 1969 my old friend and AFU colleague Anders Liljegren began taking an active interest in ufology, placing an ad in the local paper, looking for UFO-interested people. A small informal group was formed, When the national organization UFO-Sweden was founded in 1970 the group joined UFO-Sweden and was renamed Norrköpings UFO-förening (Norrköping UFO Society). They rented a small habitat not far from the present AFU premises.

Anders Liljegren, October 1971 at the premises of Norrköpings UFO-förening

As a young teenager I had read all the UFO books found in my parents library and when I introduced my friend and schoolmate Kjell Jonsson to these books he immediately became intensely fascinated by the subject and entered a subscription to Flying Saucer Review. In November 1970 we contacted the newly formed UFO-Sweden, which resulted in our founding a local group, UFO-Södertälje, later Södertälje UFO-Center. I met Anders Liljegren for the first time in January 1971, when entering senior high school studies at Norrköping. We had both of us founded local UFO-Sweden groups and soon became good friends. Already from the beginning Anders was the down-to-earth practical realist in UFO matters and when I now and then went too far out on a limb in the UFO and paranormal world, Anders pulled me back with his critical common sense.

Kjell Jonsson, August 29, 1971. Notice the UFO button

During the first years of the 1970s the UFO-Sweden ideology was heavily influenced by a combination of Donald Keyhoe ETI theory and new age philosophy. One of the objectives was to achieve an ”official recognition of the extraterrestrial origin of the flying saucers”. On the positive side, UFO-Sweden began the first organized field investigations of UFO incidents and many serious research oriented ufologists became active members. Anders, Kjell and I participated in the UFO-Sweden convention 1971. A problem was the often rather absurd statements in media by the first chairman Carl-Axel Jonzon. In 1968 and 1970 there had been two presumed landing cases in different parts of Sweden. By a funny coincidence both places were called Anten och both of the observers were named Johansson. When Carl-Axel Jonzon was interviewed on TV during the 1971 UFO-Sweden convention he claimed the organization was expecting a third landing at another Enebacken and that the UFO witness would probably again be called Johansson. Statements like these were detrimental to the public image of Swedish ufology.

In the middle from left Kjell Jonsson, Håkan Blomqvist, Anders Liljegren together at the 1971 UFO-Sweden annual meeting

In spite of these problems Anders, Kjell and I continued our active work within UFO-Sweden. In August 1972 Anders started publishing a small newsletter Ufologen (The Ufologist) concentrating on UFO reports. But in the Autumn of 1972 we became more and more discontented with the ideology and public image of UFO-Sweden. The organization was at this time very much information, or ET missionary, oriented with the idea to build a large public organization lobbying the authorities to start UFO research. In an effort to create a more serious national organization Anders and I formulated a ”Suggestion for a Democratic re-organization of UFO-Sweden”, which emphasized more and better research. But this idea was more or less rejected.

Beginning in February 1973 Anders, Kjell and I started to seriously consider the possibility of leaving UFO-Sweden and creating a new research oriented group. Not an easy decision as Anders headed the reporting center in UFO-Sweden and I information and PR. We had by this time been very much influenced by the writings of Jacques Vallee, John Keel and Allen Hynek. On March 2, 1973 Anders phoned me and after some discussion we decided to officially leave UFO-Sweden on the coming planning conference March 17, 1973.

Our public defection during the conference on March 17 naturally resulted in much confusion and speculation. We wanted to be entirely honest and open to all members regarding the reasons for our decision and distributed a letter to all groups: ”Why we leave the UFO-Sweden work”. In this paper we tried to explain our research ideology: ”It is a paradox that we try to inform (i.e. convince) the public about the existence of a phenomenon whos nature we hardly try to investigate in depth”. In this paper wee also published a quote from Jacques Vallee´s Passport To Magonia.

March 17, 1973 became the official founding day for what we decided to call Arbetsgruppen för ufologi– AFU, (The Working Team for Ufology). It was an informal group consisting of three members, Håkan Blomqvist, Anders Liljegren and Kjell Jonsson. The newsletter Ufologen now became our official AFU publication. All three of us were very bookish and avid readers. Especially Kjell Jonsson who already in 1972 started collecting UFO books and creating a lending library as a service to the UFO-Sweden field investigators. This library, in 1973, became instead a AFU project.

During 1973-1974 we were rather indecisive regarding what should be our main focus and what direction AFU should take. Our aim was building a foundation for serious UFO research in Sweden but in 1974 both Anders Liljegren and I were occupied with personal and practical problems. I suffered from a severe depression during the Spring and Summer 1974. Our magazine Ufologen was folded in the Spring of 1974 and in the Autumn I moved to Stockholm and began my studies at Stockholms University. Both Anders Liljegren and I had now become rather passive members of AFU.

The AFU gang 1975

In the Spring of 1974 Lennart Johansson, Stockholms UFO-Center, donated his entire collection, around 200 UFO books, to AFU. The collection became an important part of the AFU library. In an interview I did with Kjell Jonsson in 1977 he said that this donation further inspired him to continue building a UFO library. As he planned to become a librarian he felt that it was in this way he could benefit ufology. The library was housed in his very small, one room apartment and it only consisted of two bookshelves.

The practical work of keeping AFU alive now rested on the shoulders of Kjell Jonsson. In a letter written September 30, 1974 to a Swedish ufologist he tried to explain the situation: "I am now the only active AFU representative. AFU has closed down all former activities, our magazine Ufologen and field investigations. Instead I am presently engaged in planning a lending library of books and magazines and will also serve ufologists with copies of magazine articles." This was the beginning of what later became the large archive and library. So the credit for the library and archive idea should go to Kjell Jonsson who kept AFU going during the first years.

In the beginning of 1975 my social and personal life had stabilized and the UFO interest and activity returned. In March 1975 I started publishing AFU Nyhetsblad (AFU Newsletter), a venture that Anders Liljegren continued from 1976 until 2008, all in all 52 issues. From a very humble beginning the library continued to grow but between 1974-1980 it was mainly a one man enterprice handled by Kjell Jonsson. With his gallant idealism he spent a lot of time and his own money to run AFU.

Kjell Jonsson and the two book shelves, August 1977

By 1980, as several ufologists began donating books and magazines to our library, the international contacts increased and because of our new name – Archives for UFO Research - we realized that we couldn´t just function as an informal group. So in January 1980 AFU was registred as a formal foundation with a governing board and bylaws. But our greatest problem was lack of space as the entire library was housed in Kjell Jonson´s small one room apartment in Södertälje. Anders Liljegren succeeded in finding a 38 square meters basement facility in Norrköping and on November 15, 1980 the AFU library was transported to our new premises. Norrköping was chosen as our new headquarters for practical reasons. Anders had a steady job and the rent for the facility was reasonable. With our new premises AFU entered an era of continued expansion.

”They were dressed alike, in blue-gray ski-type uniforms… I could see they were fair-skinned, and of average height… Through the large opening in the craft stepped a beautiful woman. She had long blond hair and was dressed in a similar outfit… as she approached, she appeared to be the same woman I had met 14 years ago… This lovely creature had not changed at all in appearance during those 14 years. She still looked only about 25.”

Connoisseurs of contactee literature probably recognize this quote from Howard Menger´s classic From Outer Space to You (p. 51), published in 1959. Several other contactees have described this group of benevolent alien visitors in similar terms, intrigued by their youthful and ”ageless” physical appearance. They generally look like young men and women between 20 and 30 years. Ufologists and esotericists who have investigated contactee cases have proposed various theories to account for this mystery. A question often asked: do these visitors have the same type of organic physical bodies like us?

On January 30, 1965, at about 2 a.m., radio and TV technician Sid Padrick was walking along the Pacific coast near Watsonville in California when he heard a sound like a jet roar. When he looked up he saw a shadowy outline of a huge disc-shaped UFO, and started to run away down the beach in panic. He then heard a voice coming from the UFO that assured him the occupants of the object meant no harm to him. They invited him on board. The crew of the UFO was of 8 men and 1 woman, basically human in appearance. One occupant told Padrick he could call him "Xeno", the Greek for "stranger" and guided him into the ship; which had two floors with seven rooms each. Xeno was the only one to talk to Padrick, with "no accent whatsoever". He said he was the only one in the crew who spoke English. Sid Padrick would tell that space men are on mission of exploration and survey, that they had been in contact with a group of people in New Zealand for two months, but are not interested in meeting governments.

After a while, the spaceman told Padrick that they had traveled some distance and were now parked in a deserted area, which revealed on subsequent investigation to be near Leggett, California, 175 miles northwest of Watsonville:
"After we had landed on the hillside, he told me to step out so that I could come back to the place later - to know this was real and not dreamed. I stepped out alone and walked around the outside of the ship. I felt the hull. It seemed very hard but not metallic: I never felt anything like it before. The closest thing to it I ever felt on this Earth would be a windshield - plexiglass. It had a very fine finish, a highly polished finish. He didn't tell me that touching this craft would do me harm, and I had no bad effects from it - none whatever. I was outside for not more than three minutes. I got down and looked at the legs it was on and I tried to find markings on it: I didn't find a mark on it anyplace."

Padrick was then taken back to where he had been picked up two hours earlier, he stepped out of the craft and walked home. He reported his experience to the Air Force, and was grilled for three hours by a team headed by Major Damon B. Reeder from Hamilton Air Force Base, the Headquarters, Western Air Defense Force, near Sacramento. Sid Padrick was interviewed by several ufologists and journalists. I found one of these detailed interviews in the Wendelle Stevens archive, which I am presently organizing. In an article A Probing Conversation With a Contactee by Harold D. Salkin, we learn some further details of the visitors physical appearance:

”Question: What did the people you talked with look like? Were they human in appearance?

Padrick: The people were all about 5´ 9´´ tall, about 150 to 155 pounds. They all had the same short hairdo, all exept the woman. She had long hair, pushed right down the back, under her clothing. We didn´t go into the room she was in – we just passed by the door – so I didn´t get a close look at her; but I did see that she was very pretty. By our standards, I would say they all looked between 20 and 25 years old, very young , pert, energetic and intelligent looking. (Official UFO, January 1978, pp. 33-34).

Regarding the venusian "Orthon" George Adamski writes: "The flesh of his hand to the touch of mine was like a baby’s, very delicate in texture, but firm and warm. His hands were slender, with long tapering fingers like the beautiful hands of an artistic woman. In fact, in different clothing he could easily have passed for an unusually beautiful woman; yet he definitely was a man. He was about five feet, six inches in height and weighed – according to our standars – about 135 pounds. And I would estimate him to be about 28 years of age… As nearly as I can describe his skin the colouring would be an even, medium-coloured suntan. And it did not look to me as though he had ever had to shave, for there was no more hair on his face than on a child’s."
(Desmond Leslie, George Adamski, Flying Saucers Have Landed, Werner Laurie edition, London 1959, p. 195).

In the Daily Times Advocate, December 23, 1973 Adamski co-worker Charlotte Blob told of visit from what she belived was the space people: ”… she was lecturing on UFOs once in a home in a remote section of Wisconsin and only the scientists and teachers invited were given the address. As it got under way there was a knock on the door, and two young men, with golden suntans that you just don´t get in a Wisconsin Winter, she said, asked to come in. Believing that they were students told about the meeting by one of the professors, she let hem in and only after considerable conversation which they carried on in an unusual accent and a singsong tone, and after the intensity with which they followed each speaker and the information he contributed, did she even begin to believe they might be visitors from a ship.”

As I have documented in a former blog entry my Danish friend and research colleague Rene Erik Olsen had several meetings in 1990-1992 with two intriguing, good looking individuals who displayed unusual knowledge and technology. The man said he was 28 years old and the woman appeared around 30. The result of these encounters was the book The Alien Visitors.

” While doing research both in the U.S. and researching the Eduard Meier-case (trips to Switzerland in 1988-1990) I was contacted by many people during that period, but especially two people stood out - they knew of my research in Switzerland and my planned trip to the U.S. and they wanted to part some information on the subject. Subsequently I had four meetings with these two individuals who provided intricate details on the propulsion principles… Those two individuals (a woman and a man - who knew each other) had information which I could not question. The woman worked at a research lab (in Copenhagen) and the man I do not know where he was working (or if he had a job). They both knew each other (I gathered that from a joint meeting with them both) and they presented things which I had no way of proving or refuting - photos attached to metallic surfaces (never seen that before) showing crafts (both large and small) and they also showed movie-clips on what best can be described as a small "Ipad" - which was not available back then (Ipads came out in 2010). They did not tell me what to do with the information, only that they wanted to give this, so I did the prudent thing (back then) and sat on the information.

(Email from Rene Erik Olsen, April 5 2019).

On October 18, 2018 Mr. Glenn Steckling, director of the George Adamski Foundation, lectured at the UFO-Sweden field investigator seminar. During a private conversation Glenn showed me a photograph from a UFO meeting claiming that one of the men in the photo was a space man. To me he looked like a very young man. Once again a case of youthful space people. The encounters I have mentioned are only a few of many similar cases documented in UFO literature.

A peculiar feature of these visitors is their ability to disappear in front of witnesses, whether this is accomplished by advanced technology, materialization or some form of hypnosis. All three options can be found in contact cases. An interesting example is the meeting between journalist and esotericist Paul M. Vest and the youthful alien visitor ”Bill” in 1953. Bill suddenly appeared out of nowhere to the astonished Paul:

Paul M. Vest

" We shook hands and I recall being aware of the peculiar feel of his hand-as though it were without any underlying bone structure... He was about six feet tall or slightly over and appeared to be about twenty-eight years old… A casual observer would certainly not be startled by his appearance. In a crowd he would pass as a rather unusual appearing person. But as I studied him more closely while he talked, I was aware of certain strange characteristics in his physical appearance. His skin was exceptionally white – so white in fact that it appeared to have an odd bluish tinge. His cheek bones were unusually high and his eyes and brows had a peculiar Oriental cast. Yet in no way did he resemble a true Oriental. And I noticed that his ears were oddly pointed and appeared to be more delicate and complex than any I had ever seen. I recalled how odd his hand had felt in my grasp. Looking at his hands, I noticed that his fingers were long and tapering and so smooth that they seemed to be without joints or underlying bone structure. He spoke slowly and clearly with no trace of an accent, but he seemed to be choosing his words with great care. I noticed too that his voice had a peculiar resonant quality."

Cases like these are often disregarded a priori by scientifically oriented ufologists but I think it is time to reconsider many of the old contactees of the 1950s and 60s and follow an alternative approach in research, looking for confirmation of the contact from independent witnesses and various types of circumstancial evidence. Some years ago I asked psychiatrist Dr. Berthold E. Schwarz about this problem regarding his investigations of Howard Menger. Schwarz told of the many witnesses who really did experience strange phenomena, including aliens at the Menger farm. In a letter to me May 29, 1986, Schwarz concludes: "Yes, the contact claims or case of Howard Menger is far from being an open and shut or black and white matter." This could be said regarding many of the both classic and recent contact experiences.

Meade Layne (1882-1961) was a lifelong student of psychical research, paranormal phenomena and UFOs. He was a connoisseur of both Eastern and Western esoteric traditions, having been a member of Dion Fortune´s Society of the Inner Light and began publishing articles on psychical research in the 1930s. Meade Layne was well acquinted with all types of paranormal phenomena and had in 1936 written an article, Experiments in Evoking Images, published in The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (vol 30, no 9). When founding the small newsletter Round Robin in February 1945 (later The Journal of Borderland Research) and circulating it among 15-20 friends he had no idea that within one year he would begin co-operating with a unique deep trance medium of unusual capacity – Mark Probert.

Irene and Mark Probert

Meade Layne discovered Mark Probert´s unusual gifts as medium in the Spring of 1946. Probert never channeled any ”space people” as so many of the other mediums in the 1950s and 60s. Instead the communicators claimed to be ordinary individuals who had lived on earth before. The group speaking through Probert were referred to as the Inner Circle and presented themselves with names such Charles Lingford, Ramon Natalli, Theresa Vandenberg, Professor Luntz and Yada di Shi´Ite. Information channeled by mediums is generally a bore to read, platitudes coupled with naive love-and-light mysticism, But the Mark Probert communications are different, of a definitely higher intellectual and cultural quality, with interesting discussions of science, philosophy and esotericism. Meade Layne and his associates worked for many years with Mark Probert and the results were published in Seance Memoranda.

Mark Probert

In 1953 Meade Layne wrote a summary of this work in Round Robin:

”For some seven years past we have had the volunteer services of one of the finest deep-trance mediums in the world (Mark Probert). Through him, some hundreds of the excarnate have spoken with us - and particularly an Inner Circle of some fifteen communicators, ancient and modern, from both East and West. This is not at all the kind of thing made familiar by spiritualism, and it serves no cult or creed or propaganda. Instead we have recorded thousands of pages of science, philosophy, psychology and history - three-fourths of which does not have the sanction of existing text books. And after hundreds of hours of free conversational exchange with these invisibles, we feel that we have come to know them intimately and well, and … · that they are honorable and highly informed persons, human and limited like ourselves but speaking from standpoints of immense advantage.”
(Round Robin, vol. 9, no. 1, May-June 1953 , p. 4).

Meade Layne

When the BSRF archive was donated to AFU in 2016 and 2018 a full set of the Seance Memoranda was found, most of these Memoranda have been digitized. I have made a study of the information and statements made in these seances. They are of interest especially as the views and data presented by the Inner Circle has influenced the UFO movement. Mark Probert was also one of hundreds of witnesses to the UFO observed over San Diego October 9, 1946.

Eugene Register-Guard, October 14, 1946

Members of the Inner Circle explain that they have trained Mark Probert for many years to be able to channel comunications from their group on the astral plane. Readers of the Seance Memoranda will probably find it unusual that the Inner Circle often allow various types of not very interesting individuals talk through Probert. We find a.o. a temple dancer, suicide victim, man killed in an air plane crash etc. Many of these communicators are confused, not knowing where they are. The Inner Circle mention that they also perform a sort of astral rescue work. Helping people who have recently died to understand their condition.

Yada Di Shi´Ite

Ramon Natalli

Professor Luntz

The leader of the Inner Circle, Yada Di Shi´Ite, presented this explanation of their work:

”What is your particular interest in these meetings, asked John.
Yada Di Shi´Ite: ”My interest is in the Boy; first, because we have spent several years in developing him to this point where we can use his vocal cords to express our ideas. But please understand, we wish no following; we wish only to express some ideas that may be of help to those who care to listen. There has come a time now in your civilization where the teachings and ideas you have held as being true must be changed. There are many, many ways of bringing about these changes, and we do not classify ourselves as being great teachers with wisdom greatly superior to yours – not by any means. We only hope you will find what we say of some value to you in your own particular path as you go on in life.”
(Seance Memoranda, May 29, 1949, p. 16. BSRA No 10-D Previously Unpublished Series).

For blog readers to get some overview and estimation of what is discussed during the seances I have chosen a few subjects of interest to ufologists and students of the Esoteric Tradition.

UFOs
”Anonymous communicator came as formerly – repeated that ”Kareeta” really came from… planet not in our vibration rate , and that K. could pass from one rate to another and materialize here, just as everything else on this planet is rooted in the invisible planes as source.”
(Seance Memoranda, 8-A, no 1, Nov. 3, 1946, p. 14.)

For some reason the communicator refer to the UFO observed over San Diego on April 9, 1946 as a Kareeta. Of significance is that the Inner Circle already in 1946 claimed that some UFOs were interplanetary visitors, but coming from a different level in the multiverse. This theory, advanced by Meade Layne and BSRF came to be known as the 4-D, etheric or interdimensional theory and influenced ufologists like John Keel, Jacques Vallee, Allen Hynek and many others, although they used different terms for the same idea.

”Ramakalo: Yes, these people come in peace – they are much more advanced than you are. Their bodies are similar to yours, but much lighter. These people would like to make a landing but they are afraid of their reception. They know they will not be understood…
(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 1, October 10, 1946, p. 10. BSRA No 8-A).

”Charles Lingford: Now, I want to add about the discs, we haven´t given any wrong information. The predictions of that woman, about the discs being of Russian origin, are incorrect. There is no new information at present. But the Russians source is ridiculous. I do know that they come from the etheric world.”
(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 4, July 13, 1947, p. 66. BSRA No 8-B).

”Ramon Natalli: The phenomena of the flying discs will continue and probably increase. And no doubt there will be some of your bold and devoted pilots who will pursue these phantoms of the skies – very foolishly, of course. … No, we do not change the interpretation of the discs as we first gave it to you. They do come from the Etheric world.

(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 5, Janury 24, 1948, p. 26-27. BSRA No 8-C).

”Yada: Space people from various planets have certain work to do here on earth…There are many hundreds of space people walking on this earth. They have ships that go to the bottom of the ocean; they go deeper into the bed of the ocean to test conditions there. The earth is heating up, you are not going to have another ice age, you are going to have a water age. The space people are testing the snow on the top of the mountains as well as rocks, the atmosphere, the changing conditions of the atmosphere and the rate of cosmic radiation.
(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 30, February 1956, p. 2. BSRA No 9-E).

This is an interesting and very early prediction that the earth is heating up and that we are going to have a ”water age”. Appears to be a correct assessment when looking at todays environmental problems. Regarding the 4-D interpretation even ufologist and iconoclast James Moseley had a few kind words commenting on BSRF:
”Borderland Sciences Research Foundation… claims to have come out with the ”4-D” explanation of UFOs back in 1946, quite a few years before ”4-D” became respectable or even acceptable in Ufological circles. Among those who used to snear at that sort of thing was yours truly. Now we aren´t sneering quite as loudly.”
(James Moseley, Saucer Muse, Non-scheduled Newsletter, vol 23, no 18, April 1, 1976, p. 1).

Epistemology
Epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge. How do we know that we know. This question should have been asked more often to the members of the Inner Circle but I have found very few examples in the Seance Memoranda.

Charles Lingford: ”Marc´s hatred of Catholicism is due to the fact that he was a Lutheran and was put to death by the Inquisition, or at any rate by Catholics.”
(Seance Memoranda, Sept 29, 1947, BSRA 8-A, No 1, p. 4).

Professor Luntz: ”We greatly deplore the boy´s antagonistic feelings towards certain religious groups, but we understand the reason, because we know that in a former life he was percecuted and finally burned at the stake, so it is understandable that he would hold this feeling of resentment against this one church in particular.”
(Seance Memoranda, July 28, 1949, p. 8. BSRA No 10-E Previously Unpublished Series).

Meade Layne: ”How do you get hold of data like that?” (Marc Probert burned by the Inquisition in a former incarnation).
Charles Lingford: ”Well, it can be secured from the astral records, of course, but there are so many ways, on both sides of life, for learning things that it is hard to explain. We might say that the desire to learn sometimes creates a kind of telepathic or clairvoajant response, or draws in some way on universal knowledge and life. Names are often forgotten simply because they are not used.”
(Seance Memoranda, Sept 29, 1947, BSRA 8-A, No 1, pp. 4-5).

George Adamski

"The story is in the main true. The Disc did land and Mr. Adamski did carry on a conversation with the operator of said ship. But brother Adamski was so excited he does not remember clearly all that was said. This particular ship was from the planet Venus. We would like to remind you however, that the intense heat on that body, due to its proximity to the sun and an atmosphere heavy with carbon dioxide, make it highly unlikely or impossible that beings with the same organic structure as earth-man could abide on its surface. The Venus beings live in the ether of this planet."
(Journal of Borderland Research, Jan-Feb. 1972, p. 20. Trance session December 1, 1952).

The Yada di Shi´Ite: ”New conditions are developing. You are verging upon a contact with these other beings. Certain persons in high official places have had this information already – in Scotland, Australia and the Andes. These have received definite contact, not through a medium or any psychic means, but in ordinary conversation, just as we converse sitting here. The Etherians, to use your word, were present in natural earth bodies. To turn first to our friend, Mr. Adamski – it is a Polish name with accent on the first syllable. This man, while somewhat excitable, is honest and sincere. These people from other time shave been among Earth people for many years, going and coming as you do, but unknown to you as different from yourselves.”

(BSRA Release 12-A-52, Dec 1952, p. 1).

This confirmation of George Adamski´s contact in the California desert November 20, 1952 caused much dissension among ufologists and co-workers of Adamski as he always maintained that the space people had organic physical bodies like we. But the etheric interpretation is in accordance with the core Esoteric Tradition regarding people living on other planets in our solar system.

Impersonations
Meade Layne: ”The honesty of a medium is in itself no guarentee against deceit by the communicators. There have been occational impersonations, such as that of ”Sir Isaac Newton” who knew no mathematics and less Latin, but was a very smart fellow for allt that. And it is obvious that the true identity of Lo Sun Yat cannot be verified. All one can say is, that they are (very often) powerful, learned and fully integrated personalities, and that there is no reason to suppose them fictions of the subconscious etc. The RR Editor merely reports, from time to time, communications which seem of interest… He only entreats the sceptical-minded to suspend judgement, and above all to continue to investigate with patience, and growing knowledge, and with a critical but open-minded attitude.”
(Seance Memoranda, BSRA 8-A, No. 2, Jan. 5 – April 6, 1947, p. 28).

This is an interesting comment from Meade Layne. The Inner Circle in a few instances let people of dubious character talk through Mark Probert. They then made it clear that these were impersonations or simply pretended to be famous historical persons. Meade Layne discussed this problem in his booklet Mediums and Mediumship (1949):
”Much importance is attached, in some quarters, to establishing the alleged identity of spirit communicators. The question seems of little importance to the present writer, except when spiritism is considered only in its consolatory and religious aspects. The basic question is whether any intelligent and excaranate operator is present; and beyond this, the importance of the communication lies in its content, whether it is intellectually and morally profitable, and whether it conveys any information not easily aviable by normal means.” (p. 14)

Esotericism
Although the statements of the Inner Circle cannot, in philosophical and intellectual quality, be compared with the writings of Alice Bailey or Henry T. Laurency the core teachings is in accordance with the Esoteric Tradition. Mention is frequently made of Masters and the work of secret esoteric lodges on our planet. The weak point is the often referred Advaita mysticism and subjectivism adhered to by several members of the Inner Circle. A problem found in much of Eastern presentations of esoteric philosophy. Even Alice Bailey´s teacher, the Tibetan, was not always clear on this point. Esoterism is basically Hylozoism - all matter (forms) have consciousness at all levels of the multiverse.

”Yada: Soon comes the day you think of as Christmas Day – this is the day of all the Christ minds, the day of all the great masters. By masters I mean those great individuals who through many life experiences finally came into the highly advanced state of awareness, and by a certain process which is sometimes called the mystical presence have finished, completed their final initiation here on earth which gave them the right of being free beings.”
(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 21, December 23, 1952, p. 9. BSRA No 9-D).

”The principal feature of this sitting was an anonymous communicator who declared that he was an Adept still having an earth body; that he had left his body in trance, in India, and was attending a meeting of Adepts on the Astral – that they were experimenting to see how well the medium could be controlled by an Adeptus who was still earth-living; that if the method worked out it might be of much use for spreading knowledge of occult facts, etc.”
(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 1, November 17, 1946. BSRA No 8-A).

”There is a certain secret work going on at present between the Etherians and certain high earth authorities (You understand, I suppose, that I do not use the word ”high” in the usual sense. I am referring to those belonging to some of the secret Lodges on Earth). This work has to do with the great possibility of the Earth´s destruction… These men have landed in Australia in a secret landing field. They have not only been to Scotland, but to high authorities in England, and to a few of your men and women here of high standing (I refer to the secret Orders).”
(Seance Memoranda, November 28, 1951, p. 30).

Secrecy
Yada Di Shi´Ite: ”Some things we are not allowed to say…”
(Mark Probert Seance, Oct 15, 1953. Clips, Quotes & Comments A9, Oct. 31, 1953).

A very intriguing statement by the Inner Circle, indicating they were part of a larger organization controlling what data could be given openly.

Mark Probert

Who were the Inner Circle?

The Inner Circle present themselves with names such as Ramon Natalli, Dr. Charles Lingford, Yada Di Shi´ite, Lo Sun Yat etc. Could these names be personas, fictional characters used by members of some of the secret lodges on earth? If this theory proves correct my guess would be the Yucatan Brotherhood mentioned by Charles Leadbeater, Annie Besant, Alice Bailey and Henry T. Laurency. This secret lodge created the first physical materialization phenomena that inspired the formation of the Spiritualist movement in the 19th century. Academic scholar Dr. Joscelyn Godwin has written several interesting articles seriously discussing this "The Hidden Hand Theory". He advances the theory that there was a "hidden hand" behind the spiritist phenomena in the 19th century, a secret group with the aim of changing the culture of the West. This is also stated as a fact by the Tibetan in the Alice Bailey books: "It is interesting to note that this movement (modern spiritualism) was started by a secret society which has existed in the world since the last period of seventh ray dominance in Atlantean times."
(Alice Bailey, Esoteric Psychology, vol 1, 1970 clothbound ed., p.166-167).

Meade Layne´s meeting with Mark Probert was a seminal event in the history of Borderland Sciences Research Foundation and had a tremendous impact on the work and theories of BSRF. Whatever is the truth behind the Inner Circle teachings they have influenced a whole generation of ufologists and students of paranormal phenomena. After nine years of working with Mark Probert and the Inner Circle Meade Layne summarized his position:
”Mark Probert is one of the finest trance mediums now living, and the communications received through him have been of exceptionally high intellectual quality, mainly in the field of the sciences, metaphyscs and philosophy.”
(Meade Layne, Clips, Quotes, & Comments, B11, June 1, 1954, p. 10).

”The lone isolated researcher who knows so much of this sort of thing and really cannot communicate it to his fellow citizens, tends to examine himself and wonder if he is really normal or just a stupid believer of colossal lies… Some categories of the unknown and secretive-lie modus operandi seems to be amply identified and described in the Holy Bible. We earthlings are under assault as never before and at this late date we don´t even know it. Our enemy is making great progress on all fronts. For instance just one area – the moral and physical destruction of our most precious resource (our youth) via mind altering drugs and weeds has now reached frightening proportions.”

This was the dystopian vision and conclusion reached by American ufologist Donald (Don) Worley, presented in his first letter to me on March 19, 1981. We continued corresponding until 1995 and Don, very generously, provided me with lots of data and documents from his many years of field investigations. John Keel very aptly described Don as ”an experienced student of the unknown” (The Mothman Prophecies, p. 34). He began his studies of UFO and paranormal phenomena in 1965, being a member of NICAP and APRO. At the CUFOS conference in 1976 Don Worley was invited to present a paper on the relation between UFOs, Bigfoot and paranormal phenomena, titled The UFO-Related Antropoids: An Important New Opportunity for Investigator-Researchers With Courage.

To enter the controversial and possibly dangerous underground world of contactees, abductions, cattle mutilations and Men In Black (MIB) certainly requires a form a courage. This was the specialized area of research of both John Keel and Don Worley. In a certain sense they also arrived at similar conclusions regarding the intelligences behind the phenomena, although expressed in different terms. Keel used the more esoteric name elementals, while Worley preferred a mainstream Christian interpretation of good and evil - angels and demons.

Don Worley (1921- 2018) was born and lived in Connersville, Indiana most of his life. He was a member of Baptist Temple and American Legion Post No. 1. Employed at Boeing Aircraft in Seattle and at Roots Blowers for 31 years. After graduation in 1941, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard for 3 and a ½ years. On a Patrol Frigate, he was a radioman operating U boat detection equipment in the North Atlantic, south of Greenland. His active UFO interest and field investigations began in 1965 resulting in many articles, lectures, radio and TV appearances. Several of his articles can be found on the abduct.com website.

Don Worley

Reading the articles by Don Worley is to be catapulted into a world of sinister forces and entities. Although he did consider the possibility of benevolent alien visitors his many articles on the Nordics mostly imply dubious or evil intentions behind their activities. This is clearly stated in one of his later articles The Nordics Mystery (Contact Forum, March-April 1995): ”Are these ”love-exuding” entities – who are directing the lawless, invasive deeds of the greys and other types – simply greys in ”sheep´s clothing”?... Are the Nordics good, evil or indifferent?At this time it seems to me, we remain baffled and suspicious, yet hopeful.”

The mystery and possible threat from the Nordics, human-looking aliens, was a central theme in many of Don Worley´s articles. He was very serious about this issue and for several years engaged in a sort of mission impossible agenda to alert all he could reach of his findings: ”I have tried to ”wake up” congressmen, senators, (they contact the Pentagon which sooths with the usual lies, newsmen, national editorial writers, national TV commentators etc. Actually its just like World War Two. The escaping Jews returned to the gehettos and tried to tell everyone that the Germans were liquidating them by the millions but the monstrousness of the truth was unimaginable to the human mind and could not be accepted. After 22 years I have come to believe that the situation is really that grim. We don´t comprehend the primordial mind, know what it has done and is doing or what its final aim is.”
(Undated letter from Don Worley 1988).

Article by Don Worley in UFO Universe, Winter 1997

In a letter May 28, 1985 Don Worley told me he was working on the manuscript for a book with twelve chapters, cases and documents from his many field investigations. The title was UFO Ground Phenomena: The Visible Evidence of Earth´s Hidden Nemesis. Some of the chapters were The Hidden Deceivers at Work; Analysing the Hidden Enemy; Looking for a Savior. In the last letter to me November 1, 1995 Don had changed the title to Starships of Evil, reflecting his increasingly dystopian vision. The book was never published and I don´t know what happened to the manuscript or his archive.

Don published many articles in Flying Saucer Review(FSR), during the editorship of Gordon Creighton. He shared Worley´s doom and gloom estimation of mankind´s situation, although he favored an anthroposophical interpretation of the phenomena. A World Under Assault was published in Flying Saucer Review, Spring 1999: ”An epic, unseen, struggle has been raging for many years. Large intelligence groups in Earth´s leading nations and the valiant forces at their disposal are locked in a hopeless struggle with a foe whose power is unsurpassed. Sleeping humanity little suspects what lies in its perilous future. It is much like the falsely secure revellers on the doomed Titanic. If some miraculous help does not finally intervene it is probably that our cherished values and even we ourselves will be annihilated.”

There are several ufologists who, after a few years of field investigation, have reached the same conclusions as Don Worley regarding the intelligences behind the UFO phenomena. Some of them have completely abandoned ufology and joined more or less fundamentalist Christian churches or groups. But Don kept on researching the enigma although with his view of the situation he must have felt an increasing paranoia. This was somewhat reflected in a letter to me 1985: ”Here and there in ufology those who got into something big and got too close to the MIB sometimes end up exiting this life usually by the heart attack route. ”They” know about me of course , but I don´t think my book will be stopped. I believe there are forces protecting me that will not allow this to happen. Others like Keel, Dr. Vallee etc survived and seen their revelations published… It is amazing how the UFO situation may parallel just what the Bible has to say about good and evil. You said it was too bad I was such a pessimist. Facts are facts and I must stick to them but I do in a limited fashion cover the good guys (angels?) in my book. However its mostly about those in temporary control now – the great deceivers.”
(Letter from Don Worley, September 9, 1985).

One of the reasons Don Worley arrived at the conclusions above was that he relied rather heavily on claims made by abductees during hypnosis. Data obtained during hypnosis are exceedingly unreliable and must be confirmed by clear empirical or circumstantial evidence to have any value. In the 1980s many amateur psychologists and ufologists made a mess of the abduction phenomenon by using hypnosis with inadequate knowledge of the proceedings. Real and physical abduction do occur though but very few have been witnessesed by those not involved. The most well known is probably the Travis Walton abduction in 1975. Two abductions observed by independent witnesses are documented by Dr. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke in her book Sky People, pp. 124 and 286.

With Don Worley´s deep fascination with contactee cases (Nordics) I find it strange that he never made an indepth study of the classic contactees of the 1950s: Adamski, Angelucci, Fry, Menger, Van Tassel etc. Many were still alive and possible to interview in the 1960s and 70s. Such an investigation could have made him realize that here was evidence of activity by a benevolent groups of alien visitors and this could have made his theories more moderate and less gloomy. Don was also bound by his Christian paradigm or worldview. If he had studied and considered the core Esoteric Tradition (Blavatsky, Bailey, Laurency) as an alternative hypothesis or paradigm he would have found some interesting clues to the UFO enigma. But in this respect he was, like many other ufologists, what Meade Layner and Riley Crabb called a ”metaphysical illiterate”.

Still I can feel a certain sympathy with Don Worley as in some respects I share his views, based on my own investigations of contactee cases. There definitely are some very strange things going on on this planet and obviously we have both good and bad ”players” in this drama – whoever they are. Although evil or dangerous space people were often mentioned by the first generation contactees there are very few references to ”cosmic evil” in the core Esoteric Tradition. Of possible relevance is one cryptic reference by the Tibetan to Alice Bailey: ”… the place where another kind of evil dwells - an evil which is not indigenous to our planet, an evil with which it was never intended that men should deal.” (Alice Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, p. 753). To mainstream scientific ufologists such ideas and scenarios are simply myths and irrational conspiracy theories. Now suppose you, as a researcher, would find absolute and one hundred percent personal proof that there really is a secret war going on for this planet, but you are unable to prove this publicly. What would you do? How would you react?

Here a few options:

1. Join the fight, hopefully on the side of the Angels.

2. Try the mission impossible option of going public with your knowledge.

3. Write a novel and in fictional form present what you know.

4. Document your knowledge and preserve it in a safe-deposit box, to be published after your death.

5. Forget the whole thing and try to live a normal life.

”His charm, humility, and sincerety are recognized by all who know him, and he is widely regarded as expressing the religious wing of the UFO contactee movement at its best.” This assessment of American contactee Orfeo Angelucci (1912-1993) was given by religious scholar Robert Ellwood in The Encyclopedia of UFOs, p. 21, (edited by Ronald Story). To state that Angelucci expressed the ”religious wing” of the movement is a bit misleading. What he actually did was presenting a somewhat simplified version of the Esoteric Tradition, which was the philosophy of the space people contacting Angelucci. As a member of the Theosophical Society in America and a priest in the Liberal Catholic Church, Robert Ellwood should have recognized the Ancient Wisdom or Science of the Multiverse in the Angelucci story and message.

Orfeo Angelucci

The contacts with space people made in the 1950s were not only a psychological test of the public reaction to contact with alien visitors but also a somewhat novel way to present the Ancient Wisdom. Upon a careful rereading of he classic books of a.o. George Adamski, Orfeo Angelucci, George Van Tassel, Daniel Fry and Howard Menger I discovered that the world view and philosophy of the alien visitors given in these books was actually the esoteric worldview, although expressed in novel terms. But to recognize this fact an in-depth acquaintance with the core Esoteric Tradition (Blavatsky, Bailey, Laurency) is a necessary prerequisite.

After many years of study of the early contactee movement I also found strong indications that this movement was a carefully orchestrated project by at least two alien groups. This is revealed in the article Venusians Walk Our Streets by California journalist och esotericist Paul M. Vest (Mystic Magazine, no. 5, Aug. 1954). From an esoteric viewpoint this is one of the most interesting and informative articles ever written on the UFO contactee phenomenon. Vest´s experiences and articles in Fate and Mystic Magazine has been decisive in my formulation of an alternative Esoteric Intervention Theory.

In the Summer of 1953 Paul Vest was contacted at his home in Santa Monica by the alien visitor ”Bill” who asked Paul to help his group publicize the experiences of Orfeo Angelucci. This was part of a experiment in contacting ordinary citizens in various ways by physical meetings, ham radio, clairvoyance and clairaudience. Paul Vest was exceptionally well equipped to handle this delicate project as an investigator of paranormal phenomena as well as an experienced esotericist with a profound knowledge of the Esoteric Tradition. The alien group behind Bill had obviously done a lot of preparation before contacting Paul Vest. He is given a list of names, addresses and telephone numbers of people in the Southern California area who had been contacted by space visitors or would be useful because of their special knowledge. Later Vest spent several months contacting the people on the list given by Bill to get a verification of his claims.

Paul Vest

Orfeo Angelucci had several physical meetings with space people and at least one trip in their spacecraft. These well known experiences can be found on several websites and his book The Secret of the Saucers can be downloaded as a pdf. Orfeo´s wife Mabel also met the space people on at least two occasions, one of them an encounter with ”Bill”. She was seemingly not amused by the visit from Bill: "Oh, that man gave me the creeps. He rang the doorbell one day and introduced himself with an odd name I can´t remember. He seemed to know everything about us. It frightened me - there was something so strange and downright weird about him." The space people asked Angelucci to go public with his experiences and he started lecturing to groups of people in Los Angeles. Because of the harsh criticism and social stigma resulting from his activities Mabel was very much against his activities. She was concerned for the family reputation and their sons safety: ”Mabel pleaded with me to forget my experiences. I tried to explain to her why I had to tell about them, and we had some bitter misunderstandings on the subject.”

(Orfeo Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, p.38).

Orfeo and Mabel Angelucci

On February 19, 1953 Angelucci published a newspaper, 20th Century Times. It was essentually the same information later published as The Secret of the Saucers (1955). He had plans to make this a weekly newspaper but only one issue was published. In spite of his lectures and newspaper he reached comparatively few people. But all this changed in September 1953 when Paul Vest´s article about Angelucci was published in Ray Palmer´s Mystic magazine: ”I was amazed at the public interest and the general acceptance of my story. It appeared that intuitively many persons had been prepared for the account.” (Orfeo Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, p.116). Obviously the work and planning of ”Bill” produced the effect hoped for by the space people. During the rest of the 1950s and 60s Orfeo Angelucci was a prominent member of the contactee movement and lectured at many UFO conventions.

Mystic magazine, November 1953

Continuing the tradition from Meade Layne, Desmond Leslie and Riley Crabb I will here give a few examples of esotericism in The Secret of the Saucers, compared with a few quotes from the esoteric writings. Laurency quotes are from the web editions.

Venus
”We feel a deep sense of brotherhood toward Earth´s inhabitants because of an ancient kinship of our planet with Earth… We ask that you look upon us simply as older brothers”.
(Orfeo Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, p. 9).

”The ancients” (initiates) called the planet Venus ”the morning star” (not the evening star) as well as ”Lucifer” (he who brought the light”, the knowledge to our planet). By order of the solar systemic government the Venusian planetary government relinquished some of its members, who took over the management of our planet when biological evolution had reached so far that the brain of ape-man could begin to be mentalized. This was 21 million years ago.
(Henry T. Laurency, Knowledge of Life One, The Planetary Hierarchy, 5.7.1).

Multiverse
”… we function in dimensions unknown to man and hence interpret all things differently”:
(Orfeo Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, p.12).

”You have just fully realized that we are not like earthmen in that we function in dimensions unknown to your world.”
(Orfeo Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, p.43).

”The last time you saw me, Orfeo, I was in a less objectified projection in your three-dimensional world… but tonight you see me fully objectified… tonight I am no half-phantom, but can move among men as an Earthman… You now know that we can appear and function as human beings.”
(Orfeo Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, p.56).

Our planet (Terra) is the only planet in the solar system where organic life is possible. On other planets, man’s lowest envelope (49:5-7) is an aggregate envelope and not an organic one. As a rule there is only one such planet in each solar system. That planet is in fact given a special task.
(Henry T. Laurency, Knowledge of Life Two, Conscious Development, 7.2.9).

Organisms are by no means necessary to the development of consciousness in the lowest physical molecular kinds (49:5-7). On other planets also the lowest envelope is an aggregate envelope. When a 45-self (in his second self envelope) “physicalizes”, so that he becomes visible in the physical world, he uses the first triad the energies of which shape a replica of his “lowest material form”, a replica as similar to the original as possible and consisting of mental, emotional, and physical molecular kinds. Shaping as well as dissolution is the work of an instant. This physical body cannot be distinguished from an organism.
(Henry T. Laurency, Knowledge of Life Two, The Matter Aspect, 6.7.8-10).

Interplanetary Alcatraz
”For all of its apparent beauty Earth is a purgatorial world among the planets evolving intelligent life. Hate, selfishness and cruelty rise from many parts of it like a dark mist.”
(Orfeo Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, p.24).

”I may tell you that to the entities of certain other worlds Earth is regarded as ´the accursed planet´, the ´home of the reprobate, fallen ones´. Others call your Earth the ´home of sorrows´. For Earth´s s evolution is evolution through pain, sorrows in, suffering and the illusion of physical deaath. Belive me, all evolutions are not similar to Earth´s, despite the present beliefs of your scientists.”
(Orfeo Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, p.43).

”Regrettably, our very planet is the “slop-pail” of the solar system. Monads of repulsive tendency have been transferred here from other planets and also solar systems, such hateful types as have caused trouble in planets with individuals of attractive tendency. “All bad qualities” are precisely the qualities of hatred, and all too many people have acquired such ones more than 50 per cent. It will take many incarnations before those qualities have been supplanted by good ones.”

(Henry T. Laurency, Knowledge of Life One, The Law, 9.45.3).

Our planet holds a special position, not just in our solar system but also in the greater globe comprising seven solar systems. Nowhere has such a mass of monads of repulsive basic tendency been gathered, nowhere has the tendency to selfish individual character been so intense. Nowhere has mankind incurred such a bad reaping by bad sowing. Our planet is the star of sorrow in our cosmic globe.
(Henry T. Laurency, Knowledge of Life Two, Consciousness Development, 7.17.6).

"...this planet of suffering, sorrow, pain and struggle"
(Alice Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, p. 385).
"...the unhappy little planet of suffering which we call the Earth"
(Alice Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, p. 649).
"conditions of agony and of distress such as are found on our planet are found in no such degree in any other scheme."
(Alice Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 416).

Ad for The Secret of the Saucers in Fate Magazine, July 1955

Asteroids

”Once there was another planet in your solar system… that planet was the original home of Earthlings... They made war among themselves… Ultimattely they destroyed their own planet which today exists only as a sterile and barren ring of asteroids and debris in the solar system. In order that those entities might gain understanding, compassion and brotherly love they were born into the animalistic, material evolution of a lesser planet, Earth. Suffring, sorrow, frustration and death became their teacher. Their symbol became the Man-Beast.”
(Orfeo Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, p.44).

”The planetary hierarchy foresees that if religions are not freed from fear and aggression, if they do not seek that synthesis which eliminates the mutual antagonism and competition of the nations… then this will in the future lead to a new world war, this time a religious war, which in its bestiality will supersede everything and will spell the annihilation of life on our planet… If so, it would not be the first one. Astronomers have observed that in the wide interval between Mars and Jupiter, instead of one planet, there are hundreds of asteroids (so far they have discovered more than 1700). They were once part of a big planet. Will Terra share its destiny?
(Henry T. Laurency, Knowledge of Life Five, The Black Lodge, 23.19.5).

Of interest regarding this issue is also this quote from contactee George Hunt Williamson:
”We must now decide what to do about your planet Earth. Your bombs will destroy Universal balance. Your Hydrogen Bomb could make an asteroid belt out of you. This happened many years ago to planet of the fifth orbit. We knew what they were doing but we didn´t interfere. We cannot stand by and see another waste.”
(George Hunt Williamson, The Saucers Speak, Neville Spearman 1963, p. 52).

Orfeo Angelucci

Swedish esotericist and founder of the publishing house Parthenon, Edith Nicolaisen, corresponded with Orfeo Angelucci 1958 – 1962. She was given the publishing rights for The Secret of the Saucers but unfortunatly this was one of her many projects that was never implemented. Edith´s co-worker in Parthenon, Mrs. Gertrud Bengtsson, had made a translation of the book and she asked Angelucci to write an addendum for the Swedish edition of the book. Four pages were sent to Mrs. Bengtsson and as this document has never been published before here are a few quotes of interest:

Gertrud Bengtsson, pen name Hillevi Lindahl

”It is the month of May, 1962, just ten years since the first experiences given to me in this wonderful age of new awakening. A large volume could be written about these ten years, but the main events, the rapid unfolding into the new awareness, the vibrant days, began May 23, 1952 and extended to the very end of the year 1954… It is not easy for me to add this letter, fully ten years later, for I re-endorse every word, every meaning, every effect. I am happy to make this attempt for the Swedish edition of the book, which is due for publication in 1963…

Mabel, my wife, still remains a phenomenon. Her smile is as dolcent as it ever was, her laugh as warbling and full as a spring day. She still does not believe all of what I have told, but she still holds nothing against me for it… In the past ten years Earth has made only a glimmer of progress, and even that glimmer is in the material things, such as electronics and satellites. In the moral and spiritual and ethical dimensions there has been more backward sliding than forward progress… my own involvement started May 23, 1952, the very first to announce a contact… I felt this would be the beginning of a golden age, the final emancipation of mankind from the last fetters of ignorance. And soon others were heard from, who also announced contacts. These were George Adamski, George Van Tassel, Truman Bethurum, Dan Fry, others, too may to list here.

I continued for a while to attend meetings, lectures, an some of my own activities. Finlly I dropped my own lectures, and devoted more time to attending thos of other contactees. George Van Tassel was in the desert, near Yucca Valley, California, and in 1954 he continued with the idea of conventions… Those who were able to accept the flying saucers as visitors from other places, far advanced from us on earth have the reward of knowing that our progress in the cosmos is not a lonely, unseen, and un-recorded series of events. We know it is part of the Cosmic Plan, the eternal existence, and the everlasting state of things. So, ten years have not blunted us, but sharpened us. It is the glory of the Truth, which only a few at a time can experience.”
(Document sent in letter to Mrs. Gertrud Bengtsson, Sweden, May 1962).

Orfeo Angelucci speaking at the Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention October 14, 1961. Photo by Swedish ufologist Kerstin Bäfverstedt

Something must have happened to Orfeo Angelucci in the 1970s, that changed his views and perspective. He published some booklets, very far from his earlier UFO experiences and philosophy. The Worst Crisis was published in the beginning of the 1970s and the tone of this document reminds more of a fundamentalist Christian from the Moral Majority than a UFO contactee. His hope is now not the space people but evangelist Billy Graham:

”The time is near when one who is truly a shepherd of men will step forth, break the chains that hold mankind, crumble the false things, and rebuild it all. I, for one, feel there is such a one among us. Many of u shave seen him, heard him, and have seen him struggle before the throngs as though straining at the leashes that hold him… Today, this world has experienced everyhting, good and bad. Man is landing on the moon physically, while going into the much spiritually. But it won´t. If this wonderful leader who is among us feels unequal to breaking the chains of rusty links that hold him, he can at least point to one who can do so… Even as a born and abiding Catholic, I nevertheless discern this wonderful Brother and World Helper, as the one now known all over the world. He is BILLY GRAHAM.”

(Orfeo Angelucci, The Worst Crisis and You, p. 28).

Even more surprising is an interview with Angelucci made in the late 1980s:
”… he appeared in a PBS documentary called California Saucers a revealed a new spin on his previous otherwordly encounters: ”What I think happened was that I dreamed a lot of my experiences which came back through my subconscious in visions.”
(Adam Gorightly, Greeg Bishop, ”A” is for Adamski: The Golden Age of the UFO Contactees, p. 21). Whether Angelucci refer to some of his later more visionary experiences or all of his space contacts I don´t know, as I haven´t found this interview on the web. Hopefully more data on this enigma will come forward.

The core contactee movement as represented by a.o. George Adamski, Orfeo Angelucci, George Van Tassel, Daniel Fry and Howard Menger actually represented a unique and positive cultural impulse and a philosophy of hope for a whole generation of humanity. They advocated a philosophy in accordance with the Esoteric Tradition, the third intellectual force or pillar i cultural history alongside science and religion. More research on this aspect of the first contactees should be of interest both to ufologists specializing in contactee studies and academic scholars of Western Esotericism.

Whatever happened to Orfeo Angelucci during his later years this assessment of him by Bryant and Helen Reeve reflects very aptly the author of The Secret of the Saucers:
”.. we discovered that we were indeed talking with an individual of great spiritual advancement, discernment and experience. By this we do not mean that he was what people call a ”religious” person far from it. There is a tremendous gap between religious orthodoxy, and the type of cosmic advancement we found i Angelucci.”
(Bryant and Helen Reeve, Flying Saucer Pilgrimage, p. 223. They interviewed Angelucci on September 19, 1955).

To all my friends on planet Earth

and out there in the Multiverse

Wishing you A Merry Christmas

and A Happy New Year

May your dreams come true

and the Force be with you in 2020

A couple of days ago my AFU and UFO-Sweden colleague Tobias Lindgren visited Örebro to record the first part in a series of interviews for UFO-Sweden Radio. UFO history and contactee research will be the main topics in these programs. From the organizational archives at AFU he also brought two binders containing the files from the first UFO group I founded in 1970, UFO-Södertälje. These documents made me realize I have actually spent fifty years in the UFO movement.

One Winter evening in the beginning of the 1960s, when I was around ten years old, my mother and I went for a walk to get rid of some bulky trash nearby our then place of living in Södertälje. It was a beautiful, starry night and mother told me about various constellations and stars. This awe-inspiring experience so greatly influenced me that I as soon as possible visited the local public library to borrow books on astronomy. In 1963 our family moved to a new apartment in Södertälje which made it possible for me to watch the sky from a very good position. I spent many nights there with a small telescope, studying the Moon and counting meteors. Mother constantly admonished me to not to stay out to long as I would catch a cold. During these teenage years I learned as much as I could about astronomy and the Greek and Roman myths and legends behind the constellations.

My mother, Gun Blomqvist, Summer 1960

The middle 1960s was a very active and exciting period of manned spaceflights. I followed with eager anticipation the Gemini spaceflights 1965-1966, collecting press clippings and tape recording as much as I could from radio and TV. A teacher at school noted my dedicated interest and once I was even allowed to skip a lesson to make a tape recording.

My mother was from early in life a spiritual seeker and an avid reader. This deep interest was reflected in the library she built up at our home. There were books on Spiritualism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, ancient mysteries and all the early UFO contactee books from the Swedish publishing house Parthenon. Authors like George Adamski, Daniel Fry, Ray and Rex Stanford, Elisabeth Klarer a.o. As a young teenager I discovered the books in our family library and became deeply fascinated by all these subjects, especially UFOs. Mother was somewhat apprehensive of my newly found interests but she was also happy that I shared her interests and we spent many evenings at the kitchen table discussing and pondering all the mysteries of life and the universe.

Swedish edition of Alan´s Message: To Men of Earth by Daniel Fry

Already as a young teenager I realized that UFOs, paranormal phenomena, spiritualism etc. were not the normal interests of my schoolmates so I kept my passion for mysteries to myself. Beginning in 1967 I worked part time, after school and Saturdays, at the Södertälje Public Library and here I became acquainted with Kjell Jonsson, who also worked part time at the library. We soon became aware of that we studied at the same school but not the same class. Because of our common interest in books friendship grew and we spent a lot of time together.

Although I hinted at my unusual interests it was not until the beginning of 1970 that I seriously introduced Kjell to UFO literature and gave him some contactee books to read. He became deeply fascinated by the UFO enigma and this of course gave our frienship a whole new dimension. In the Summer of 1970 we began contacting various UFO groups a.o. Svensk IGAP, the Swedish Adamski movement headed by Thor-Leif Dahnielson and we also wrote to the newly formed national organization UFO-Sweden, founded in April 1970. In the beginning we had no plans to found a UFO group ourselves as we both were heavily occupied with senior high school studies. We subscribed to the Swedish UFO journals aviable and corresponded with editors and directors. To my surprise Kjell Jonsson became even more active in his UFO interest than me, an avid reader of UFO literature and even entered a subscription to Flying Saucer Review.

Kjell Jonsson, August 29, 1971, during one of our Stockholm journeys to buy UFO books

A seminal event in our interest was a letter, November 15, 1970 from Swedish contactee Mr. Sten Lindgren, then President of Intergalactical federation (IGF). Here in an English translation:

"Best Cosmic Greetings, Håkan,
Thank you for your letter of November 10. We are affiliated with UFO-Sweden. Regarding further questions: Suggest a meeting in Stockholm on the following alternative dates:
Saturday, November 21, 4 p.m.
Saturday, November 28, 4 p.m.
You decide whether one of these alternatives is ok. Send us an answer as soon as you have accepted. We will meet at the place you decide in your letter, e.g. train from Södertälje or by car.

Awaiting your answer
The Best Cosmic Greetings from
Sten Lindgren"

On November 21, 1970 Kjell Jonsson and I went by train to Stockholm where we were picked up by Sten Lindgren och his co-worker Bjarne Håkansson. We were taken to Sten Lindgren´s apartement at Lidingö. Arriving at our destination we were soon made aware of that this was no ordinary Swedish home. In the hallway was a quote, pinned on the wall, taken from Howard Menger´s From Outer Space To You (p. 48): "We have much work to do on your planet among your people, and we must do it quickly - while there still is a planet and a people to work with". The walls of the livingroom were filled with photos, illustrations and charts all relating to UFO sightings. The books in the bookshelf were a mixture of contactee literature and metaphysics.

Sten Lindgren at the Clavilux 1971

Kjell Jonsson and I were seated on the sofa, nothing was said, and the lights were turned down. Sten Lindgren started playing "cosmic music" on a light-organ (Clavilux). After this introduction we were told that our meeting was arranged by the Brothers from space and that Sten was in both physical and telepathic contact with an extraterrestrial group. We were also requested to start a local UFO-group in Södertälje, affiliated with UFO-Sweden, as this national organization was supported by the Brothers.

As a naive and idealistic teenager I felt this was like entering Shangri-La. Meeting a man who, not only had observed flying saucers, but was in contact with the visitors and working with them. The meeting with Sten and Bjarne worked like a salvation experience and left me literally "high" for weeks. On November 25, 1970 Kjell Jonsson and I formally founded our local group UFO-Södertälje with constant advice from Sten, who claimed telepathic information from the Brothers.

Me as a young UFO enthusiast January 1971

From the beginning UFO-Södertälje consisted of only two members, Kjell Jonsson and I but in March 1971 we started contacting local newspapers, writing letters to the editors, putting up posters in various places and from April 17 – 30, 1971 we had an UFO exhibition at Södertälje stadsbibliotek. Membership grew steadily and from having met at my parents apartment we were forced to rent a small basement premise to continue our meetings. Like most UFO groups in the 1970s we began skywatching hoping the space people would appear. UFO-Södertälje was very much a UFO and New Age group. We corresponded with Gabriel Green´s AFSCA, contactees like Marianne Francis and Hope Troxell. By the end of the year we were 16 members.

Our exhibition at Södertälje Public Library April 1971

Skywatching May 19, 1971, from left Åke Åhman, Kjell Jonsson, Gunilla Olsson

On January 20, 1972 I was interviewed in the local newspaper Länstidningen which created a large response from readers and resulted in many new members. We succeeded in finding a new habitat for the group and 1972 was the most active year for this local group with invited speakers, field investigations and meetings with other ufologists. I started publishing a small newsletter UFO-Bulletinen. UFO-Södertälje was changed to Södertälje UFO-Center and by the end of the year we had 50 members.

From article in Länstidningen January 20, 1972

During the late Autumn of 1972 my UFO interest was heavily influenced by the writings of Jacques Vallee and John Keel and interest in keeping an ordinary UFO group going dimished as research and critical thinking became more and more important. Beginning in February 1973 Anders Liljegren, Kjell Jonson and I started to seriously consider the possibility of leaving UFO-Sweden and creating a new research oriented group. AFU, then Arbetsgruppen för ufologi (Working Group for Ufology) was founded on March 17, 1973. And the rest in history. which I have documented in many blog posts.

Looking back at fifty years in the UFO movement I can still feel the same fascination as when I was a teenager. The UFO movement has been homebase for me. Almost all my close friends I have found in the movement. For me as for many colleagues UFO research hasn´t been only a purely scientific problem but also involved a deeper spiritual quest. Trying to understand the mystery of our existence on this strange planet and the mystery of our consciousness.

Human self-consciousness, the illuminated window in the cosmic night, is to me a tremendous mystery. Simply defining man in material terms is presenting an incongruous flatland model of something infinitely greater. There is a quality in human self-consciousness that requires a different approach. I can never accept the proposition that a lump of matter randomly can form sentient beings, conscious, self-reflecting and capable of ethical decisions. That human beings have an almost unlimited capacity for evil, is something that we are constantly reminded of by reading global media. But what is really interesting and hopeful is that we can surmount harsh existential conditions and develop an almost limitless kindness and empathy. Here we find an indication that the deeper meaning of our existence is the transformation and evolution of our consciousness. We are a step in the evolution of consciousness in the multiverse.

From a philosophical or bird´s-eye view ufology is very much more than just simple identification of lights in the sky. It may take many years of field investigation and study but eventually you will probably arrive at the same conclusion as pioneer ufologist Jacques Vallee:
”…the history of ufology should be placed within an esoteric context. Throughout history there has been a tradition of higher knowledge, and the claim that it was accessible to us, if only we agreed to be tested, to work through certain spiritual problems… That´s the meaning of the hermetic schools. The UFO problem, the question of parapsychology, are central to this business. Looking for the solution isn´t just a scientific project; it´s a quest, an initiation, an enigma like that of the Sphinx…”.
(Jacques Vallee, Forbidden Science II, p. 211).

Beginning around 1955 George Adamski entertained plans on settling in Mexico and founding a philosophical school and community, based on the teachings of the space people. He loved Mexico and often vacationed at San Jose Purua, with its famous health giving mineral waters. But more important, his visits to Mexico were due to meetings and conferences with the space visitors, who had a base and landing facility in a secluded area not far from San Jose Purua. After the death of Adamski in 1965, several of his co-workers tried to establish a Science of Life School at Zitachuaro, around 30 kilometers from San Jose Purua. In my research of Swedish contactees I have found indications that another group of aliens also had a base west of Mexico City in the 1960s. But this group of alien visitors had a very different agenda.

George Adamski with Salvador Villanueva Medina in Mexico 1955

Already in 1956 George Adamski tried to engage his friends and co-workers in Mexico to establish a Science of Life school. Two of his co-workers were Ian Norrie, a Scotsman resident in Mexico, and Maria Cristina V. de Rueda, who organized lectures and translated Adamski´s books. Not much happened until 1963 when George Adamski visited Denmark and told of his plans to co-worker H. C. Petersen. An Associated Press release September 24, 1963 stated: ”Danish Air Force Maj. H.C. Petersen said Monday he had been appointed by the International UFO (unidentified flying objects) Organization to build a center for cosmic studies 35 miles north of Guadalajara, Mexico. The plan will be financed by the organization on the initiative of the California author and UFO expert, George Adamski… ”We already have the site near Guadalajara, where the center will be built,” he said. In the new center, specialists will study cosmic philosophy and make preparations för the new ”abstract” age, he said.”

H.C. Petersen

Much time and effort was now spent among co-workers to find the best place for the Mexico center. Several sites were considered. During a couple of weeks in December 1964 and January 1965 Alice Wells visited Mexico City together with Adamski looking into the potentials of establishing the school in Mexico City. News and comments on the plans were reported in Cosmic Bulletin:

”On May 18, (1964) I flew to Mexico City to meet friends there. And spent a short time at San Jose Purua, where they have the health giving mineral waters. There were a number of ships that came in with passengers for att meeting of the Council that took place in Mexico. In the Saturn Report a second meeting was spoken of… The leaders of the Council were in Mexico City for one day. And from what I could gather, the purpose was for a meeting with Government men. San Jose Purua is not too far from Mexico City, and that probably was the reason for the meeting of the Council in Mexico… While in Mexico we discussed the forming of a group, a nucleus to help Mrs. Rueda in getting the school started in the vicinity of Guadalajara and Lake Chapala. Once this is started, the agreement was made that I would spend 6 months in Mexico teaching, and the other 6 months here and traveling.”
(George Adamski, Cosmic Bulletin, June 1964).

When George Adamski died i April 1965 the Mexico project was abandoned for a while, but the idea and plans were continued in 1967-1968 by old and new co-workers a.o. H.C. Petersen, Fred Steckling and Charlotte Blob. They often visited Mexico and succeeded in getting financial support from lawyer Norman Stone. In a letter from Fred Steckling to H.C. Petersen, May 2, 1968, he mentioned that $20,000 had been donated to the project. The place chosen for the school was Zitachuaro, a small village situated between mountains, not far from the base used by the space people. In the letter Fred Steckling also tells of how he, together with his wife Ingrid, had observed flying saucers disappear into the mountain base and that one of the space people had visited the group while in Zitachauro. Local inhabitants were aware of these activities and often noticed the saucers in the sky.

Fred Steckling 1977

During an interview (Coast to Coast, December 11, 2019) Glenn Steckling, present director of the George Adamski Foundation gave further details of what happened during their work in Mexico:

”George Adamski showed us on a map where there was an extraterrestrial landing facility in central Mexico, so we bought a property very close to that area. And we were three years down there during that time. And within a week of our showing up the Mexican military intelligence police there showed up and with two trucks full of troops and equipment. The commandant was very accommodating, very nice. He came and knocked on the door. My father welcomed everybody with open arms saying come on in, I got nothing to hide. And then they dispersed themselves over the many acres over the ranch and looked with metal rods and magnetometers and all kinds of things. So my father said to them you know this makes me very happy because obviously you wouldn´t be out there if you didn´t believe that it didn´t exist.

The commander pointed to one of George´s pictures that was hanging on the wall and he says. We know they are here. We know they are good for us, but WE don´t want them. He went on to say we have seen an abbreviated file from the Pengaton concerning your activities. My father had seen it too, the size of the New York phone book. They said to us, you are allowed to stay in this country as long as you don´t go among the population and hold lectures and try to educate the people because we do not want any changes to our system either economically or religiously. So that was that. My father said sure that´s fine. We had other work to do. We were doing research with the telescope. We drove up towards the base and interacted with, not the people in the base, that was still a days hike through the forest away. But with the villagers that lived the closest to that and they looked at us rather strangely. My father said to them why do you look at us so strange. They said, well we have seen the same kind of white people or multi-complected people come out of the forest with nice business suits and dresses and they walk down the road until they hit the main highway, wait for the bus and they disappear, but we have never seen anybody return. That was an area at that time upon which there was a landing facitility allowing them to integrate with the people both in that country and ours.”

George Adamski with the Steckling family 1964, Glenn, Fred, Ingrid

Announcement of lectures on Project Mexico by H.C. Petersen 1968

When project Mexico collapsed Danish co-worker H.C. Petersen tried to continue the plans in Denmark and a group with two families was established at a farm near Arnborg. That was the end of the dream to found a school and community based on the philosophy of the space people.

After this blog post had been published I received an email (January 14, 2020) from Glenn Steckling with some additional data and corrections. With Glenn Stecklings permission I add this information here.

”… we purchased the property outside of Zitachuaro - a large working ranch at about 1200 meters elevation - and lived there for 3 years… The School / Ranch (Rancho Las Vegas) was inhabited from June 1969 to March 1972… I remember it well and have the photos. Sometimes one could see the UFOs fly along the mountain ridge near our ranch and disappear behind the mountain where the base was… And the Mexican Military police came to visit us just after we arrived because of it. Their commandant pointed to GAs photo and said, and I quote, "we know they are here, we know they are good for us ... but we dont want them." He went on to say, "we have received notification from the Pentagon and an abbreviated file, and you are allowed to stay here as long as you dont organize events to educated the public in this country… when my father asked the commandant why the space visitors were "not wanted", the answer was, "Their existence and influence threatens our Religious, political and economic way of life."…The research for the property and financial agreements for purchase in that foreign country was ALL done by my parents. The reason we discontinued it in 1972 was due to political turmoil, student riots, and attacks against foreigners during the Presidency of Echeverria. The rumors from our government contacts concerning an impeding economic devaluation was set to cause more instability too. We were counseled by our space friends that things were changing and it would be wise to soon return to the U.S where we would be needed. At the same time, Alice Wells had contacted us and emphatically urged my father to come back to Vista to directly assist her and the foundation as GA had once instructed too. These items solidified our departure from Mexico.

GA wanted to do the same in 1958 outside Guadalajara in the lake Chapalla region and did not do so because of associated problems as well.

Yes, at a village which dead ended near the base of the mountain; the mountain whose final destination could only be reached by an additional one days hike through the forest to the mountain described, we drove up and talked to the locals. The locals said they were perplexed at seeing fair skinned people coming up the road TO them. When my father asked why, they described well dressed men AND women coming out of the forest, not jungle, and walking through town, down the dirt road to the main paved highway and boarding the local buses never to return the same way.”

Somewhat intriguing is that two of the Swedish contactees I have investigated had connections to Mexico, ”Anna” and Richard Höglund. I have discussed the Richard Höglund case in several blog entries and a summary of his story is printed in Timothy Good´s book Earth: An Alien Enterprise. For those not familiar with the basic facts a short English version can be found on this Norwegian website. Swedish readers are referred to the documentation of the case in my book Främlingar på vår jord. Ufokontakter i Sverige. (Aliens On Earth. UFO Contacts in Sweden).

What makes Richard Höglund unique as a contactee is that was a reluctant contactee. During his first contact experience he claimed his kidneys had been healed by a group of aliens and because of that he, from the beginning, felt compelled to work for them in various international schemes. Richard travelled to their bases in Bahamas and Mexico during his active involvement with the alien group between 1965-1977. But he differed from the ordinary contactees in that he was very doubtful regarding their true motives and noted that their morals were not very high. Richard was actually afraid of these aliens and didn´t always believe what they told him. "I don´t know if they are Gods or devils", he once told his friend Gösta Johansson. He didn´t dare stop working for them and towards the end of his life he told my ufologist collegue Åke Franzén to beware of this group as they were dangerous.

Richard Höglund in Nassau, Bahamas

Richard first visited the space people´s base in the Bahamas. There he met another a man named Loftin and they became good friends. But in 1968 Loftin revealed the location of the base to the CIA and he was killed by the space people for this treason. The base was then changed to Mexico, in a place three Swedish miles west of Mexico City. Richard was often gone from home, sometimes for months. He claimed that the space people picked him up in their craft, often visiting the base hidden in the Bahamas and also Mexico. Richard complained once to his friend Gösta Johansson that he was not allowed by his contacts to visit the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968. Gösta noticed that sometimes in the middle of the Winter he found Richard with a deep suntan when he returned to Sweden. Richard was a retired rock blaster with very little money. He couldn´t have gone on regular flights around the world based on his meager income.

Loftin with Richard Höglund in Nassau

On January 7, 1985 I and engineer Arne Groth interviewed Richard´s doctor in Stockholm, Karl Erik Swensson. He added some interesting details about the Mexico base:

”Karl Erik Swensson: He told of several visits to Central America in the end of the 1960s. It has always surprised me that a rock blaster could go many times to Central America in those days – economically.
Håkan: Did he mention his experiences there?
Karl Erik: No, not very much. He was very reticient. I got the impression he was afraid. I thought the whole thing was very strange.
Arne Groth: Did he give any details about the environment tha made the story credible?
Karl Erik: We didn´t talk about that. He was inside some hangars where they had these motherships that looked like Zeppelins. He travelled in them.”

Karl Erik Swensson, M.D. during interview January 7, 1985

Based on extensive research and interviews with many witnesses involved in the Höglund case this alien group act more like a sort of Mafia than friendly space people. By a strange co-incidence there is also a direct connection here with organized crime. Richard Höglund and his wife Gunvor worked for a time in 1968-1969 in the house of Lou Chesler in Nassau and according to Richard he also met some of his alien visitors there on several occasions. Lou Chesler was active in real-estate development in the Bahamas and a frontman for organized crime boss Meyer Lansky.

I have often pondered on the strange co-incidence that during the same time that George Adamski co-workers tried to establish a school and community west of Mexico City and claimed the space people hade a base in this region, Richard Höglund visited a alien base in the same vicinity in 1968-1970. During his last years Adamski now and then mentioned that evil space people were also operating on our planet. Perhaps further research can reveal what is truth or fiction in these stories?

In several blog posts I have referred to the extraordinary clairvoyant Theosophist Geoffrey Hodson (1886-1983). He is the author of over fifty titles on Theosophy, psychic powers, spiritualism, meditation and many other subjects. Perhaps best known for his clairvoyant studies of nature spirits and devas. Volumes that should be studied by every ufologist and investigator of paranormal phenomena. In 1988 a very unique book was compiled and published by his second wife Sandra Hodson, Light of the Sanctuary. The Occult Diary of Geoffrey Hodson. In this diary I have found some interesting comments on the secret retreats of the Planetary Guardians or Adepts. Comments that may also be associated with the reports and claims of UFO bases on Earth. I have received valuable data for this blog from Bill Keidan, New Zealand, a pupil of Geoffrey Hodson, who also maintain an excellent website about the life and writings of Hodson.

Geoffrey Hodson 1953

Geoffrey Hodson was, according to his diary, in contact with several of the adepts belonging to the Planetary Guardians. Having an inquisitive mind he often asked them to clarify various issues and mysteries. The problem of how the adepts could keep their retreats around the globe undiscovered comes up several times in the diary. The answers are quite fascinating:

”28 March 1976. None, no one, can see, find, visit either Ourselves or Our retreats against Our wills… This intrusion, My son, into Our personal privacy and that of the Government of the Brotherhood as a whole, is forbidden and with such potency that the greatest of the inventions of scientists of today and tomorrow cannot enable one single person to enter Our realms against Our wishes.”
( Light of the Sanctuary, p. 281).

”22 May 1977. Geoffrey asked the Master how They, the Adepts, preserve the privacy of Their homes and Themselves, even against aerial photography. The Master answered at once: By a deflection of light, just as when a qualified yogi makes himself or herself, invisible as did H.P.B… The Altyn Tagh Retreat is similarly preserved, as also are all Our Retreats throughout the world and by the same methods will continue so to be preserved; likewise the physical bodies of certain of Us… Needless to say, a physical appearance to a collaborator, as once to yourself, is always possible and permissible. Thus, Our Valley is still Ours and undisturbed as you have experienced many times, and this also will continue as long as needed, whether by ourselves or by Our successors.”

(Light of the Sanctuary, pp. 356-357).

”22 July 1979. Geoffrey was wondering how the Masters can remain undiscovered in the modern world of aeroplanes and modern aerial cameras and equipment used for scanning terrain and mountainous areas "The Adepts have powers of which you little dream. They can make a group of homes appear like a bare landscape."
(Light of the Sanctuary, pp. 444-445).

There are often references to hidden retreats in the writings of Blavatsky and many of the early theosophists. We also find many comments on ”safe reteats” and ”protected areas” in the books by Alice Bailey. In theosophist Henry Steele Olcott´s Old Diary Leaves, Second Series, is presented an intriguing experience of a visit to such a secret place of the Adepts. In connection with this visit Olcott comments on their hidden archives:
"All the buried ancient libraries, and those vast hoards of treasure which must be kept hidden until its Karma requires its restoration to human use, are, she said, protected from discovery by the profane, by illusory pictures of solid rocks, unbroken solid ground, a yawning chasm, or some such obstacle, which turns aside the feet of the wrong men, but which Mâyâ dissolves away when the predestined finder comes to the spot in the fullness of time." (p. 45).

Now compare these data on retreats in esoteric literature with the experiences of UFO contactee Enrique Castillo Rincon from Costa Rica. They are documented in UFOs. A Great New Dawn for Humanity (1997). In the preface he states: "I am not a mystic nor a religious fanatic... Neither have I considered myself a "chosen one" to save humanity, and I detest those "contactees" who pretend to have been appointed by some divinity to carry some message to the suffering and almost disgraced human race...Over twenty years have passed and I still don´t know why I was contacted. Was it plain chance?... Why was an individual belonging to the "sandwich-class" (middle-class), such as myself, assigned such an "ungrateful" task as this one, which has meant jeers, calumnies, epithets, and nick-names against my person and my dignity?"

(p.xiii-xiv).

Enrique meet a businessman, Cyril Weiss, of Swiss nationality and they become friends. Later he encounters this man aboard a UFO, as he actually belongs to an advanced group of extraterrestrials trying to help Earth. Enrique is taken to their secret retreat or base in the Andes and given this information: "From antiquity, we have contacted other men, belonging to various cultures. We have influenced their thinking through what you call "Masters". But not only on this planet, also on others; we have contributed to their scientific, cultural and spiritual development. Besides, some of us have been "born" here, or incarnated, if you prefer, since ancient times... We do not explore your planet, because we have had bases here for thousands of years... We belong to an organization that gives assistance to the Planet, and we have always been present."
(pp. 59, 61, 63)

Several of the early 1950s contactees hinted at behind the lines cooperation between the Planetary Guardians and extraterrestrials visitors. Here a quote from American contactee Howard Menger´s book From Outer Space To You (1959): "There are also spacecraft, though of inferior design, which are built by people of this planet. These people are in communication and in service with people from other planets. They are people who possess a high spiritual understanding and have reached an awareness of natural law; therefore they have been entrusted with information enabling them to construct such craft." (p. 159).

Esotericist John McCoy commented on this cooperation in UFOs Confidential, written in collaboration with contactee George Hunt Williamson: ”The spacecraft that are appearing today are under the direction of the hierachy of their own planets and are working in close harmony with the masters and mystery schools on Earth… Today many UFOs are seen in the areas of the Earth where these schools are located – away from the outer world.” (p. 70).

I have also frequently quoted this reference from deep trance medium Mark Probert regarding cooperation between alien visitors and the Planetary Guardians or the Hierarchy: ”There is a certain secret work going on at present between the Etherians and certain high earth authorities (You understand, I suppose, that I do not use the word ”high” in the usual sense. I am referring to those belonging to some of the secret Lodges on Earth). This work has to do with the great possibility of the Earth´s destruction… These men have landed in Australia in a secret landing field. They have not only been to Scotland, but to high authorities in England, and to a few of your men and women here of high standing (I refer to the secret Orders).” (Seance Memoranda From the Inner Circle, November 28, 1951, p. 30).

Mark Probert

George Adamski stated that as a young man he had travelled to a secret school in Tibet, receiving six years of special instruction and education for his coming mission with the space people. According to Glenn Steckling, Adamski was actually flown to a hidden UFO base in Tibet, used by the space people. I have always regarded these claims with grave doubts, but perhaps they are not so far-fetched after all.

Readers of my blog will of course notice the connection between these data and the Esoteric Intervention Theory. In common with UFO researchers Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallee I have one foot in empirical science, critical investigation and one foot in the Esoteric Tradition. From this vantage point or paradigm I have advanced the theory that some of the physical UFO contactees of the 1950s were involved in a cultural and psychological influence test. An experiment implemented by a group of benevolent aliens, earth based or extraterrestrial, a group with access to highly advanced “vimana” technology. This test was done in co-operation with the custodians of the Ancient Wisdom (Higher Intelligence Agency), using a new type of phenomena as attraction as they used spiritualist phenomena in connection with the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875.

To determine whether this version of the Esoteric Intervention Theory is tenable and will stand the test of time and critical analysis, much further research is required. Investigation and documentation of empirical evidence coupled with an advanced and serious study of the Esoteric Tradition. This is an intellectual challenge for the coming generation of open-minded researchers who enter the domain of ”forbidden science”.

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