Håkan Blomqvist´s blog

”Too much of a good thing can be wonderful”. This classic aphorism from actress May West is actually a very apt description of the present state - and problems - of AFU. The ”too much of a good thing” is the avalanche of archives from all over the world that has been donated to us, especially during the last two or three years. ”Wonderful”, of course, but it has also resulted in several, initially not expected, problems and even in some ways been detrimental to our own private research efforts and AFU´s general promotion of UFO research. I became acutely aware of this dilemma a couple of days ago upon receiving an email from my AFU colleague Anders Liljegren who described his growing frustration at the present mission impossible situation at AFU.

Where to find space for this collection? Anders Liljegren July 1, 2009

Here are a few quotes from Anders´ letter summarizing some of the current problems:

"What is an archive without ordered files? Without the good order and a long-time plan for how to handle mega-large collections (such as from FSR, CFI, CEI and BSRA), AFU cannot survive as an idea. The daily work at AFU is extremely dependent on my own involvement and knowledge of the materials and its background(s). Every day I have a steady stream of questions from our five employees and another five or ten of our volunteers.

The goal is to have a good and sensible control over how the AFU files develop, to establish routines and maybe new cross-collection files and indexes that helps us and the researcher.

Decisions must be made on how to arrange files and where to keep them (in any of our thirteen facilities). Processes going on must be checked for quality so that we are sure that the end result will be good preserved files in a workable order for the future.

Anders hard working at the Evans library, November 16, 2010

Digitalization is an important point here, but cannot be allowed to control the whole process. First comes a good order to paper and media files, after that we can talk about digitization of small selected parts which are deemed of high interest to a fairly large number of customers world-wide. Digitization of the holdings of the full contents of any archive is considered unrealistic fantasies even by major archive institutions. And such institutions ought to have resources that AFU will never come to have.

Spending time and resources on engaging unemployed people, like we have done during the past seven - eight years is not profitable to the AFU foundation, unless we are, somehow, paid for doing this. Between 2009 and 2016 AFU had good income from putting many unemployed people on projects to order and digitize simple collections. This good income is no longer in place.

There may have been some 50 different persons with us during this period. The energy spent to organize all this has been worth the while mainly because we had more than 6 million SEK coming into the foundation as direct and indirect support from the Swedish government.

This has never happened to any private ufo-related project before, anywhere in the world. Not even with funding from rich private patrons. If I had had the 6 million SEK directly in my hands I would have found much more effective ways of organizing our work than to run-around instructing or trying to motivate people who have been out of the regular job market for 10-20 years.

We have hundreds of large and small “forgotten” heaps of papers in almost every corner. Some of these documents may be of great importance if they are filed in a researchable framework (by subject, by organization, by date). Now they are not. Another example: A good part of 2017 I have spent on going through and checking parts of our magazine store. Week-long projects where I have dived into the mags from country-after-country, checking up shelf contents and comparing with my database. Often re-filing the mags into new and better folders or acid-free boxes to preserve them better. That work will have to continue; there are still many countries to work on.

Together with Anders, reviewing the BSRF archive August 2, 2016

In the period 2012-2016 I had three different men working with this filing of magazines from all over the world. I could do introductions working with each for about a week and continued routine checks on their work. In hindsight I now discover that many magazines have been misplaced in all corners of the store and much previous work has/had to be re-done. Last week we found a good batch of Norwegian mags in a box of Danish mags while the Danish that should have been there were missing. Mags published from Spain are routinely found on our South American shelves – and vice versa. Magazines in English have routinely been filed as American.

Absolutely no shade should fall on those kind and well-meaning people who worked for us, they were maybe just ignorant or didn’t dare to ask? Anyway, these are but small examples of all the problems that should be corrected before AFU continues to accept new collections at the “avalanche” rate of speed we have had during the past ten years.”

These are but some of the present AFU problems discussed by Anders Liljegren. What we really need now is a large intermediate storage facility where incoming collections can be placed awaiting to be reviewed and catalogued. But as of now we simply do not have the money to hire premise no 14. More sponsors are needed. We do not want to say no to donors of archives. It is better to have archives stored at AFU than dumped or scattered on many hands.

Clas Svahn with a unique sign donated to AFU, October 21, 2012

March 17, 1973 is the official founding date of AFU. We were three young ufologists, inspired by Jacques Vallee and John Keel, critical of the prevalent ETI information ideology in the Swedish UFO community. Instead we wanted to concentrate on research and documentation. In the information sheet sent out we motivated our point of view partly with a quote from Jacques Vallee´s Passport To Magonia:

”There is a tendency among the believers to gather into large, very formal organizations, whre they waste all there energy and, sometimes, a good deal of money, with practically no visible result. It is clear that such organizations answer a psychological need rather than a genuine desire to discover the answer to an interesting intellectual problem. Maintaining such a group implies a tremendous overhead… and experience shows that research is always tha last activity it can afford. Instead, these groups generate so much internal bitterness and so many interorganizational feuds that they prove to be serious obstacles to independent researchers who are simply trying to get firsthand data and do not care to support one particular personality or theory against another.” (p. 158)

In a certain sense we are today back at square one as in 1973. We have very little time to spend on personal research projects as the avalance of archives donated to AFU takes most of our time. Especially is this the situation for Anders Liljegren who often spend more than eight hours work at the archive, taking care of the day-to-day routines. Sometimes too much of a good thing can be complicated.

In several blog entries I have presented the early history of AFU during the first formative years 1973-1979. Compared with the intensive and global activities of today the 1970s was a period of slow but gradual growth of the library, coupled with much discussion of the future development of our small informal working group. In March 1979 we decided to change the acronym AFU from Arbetsgruppen för ufologi (Working group for ufology) to Arkivet för UFO-forskning (Archives for UFO Research) and we also started publishing articles in English in AFU Newsletter.

By 1980, as several ufologists began donating books and magazines to our library, the international contacts increased and because of our new name, 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. From now on Anders Liljegren handled the day to day activities at AFU, after work and at weekends. Ufologist Sven-Olov Svensson, who lived nearby, began taking an active part in handling book loans, which then often were sent by mail.

Anders Liljegren and Kjell Jonsson relaxing in my apartment in Sundbyberg after discussions about the future of AFU, August 18, 1980

GICOFF, Göteborgs informationscenter för UFO (Gothenburg UFO Information Center) was the first research oriented UFO organization in Sweden, founded in 1969, one year before the founding of UFO-Sweden. GICOFF was headed by Sven-Olof Fredriksson and Björn Högman and performed high quality field investigation and documentation in the 1970s. The group ceased activity in 1978 and in 1981 the GICOFF archive was donated to AFU.

Sven-Olof Fredriksson

By 1983 the library consisted of 1163 titles and the need for a specialized cataloguing system became evident. Anders Liljegren created the first version of UfoCode, later updated to the more inclusive PhenCode, the library classification system presently used by AFU.

A happy Anders Liljegren at the new AFU headquarters 1983

In May 1984 I terminated my work as librarian at Stockholm Public Library and moved to Norrköping, beginning a career as freelance journalist. We were now three active ufologists in Norrköping engaged in keeping AFU going. New board member from this year was journalist Clas Svahn, active in ufology since 1974. During the 1980s he lived with his wife in Luleå, in the northern part of Sweden so his visits to AFU was not so frequent. But we had now installed a copy machine and telephone in our facility which made communication easier.

In 1985 Anders bought the first AFU computer at a cost of incredible 50,000 SEK, a very large amount of money at that time, all from his own savings. With this computer Anders built our first database, ScanCat, with Swedish UFO reports. Statistical analysis now became much easier and an important research tool. In the Autumn of 1985 the vast archive of the publishing House Parthenon was donated to AFU, collected by a.o. Carl-Anton Mattson and me at Hälsingborg.

Proudly displaying some of the magazines at AFU 1985

1986 was in several ways a year of sadness. On February 28, 1986 Edith Nicolaisen, founder of Parthenon, died. By a strange coincidence this was the same day that Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated in Stockholm. On April 30, 1986 our friend and AFU co-founder Kjell Jonsson died during a heavy attack of asthma. We had noticed his health becoming increasingly frail but his early death was still a chock to us. Kjellwas in many respects the man who created AFU as a library and archive institution. On the positive side 1986 was the year when AFU joined UFO-Sweden as an affiliate group and could officially be recognized as the archive unit of our national organization.

Kjell Jonsson at the old AFU library in his home, August 1977

If 1986 was a year of grief, 1987 proved to be quite the opposite. In 1987 Sven-Olov Svenssonmade the historical decision to quit his ordinary work at a local firm and engage in full time volunteer service at the then rather small AFU office. Truly a gift from heaven for a non-profit but growing foundation. And he is still with us today.

Sven-Olov Svensson, June 1988

In 1987 Anders Liljegren and Clas Svahn had been allowed to copy the entire UFO archive at The Swedish Defence Research Institute (FOI), former name FOA. We could now create a large national UFO report archive, merging reports from FOA, GICOFF, UFO-Sweden, AFU and other Swedish sources.

Interviewing Whitley Strieber at Hotel Diplomat, Stockholm, October 11, 1988

In an earlier blog entry I have detailed the very happy ending in our efforts to save the archive of pioneer Swedish ufologist Gösta Rehn. In August 1989 Anders Liljegren and I succeeded in rescuing his entire correspondence file from being dumped in a container. This was also the year when Clas Svahn and Anders Liljegren published their groundbreaking research and documentation of the famous Domsten abduction case of December 19, 1958. After years of meticulous investigation they could prove that this classic abduction and contact claim was a hoax, inspired by the Tom Trick science fiction series published in a Swedish magazine. Their motive was simply fame and money. The Domsten study is serious research-oriented ufology at its best and a prime example of what can be achieved by having an extensive archive as a research base.

Anders Liljegren, Åke Franzén and Sven-Olov Svensson at AFU May 30, 1989

For AFU the 1980s was a decade of consolidation and implementation of several research and documentation projects. A further development from being a simple UFO lending library to an international UFO, Fortean and paranormal archive.

Next to my bed are at present seven boxes with hundreds of folders from the archive of Borderland Sciences Research Foundation(BSRF). A small portion of this unique collection which takes up a large part of my working day, reviewing and organizing. Recently I found two folders with the Meade Layne – Desmond Leslie correspondence 1952-1955, giving the personal, behind the scenes events and discussions before and after the publishing of all time classic Flying Saucers Have Landed.

The Swedish edition of this book, with its beautiful and imaginative front page, affected me profoundly when, as a young teenager, I found it in my parents bookshelf. Never in my wildest dreams could I envision that 50 years later I would find myself as one of the custodians (at AFU) of the personal correspondence of Desmond Leslie. The Gods of Fate sometimes work in strange ways.

A young enthusiast with the Swedish edition of Flying Saucer Have Landed

To comprehend this correspondence it is important to realize that Desmond Leslie was an esotericist, very well acquainted with the basic works of The Esoteric Tradition: H.P. Blavatsky, C.W. Leadbeater, Annie Besant, Geoffrey Hodson, Alice Bailey a.o. During a visit to a friend in 1951 he found a copy of The Story of Atlantis (1896) by W. Scott Elliott. In a sort of heureka moment he realised that the description of vimanas in Atlantis tallied almost identically with the modern reports of flying saucers.

Desmond Leslie

This discovery entered a period of intense research to find stories of aircraft in ancient manuscripts. Leslie spent many hours at the British Museum studying the hindu epics Ramayana and Mahaharata where he found many references to aerial vehicles.The idea of a book on vimanas soon became a reality and because of his knowledge of the The Esoteric Tradition, Leslie discovered BSRF and contacted Meade Layne.

So far I have found 25 letters, mainly from Desmond Leslie and only two from Meade Layne. The first letter from Leslie was written November 13, 1952 where he mention his interest in esotericism and also wide experience of mediums. He was rather critical of most channeled messages but obviously felt himself guided in writing the book about vimanas:
”… been helped to write (by) certain entities in the other world who have told me they are doing the best to guide my pen”… How dull is modern science compared to Cosmic Science. How one sighs for the ancient schools and the sacred philosophia that disappeared from view when the Earth entered the Kali Yug… I am avid, thinking and hungry for knowledge of a subject that has occupied my whole consciousness for over two years ever since I first read a flying saucer report and realised it was synonymous with accounts of the VIMANAS as the disks were called in the Sanskrit.”

First page of letter to Meade Layne, November 13, 1952

From Meade Layne, Desmond Leslie received information about George Adamski´s contact experience in the desert on November 20, 1952 and he soon began corresponding with Adamski and George Hunt Williamson:

”This is important. Adamski has sent me a detailed account of his desert contact… His report of mother-ship, smaller saucer and magnetic hovering device entirely confirms the Telano transcript. As you know I am giving about 20 pages of my book to publicising your activities and I want to make out the strongest case possible for you.”
(Letter from Desmond Leslie to Meade Layne, March 24, 1953.)

The manuscript for the Vimana book had earlier been sent to Sidgwick and Jackson but they were reluctant at publishing which resulted in some very witty and ironic comments from Leslie:
”Alas, Sidgwick Jackson cold footed. Unlikely that they now publish but good to have your support and interest. S.J. gave it to a reader – an old maid with a B.Sc. after her name and her report had to be kept in asbestos. Having run out of vituperation she called me illiterate. I may be everything else but I pride myself on being able to write passable prose. They´ve now sent it to an astronomer. It only remains for it to be reviewed by a subway attendant, an underarm ball furnaceman… a resevoir attendant… a cosmetician… a sanitary engineer…”
(Letter from Desmond Leslie to Meade Layne, March 31, 1953.)

In March 1953 George Adamski sent a detailed account of his desert contact. A few weeks later he would also send the by now classic saucer photos to Leslie:
”I had no doubt about Adamski´s sighting. I was just hoping to get as much outside evidence as possible to make it look stronger in my book. He has sent me some amazing photos. Funny – but he seems to have some objection to BSRA on the accuracy of their teachings from what I can gather. But so far with me has been most cooperative and has written me several excellent letters. So has Williamson who has given me the proceedure in making radio contact.”

(Letter from Desmond Leslie to Meade Layne, April 6, 1953.)

Photo taken by George Adamski, December 13, 1952

The reason for George Adamski´s ”objection to BSRA” was in the interpretation of his meeting with the Venusian. Adamski always maintained that his space people were organic physical like earth people. BSRA advanced the opinion that venusians lived at a different level in the multiverse (etheric) which was also confirmed by the Inner Circle, the individuals speaking through trance medium Mark Probert. This information was given clairaudiently to Mark Probert commenting, on the contact November 20th 1952: "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)

Leslie gave up on Sidgwick and Jackson and sent his manuscript to a new publisher, T. Werner Laurie. This proved to be a hit in many ways as the man who read the manuscript was Waveney Girvan, who came up with the brilliant idea of combining Leslie´s and Adamski´s manuscripts into one book:

”The book is now called ”THE FLYING SAUCERS HAVE LANDED” and is being published by T. WERNER LAURIE of 1 DOUGHTY STREET. LONDON. W.C. .. This publisher is an ardent saucerite; he first published Heard´s book in England, and I have changed certain things on his advice, such as relegating some of the more complicated occult matters to a sequel volume. .. I have however been able to say quite a good deal about you and BSRA as an avante garde school of saucerology who should be watched and studied by all really interested… A new innovation is that about ninety pages of it will be a detailed eye witness accounts of the Desert Landing along with all the amazing pictures of George Adamski who have been most cooperative and is acting as a co-author in this section… I don´t know if you have read Adamski´s full manuscript account of the contact but it is very well written and strangely moving… My new publisher is a good change from stuffy old S.J. He is madly keen and has already gone around trying to arrange radio and TV tie ups, as well as serialisation and US publication… I have just seen the picture proofs 14 full pages of large photos – and a lovely coloured dust jacket done by a well known artist depicting the Desert Landing in detail. ”
(Letter from Desmond Leslie to Meade Layne, June 12, 1953.)

Waveney Girvan

With the manuscript in safe hands at T. Werner Laurie, a large publicity campaign was initiated:

”We are trying to get every saucer group to use the sticky labels, like the one on the envelope, on all their correspondence. Would you like to have several hundred or several thousand right away? Any Associate wishing to havet them for his own use (they are free) should write direct to T. WERNER LAURIE AND CO LTD. 1 DOUGHTY STREET LONDON. W.C. stating how many he would like to have.”
(Letter from Desmond Leslie to Meade Layne, Aug. 5, 1953.)

As Leslie´s father was a first cousin of Winston Churchill contact with royalties was no problem which this interesting letter proves:

”I took the book and pictures to Buckingham Palace and had a long session with the Duke´s A.D.C.´s who are most sympathetic towards saucers… Watch for our new opus written conjointly with Prof Donald Duck Menzell in which we prove conclusively that those bid red London busses people keep seing are only the refracted, reflected, polarised and ionized images of the neon signs of Piccadilly Circus.”
(Letter from Desmond Leslie to Meade Layne, Aug. 29, 1953.)

Flying Saucers Have Landed was published in September 1953. A revised and very much enlarged edition was published by Neville Spearman in 1970. It was translated into several languages and global sales reached around one million copies. Flying Saucer Review editor Charles Bowen very aptly named it The Book That Was Dynamite. What becomes obvious to me after reading the Meade Layne – Desmond Leslie correspondence is the extensive influence BSRF had on the development of the UFO movement. This letter and the following are quite revealing in this respect:

”Thanks again a million times for your splendid support and help in this whole project. Without you F.S.H.L. wouldn´t be the book it (I think) is. Press here divided. But plenty of it. Most of them derisory or terrified. A few proclaim it as greatest discovery of the age. I have been called ”The sorcerer´s apprentice”. Apparently G.A. is la grande sorciere!
(Letter from Desmond Leslie to Meade Layne, Oct. 14, 1953.)

In 1972 French ufologist Michel Zirger read the classic Flying Saucers Have Landed by Desmond Leslie and George Adamski. Like many others he became intensively fascinated by its content and this ”magic cauldron of ufology” became his ”bedside book” – and still is. But it also, in 1993, initiated a systematic investigation into the life of contactee George Hunt Williamson, resulting in the biography The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson (English edition 2016), co-authored with Maurizio Martinelli. I reviewed this work in an earlier blog entry.

What makes the research and documentation of Michel Zirger especially valuable is his access to parts of the personal archive of George Hunt Williamson, which he acquired in 1995: unpublished manuscripts, notebooks, personal diary and correspondence. Based on this unique material Zirger has now published a 365 page sequel to the first biography, ”We Are Here!” Visitors Without a Passport., edited by Australien ufologist Warren P. Aston. And let me make it clear already at the outset of this review – this book has the potential of becoming dynamite in the UFO research community.

Serious and open minded research on early contactee cases and especially George Adamski has been and is to this day very much taboo among mainstream scientific ufologists. Instead of detailed investigation ufologists like Donald Keyhoe, Coral and Jim Lorenzen, Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallee appeared as skeptical debunkers when commenting on the 1950s contactees. In my view, and also clearly emphasized by Zirger, a great mistake made by the otherwise best minds in UFO research history. ”For the last 50 years we have been led by the nose by a small clique of astronomer-statistician-ufologists, allegedly rigorous, who have led ufology down a blind alley to where it is a present”, is the harsh comment by Michel Zirger in his introduction (p. xviii). And he continues with referring to ”Jacques Vallee´s passion for reducing all UFO reports and entities to a single socio-religious explanation”. The last comment is a strange misunderstanding. Vallee has never been a proponent of the skeptical psychosocial school in ufology, although some reviewers of Passport to Magonia have interpreted him as a skeptic.

Michel Zirger was born in France but moved to Tokyo in 1994, where he has worked together with several Japanese ufologists. And it is in Tokyo that Zirger has had three intriguing encounters with ”human-type aliens”. The first two encounters, in 1994, happened at a restaurant near the train station of Senzokuike. Zirger, his future wife and her cousin Yoshimi notice a strange woman at a table: ”Her gaze was metallic, hard, intense, as if full of reproach… At those very moments I definitely felt that she was sending me what is commonly called ”telepathic messages”.” Two months later Zirger and his future wife encounter the same woman again in the restaurant. And once again there is a telepathic interplay. When the mysterious woman is leaving the restaurant Zirger follows her: ”… although I went out one or two seconds after her, I could not see her…she had disappeared; she had vanished into thin air.”

The third encounter occurred 2010 in a Tokyo café. Zirger share a drink with his friend Yann Aucante when they notice a Swedish or Scandinavian-looking man at a table nearby. Zirger immediately get the impression that this is Orthon, the extraterrestrial who contacted Adamski and he repeat a telepathic message: ”Are you an extraterrestrial?”. Suddenly the man writes something in a notebook and leave it open for all to see. The man had written in French ”On est la” (We are here) and then leave the café. Zirger doesn´t say that this really WAS Orthon but affirm that he ”bore an extraordinary resemblance to the alien known to us as Orthon, as depicted in the drawing made by Alice K. Wells in 1952 and in the oil painting done by the artist Gay Betts in 1954…” This encounter so impressed Michel Zirger that he made the writing in the notebook the title of his second Williamson biography.

Oil painting by Gay Betts

What is somewhat surprising is that Zirger is not aware of that George Adamski did not favor the almost feminine Orthon in the oil painting. In 1959 Adamski told his co-worker Lou Zinsstag: ”Orthon did not look like that at all. He had a very manly, intellectual face, but as his features were so distinct and characteristic it would have been dangerous for him to have had them published.” Adamski then opened his wallet and showed Lou Zinsstag a photo of Orthon. She noticed that ”It was indeed very different from the painted version.” (Lou Zinsstag and Timothy Good, George Adamski - The Untold Story, p.7).

Section II of ”We Are Here”, A Case of Italian Friendship, is a 60 page summary of the controversial Amicizia case. I guess editor Warren Aston is behind the idea to include this section in the book as he is an exponent of the case and has devoted two chapters to Amicizia in his book A Mormon Looks at Aliens and UFOs, co-authored with Nadine Lalich (2012). Warren Aston has also edited 50 years of Amicizia, written by Stefano Breccia (2013). Although open minded I am very dubious of this complicated case and I don´t think it should have been included as the link to George Hunt Williamson and George Adamski is very thin. Michel Zirger writes that Amicizia ”validates the Adamski case”. I find the story to be quite the opposite from what I have read regarding Amicizia. If the aliens described by Breccia and others really exist they are not the kind of people I would buy a used car from.

For those who have not read Williamson´s book Other Tongues – Other Flesh, chapter six in Zirger´s biography, A New Concept: The Wanderers is a very informative overview of the spiritual worldview of Williamson in relation to visitors from other planets. He introduced today well known concepts such as The Migrants, The Wanderers, The Agents, The Intruders etc. This chapter is followed by a very useful chronology of events in the life of Georg Hunt Williamson. Here we can follow the development of both his personal life, philosophy and involvement with various ufologists, contactees and channellers. Much of this information has not been published before.

There has been several attempts to associate George Adamski and George Hunt Williamson with far-right extremism. In Messengers of Deception Jacques Vallee writes: ”According to some of my informants, contactee George Adamski had prewar connections with American fascist leader William Dudley Pelley, who was interned during the war. Another seminal contactee, George Hunt Williamson… was associated with Pelley´s organization ”Soulcraft”, in the early fifties.” (p. 192). In a very important chapter, The Two Georges and the Far Right, Michel Zirger, presents clear evidence that these accusations by Vallee are unfounded and a misunderstanding. 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). Vallee´s statement that Valor was a ”racist magazine” has no foundation. It was an outlet for Pelley´s spiritual messages and channelings. Michel Zirger has made a great service to UFO research by unraveling these mistakes.

George Hunt Williamson 1953

A chapter that will certainly raise a few eyebrows is titled A Response To An All-Round Debunker (of UFOs, Aliens, Apparitions, Turid Shroud, Jesus, Religion, Bible etc.). Here Michel Zirger presents some very harsh criticism of an unnamed skeptic, called Mr. X, who heavily criticized his first book on Williamson. Mr. X had written ”a long diatribe of such unprecedented virulence, impoliteness and self-conceit that an answer from me is the only desirable, necessary and legally authorized reaction.” (p. 299). We are further told that ”… he did not hesitate to archive in Sweden, with a Ufological organization, the whole correspondence I had with him, about twenty e-mails, so that any third party can consult them, and this during my lifetime and without my consent… Is it legal to archive my letters in Sweden? I don´t know…” (pp. 299-300). I was somewhat surprised by these statements as anyone with basic information retrieval skills can easily find out that it is AFU, the archive of which I am co-founder and working with, that is inferred. By reading the AFU website or my blog, or the blog of my AFU colleague Clas Svahn, it i also easy to find the name of the skeptic who donated his archive to AFU. Why Michel Zirger prefer anonymity for Mr. X I don´t know but I will not here divulge his real name. As for the legal aspect, collections donated to privately financed NGO foundations is open to anyone, unless the donor has stipulated restrictions regarding some part of the material. The AFU board naturally have an moral responsibility when dealing with correspondence of a controversial och private nature but generally the archive is open to anyone with a serious research interest.

The most sensational part of this book, which could prove to be real dynamite in UFO history is presented in Update. Photographic Validation of the Landing of Orthon on November 20, 1952. On the very day when the final editing of ”We Are Here” was completed Michel Zirger discovered that the George Adamski photographs had been digitally enhanced by the Danish photographer and painter Rene Erik Olsen. These photos are reproduced in the book and on the website of Rene Erik Olsen and clearly show new details never before seen or expected. There is even one photo showing what could be Orthon. If these enhancements prove correct and can be validated the Adamski contact case will have to be re-evaluated even by mainstream, scientific ufologists.

Adamski photo Dec. 13, 1952 from Rene Erik Olsen´s website. Not digitally enhanced

To receive further details I contacted Rene Erik Olsen. This is a summary of his information: Rene contacted Glenn Steckling of the Adamski Foundation in 2001 as he wanted to do a computer animation of George Adamski´s contact experience November 20, 1952. From Steckling he received copies from the original negatives and Rene was asked to make digital enhancements of the photos. It was then the new details were discovered. Rene regard the photos from November 20, 1952 as definitely genuine and revolutionary and the photos of December 13, 1952 as ”probably genuine”. Up until 1995 Rene made some drawings for Danish ufologist H.C. Petersen and the organization SUFOI but wish to be neutral in regard to various claims of contact. Michel Zirger affirms that ”Mr. Olsen is a good, honest, and very generous man, who tries to deal with the evidence at hand without his own bias and ideas about the subject… Of course we have to be careful, and further analysis will be needed.”

”We Are Here” is an important book with a treasure trove on new research data, much better organized than the first volume. Michel Zirger ends by announcing there will be a third book with a follow up on the Adamski photographs enhanced by Olsen. Is this the beginning of a revolution in UFO history?

George Hunt Williamson (1926-1986) is one of the most well known contactees of the 1950s. Often mentioned as a witnesses to George Adamski´s contact with a spaceman on November 20, 1952. But during several decades, after he left the UFO scene in 1962, he became a rather illusive figure. Not much was known or published of his activities. Williamson does not even have a personal entry in the first two UFO encyclopedias published in 1980: The Encyclopedia of UFOs, edited by Ronald D. Story and The UFO Encyclopedia by Margaret Sachs. Since then much new information on Williamson has surfaced. Of special interest are the biographies written by Michel Zirger, the latest called ”We Are Here” Visitors Without a Passport, which I reviewed recently.

Michel Zirger

The authors second Williamson biography present a wealth of fascinating data never before published and also touches on so many side issues that I find it appropriate to add some further notes and comments. That George Hunt Williamson was an expert ritual dancer is probably not so well known. Michel Zirger narrates that he even won several competitions of dances, ”once even outclassing the best Sioux dancers” (p. 350). Between May 1951 and March 1952 Williamson lived with an Indian family of the Chippewa tribe in Minnesota. When reading Keyhoe´s book Flying Saucers Are Real during this period he noticed the links between modern flying saucer sightings and the legends he had collected from the Indians. During his stay with the Chippewa tribe Williamson had at least one mystical, visionary experience. In Zirger´s possession today is Williamson´s diary for this period, entitled Chippewa Diary. Hopefully this diary will soon be published.

Michel Zirger (left) with French ufologist Franck Boitte

The older generation film aficionados will certainly remember American actress Jane Russell, a leading sex symbol of the 1940s och 50s. Starring in classic movies with Bob Hope such as Son of Paleface and Road to Bali. It may come as a surprise that George Hunt Williamson during his later years as Michel d´Obrenovic was a friend of several Hollywood film stars, among them Jane Russell. In 1973 he married actress Jennifer Holt and in 1974 officiated as priest at the wedding of Jane Russell to her third husband, in Santa Barbara. Always a mystic and religious man Williamson was ordained as priest in the Orthodox Christian Church 1971.

There has for many years been frequent rumors that George Adamski´s meeting with a spaceman in the California desert on November 20, 1952 had been filmed by a pilot from U.S. Air Force who had over-flown Desert Center during the contact. Michel Zirger mention an interesting incident revealed by George Adamski during a lecture at Caxton Hall, London on April 28, 1959 (p. 250). About one month after the desert contact a captain in the U.S. Air Force visited Palomar Gardens asking for pictures of the footprints and the plate with the famous writing from another planet, received by Adamski on December 13, 1952. When the Air Force captain returned he had made 10 x 12 enlargements for Adamski. But he also left his business card with the message ”Did you focus your telescope on me?”, implying that he was one of the pilots who had watched the contact from his plane. Adamski always kept this business card i his wallet.

There is a confirmation of this claim made by contactee George Van Tassel, though not mentioned by Zirger. In his publication Proceedings 1956 Van Tassel writes: ”I was personally informed by an officer in Air Force Intelligence that George Adamski´s contact was filmed by Air Force personnel aboard one of the airplanes orbiting over the craft Adamski made contact with”. (Proceedings, vol. 5, no. 1, October 1956, p. 13). If this film exist it is probably hidden in the archive of some of the military intelligence organizations. Disclosure of this film would of course change UFO history.

While discussing some of the other contactees of the 1950s Zirger makes a short summary of the experiences of ”a mysterious Paul M.Vest”. He was a Santa Monica-based journalist who was a frequent contributor to Fate magazine in the 1950s and 60s. In June 1953 Vest was contacted by the ”Venusian” Bill and asked to promote the story of Orfeo Angelucci, which he did. Vest related what happened and his discussions with Bill in an article for Mystic Magazine, August 1954: Venusians Walk Our Streets. From an esoteric viewpoint this is one of the most informative and fascinating articles ever written on the contactee enigma. I find it almost inconceivable that, as far as I know, no research has been done on Paul M Vest, neither by ufologists, esotericists or academic scholars in Western Esotericism.

The article Venusians Walk Our Streets had a seminal influence on my research when formulating a version of Jacques Vallee´s Esoteric Intervention Theory. It supported my thesis that some of the UFO contactees of the 1950s were involved in a psychological-cultural influence test implemented by a group of benevolent aliens with access to Vimana technology. In Messengers of Deception (pp. 204-209) Jacques Vallee gave the essentially dark side of this theory while I have tried to formulate a more benevolent conspiracy theory from an esoteric viewpoint. Whether this theory can be validated depends upon further research and perhaps a new revelation from the boys upstairs or the Higher Intelligence Agency (HIA) of this planet.

In both Williamson biographies Michel Zirger has tried to understand and make an assessment of the channeled messages by George Hunt Williamson and other contactees. This unfortunately becomes the weak parts of the books as Zirger is obviously not well acquainted with the core Esoteric Tradition: Helena Blavatsky, Alice Bailey, Henry T. Laurency a.o.. Consequently he relates quotes from Guy Ballard of the I Am movement ( pp. 58-59) and British contactee George King (p. 322) as equal of interest with Blavatsky or Charles Leadbeater. But this is a very common mistake also made by academic scholars, often making no comment on the vast difference in intellectual and philosophical quality between various exponents of esotericism.

The psychologically unhealthy and dangerous philosophy of the I Am movement, founded by Guy and Edna Ballard in the 1930s, was exposed already in Psychic Dictatorship in America by Gerald B. Bryan (1940). Membership overlapped heavily with the fascist organization the Silver Shirts, founded by William Dudley Pelley. For students of esotericism this quote from the Inner Circle of Borderland Sciences Research Foundation is of interest: ”Do you remember two people who had a following even of millions, whose claims were false? (The Ballards). They gathered up the knowledge of many occult schools, they cast this knowledge forth upon the people with malice – and for gain. Yet well they knew what they were doing. It will take them thousands of years to repair this Karmic dept. Both Ballard and his wife knew what they were doing. They had occult knowledge, of course, but their claims and purposes were false and selfish. Money! All was sacrificed for money, for gain.”
(Memoranda From the Mark P. Seances, no. 1, November 17, 1946.)

About this group, The I Am movement, created by Guy and Edna Ballard, The Tibetan D.K. made some harsh comments: ”It is this truth, misinterpreted and shockingly travestied, which lie behind the teaching anent the so-called Ascended Masters, put out by the leaders of the I Am movement”. (Alice Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, p. 16).

George Adamski warned George Hunt Williamson to be careful regarding what channeled messages he accepted and followed. Their difference in this respect was the reason these two contactees went separate ways after a few months of co-operation. But Williamson did not heed the wise warning of Adamski but completely trusted his own channelings, the messages received by William Dudley Pelley and Dorothy Martin (later Sister Thedra). This resulted in a curious mix of esoteric concepts, mysticism and messages from space people. Williamson was from the beginning obviously involved in the contact test by the benevolent alien group but strayed far away because of his lack of discrimination in judging channeled messages.

In chapter two, The First Extraterrestrial Contact In Modern Times, Michel Zirger makes some controversial statements about George Adamski and Theosophy: ”In none of his known writings, or aviable lectures, did Adamski refer to any specific esoteric movement. He never mentioned any names of occultists, not event that of Helena Blavatsky… In fact, in some ways George Adamski´s teachings are the exact opposite of those of theosophy or any other Rosicrucian-type philosophy… He was definitely not a neo-Gnostic as was Williamson.” (63).

George Adamski

These statements by Zirger are somewhat misleading. It is correct that in his personal philosophy, especially as presented before his meeting with the space people, George Adamski can be described as a Christian mystic, including reincarnation in his teachings. But the philosophy Adamski received from the space people, and presented in Inside the Space Ships, is definitely esoteric or neo-gnostic. It is the esoteric worldview in a somewhat simplified form as also given to contactees like Orfeo Angelucci, Daniel Fry, Howard Menger a.o.

George Adamski did in fact mention Theosophy in his Private Group Lecture For Advanced Thinkers, in Detroit, Michigan, May 4, 1955: ”As I stated before, I am not a Theosophist, a Rosicrucian, nor anything…I took up Occult Catholicism because my father hoped I would become a priest which I decided against. I have since studied many philosophies and religions, but I didn´t become associated with any one particular religion.” (p.3) Adamski corresponded with several esotericists. In a letter to Riley Crabb, October 21, 1955, he wrote: ”Dear Mr. Crabb, Thank you sincerely for sending me a copy of your lecture review at the Honolulu Lodge of the Theosophical Society on August 30th. Your review was excellent and I am wondering what the results have been.”

These critical comments should not be considered as derogatory of Zirger´s biographies. The two books are of great value with much new and interesting information om George Hunt Williamson. And I do agree with the authors final conclusion: ”What I wanted to reaffirm in this volume is that the alien contact case of November 20, 1952, the very first encounter with a human-looking extraterrestrial entity to hit the headlines, deserved to be at least reexamined dispassionately through the fistful of factual elements we have at our disposal, and not through the bias, slanders, rumors and hearsay that almost all of the books dealing with the subject rely on.” (p. 317).

In the beginning of the 1990s the AFU board became increasingly aware of that we represented the third generation ufologists. Many investigators of the 1950s and 60s had disappeared from the scene and local groups had folded. This meant that personal and organizational UFO archives were scattered around Sweden and, in some instances, perhaps disposed. This realization initiated a concentrated effort to contact as many former ufologists as possible. An undertaking that proved very successful as almost all people contacted donated their collections of books, magazines, clippings, photos, organizational files, correspondence etc. AFU during this period developed from a simple UFO lending library to an archive institution. On November 19, 1990 the AFU board celebrated a ten year anniversary in our premises in Norrköping.

Celebration with UFO cake, November 19, 1990. From left Sven-Olov Svensson, Anders Liljegren, Clas Svahn

The national organization UFO-Sweden faced many problems towards the end of the 1980s. Local groups disappeared and there was a lack of entusiasm coupled with internal struggles between various ideological factions within the organization. This crisis reached its peak at the 1991 annual conference. Would the members vote for a science-based research organization or a New Age missionary ideology? The first option won with much support and journalist and ufologist Clas Svahn was elected the new chairman of UFO-Sweden. This was a watershed moment in Swedish UFO history as Clas Svahn now formulated the new ideological position of UFO-Sweden, labelled the Third Way Ufology: Neither naive belief nor debunking skepticism but an open mind to various theories and claims based on critical investigation and empirical data.

Clas Svahn at UFO-Sweden board meeting October 12, 1996

By 1992 AFU was so well known and established that we began receiving collections of material also from our Nordic countries. The Danish UFO organization SUFOI donated a very extensive collection of magazines. The personal and organizational files were growing fast so we understood that soon a second premises would be necessary. Our 38 square meters simply couldn´t house all incoming items. In January 1992 we found a possible solution nearby. It was still used as an archive by the real-estate company who owned the premises so we had to wait until they could find a new archive facility. But during the Spring of 1993 we could finally begin renovating the new 75 square meters and in July part of the archive was moved from the old premises.

Working in the old premises October 10, 1992

Anders Liljegren´s lady Barbro, painting our new premises, May 10, 1993

On October 31, 1993 the new facility was celebrated with an inauguration party involving ufologists from all over Sweden who enjoyed our Russian Champagne. To cover the expenses for our new premises we succeeded in creating a pool of idealistic sponsors, donating a small sum of money each month.

Inauguration party

Our new premises, Autumn 1993

1993 proved to be a peak activity year for AFU. Between January 23 – February 28 we arranged a large UFO exhibition at the Norrköping City Museum. The exhibition, UFO – främlingar från stjärnorna? (UFOs – Strangers From The Stars?) resulted in very extensive media coverage.

In 1993 the Swedish government introduced a project called ALU, Arbetslivsutveckling, making it possible for unemployed people to work six months at organizations etc, with the salary paid by the government. In March 1993 we applied for an ALU project and had no problem getting it. This gave us the possibility of hiring unemployed ufologists or other people interested in our subject to work at AFU. The first person to be engaged was Swedish ufologist Jörgen Granlie, who for several months coded UFO reports in our database ScanCat. Between 1993-1998 some 40 people worked on ALU projects at the archive. From an international perspective this was an unique opportunity to have a staff of people working full time at a UFO organization. Unheard of as far as I know.

Viewing the UFO exhibition, February 1993

ALU staff at work, June 1994

As we now officially regarded AFU as an archive, in 1993 we became members of two Swedish archive associations, Östergötlands Arkivförbund (ÖLFA) and Folkrörelsernas Arkivförbund (FA). On October 23, 1993 The Board of Private Archives of the National Archives in Stockholm decided to grant us 6,500 SEK to pay for working material connected to our ALU projects. This was our first recognition as a serious archive institution and our first grant from the Swedish authorities. My first UFO book UFO – i myt och verklighet (UFO – in Myth and Reality) was published in December 1993, receiving favorable reviews and copies were purchased by most of the Swedish public libraries.

Our first international guest was Hilary Evans, who visited us in October 1996. We had many interesting discussions about UFO and paranormal phenomena. Although a skeptic regarding UFO he was very open to the idea of phenomena hitherto unknown. Hilary Evans many years later donated his entire archive to AFU and was also the donor who inspired us to change the AFU acronym to Archives for the Unexplained. In 1998 AFU was visisted by Timothy Good, who donated 12,000 SEK. A very welcome contribution.

With Hilary Evans at AFU, October 7, 1996

Hilary Evans

My AFU colleague Anders Liljegren often, in a friendly and good-natured spirit, poke fun at my historical flashbacks. Anders have dubbed me The Knight of Nostalgia. Not a bad title at all, in my view. As I often have reiterated: 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. If we don´t learn from history we will continue making the same mistakes or once again trying to reinvent the wheel. AFU is our legacy to the future.

There are supposedly few ufologists and Forteans aware of the very special relationship between Mothman and Sweden. In 1969 Swedish ufologist Åke Franzén (1936-1995) travelled to Point Pleasant, West Virginia and spent five weeks interviewing around 30 Mothman witnesses and visiting observation sites. But his trip proved to be more than just an ordinary field investigation as Åke fell deeply in love with the first Mothman witness Linda Scarberry. Because of this relation he got a unique personal insight in the events 1966-1967. Åke entertained plans to emigrate to the U.S. but he couldn´t find a job so this dream had to be abandoned. The many letters exchanged between Åke and Linda are now preserved at AFU but contain very little data on Mothman. They are essentially personal love letters. Åke Franzén was a close friend, a dedicated ufologist and an early AFU board member, 1980-1983.

Åke Franzén, October 22, 1977

None of these data can be found in the latest book by cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, Mothman Evil Incarnate. It is not a comprehensive study of the famous winged creature but a useful companion volume intended for aficionados of John Keel and especially his classic The Mothman Prophecies, published in 1975. When Loren Coleman journeyed to Point Pleasant in 2001 it was a sleepy little town with no Home of Mothman signs. All this was to change after 2002, when Hollywood´s version of Keel´s book appeared, starring Richard Gere. I was never particularly impressed by this movie. It could have been made into a real nail-biter, like the 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But it changed the town of Point Pleasant for ever, which is now a tourist attraction, with bus tours to observation sites, an annual Mothman Festival and the Mothman Museum and Research Center.

Loren Coleman´s small book, 149 pages, presents useful basic facts in chapters like: The Writer, The Book, The Movie, The Aftermath, The Town, The Documentaries. The first chapter, Breaking News – Chicago 2017, is a summary of some of the intriguing, recent ”Mothman” sightings in Chicago. The creature is described as a 6-7 feet tall, half man, half bird with bat-like wings 10 feet across and glowing eyes: ”It rose into the air like a bullet and I heard it screech once more before losing it from my view” (pp. 10-11). The title of Coleman´s book hint that this is a manifestation of evil. A theme that becomes somewhat unnecessary conspiratorical in quotes like these: ”Is it a coincidence that Chicago is seeing the highest murder rate in decades?” (p. 9).

During his later years when Keel´s health deteriorated he isolated himself and avoided media interviews. Increasing signs of paranoia made contact even with old friends problematic. Coleman presents some sad details of Keel´s lonely last days. But he had health problems already in 1976 when he visited Sweden. I will never forget when he reach for his pocket, which was full of pills of various colors, some of which he quickly swallowed.

John Keel with girlfriend, eating a UFO cake at the home of Åke Franzén, Sweden, October 17, 1976

More than half the book consists of two large appendix. The first comprise detailed annotations to The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel, compiled by Michael D. Winkle. The page numbers refer to the Tor Books edition but follow closely other editions and is therefore a useful tool for follow-up of various claims, ideas and cases in the book. Appendix B: Mothman Death List, gives one hundred names of people who have died, more or less mysteriously, in connection with Mothman. The first 46 are the names of those who lost their lives when the Silver Bridge collapsed on December 15, 1967. With this list it would be easy to come to the conclusion that there was something evil or a curse associated with Mothman. Whatever the truth several witnesses developed stress symptoms after their encounters. In his list Michael D. Winkle mention that ”Marcella Bennett was so traumatized that she eventually sought medical attention.” (p. 140).

This was also noticed by Åke Franzén when he visited Point Pleasant. Linda Scarberry showed him the scars she had on arms and legs. She suffered from chock after the Mothman encounter and was hospitalized. One morning she woke up at the hospital with arms and legs badly scratched. When my AFU colleague Anders Liljegren and I interviewed Åke Franzén on May 19, 1973 he told us how he perceived the witnesses: ”I noticed their great nervousness in how much they smoked. My God how they smoked… One witness, Marcella Bennett, could not be still. Most of the people who had seen the ”bird” had these kind of symptoms. One witness started crying when she told me of her observation.”

Anders Liljegren and I interviewing Åke Franzén, May 19, 1973

What interpretation or theories could be advanced to account for Mothman and his kin? 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). Anyone studying the original Mothman encounters most notice that this is an almost exact description of what was observed in West Virginia 1966-1967.

In his last book, The Eighth Tower (1975), John Keel wrote: "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." (p. 216). To me it is obvious that the ufologists, Forteans and cryptozoologists of our generation really are ”mapping a very old country”. A country studied and investigated for ages by custodians of The Esoteric Tradition – The Science of the Multiverse.

In several blog entries I have presented data and documents from my very extensive Richard Höglund file. The most complicated and controversial UFO contact case I have ever investigated. Basic information in English on Richard´s first encounter with the aliens on December 9, 1965 was published by Timothy Good in his latest book Earth An Alien Enterprise. It can also be found on this Norwegian website. I have not published so much data on Richard´s second contact, which proved to be decisive for his future life so here are some further notes from the Höglund file.

In August 1966 Richard worked as a rock blaster at Färjelanda, north of the couples hometown Uddevalla, Sweden. On the night of August 24 he has difficulty sleeping and wake up at 03.00 a.m. Rising and preparing for the journey home he experience a compelling feeling to return to the lake where he encountered the aliens. Richard cannot resist this impulse and later told that it was like someone else was driving the car. He travel to the same lake again, Grindhultsjön (Grindhult Lake) parking the car close to the shore. Walking down to the lake he notice a craft hovering above the water, not far from the shore. It is somewhat smaller than the one encountered during the first contact. Beside the craft is a man standing in the air, as if he was weightless.

Richard Höglund

Richard understand that the man wants him to come out to meet him. After some searching he discover an old roving-boat and in spite of rather heavy wind and lots of reed, succeed in reaching the man. This alien Richard has not seen before. He is heavy built, ”a real wrestler type” with almost no neck. This man begin speaking in Swedish with Richard, but the sound is not synchronized with the lip movements and can be heard somewhat after coming from inside the craft. He explain that the Soviet Union and USA are planning a war with China and they need his help to start a peace movement. Inside the craft Richard recognize the older man from his first contact in 1965.

Alien met by Richard during first two contacts

Richard is given a mission which implies travelling to the Bahamas. He is also given a metal plate with hieroglyphic signs and is told to always carry this plate with him. Richard object to this mission explaining that he is only an ordinary worker with wife, a small private company and besides he cannot speak English so how could he accomplish any peace project. But the man standing in the air reiterate that they want him for this mission. After the conversation they bid farewell and Richard row back to the beach. He find this whole situation strange and uncertain and he buries the plate in the woods before returning home to Uddevalla, at this point not mentioning anything of what has happened to his wife Gunvor.

I visited the lake, Grindhultsjön, May 9, 2001

A few days after this encounter Richard call his close friend Gösta Johansson, narrating what has happened and that he has received a metal plate from the entities. ”I felt like a prophet when I got that”, he explain to Gösta. In spite of his misgivings Richard has decided to accept the project proposed by the aliens and go to the Bahamas. ”I sacrifice myself now. I feel I owe them this because they have cured me” (from kidney stones – HB).

Gösta Johansson

The statement that the Soviet Union and USA was planning a war against China is interesting. In his book The Ends of Power, Richard Haldeman, White House Chief of Staff to President Richard Nixon mention that the US in 1969 received several inquiries from the Russians concerning a suggested surgical attack against nuclear installations in China. Kreml were concerned that China could be a military threat to the Soviet Union.

It took some time before Richard dared to tell his wife that he had met the space people again and been ordered to go to the Bahamas. This project was not met with enthusiasm by his wife. Gunvor Höglund told of her reaction when Gösta Johansson and I interviewed Gunvor Höglund on June 1, 1984:

Gösta: When Bahamas was mentioned, How did you feel?

Gunvor: He started talking about Bahamas during the Autumn (1966 – HB). No, I said. I will never leave the home we have built. But he insisted that he must go. You are crazy, I told him – and what about Lizzie? (dog – HB). We can´t just get rid of her. Yes, but I have to go, and I will go alone, he told me. I have been ordered to go. And I thought, my God, I don´t dare to let him go alone. Then I was afraid.

Gunvor Höglund during interview, June 1, 1984

During the Winter 1966-1967 the Höglund couple sold their apartment in Uddevalla and most of their belongings to go to Bahamas. They were forced to have the dog killed as they didn´t know how long time would be gone. ”It is just him (the dog – HB) and me that has seen these entities. It´s almost like murder but I have to do it, Richard later lamented to Gösta Johansson.

The metal plate Richard received from the aliens, and which he later fetched by the lake, was around 7 x 4,5 centimeter and 1 centimeter thick. It was somewhat uneven, yellow brown and the backside was rough. Richard became allergic to the plate. It gave him rashes and it sometimes became extremely hot so he kept it wrapped up in asbestos. Usually he had it buried in the soil. The only person that has seen and held the plate was his wife Gunvor which she mentioned during the interview June 1, 1984:

Gunvor: He showed me the plate once, put it in my hand and I noticed those signs. He asked if I felt anything. Only a slight warmth but nothing more. But there was another man in the Bahamas who had it in his hand once and became badly burned all over his hand. He was also in contact with them (aliens – HB) but could not handle the situation. He started drinking and became unbalanced, but he knew what it was all about.

Signs on the metal plate Richard received from the aliens

The signs are in three rows, consisting of small winding lines and dots, somewhat reminiscent of stenography. I have checked with an expert and they are definitely not stenography. Metal plates with unknown signs has been mentioned by several contactees in different parts of the world. One of the first to write about this was George Adamski, published in Flying Saucers Have Landed. The contactee Albert K. Bender, author of Flying Saucers and the Three Men mention that he received a small metal plate from the ”Men in Black” that ”got so hot I had to drop it” (p. 93).

There are still many unanswered questions regarding the second contact. Were the aliens during this contact also naked inside a transparent plastic garb as during the first contact? Why did Richard never encounter these aliens again? Later his contacts were only with ”normal” men of a slightly oriental look. They had brown complexion, like suntanned, thin, dark eyes, long fingers. Later he claimed that the aliens hem met during the first two encounters were higher developed (overlords) coming from outside out solar system. Those he worked with for the rest of his life came from planets in our own system. Richard Höglund was an unusual and reluctant contactee who never really trusted the aliens. That makes him unique in contactee history.

For several years I have been a member of EuroUfo –The Virtual Community of Scientifically Oriented European UFO Researchers, sharing information and news on the joint mailing list EuroUfoList. One of the members of this community was the late French ufologist Franck Boitte(1940-2017). His comments on the EuroUfoList were often very harsh and critical so I naturally assumed him to be a hardline skeptic. But I was in for a surprise. On July 22, 2017 I received an email from Franck Boitte with favorable comments on my review of The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamsonby Michel Zirger and Maurizio Martinelli. To my utter amazement Boitte told me that he had met George Adamski and was convinced ”there is in the George Adamski saga much more than meets the eye” and that he had spent three years translating the Zirger, Martinelli work from Italian to French.

Michel Zirger and Franck Boitte

Franck Boitte was born in Brussels, Belgium 1940. His UFO interest began in 1954 after reading articles by Aimé Michel. Because of his acquaintance with Patrick Morlet, son of Mrs. May Morlet founder of the Adamski-oriented organization Belgian UFO Informations (BUFOI), Boitte was invited to a lecture by George Adamski during a private meeting in 1963. But he soon left the group because of its cultist atmosphere and lack of field investigation. Beginning in 1972 and joining SOBEPS, Boitte, during a twenty year period, interviewed more than 250 UFO witnesses. During his later years he migrated to France and in 2002 became a member of the skeptic PARA Committee (Belgium) and SCEAU, the French UFO archive organization. Franck Boitte died on December 11, 2017.

Franck Boitte

When I learned that Franck had met Adamski, and that he ”totally convinced the young university student I was then of the genuiness of his psychic abilities”, I naturally wanted to know more of his views on the controversial contactee. In a subsequent email Franck mentioned he had published three booklets in French with memories of the meeting and his involvement in UFO research. They were published between 2006-2009. Not fluent in French I suggested he should consider en English translation of these obviously important historical documents. ”Encouraged by your recommendation. I also started to translate the first of my three booklets”, he wrote in a email July 24, and also asked for my help with his draft translation. Eventually I received all three booklets for revising and help to correct translation inadequacies. In the English edition these booklets were titled: 21 May 1963: My Meeting With George Adamski (1), The Adamski Succession (2), A Never Ending Story (3).

Because of our common interest in George Adamski and the translation project our email correspondence soon became more personal and Franck told of his wife Chantal, using the nom de plume Sibylle, whom he had married June 15, 2002. She was an exceptional and unusual woman with several UFO close encounter experiences and two abductions. Sibylle also considered herself to be a fairy incarnated on this planet: ”Already ”gifted” since her younger age by so-called ”paranormal” capabilities, she as a result of her ”contacts” developed hightened abilities in sight-seeing and magnetism she used (God forbade, for a fee) to despite repeated accusations of charlatanism, help to relieve and sometimes cure people who came to consult her from their physical or psychological ailments and eventually assist the authorities to solve criminal affairs or locate missing persons.” (Email, July 25, 2017).

Unfortunately Sibylle had died of Type 2 diabetes on April 8, 2017 and when Franck told of this personal tragedy I tried to comfort him by hoping he had close friends nearby to ease the existential pain and loneliness. His reply was a joy to read: ”Happily enough, I preserved some. And, me think I´ve recently found a new one… :-) Being some sort of (mildly gifted – it could maybe be a contagious ”illness”) paragnost myself the death of my wife inspired me this: ”Instead of whining about the hardships that befall us, let´s welcome them as blessed opportunities to achieve greatness”.” Franck had also read my latest book, Esotericism and UFO Research, commenting ”esoteric erudition impressive”. The ufologist I had presumed to be a hardline skeptic proved instead to be sensitive and profound philosopher, a spiritual searcher and an openminded investigator of the controversial claims of George Adamski.

In his first booklet Franck Boitte begin by stating that he does not pretend to prove anything about the veracity of the statements of the Californian contactee about his alleged encounters with possible creatures from space. ”On the other hand, I am convinced that this matter is much more complex than meet the eye and it is very regrettable that from the beginning it was buried under the mantle of ridicule so that it was never properly investigated while, as is often the case in ufology, there was a possibility time to do so.” His intention with the booklet is to relate a personal experience that ”carried a profound transformation of my way of thinking and life. And in my way of apprehending what is commonly called ”reality”.”

George Adamski in Denmark 1963

What happened on that fateful day May 21, 1963 was put down on paper a few days after the meeting. 23 years old, Franck is invited to attend a BUFOI meeting in Antwerp to hear a lecture by George Adamski. Describing himself at that time as an ”academic knight headed by snooty rationalism” he intend to ”corner the Missionary of Space and bring him to contradict himself.” But Franck never get a chance asking his questions, instead he is confronted with exceedingly personal statements about his life by Adamski, without his name being given:

”… suddenly the monologue takes an unexpected turn which immediately restores me in full possession of my faculties : "Take this young man there, for example ... The young man over here (eh, but it's well of me of which it is finally question !). Always without looking at me : "Some people - just like this young man - have been told that I was just a lousy crackpot seeking publicity. Let us consider that statement for awhile. Let us see how youngsters like him become convinced by that kind of rhetoric. Let us just imagine... Maybe his father is a businessman, practicing a liberal profession as they say, in relation to law or legislation. Perhaps he is in the process of completing a graduate degree in business or economics studies while aspiring to pursue another profession. Imagine again he has a sister younger than he who is about to get married because she is pregnant. Perhaps the father of this child will later work a certain number of years with the one who will become his brother-in-law ... ".

Totally flabbergasted now, I forget my questions. With his implacable accumulation of "perhaps", Adamski was exactly describing my family situation and part of what would probably be my future. How can he do this without ever having met me? Even today, I still have not found a completely satisfactory answer to this question.” (pp. 5-6) Later Franck asked May Morlet if she had told Adamski anything about himself which she denied.

George Adamski with co-worker Ms. Lou Zinsstag

In booklet no 2, The Adamski Succession, Franck mention an interesting conversation with his friend Patrick Morlet many years after they both had left BUFOI. Patrick had then no longer any interest in UFOs but told of observation at close range of an Adamski-type scoutship that he and his wife Brigitte had observed during holidays in Switzerland: "We had been distanced from the group and were admiring the spectacle of snow-capped mountains surrounding us when suddenly, emerging from between two cumulus, appeared that big domed bell shaped vessel with portholes. On its underside were present the three spheres that are to be seen on Adamski's pictures. It was the very same landing gear, the only difference being that the vessel did not shine like chrome, but had a rather a golden shine... The ship tilted and started to rise in the clouds where it quickly was lost from sight. We hastily joined the group that had continued on its way. Nobody had seen anything special. Shortly after, several jet planes flew over the area.” (p. 4) Franck asked Brigitte about this experience and she replied “Yes, that´s actually what happened.”

Photo by George Adamski, December 13, 1952

In 1901 the Canadian psychiatrist Maurice Bucke published his magnus opus Cosmic Consciousness. A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind. In this work he recorded his personal mystical experience and presented the theory that cosmic consciousness is the next step in the evolution of human development. There are many books detailing the experience of unio mystica, peak experience or cosmic consciousness and it proves to be more common than usually realized. In the chapter A Possible Contact With the Divine, booklet nr. 2, Franck Boitte documents a personal mystical experience:

“I have already told elsewhere that in the course of my life I have experienced a dozen events (none of a UFO nature) that, even if others who have not experienced them might think the opposite, I dare to consider as "paranormal". For no reason, one of these experiences took place around 10:00 am on Sunday, October 25, 1998. As I gradually came back to "reality," my whole body was bathed - I cannot find another expression - by an incredible sensation that I cannot better describe otherwise than one of unconditional and absolute love... I had never experienced anything like it, and for the religiously inclined, its only possible explanation couldn't have been nothing else that it was of divine origin, whatever that might mean. The only thing I can say is that I wish all my possible readers be favored of the same experience... I was reclining on my right flank, with my back turned to the window, my left hand at temple height, as if to protect myself from the too bright sunrays which flooded the bedroom though the by Sibylle discarded tentures wall hangings. It lasted a maximum of tenth of seconds and gradually inundated my supine body with such intensity that couldn't help but beg "God" or who could be responsible to these delicious moments they would last a bit longer. The “it” inexorably began to recede little by little while I tried in vain to “hold” it.... I have no explanation for this incredible experience, which I immediately related to Sibylle.”

Booklet no. 3 contain further studies and theories regarding George Adamski. On May 24, 2009 Franck received a rather surprising letter from Jacques Vallee where he admit the mistake of not at the time seriously investigating the early contactees: “Thanks for your memories of Adamski, which are not only exciting but so well described that they bring me back to this curious and rich era. We were guilty of arrogance when we considered all the Contactes as amusing "snickers" or dangerous charlatans (which they were often ...) without realizing that they also touched on real mysteries, to which no one could escape – unaffected." Franck Boitte end his third booklet with the admonition that much important research work remains to be done on the life and contact experiences of George Adamski.

Giving a summary of his life and philosophy in an email July 26, 2017 Franck wrote : "It comes I am an aging man who has seen much and had had many inspired Teachers. You maybe know the saying "Where the pupil don´t outpast his Teacher´s learnings, then the Teacher failed". Adamski and my wife were among the Teachers I was privilegied to have." Franck had hoped to get his booklets published on Kindle but didn´t find the time to implement this project before his death. In his last email, October 17, 2017, he wrote : "Full starry sky above my head ! All job done, all engines running". In Franck Boitte I found a friend – and lost a friend in only four months. I was deeply saddened when the news of his death reached me. This blog is my hommage to a most unusual man and fellow UFO researcher. Bon voyage Franck!

”The only effective way to cope with the situation is to apply the underground methods of research employed by top-secret Intelligence agencies. This is a matter for spy-like Intelligence techniques, not for ”science”.” This was the conclusion reached by journalist John Keel after a couple of years of full time field investigation of UFO close encounter and contact cases in the 1960s. (The UFO Secret: Answers Are On the Way, Saucer News, no. 69, Fall 1967). I was reminded of this quote when recently reading a Facebook posting by American ufologist and experiencer Dr. Josephs Burkes. He has for many years been involved in the Contact Underground movement, and is one of the authors of Paths To Contact: True Stories From the Contact Underground.

In his Facebook posting Burkes refers to a series of articles, Science, Counterintelligence and UFOs, by American ufologist Val Germann (Valentine H. Germann). They were written in 1997 and posted on UFO Updates. He describes himself not as a UFO researcher but a UFO analyst, trying to comprehend the big picture of what is going on. Initially Germann makes this basic statement: ”There is… significant evidence to suggest that the ”UFO” is the product of another, non-human, intelligence operating on earth with humanity… evidence for another intelligence operating on the Earth was so impressive that not to accept it was tantamount to intellectual dishonesty.”

This is the ABC of ufology and the conclusion many serious researchers share after years of field investigation and study. But then comes the tricky part, what is the best way to deal with this rather revolutionary discovery? Most mainstream, critical and scientifically oriented, ufologists answer - more scientific research, an appeal regularly featured on blogs, articles and Facebook postings. A natural and reasonable proposal when faced with unexplained phenomena. For us who have been involved in ufology most of our lives this is only one side of the coin, necessary of course, but science is not enough, which has been pointed many times by Jacques Vallee, John Keel and other prominent researchers.

Val Germann gives an overview of this problem in the introduction to his articles:”If there is any one constant in UFO research it is the never-ending call for ufology to become more scientific. Over and over again those of us investigating the phenomenon are urged to seek the hard, scientific proof that will once and for all establish UFOs in the world of mainstream science. The assumption behind all of this is that the best way to study UFOs is through science and the scientific method. But is this assumption correct?

I maintain that it is not always correct and I state this even though I am involved in the sciences myself and have a great love for science and great respect for many scientists. But the truth is that science and the scientific method are dependent on certain assumptions that may not apply to the study of UFOs, especially if they are in fact the products of another intelligence.

This does not mean that science and technology are of little or no use in investigating UFOs, not at all. But it does mean that the assumptions of science are not always relevant where UFOs are concerned… since we may be dealing with another intelligence in studying the UFO, we should consider adding the counterintelligence model to our intellectual arsenals. It costs nothing to do this and the benefits might include the clarification of many issues that have been quite baffling in the past”

Because of my many years of investigating and studying physical contact cases I have become keenly aware of this dilemma in research methodology. How do you deal with the complicated contactee experiences of Richard Höglund or Anna, that I have summarized in several blog entries? Or the aliens-among-us encounters documented by Dr. Andy SixkillerClarke? When investigating this type of contact claims you of necessity must be as much a scientific UFO researcher as a UFO detective. But first of all as in all UFO research you must document what empirical evidence there is in support of the reality of the encounter or contacts, as I have done in the Höglund case.

Val Germann recommends that the ufologist study the techniques and history of Intelligence work including counterintelligence and apply this knowledge when dealing with the more complicated and controversial UFO cases. From the flood of material and documents the researcher must sift out what is a) interesting, b) significant, c) correct information. The social and psychological problem of this endeavor is that the ufologist may find himself in pretty deep water, discovering aspects of reality that are exceedingly controversial and almost impossible to communicate to the general public:

”He can steep himself in the subject, try to collect everything relevant, and then be fearless in where that material leads him. This may sound like ”no big deal”, but for those who take the work seriously it is anything but trivial. In many cases the information relevant to the UFO can lead down rabbit holes where no respectable person would want to go. But down the hole the investigator he must go or he will not have the perspective needed to judge the relevance of information.”

In spite of years of research and study Val Germann makes it very clear that he does not know what UFOs are, who is operating them, what they are doing here or why they are doing it. In the final segments of his articles Germann analyzes three different scenarios which purport to explain aspects of the UFO phenomenon.

”1. The Keyhoe scenario, in which ”others” from another solar system are here because they may need the Earth as a new home due to problems with their current planet.

2. The Lear scenario, in which a number of groups of ”others” are here, some with special needs, which elements of our elites have proceeded to meet under the rubric of a ”secret deal”, a deal involving the abduction of and experimentation upon U.S. citizens. In addition, this deal has lately gone bad and led to friction and even violence between our ”dealers” and ”them”.

3. The Strieber scenario, in which the ”visitors” are here to help us, to transform us, up to a new level of consciousness as we prepare to take our place in galactic civilization.”

Germann has chosen to analyze these scenarios because if there is any truth in them they would mean major future changes in human attitudes and culture. Not necessarily positive changes though. Discussing the Lear scenario the author states: ” What would happen if the public ever found out the truth! It could make the French Revolution look like a kindergarten picnic.” As for the Strieber scenario I doubt that many investigators who have read his books would agree that his visitors are here to help us in an evolutionary perspective. Based on Striebers encounters this looks more like a case of the Stockholm syndrome.

In his last article Val Germann has some harsh, but in my view, relevant criticism of mainstream ufologists: ”Almost from the beginning ”ufology” has been, in my opinion, just ”horsing around”, ignoring the real issues by endlessly chasing after lights in the sky and piling up reports of same… Many of you are wasting your time piling up those piles of ”sightings”. The ”proof” you seem to want has existed for four decades if you simply will accept it and move on! But, no, today´s ufology seems to want to reinvent the stone axe for the umpteenth time. Why?”

This is a psychologically interesting problem, also addressed by Jacques Vallee. I find the same lamentable situation in Sweden, a sort of scratching-the-surface-ufology. An inordinate amount of time, money and publishing is spent on very ordinary and uninteresting sightings, misidentifications and statistics on these cases. While at the same time there are many very intriguing and poorly documented close encounter and contact cases which no field investigator seeems to care about. These cases end up buried in the AFU archive. I have pointed out this situation for many years but with very little effect. Perhaps ufologists are simply lazy, as it takes a lot of research and field investigation to go into the really difficult aspects of the UFO enigma. But I often wonder – where are the serious UFO detectives, heretics who like the Invisible College could band together and really try to understand the depth and profound mystery of the UFO phenomena?

There are many interesting theories and challenging claims in the articles by Val Germann. But in my view he omits one important scenario which is also associated with his controversial statement: ”In this writer´s opinion any force that contacts human beings in the secret, one at a time, is by definition a sinister force”. This quote indicates that Germann adheres to the common view that anything done in secret, whether alien or other contacts, conspiracies etc. must be evil. It is obviously the mindset of today that very few investigators can think in terms of friendly visitors or benevolent conspiracies, not in a naive way but as a reasonable alternative.

In his analysis Val Germann has completely left out the experiences of the first wave of physical contactees of the 1950s, contacts indicating, as I have suggested, a psychological test made by a group of benevolent visitors with access to Vimana technology. To the three scenarios suggested by Val Germann I would add the Esoteric Scenario. By using data from the Esoteric Tradition as a working hypothesis or paradigm the various entities and visitors can be studied in a new perspective also including the ethical or evolutionary implications of the contacts. The Esoteric Scenario also has the advantage of giving hope, even for this little planet of sorrow in the universe.

”Perhaps you are still skeptical. Perhaps you think that some perfectly mundane answer will be found for all these events at some time in the future. We are not trying to turn you into a believer or disbeliever. We have only tried to lay out the facts before you. Belief – or disbelief – will come to you from another direction. Next week, next month, or next year you may be driving along a deserted country road late at night and as you round a bend you will suddenly see…”.

Aficionados of Forteana recognize this suggestive quote as coming from the pen of legendary author John A. Keel. It is actually the last words in his book Strange Creatures From Time and Space (1970). Keel coined the term silent contactees for people who had personal contact experiences with ”space people” but never publicly revealed their encounters. Based on his extensive field investigation he surmised there must be hundreds of silent contactees in the U.S. But it is not only many contactees that are silent and unknown. In Sweden there must be literally hundreds of close encounter witnesses who have never gone public nor contacted any UFO organization. This is of course a frustrating situation for the field investigator but fully understandable as ”coming out” being a UFO witness can have some unforeseen and not very nice social and media consequences.

Another interesting aspect to this problem is if and how has the UFO experience affected the silent witnesses in the long run? Change of interests, worldview, psychological health a.o.? People who are normally intelligent and inquistive and who suddenly are confronted with an object or entity that officially does not exist must somehow come to grips with what actually happened. A few like Rolf Gohs and Peter Ingemark wait more than ten years before they dare to recount their close encounter. But what of the rest, that we never hear about? I will give a few examples of cases where we know there are more, but silent, witnesses.

Rolf Gohs

End of 1970s. A couple are travelling by car in Dalarna on a winter evening. Not much traffic. Ahead of them they notice what looks like a bus standing across the road, blocking the way. It is a large object, probably around 15 meters covering the whole road and more. They stop the car some 25 meters from the object which is standing on three or four legs around 150 cm in height. The colour appears to be grey blue metal and there is a row of windows on the upper part. Suddenly the legs are retracted and the object simply disappears. Only some snow is swirling. Another car has stopped behind them and after the incident they regret that they didn´t talk to the driver. But they were chocked of what had happened. The man is dead today and his wife refuse to discuss the incident as she believed there was something evil about the incident. But how about the witness or witnesses in the other car? They must have observed the same craft on the ground and its ascent. What do they think of the encounter today?

At 6.10 P.M. on September 9, 1989 Kerstin Jonsson and her daughter Tina are travelling by car not far from their home in Björkvik. They have just left Tina´s friend at the local bus station. Kerstin is driving and 13-year old Tina is sitting in the back seat. A couple of hundred meters from home Kerstin notice an object hovering above the trees beside the road. She tells her daughter and they drive very slow, closer until they are right below the strange object. Tina is afraid and wants to go home but Kerstin stops the car and roll down the car window. No other car show up and there is a strange silence all around. No sound is heard from the object. The shape is a classic saucer, about five meter i diameter and of dark metallic colour. Three lights are seen on the underside, blinking at regular intervals. Some form of hatch is also visible. Kerstin and Tina get a very god look at the object which is not more than 15-20 meters above them.

Kerstin wants to have a better look so she opens the car door and put one foot on the ground. But now Tina is very agitated, crying "you´re crazy, don´t go out". At the same time the object begins to spin counter clockwise and move out over the road. Kerstin can now see the object from the side. There is a dome on top with several windows from which comes a yellow light. The object makes a fast turn and disappears towards lake Yngaren. Kerstin and Tina drive home and Kerstin´s husband Sture notice that they are both very upset.

Kerstin and Tina Jonsson

The frustrating aspect of this observation is that there are at least six more witnesses to this object, neighbors to the family, but they refuse to talk to us. But in july 2008 UFO-Sweden received an anonymous letter from one of the other witnesses. He was 16 years at the time and, together with his mother and sister, observerad the object over lake Yngaren. They travelled by car and noticed the object hovering over the lake. It was dark metallic and had lights blinking underneath. The object suddenly moved very fast and disappeared. There are at least two more silent witnesses to this craft. Has this encounter changed their life? Perhaps we will never know.

On the night of February 3, 1984, Mr. Ante Jonsson is travelling by car from Ingelstad to his home in Tingsryd, Småland. The time is around 1 A.M. and 40 year old Ante is driving carefully because of the snow and icy road. After passing the crossroad to Uråsa Ante notice a small figure on the left side of the road and over a meadow a large black object is hovering in the air. Astonished by the sight Ante stops the car but the small figure is gone. "My first thought was that I have to get a picture of this object. I hurried home to get my camera."

About 1.30 A.M. Ante is back at the site but the object is gone. Disappointed he decides to turn the car around and go home. Then suddenly the object appears again hovering right in front of the car. Ante hit the brakes but the car skids on the icy road and comes to a stop with the headlights shining on the object. He tries to escape the situation but the car gets stuck in the snow. "When I opened the car door a creature grabbed me and almost lifted me out. I just screamed." He tries to run away but is caught and dragged towards the object. The creature is not more than 1 meter in height, wearing some form of dress hiding the face. Ante´s last memory is noticing a lorry passing by. Then everything is blank. "When I woke up I was sitting in my car, cold and wet with a pricking feeling in my hands and a vague memory of talking to somebody whom I later found out was the police. My next memory is waking up at Sankt Sigfrids hospital in Växjö."

Ante Jonsson 1984

At 1.50 A.M. there is a phone call to the police station in Växjö. A man calling himself Bengt Johanssson claims he just passed Uråsa airfield and noticed a car parked across the road with the headlights turned off. He also observed a person outside the car and "over the car a large black object hovered", as stated in the police records. Bengt Johansson promised to wait for a police patrol to arrive at the site but when Roland Karlsson and Thorsten Persson from the Växjö police station arrive Bengt Johansson is nowhere to be seen. Instead they find Ante Jonsson sitting in his Saab 99. The car lights are turned off and the car door open.

Drawing by Ante Jonsson

Ante Jonsson appears very scared and confused. His is holding the steering wheel in a tight grip and the muscles in his hands and arms are abnormally tense. He is shaking violently and when the policemen try to converse with Ante he appears very confused and can´t remember how he ended up at the site. They bring Ante to Växjö hospital. Here the physician notice that Ante is in deep shock, hyperventilating and his fingers are curved in cramp. He is injected with valium, with little effect. Then he enters a deep sleep. Later he is taken to the psychiatric clinic at Sankt Sigfrids hospital where he recovers and is sent home after a few days.

Ante Jonsson

Field investigators from UFO-Sweden tried to locate Mr. Bengt Johansson from Karlskrona. But in spite of thorough investigation no such person could be traced. There were twelve Bengt Johansson in Karlskrona but no one claimed to be the witness. The man who observed the black object over Ante´s car could never be found.

The way we as human beings react to a close encounter is obviously very different, depending on a variety of circumstances and psychological disposition. For some it will change their whole life and worldview, like Peggy Robert who on a September evening in 1973 observed a UFO with windows at close range. This event resulted in her entering a life long spiritual journey. Others, a woman, a silent witness in my acquaintance, who some years ago observed a landed craft and small beings with spindly legs, simply told me: ”Why should I tell anyone. I was alone at the time. Who would believe me? It is too incredible.”

Peggy Robert

Readers of Time magazine October 20, 1986, probably raised a few eyebrows when confronted with statements made by Hafez Assad, former President of Syria. In an interview he was very open-minded about his long-standing, serious interest in UFOs. When asked about how an extraterrestrial power would solve the problems in the Middle East, Assad offered this wise, philosophical answer: ”Certainly it would be a big power, and we would expect it to be unbiased… It should offer advice to both sides, not deal with guns, planes or billions of dollars…”.

Syria has been very much in the news for several years now because of the terribly brutal proxy war going on. It is the focal point for a global conflict of almost apocalyptic dimensions where many cities have been reduced to rubble. When following this war in the media I am reminded of a strange and rather ominous prophecy allegedly coming from space people in 1969 and delivered to New Zealand ufologists Fred and Phyllis Dickeson.

The commentary on extraterrestrial intervention by Hafez Assad are interesting especially when compared with statements found in The Esoteric Tradition. These are not the usual naive love and light messages found in many New Age channelings but rather realistic pronouncements about both guardians and invaders from other planets. Generally we are told that extraterrestrial help has been given several times in the past: ”Many great Beings from planetary and solar sources, and once or twice from cosmic sources, have at times lent Their aid and dwelt briefly upon our planet.” (Alice Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, p. 37, originally published 1922).

During the Second World War the forces of destruction was so close to get the upper hand that the planetary guardians (Hierarchy) asked for assistance from interplanetary guardians. And this assistance came in large numbers. What happened behind the scenes and details of the struggle is told in The Externalisation of the Hierarchy by Alice Bailey:
April 1935: "... the regenerative forces of Those extraplanetary Beings Who offer Their Help at this time." (p. 25)
April-May 1940: "Hovering today within the aura of our planet are certain great spiritual Forces and Entities, awaiting the opportunity to participate actively in the work of world redemption, re-adjustment and reconstruction.... the waiting extra-planetary Forces." (p. 222-223)
April 1943: "Certain great Energies of extra-planetary significance Who stand ready to intervene..." (p. 392).

Seen in this perspective the title of Meade Layne´s book, published in 1950, The Coming of the Guardians, is certainly very appropriate. Besides giving behind the scenes assistance to our planet during a critical period, a special group of these guardians made a cultural and psychological influence test and information effort in the 1950s, mainly in America. Involved in this test were in my estimation a.o. George Adamski, George Van Tassel, George Hunt Williamson, Orfeo Angelucci, Daniel Fry, Paul M.Vest and Howard Menger. The test was only partially successful as some of the contactees could not stand the strain of the contact and misinterpreted the information given.

The object of the interplanetary guardians was first and foremost to prevent total destruction of the planet as mankind was now capable of such acts because of the discovery of nuclear energy and weapons. According to The Esoteric Tradition this had once happened before in our solar system when the planet between Mars and Jupiter had been totally destroyed by its inhabitants. On August 17, 1952 George Hunt Williamson and his group received the following message: ”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).

Compare this with the information received by George Van Tassel on July 18, 1952: ”Your materialists will disagree with our attempt to warn mankind. Rest assured they shall cease to explode life giving atoms, or we shall eliminate all projects connected with such. Our missions are peaceful, but this condition occurred before in this solar system and the planet Lucifer was torn to bits. We are determined that it shall not happen again. The governments of the planet Shan have conceded that we are of a higher intelligence. They must concede also that we are of a higher authority.” (George Van Tassel, I Rode a Flying Saucer, 2nd ed. 1952, p. 32). Earth is called Shan by the space people.

George Van Tassel at Giant Rock

Information about planetary and interplanetary guardians is not difficult to find in The Esoteric Tradition and contactee literature. When it comes to invaders or evil extraterrestrials the issue becomes somewhat more complicated. Data on this problem is scarce in esoteric sources and in contactee and UFO literature hard to evaluate. Esotericist RileyCrabb made a commendable effort to study the problem of Cosmic Evil. In several booklets he compared esoteric and UFO data from many sources, not always very reliable. Crabb also made regular comments on planetary and interplanetary evil as editor of Round Robin – The Journal of Borderland Research 1959-1985.

As our planet is a form of interplanetary Alcatrazwe have, besides the ”bad boys club” (planetary evil) also to contend with what in esotericism is called cosmic evil. Visitors from other planets who are dangerous and only wish to use this planet and people for their own purposes. There is a interesting comment about this menace in The Rays and the Initiations by Alice Bailey: ”… the place were 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.” (p. 753). This was one of the last messages given in 1949 by the Tibetan to Alice Bailey. Did he try to warn humanity of what was to come? Sometimes I have wondered whether I accidentally happened to uncover an aspect of cosmic evil in action in when researching and documenting the Swedish contactee Richard Höglund?

Some of the early contactees involved in the test with the benevolent visitors were warned about dangerous aliens also interacting with earth people. In 1956 Howard Menger was informed about ”a very powerful group on this planet, which possesses tremendous knowledge of technology, psychology, and most unfortunate of all, advanced brain therapy.” (Howard Menger, From Outer Space To You, p. 143). During the 1950s there was much hope and goodwill in the messages coming from UFO contactees. Daniel Fry formed the organization Understanding with around 70 local units and 10,000 members. George Adamski started International Get Acquainted Program (IGAP). But beginning in the 1960s disturbing UFO incidents began to be reported more frequently - abductions, cattle mutilations, Men In Black encounters etc. It certainly looked like someone was, and still is, pretty good at ”advanced brain therapy” for whatever reasons.

As a ufologist and esotericist it is extremely difficult to grasp the big picture when it comes to UFO experiences, claims and contacts since the 1950s. From various whistle blowers and some contactees it is stated that President Eisenhower had a meeting with the planetary guardians in 1954 and was given an offer of help and co-operation. This was rejected and later a meeting was arranged with a group of aliens who offered advanced technological information. In exchange they were allowed to abduct a small amount of humans and animals for study purposes. Soon the secret military and intelligence group that made the deal discovered they were deceived as the aliens abducted thousands of humans and animals. Since then a secret war has been waged behind the scenes. A war that it would be impossible to disclose to the public without causing panic. As for the truth regarding this scenario I can only say, interesting and scary – if true? The first claim that Eisenhower had a meeting with extraterrestrials in 1954 came from American occultist Gerald Light (Dr. Kappa) in a letter to Meade Layne. This unique, original letter is now in the custody of AFU.

In 2009 a most unusual and controversial book was published, Solomon Islands Mysteries by Marius Boirayon. The author presents a somewhat new slant to the alien conflict scenario. He claims to have discovered that a race of previously unknown giant hominoids and a dangerous extraterrestrial species live in bases below the Solomon Islands and that this is know by secret intelligence groups: ”No-one can make me believe that certain ultra-secretive intelligence organizations within the United States, British and Australian governments do not know about the subterranean civilisations of the Solomon Islands, as I have overwhelming proof that they do”. (p. 282) Boirayon further states that the people that made the deal with the evil extraterrestrials has developed into a ”breakaway ultra-secret group”, a sort of ”worldwide club that have become more evil than good… It´s bad luck for them, as their sordid love-hate alliance will not last, and as we will se within the next decade, they picked the wrong side.” (pp. 304-306).

One of the researchers who became intensely fascinated by Solomon Islands Mysteries was Swedish psychiatrist and parapsychologist Dr. Nils-Olof Jacobson (1937-2017). Well-known for his book Liv efter döden (1971), English ed. Life Without Death (1974). He began searching for more data on the claims of Marius Boirayon and even succeeded in getting a letter to the editor published in Solomon Star News in June 2009. I corresponded with Nils-Olof Jacobson in 2010 about his research. He had received a short e-mail from Marius Boyraion who mentioned that he had been warned not to continue his research or contact other people with the same intent. Jacobson had also corresponded with Mr. James Baura, who had written an article on Solomon Islands Mysteries. Unfortunately not much new information on the mystery appeared because of these research efforts.

Nils-Olof Jacobson

To mainstream scientific ufologists these 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.

In my latest book and several blog entries I have advanced the theory that some of the physical contactees of the 1950s (George Adamski, George Van Tassel, Orfeo Angelucci, Danile Fry, Howard Menger a.o.) were involved in a cultural influence test. An psychological and sociological experiment implemented by a group of benevolent aliens, earth based or extraterrestrial. This group, wherever they came from, had access to advanced “vimana” technology. The test was only partially successful, for several reasons, and was aborted in its public phase around 1960. Most contactees had only a limited role in the project, but there were a few with a more central co-ordinating mission. One of these contactees was Dorris Van Tassel.

Dorris and George Van Tassel

As several times before I have received excellent biographical help from Fortean researcher and author Joshua Blu Buhs. His blog From an Oblique Angle has not been updated since June 2017 as he is now writing a book on Forteans. Joshua has provided me with much biographical data on Dorris Van Tassel. A woman that has been described as ”mysterious” by other writers. That is certainly a correct description. She had very special and unique insights into the activities of the contactees of the 1950s.

Dorris Van Tassel was born Dorris Jane Andre in Richmond, California September 8, 1912. She later changed her middle name to Ione. Her father was Alfred Nyström, who had emigrated from Finland. Mother´s name was Grace Miller. As a young girl Dorris was a very skilled athlete and received several awards for her achievements. In 1938 she married William A. Andre and they had a daughter, Marie Andre, born in 1938. Dorris studied Physical Therapy and she eventually opened a health clinic, Dorris Health Salon, in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California.

Dorris as a young athlete, upper row, middle

Ad in Sonoma West Times and News, Maarch 8, 1951

In Santa Rosa, Dorris was affiliated with the Meta-Physical Library and Workshop and in the beginning of the 1950s she developed an interest in UFOs. I have not been able to ascertain when her own UFO contacts began but it must have been in the early 1950s. Like journalist and esotericist Paul M. Vest she decided to help the group of space people who implemented an extensive cultural and psychological test in the U.S. by contacting ordinary citizens and suggesting various missions. Dorris became a sort of booking-agent for many of the early contactees. She arranged lectures for George Adamski, Daniel Fry, Truman Bethurum and other contactees. But she also occasionally lectured on flying saucers herself.

The Press Democrat, March 3, 1954

The Press Democrat, February 24, 1955

Dorris corresponded frequently with many contactees and people involved in the UFO movement. In a letter 1954 to George Adamski´s secretary Lucy McGinnis she mentioned having observed ”two disks leave mother craft on one occasion”. (Letter May 24, 1954). So far there has been very little published describing Dorris´ contacts but she gave a detailed account of her experiences at Daniel Fry´s Understanding Convention 1976. A short note of her lecture was published in Understanding magazine: ”Two women were a delightful part of the program. Dorris Van Tassel told the story of her contacts with space people, a fantastic story it was too. Until you have heard her, you´ve missed something.” (Understanding, vol. 21, no. 5, 1976, p. 6).

Dorris had married George Van Tassel after the death of his wife Eva in 1975. They had worked together for many years as contactees on various projects. This was mentioned by George Van Tassel in his magazine Proceedings 1974: ”We left Los Angeles on June 6th and arrived in Atlanta, Georgia on the same day. We rented a car in Atlanta and arried in Lakemont on that evening. I was accompanied on the trip by Dr. Dorris Andre, a research associate and a friend of my family for 20 years.” (Proceedings, vol. 10, no. 5, July-Sept 1974, p. 4).

Much of the work Dorris and George Van Tassel did together with the space people has only been hinted at in Proceedings and by friends of the couple whom I have corresponded with. Not much has reached the public. Like covert agents they used code words in contacs with the visitors and they had the means to know who was really in contact with the benevolent group of space people and who were impostors.

At times Dorris Van Tassel´s home functioned as a sort of safe house for both contactees and space people. One of her close friends told me how he reacted the first time he became aware of this: ”I remember the first time there was about 5 space people in Ms.Van Tassel's house talking with her as I quietly watched, and then suddenly one of the men turned , looked directly at me, smiled gently, and then very slowly turned to the kitchen room wall and walked right through the wall! I watched this very closely as he then came back in. Let me tell you , those kind of incidents have a very deep and troubling affect on our minds because we cannot comprehend it.”

I asked my correspondent whether Dorris was aware of that these five men were space people: ”O yes, she knew them well. It was perfectly normal for her.” (Email February 26, 2012).

Dorris Van Tassel died on June 30, 1991. She was certainly a woman of mystery, involved in many behind the scenes activities with the visitors. 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.

When Meade Layne met deep trance medium Mark Probert in the Autumn of 1946 he could hardly envision that this relationship would profoundly influence his newly founded, informal group, Borderland Sciences Research Associates (BSRA). The channeled information coming through Mark Probert was of an unusual, unique intellectual and philosophical quality when compared with what is usually produced at seances. Several years of discussion with the members of the so called Inner Circle finally resulted in Meade Layne presenting the 4-D or Etheric Theory of ”flying saucers” or Aeroforms as they were then called.

Mark Probert

In the Autumn of 1973 I was invited to participate in a meditation group formed by my friends and UFO close encounter witnesses Sture and Turid Johansson, then living at Lidingö, Stockholm. The group consisted mainly of members of the Stockholm UFO-Center. We met every Friday night for several years and became a very tightly knit group and close friends. On November 19, 1976 our meditation session was interrupted by Sture who suddenly began to shake, gasp, rise from his chair 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 trance session

In 1976 and 1977 I participated in many deep trance sessions with Sture och his wife Turid. I taped them all as my hope was that, like Meade Layne and Mark Probert, this could prove to be a serious source of information about UFOs and esotericism, affording help in my research. The first individual channeled by Sture called himself Simeno, whom Sture had encountered during an out-of-body experience, that affected him so deeply that he wrote a book about what happened, Resan till ljuset, 1974, (Travel To the Light). Simeno was later replaced by Ambres, who claimed that his latest incarnation was as an Egyptian merchant, Rameno Charafez, living around 1,000 years B.C. He was a member of secret society, The Tarsus Order.

The teachings of Ambres became very popular and soon a group formed around the couple. In the 1980s Sture och Turid moved to the north of Värmland, building a center attracting many followers who came from all over the world to listen to the Ambres teachings. Sture became very famous in the 1980s when celebreties like Shirley MacLaine and Dennis Weaver visited the center in Sweden. Sture and Turid travelled around the world and I have letters and postcards posted from California, Hawaii and Mexico. Sture also figures in the miniseries Out On a Limb from 1987, based on the bestselling book by Shirley Maclaine.

Following are transcriptions with my comments from some of the first private seances in 1976-1977.

Seance, December 17, 1976
”Håkan: I am very interested in what is called flying saucers.
Sture (Simeno): I know that.
Håkan: And I am doing some research trying to find out the deeper answers. How do you view this issue from your side?
Sture (Simeno): We are not unfamiliar with the existence of these beings. Believe me, as well as there are what you call saucers existing on the material, earthly level, we are also aware of them at our level, and not only in a positive way… what you call saucers and look upon as a phenomenon is a reality. They exist, be sure of that, and can exist also in a non-material state… I have also heard the expression that these so-called saucers have their origin on other planets in your solar system. There is a possibility, yes. But then hardly visible to the human eye.”

Sture and Turid Johansson had a wide experience of UFO close encounters and paranormal phenomena, which I have related in several blog entries. The basic ideas presented by Simeno are in accordance with the views shared by Sture och Turid.

”Håkan: Are there any secret spiritual brotherhoodsutilizing saucers in their acitivities?
Sture (Simeno): At present, no. At the physical, material level now today – No. But as I said earlier, they existed in ancient times.”

This is classic Theosophical teaching, that anti-gravity aircraft, Vimanas, were used by the planetary guardians in Atlantis.

”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.”

Illustration of the Väggarö encounter 1965

What happened at the frightful encounter at Väggarö on October 29, 1965 was further explained during a seance January 29, 1977.

”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.”

The idea that possibly a magician could have created the entities encountered by Sture and Turid was a theory I had proposed during our many discussions of the event. As the couple lost time during this close encounter Turid was afraid that they may have been abducted, hence her last question.

It was Sture and Turid who first told me of their involvement in the controversial Richard Höglund contact case, which I later spent many years investigating. During a seance on April 3, 1977 I asked about this case.
”Håkan: Who are the individuals behind Richard? Do they belong to this earth or come from some other planet?
Sture (Simeno): Well, they belong outside this planet. But I have told you before, do not acquaint yourselves with this. There is nothing good in it… Look upon this as some type of foreign bacteria. It should not be there.”

This is essentially the view we all in the meditation group shared regarding the Richard Höglund contacts and it was also the opinion of Sture and Turid. Another issue often discussed in the group was the nature and manifestations of devas and nature spirits. Turid Johansson was clairvoyant and often told of her observations of ”the little people”. One evening during the Summer of 1976 the group made a visit to a spot where Turid claimed she had witnessed nature spirits. While walking in the woods Turid pointed to a place where she said a deva was visible. To me it looked like a luminous dress hanging a bit above ground.

Turid Johansson 1974

During a seance on January 29, 1977 I asked about devas and UFOs.

”Håkan: Am I right when I suggest that some of the phenomena we call UFOs are actually higher types of devas?
Sture (Simeno): Yes, and I have also stated that the higher deva parallell evolution, as guardians of the planet, can manifest as saucers.

During the seven or eight seances in 1976-1977 I participated there was no really new or unknown facts regarding UFOs or paranormal phenomena presented by Simeno. It was essentially a summary of the views discussed in the meditation group, although expressed in a somewhat novel form. I do not state this fact to belittle the Sture Johansson channelings. The teachings of Simeno and Ambres are in many respects inspiring and beautiful, a combination of Theosophy, spiritualism and Advaita mysticism. There is no fanaticism, life-negating ascetiscism or political extremism in the messages.

Book with Ambres teachings, published 1985

Mainstream materialist, reductionist psychology usually regard the channeling phenomenon as the effect of a subconsciously created personality. This may be the answer in some cases. The esoteric explanation is somewhat different. Here the view of Swedish esotericist Henry T. Laurency:

”What most characterizes spiritualists is that they permit themselves to be guided by beings in the emotional world, highly developed “spirits in the spiritual world”. The only comment necessary here is that even the most highly developed beings in the emotional world lack a true knowledge of reality and life. That knowledge cannot be acquired in the worlds of man… Spiritualists think that the medium is protected by so-called controls, who see to it that no unworthy beings use the physical envelopes of the medium. However, these “controls” have never reached beyond the emotional stage, the stage of the mystic, and they lack the requisite esoteric knowledge. They have no other knowledge of reality than the one they acquired once when in physical incarnation, and the one they receive through “pupils” who have studied esoterics. Usually, these “controls” are old Indian yogis who are detained in the emotional world through the philosophical systems they have accepted.” (Henry T. Laurency, Knowledge of Life Three, chapter on Spiritualism).

In spite of the critical comments by Laurency it is interesting to note that according to The Esoteric Tradition the Spiritualist movement in the 19th century was in fact inaugurated by a secret lodge of esotericists affiliated with the planetary guardians. The object was to combat the materialist worldview by creating ”unexplained” phenomena. That a secret lodge of esotericists could have been behind the Inner Circle of medium Mark Probert is a theory I have advanced, as the messages were of a definitely unusual quality. My hope that I would receive new information on UFOs and paranormal phenomena through the channeling of Sture Johansson was unfortunately not realized.

Even though the information from Simeno was not what I had hoped for regarding UFOs he did give two predictions that proved very accurate. One regarding two events in my future life that really happened many years later and one to my mother, Gun Blomqvist, during a seance in January 1977. My father, Maths Blomqvist, at that time worked as a plumber combined with singer and guitarist in a small dance-band. But he had also become interested in natural therapy. During the seance Simeno gave the advice that my father should develop his abilities as a healer as he had great gifts in this direction. This soon became reality and from the beginning of the 1980s my father worked as a natural therapist and healer. He still today, at age 86, continue this work.

Turid, Sture, me and my mother Gun Blomqvist, January 1977

I refrain from speculating on the identity of Simeno and Ambres. Sture and Turid claimed to have met Simeno during their out-of-body experience together. Whatever the truth in this matter I am deeply grateful for the unique experiences shared with Sture and Turid Johansson and for the varm friendship and good times together.

It is generally a good idea to return to the classics in any genre. This also goes for UFO literature. Rereading a book after ten or twenty years is a rewarding experience. You will discover new data and ideas you didn´t notice before. The reason, of course, is that you are, in many ways, not the same person reading the book the second or third time. Hopefully you have advanced in knowledge, experience, intellectual and spiritual discernment. I have made it a habit to reread, especially the contactee classics of the 1950s as there is in my view a deeper mystery involved in what happened during that era. The classic chosen for this blog is From Outer Space to You by Howard Menger.

In several earlier blog entries I have presented various aspects of the controversial contact experiences of Howard Menger. He is one of the few public 1950s contactees I regard as genuine, although he later became involved with a secret U.S. military intelligence group, which complicated his life and contacts. The evidence for the reality of Menger´s contacts are many and varied but here I will concentrate on the philosophical and spiritual message of his book as related to The Esoteric Tradition or The Ancient Wisdom.

Howard and Connie Menger

A short summary of my arguments for advocating this position:

1. Many years of field investigation and research on physical contactees have convinced me that contacts and co-operation with alien visitors from somewhere is a reality.
2. There is both empirical and circumstantial evidence indicating that the following 1950s public contactees were authentic: George Adamski, Orfeo Angelucci, Daniel Fry, George and Dorris Van Tassel, Howard Menger.
3. The experiences and articles of journalist and esotericist Paul M. Vest and others imply that several individuals in the 1950s were openly or covertly involved in a psychological and sociological test implemented by a benevolent group of alien visitors.
4. The message or worldview presented by this group is generally in accordance with The Esoteric Tradition.
5. The assertion, in the 1930s and 1940s, by Alice Bailey´s teacher The Tibetan D.K. that ”extraplanetary beings stand ready to intervene” and ”offer their help at this time”.

The following quotes are from the original 1959 Saucerian Books edition of From Outer Space To You. I will not refer to statements in the book of basic facts in esotericism such as multiverse reality, evolution of consciousness, reincarnation, karma etc. but to more specialized information also found in The Esoteric Tradition.

”I was worried about my inability to fully comprehend all they were telling me. I had little or no education in the sciences. They told me not to worry, because many of their contacts were trained scientists who could understand their technology and now could even duplicate some of their instruments. "It's fairly easy to find contacts like these, Howard. But people like yourself is a different matter. While scientists can perform certain tasks, few of them would be able to bring the spiritual message to people, as you will be doing.” (p. 91)

This is an interesting aspect of the test made by the alien visitors as contactees were obviously selected based on different qualities and education. In the writings of Howard and Conny Menger the philosophical and esoteric dimension is very prominent, often more so compared to other contactees. Another example is journalist Paul M. Vest who was told by the visitor named Bill that he was approached because ”they are well aware of your deep interest and unusual experiences in the field of metaphysics, religions and the supra-normal”.

Photo of spaceman in front of ship taken by Howard Menger 1956

”Science asks for proof, but how can we prove something which is beyond our sciences? Scientific proof is based on what we perceive with our five senses, not what we know with the use of even more valuable senses. But, somehow, out of these advanced ideas must come a science, a system of some kind; else our unchartered paths will become even wilder. Such a science, a cosmic science, which will involve investigations in to the realm of other senses and dimensions, has already had its humble beginnings; but its patriarchs, like those ancient iconoclasts who announced the world was round and was not the center of the universe, have been persecuted.” (p. 123)

Here is presented a very distinct reference to The Esoteric Tradition as the science of the future. Not some naive and irrational philosophy but a true science of the multiverse as exact as any academic disclipline. The Tibetan teacher D.K. often explained this to his amanuensis Alice Bailey: ”One point should here be stated: Esotericism is not in any way of a mystical and vague nature. It is a science – essentially the science of the soul of all things – and has its own terminology, experiments, deductions and laws.” (Alice Bailey, Education In the New Age, p. 64) The philosophical system is Hylozoism, expertly elucidated by Swedish esotericist Henry T.Laurency.

Alice Bailey

”Let us assume that there is on this planet a group of scientifically minded and spiritually dedicated men and women who are working to accomplish this great task. And, let us further assume that they have already established contacts with equally dedicated people of other planets. To continue their work and remain effective, they must of necessity remain behind the scenes.” (p. 7)

This is actually Connie Menger explaining the ongoing relation and co-operation between our planetary guardians (Hierarchy) and people of other planets, often mentioned in the esoteric literature. That there is co-operation between the planetary and interplanetary guardians was confirmed by that extraordinary organization Borderland Sciences Research Association(BSRA) in 1951. Here is a quote from Seance Memoranda From the Inner Circle, November 28, 1951: ”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).” (p. 30)

”There are also space craft, 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)

Howard Menger

This statement is intriguing and could be compared with the esoteric intervention theory as expounded by Jacques Vallee. Connoisseurs of esotericism are aware of that the core group of planetary guardians (adepts) have no need of ”saucers” as their knowledge of ”magic” makes such transportation uncalled-for. But secret lodges working together with the planetary and interplanetary guardians could very well have received basic knowledge of Vimana construction. To my knowledge there is no reference to such help in the so far published esoteric literature. A very controversial contactee declaring that secret brotherhoods use flying saucers is the late Richard Kieninger, which I have discussed in an earlier blog entry. In esoteric literature we find only mention of Vimana technology during the Atlantean period: ”Most of our modern scientific knowledge was possessed by these priest-kings and constituted in the eyes of the masses a form of wonderful magic. Sanitation, hygiene, means of transportation and air machines were developed and of a very high order; these were not the result however of man´s achievement, but gifts from the Hierarchy, developed or constructed under a wise guidance.” (Alice Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 122).

”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… This group has been infiltrating religious organizations to dupe your peoples into a distorted concept of a truth which enveloped your planet thousands of years ago. They are using the credulity and simple faith of many people to attain their own ends.” (pp. 143-144)

This is not a very comforting message. Esotericists are aware of that our planet has been chosen as a sort of interplanetary Alcatraz and that there is also an organized effort to keep humanity enslaved by inhuman and destructive religious ideas. This was clearly explained already during the first communications in the 19th century by the Adept K.H.: ”…the chief cause of nearly two thirds of the evils that pursue humanity — ever since that cause became a power. It is religion under whatever form and in whatsoever nation. It is the sacerdotal caste, the priesthood and the churches; it is in those illusions that man looks upon as sacred, that he has to search out the source of that multitude of evils which is the great curse of humanity and that almost overwhelms mankind… It is belief in God and Gods that makes two-thirds of humanity the slaves of a handful of those who deceive them under the false pretense of saving them.” (The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett, Letter 10, pp. 57-58).

Today most of the world religions have been reformed by the ideas from the Renaissance, The Enlightenment and The Modern Project. Unfortunately this is not the case with Islam, who in its present form must be regarded as a grave menace to freedom and world peace. Unless powerful reformers does not appear within Islam during the coming decades, there is a real danger of a brutal clash of civilisations or religious war.

The future prospects of humanity on this planet are not very bright unless something extraordinary happens. The coming of the planetary guardians may be the historical event that will change history.Many years after the active contact experiences Howard and Connie Menger summarized the whole episode with the visitors in their book The High Bridge Incident: ”Even if they were not extraterrestrials, they were intelligent, advanced people who had a technology to be envied and a philosophy that was inspiring. Maybe, they are the prototype of the enlightened, advanced human race on earth to come. If so, we can have hope for the future.” (p. 108).

While reviewing , sorting and scanning documents from the very extensive BSRF archive donated to AFU I now and then find some unusual and rare items. Founder and first director Meade Layne established several channels for distribution of borderland science information. Besides the magazines Round Robin and the somewhat more esoteric The Flying Roll associates regularly received small serial publications called Clips, Quotes & Comments, BSRA Personal Bulletin and BSRA Release. For many years I have been intrigued by and trying to find Release 1-B-53 published in January 1953 as announced in Round Robin, January-February 1953.

When I read this ad I immediately realized that it must be a historically unique document. A meeting at the Palomar Gardens on January 3, 1953, the home of George Adamski. And this only a few weeks after the historic November 20, 1952 contact in the desert and the return of the craft on December 13, 1952, resulting in the classic Scout Ship photos. At first I assumed that this meeting was a channeling session with medium Mark Probert at the Adamski home, but there is no mention of Mark Probert participating. When I recently discovered Release 1-B-53 in the BSRF archive it proved to be an even more fascinating document – Meade Layne interviewing George Adamski and George Hunt Williamsonregarding their contact experience of November 20, 1952. I have never seen this interview acknowledged or referenced by any ufologist or researcher of the 1950s contactees.

In the Round Robin issue of January-February 1953 Meade Layne endorsed Adamski and Williamson as genuine contactees: ”There is not the slightest doubt, in my mind, about the ”reality” and factuality of the landing and interview, or about the integrity of Dr. Williamson and Mr. Adamski”. The contact had also been confirmed as authentic by one of the Inner Circle members, Yada Di Shi´Ite. During a trance session with Mark Probert, December 1, 1952 the Yada claimed that he and his associates had read the published account, studied the drawing of the footprints and the plaster casts, had visited the homes of all persons concerned and listened to their thoughts and conversations and finally examined the desert site of the incident. The Yada concluded: ”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."

Painting of Yada Di Shi´Ite by Mark Probert

There were about a dozen people present at the Palomar Gardens meeting, January 3, 1953, which lasted some three hours. Unfortunately no tape recording was made. The transcription comes from stenographic notes where mistakes and misunderstanding of what was said may easily occur. But still this interview must be regarded as unique and of great interest to all researchers of the UFO contactee enigma. Here I will present a few quotes and comments on what was said during the interview.

”George Adamski: … The mother ship appeared and a B-36 orbing it while the others (planes) were watching.”

In Flying Saucers Have Landed and on several other occasions Adamski and the other witnesses mention the presence of U.S. military aircraft who obviously observed the space ships and what was happening on the ground. Both George Adamski and George Van Tassel later claimed to have been informed by Air Force pilots that the November 20, 1952 contact was filmed from the air. If this information is correct some U.S. military intelligence group was aware of that Adamski was in contact with a group of alien visitors. Was this the reason he was later given a passport with special privileges and also held a U.S. Government Ordnance Department Card, allowing access to military bases and to certain restricted areas? To his Swiss co-worker Lou Zinsstag he once said: ”My heart is a graveyard of secrets”.

Lou Zinsstag

”Francis Ohm: Yes, we understood you had gone on a picnic…

George Adamski: Rick came down here and talked to me and he said, whenever you go we would like to be there. I got an impression to go and notified them by telephone. The mother ship gave instructions as to how to go. It went just ahead of us and we followed it. It stopped and turned and we picked up the instrument and she stayed there – that was where she (the mother ship) wanted us to be. The other one (the Disc) was already sitting there.”

This statement gives a more detailed information on how the group found the contact location than what is presented in Flying Saucers Have Landed.

”George Adamski: As to that woman in the ship – the ship was translucent. The figure might have been a man but looked somewhat like a woman. The stuff the ship was made of was hard as the devil”

The relevant text in Flying Saucers Have Landed reads: ”It was translucent and of exquisite colour. As we approached it, I suddenly became aware of a shadowy form moving within the ship, but there were no definite outlines and I could not say whether it was a man or a woman.” (pp. 205-206).

Photo by George Adamski, December 13, 1952. Notice the translucent "landing gear" on the left

”Francis Ohm: Did you ask directly to go to his ship?

George Adamski: He did not exactly deny me but he did not want me to go in and I could see why. All the time our own ships (planes) were out there. If I had gone in they might have thought he was capturing me. I do not know where our planes came from but they were there.”

Here again is a clear reference that even Adamski himself found it surprising that U.S. planes knew of this visit by the space ships.

George Adamski

There are still many unsolved riddles in the life and contact experiences of George Adamski. But I am confident that history will prove that, as my late friend, ufologist Franck Boitte expressed it, ”there is in the George Adamski saga much more than meets the eye”.

For many years I have collected information and documents about the early 1950s contactees with the object of trying find out what actually happened, to sort out fact from fiction. Not an easy task as the subject is somewhat taboo among scientific ufologists. My efforts so far has resulted in the theory presented in Esotericism And UFO Research.

George Adamski is of course the most well known and controversial but there are several other contactees during this era, often Adamski co-workers who are equally interesting. Some of them with intelligence connections like Carol Honey. This also applies to the enigmatic woman Sonja Lyubicin. Not very much is known about her life and activities but I have received valuable help, data and documents from several fellow researchers. My special thanks goes to Tony Brunt, Joshua Buhs, Keith Basterfield and Bastien Bouhaniche. And also of course my old friend Timothy Good who for many years provided me with rare documents and transcripts of interviews. Unfortunately I have not heard from Tim for two years. If anyone out there knows what has happened to him, please contact me.

Tony Brunt

George Adamski was and still is a controversial figure in UFO history and this goes even more so for Sonja Lyubicin, as anyone can find out searching the internet. She was born on August 15, 1926 in Belgrad, Yugoslavia. Her parents Nikola Lyubicin and Maria Kina. According to documents from the National Archives of Australia (NAA) Sonja escaped from Yugoslavia in 1947 and became a refugee in Italy. On February 2, 1950 she emigrated to Australia and settled in Brisbane.

In the 1950s she associated with UFO groups in Australia and began corresponding with George Adamski, who asked her to be a co-worker and the IGAP representative for Australia (International Get Acquainted Program - IGAP). In this capacity she published a few issues of a small newsletter, named Letter Talk, beginning in 1958.

On July 21, 1959 Sonja travelled to the U.S. where she began working for George Adamski at Palomar Gardens. In 1960 she married Robert Long, a friend of Carol Honey. She also applied for a social security card in the U.S. as Sonja Long. In 1961 she ended her co-operation with Adamski. Sonja continued living in California and on July 12, 1979 married William Paul Appleton. She then changed her name to Sonya Appleton. They eventually settled in Honolulu, Hawaii where the marriage ended. Sonya died in Honolulu, just before her 63rd birthday, July 2, 1989.

Sonja Lyubicin (Hinfelaar family collection)

This is a short synopsis of the official life of Sonja Lyubicin, the name I will use in this blog. But there was also a very different side to her life. Although many of her claims were fantastic she was not a publicity seeker and never announced publicly that she was a contactee. To her friend Brenda Hinfelaar, Auckland, New Zealand Sonja told of her early life and escape from Yugoslavia: ”Brenda recalled that Sonya said that she had escaped from Yugoslavia during the war or after the communist takeover with the help of space people. She was allegedly flown out in a craft. She said that she had later recognised from Adamski’s craft photography that these were the people who had helped her. Hence, her interest and support for Adamski. She claimed that Adamski’s contact person Orthon had visited her in Brisbane, apparently calling in to her apartment. Surprisingly this appears to have been confirmed by Adamski…” (Email from Tony Brunt, August 24, 2012).

George Adamski in New Zealand 1959 (Tony Brunt archive)

As a search on the internet will show Ray Stanford and Laura Mundo claimed that Sonja also had sexual relations with Orthon and other space people in Brisbane. I suppose this rumour could have a more worldly explanation in some young, resourceful Romeo having found out that claiming to be a secret spaceman in contactee circles was an excellent dating strategy. A Swedish contactee used a similar dating tactic by convincing female followers that they were incarnated space women. Obviously it worked very well.

In his 1998 article, Some Memories of George Adamski, ufologist Roy Russell, Brisbane also makes a few comments on Sonja Lyubicin: ”… I mentioned Sonya who lived in Brisbane where she claimed she met Orthon. Sonya, in those earlier days back in the 1950s, had much correspondence with Adamski who in one letter told Sonya to stop thinking about the space people so that her life would not become distorted. In later correspondence GA confirmed that Sonya had indeed met Orthon. It was she Adamski asked to begin the Get Acquainted Program in Australia. Sonya was the most unusual and telepathic person my wife, Pearl, and I have ever met. And on this day, walking with George, he turned to me and (to paraphrase) said with a hint of animated puzzlement, ”Sonya? Geez! I don´t know who she is.”

Roy Russell 1965 (Tony Brunt archive)

Australian UFO researcher Keith Basterfield has kindly provided me with copies of documents from the National Archives of Australia (NAA), relating to Sonja Lyubicin. In one file belonging to the Australian Security Intelligence Agency (ASIO) about the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau there is a short note about Sonja who ”believed she had travelled in space craft to other planets”. Whether this is a rumour in the Queensland group or claimed by Sonja herself is not explained.

Part of document from ASIO

In the Summer of 1959 Sonja headed off to America to work in a secretarial capacity for George Adamski. She was apparently one of the first, in 1961, to notice some disturbing signs in Adamski´s behavior and claims which later escalated with the controversial Saturn trip and Glendale P.O. Box affair. Lou Zinsstag, Adamski co-worker, relates this episode in George Adamski. The Untold Story, co-written with Timothy Good: ”Henk Hinfelaar had adopted the same position as I with regard to Adamski, and in a letter of April 1965 he told me that Lucy McGinnis had confided in him that it was she who had caught out George in psychic activity, to which Honey had also been witness. Lucy realized that George had betrayed himself, and referred to an additional person, Sonja, a young, enthusiastic and loyal helper in the office, who was the first to discover that Adamski was ”going off beam”.” (p. 85)

There has been many theories and much speculation of what happened to Adamski in the beginning of the 1960s when he claimed that he had met ”a new set of boys”. Were they secret intelligence operatives, trained experts in mind control or ”evil” space people bent on destroying his work and reputation? Adamski mentioned to Lou Zinsstag, in a private meeting 1959, that he had powerful adversaries and that ”they are slowly circling me in”. (George Adamski. The Untold Story, p. 35) Whatever happened ”they” obviously more or less destroyed his work and credibility.

Sonja Lyubicin ended her work with Adamski because of the disturbing signs. She had married California aerospace executive Robert Long in 1960, a close friend of Carol Honey, who also worked for the aerospace industry. Lou Zinsstag and Timothy Good interviewed Carol Honey on November 19, 1979 and he found Sonja to be a very enigmatic woman:

Lou Zinsstag and George Adamski (Tony Brunt archive)

”Tim: You wrote that you had independent confirmation that at least two of George´s contacts were genuine. Could you tell us the source of information for that?

Carol: Well, part of it was Sonja… There was no way she could know of things that she was telling me unless she´s actually been part of it. You see I have a secret clearance with the government – I still do, with the Department of Defence – and some of the stuff that she would tell me – there´s no way she could have known, period, unless she´d actually been in on something or had some kind of experience. So there´s no way I can prove it – it´s proof to me but to nobody else.”

Carol Honey had asked Sonja how she could have been so sure already in Australia that George Adamski was a genuine contactee. She said her boyfriend in Australia was working for Australian Intelligence and had one time showed her classified documents with photos of Adamski and other contactees naming which were authentic and which were false. ”She said that because of that she knew he had something. Well, she could have lied about that, too, you know, so what does that prove? But I don´t think she did”.

First page from Sonja´s Letter Talk no 3

After some time Sonja was divorced from Robert Long and on July 12, 1979 married an extremely wealthy man, William Paul Appleton, one of the heirs to the Appleton Rum fortune. He owned much land in Hawaii and that is where the couple settled. By the middle of the 1980s Sonja had split from Appleton but she spent the latter part of her life in Hawaii, where she died on July 2, 1989.

In 1985 a friend of journalist and ufologist Tony Brunt, Kaaren B. visited Sonja, who was living in an expensive apartment in Honolulu. The Russel´s son, Mark, was also visiting Hawaii at the same time and was staying with Sonja. ”They tried to nail Sonya down about her space contacts. All that she would say was that she did a lot of work for the military and wasn´t able to discuss it… Kaaren got the impression that Sonya acted in a liaison role between the space people and the US government.” (email from Tony Brunt, August 24, 2012).

Tony Brunt is the only researcher of my sources who have personally met and talked to Sonja Lyubicin. Tony met Sonja in the early 1980s during a visit she made to Auckland to visit her friends Henk and Brenda Hinfelaar. She told the Hinfelaars that she had visited the White Sands range in New Mexico for meetings. In his 2012 email Tony Brunt gives a summary of his views on Sonja:

”Sonya was a mystery woman in many ways, making veiled comments about extraordinary experiences that she said that she had had. She was a difficult woman to nail down about the exact nuts and bolts of the ‘secret’ life that she had led and was leading. Whether this air of mystery was a fabrication that hid very little or whether she had in fact carried on a secret life in the UFO ‘contact’ field we may never know. The primary claim she made – or inferred – right until near the end of her life was that she was an occasional or regular contactee with Adamski’s space people. She asserted clearly, but in her typically evasive way, that she also acted in a liaison role with the US government, specifically the military… She was either hiding genuinly secret activity or was a fraud who liked to project an air of mystery.”

Sonja Lyubicin´s greetings to Swedish friend Edith Nicolaisen (backside of Adamski poster)

There is one aspect of contactee life and claims that is seldom mentioned and very well expressed in the classic Winston Churchill quote that ”truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies”. If contactees like George Adamski, Sonja Lyubicin and others really are in contact with and secretly working together with benevolent groups of alien visitors, then a certain amount of deception may be necessary to protect themselves. I have found this aspect both in esoteric history and UFO contacts. Helena Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy, when confronted with an unwanted student or journalist told impossible and ridiculous stories to get rid of the person. Swedish contactee Richard Höglund told ufologist Ernst Linder that his contact experience was a lie, invented as a compensatory fantasy because of a difficult childhood. Later Richard told his close friend Gösta Johansson that he tried to get rid on Ernst Linder investigating him by saying that his contact was a fake. To this day Ernst Linder believes that Richard Höglund was a fraud, so the ”bodyguard of lies” worked. This strategy of "blinds"can of course easily backfire and create more problem than solutions.

What would be my final assessment of the contact claims of Sonja Lyubicin? I really have no definite answer. Perhaps more data could solve the enigma of her life. Sonja was either an adventurous and highly fantasy-prone personality jumping on the contactee bandwagon of the 1950s or a woman with a secret mission, involving alien visitors.

Readers of my blog are aware of that the very extensive and unique archive of Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (BSRF) has been donated to AFU, arriving in two large shipments. The major part, 72 boxes, donated in July 2016 by present BSRF director James Borges, Eureka, California. The second shipment, seven boxes, donated in April 2018 by Thomas J.Brown, New Zealand, director of BSRF 1985-1995. Of special interest to me has been the large correspondence file of my late friend and mentor Riley Crabb(1912-1994), director of BSRF 1959-1985. So far I have reviewed and digitized 300+ letters to and from Riley Crabb, written between 1952-1989. This collection gives a profound and fascinating insight into his life and work of inestimable value to ufologists, esotericists and researchers of paranormal phenomena.

Riley Crabb

Riley Crabb was born on April 2, 1912 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1934 he discovered the library of the Theosophical Society in Minneapolis and became an avid reader of all the literature he could find. In this search he may have been inspired by his mother, Mrs. Eunice Crabb, who was a student of philosopher and esotericist Manly Palmer Hall, founder of the Philosophical Research Society. In Minnesota Riley married Marion Crabb. During World War Two military service took him to Hawaii and he returned to the islands in 1946 working as journalist for the mid-Pacific edition of Stars & Stripes. The career continued as publications editor and information specialist at Naval Supply Center, Pearl Harbour. A job he handled with great skill receiving a $200 cash reward from Rear Admiral J.L. Herlihy: ”… in recognition of your superior performance of assigned and additional duties”. (Letter from Rear Admiral J.L. Herlihy, Oct. 5 1955). It was in Hawaii that Riley Crabb met his second wife Judy and the couple settled in Honolulu.

Riley with his mother Eunice Crabb

Interest in UFOs began when Riley found an article on flying saucers in True magazine 1950. Already in 1951 he joined Borderland Sciences Research Foundation and started lecturing on UFOs in 1954. This resulted in founding of the Akualele Research Group 1956. Akualele is a local word for ”godly fireballs” or ”fire spirits”. During this time Riley Crabb was also President of The Honolulu Lodge of The Theosophical Society in Hawaii and deeply fascinated by the native kahuna religion and magic of Hawaii, which he learned from Charles Kenn, David ”Daddy” Bray Kino Lau and others.

Riley Crabb during a Televison show in Honolulu

During 1955-1956 Riley corresponded briefly with astronomer and ufologist Morris Jessup. In one of his letters Jessup planned to write about the more esoteric ”Elder Brother theme”, but nothing came of this idea. As esotericist Riley Crabb realized, in the 1950s, that his special project or mission was to study the UFO enigma in relation to the Esoteric Tradition: ”With my years of study and membership in two Mystery Schools, the Rosicrucians and Theosophy, my particular field seems to be to relate the teachings of the Schools to the coming of the Saucers.” (Letter to Elvira Cleary, May 24, 1958). This was to be the unique approach during all his years of research and writing, thereby following in the footsteps and tradition of prominent esotericists such as Meade Layne and Desmond Leslie.

In August 1957 Riley and Judy left Hawaii and settled first in Barstow, California where Riley found work as Assistant Employee Relations Officer at the Marine Corps Supply Center. He tried to find a Civil Service job in San Diego but in June 1958 the couple instead left Barstow for Camarillo, California. Riley had applied for work as Visual Information Specialist at the U.S. Navy´s Pacific Missile Range, Pt. Mugu. Immediately after coming to California Riley began lecturing to various UFO- and other societies, especially the many local units of Understanding, founded by contactee Daniel Fry in 1955. He also maintained a voluminous correspondence with friends and fellow researchers. In this respect both Riley and Judy soon found themselves in demand as teachers and counsellors in the rather wild occult underground world of southern California. As esotericist Riley always tried to advocate balance and common sense in UFO and spiritual studies and investigation: ”I just wonder how long you must continue developing the devotional side of your nature before striking a balance? There comes a time in spiritual progress, you know, when love must be balanced with knowledge. By this I mean detailed knowledge of the higher worlds… You wont find this needed information in Joel Goldsmith or in Krishnamurti, nor in Christianity. All of these emphasize only one aspect of the Trinity, the devotional or love aspect. If you continue to shy away from the detailed knowledge of the higher worlds, which Theosophy can give you for instance, unbalanced development may eventually cause you as much unhappiness as did your previous condition.” (Letter to Guy Hedlund, January 11, 1959).

The Prospector, June 27, 1958

In the same letter Riley also presented some critical comments on the UFO contactee scene in California: ”When they run out of personal experiences to tell, what have they got for the second time around the lecture circuit? One sad result is that the psychic racketeers move into the resulting vacuum with their phony stories. I try to sustain the points made in my talks with quotations from leading scientists, philosophers and other recognized authorities in their respective fields.”

During the Spring of 1959 Meade Layne´s health and eyesight declined and he started hinting in letters that he would have to close BSRF if a new director couldn´t be found. Riley and Judy travelled back and forth to San Diego several times discussing this issue. Finally they decided that BSRF must be saved at all costs and revealed their plans in a letter to Fred: ”Meade Layne, director of Borderland Sciences Research Associates,… has asked me to take over. Judy and I are going down this weekend to try to settle the deal and to see if I cant make a good living out of it for both of us. It certainly would be wonderful to put full time into BSRA as it is the ideal combination of Flying Saucers and metaphysics research, with a world wide mailing list and plenty of opportunity for writing and lecturing.” (Letter to Fred, April 30, 1959).

Riley Crabb ended his Civil Service career at Pt Mugu and on May 16, 1959 Riley and Judy moved to San Diego, where the BSRF headquaters was situated at 3516 Adams Avenue. Meade Layne resigned formally as director on June 1, 1959. Riley was now director, including editor of Round Robin and Judy secretary and treasurer. Taking over the BSRF business was a bigger job than they had anticipated. The headquarters was more run down than was at first apparent. But there was also another problem. Although BSRF was a non-profit association Meade Layne insisted on selling it as a business to his successors. They finally agreed on $1,200 to be paid at the rate of $50 a month. In Round Robin, October-November 1960 Riley Crabb explained that ”… Mr Layne had no legal or moral right to sell it; nor for that matter did I have any right to buy it”. But Riley and Judy accepted these terms as they regarded BSRF as such a unique organization that it must somehow survive. Soon they also discovered that BSRA had been incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1951 but Meade Layne had never bothered to turn in any annual reports. To manage the first year they had to spend all their personal savings but they also received donations from members and survived the first hard years. BSRF was now there sole source of income. There is some problem whether to use the acronym BSRA or BSRF. Borderland Sciences Research Associates (BSRA) was an informal group created by Meade Layne in 1946. Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, Inc. was formed into a legal corporation on May 21, 1951. At the first board meeting in 1959 Riley Crabb suggested that the new name should be Borderland Sciences Research Associates Foundation. But usually the shorter version is used in writing.

Riley and Judy Crabb now began the hard work of getting BSRF into order while planning for a new home. The chose the small, peaceful town of Vista, California, and found a home at 1103 Bobolink Drive, which also eventually became the new BSRF headquarters. I´ve always admired Riley Crabb´s ambition and motto presented in his first Round Robin editorial, July-August 1959, under the headline, About the New Editor: "Since coming to the mainland my lectures have been concerned with the problem of relating Flying Saucer data, and phenomena, to the teachings of the Mystery Schools. I believe you´ll agree this is no easy task. If I have one goal in life it is un uncompromising search for Truth, whatever that might be, and wherever it may lead."

Riley and Judy Crabb at their new home in Vista, California, May 1962

Beginning with the January-February 1960 issue the name of the journal was changed to Round Robin. The Journal of Borderland Research. Riley Crabb soon became a well known and much appreciated lecturer on borderland subjects and the couple were often travelling to many cities acrosss the U.S. Lectures and donations was an important part of the income. As esotericist Riley was well aware of that the use of drugs was not the correct path in spiritual development but he was not afraid to make a test on himself. On December 28, 1964 he wrote to Dr. Timothy Leary describing an experiment with Mescaline. This was before Timothy Leary in 1966-1967 became the guru of the counterculture movement, with his famous phrase ”turn on, tune in, drop out”. Riley wrote: ” ”… I had a psychedelic experience at their Socorro, New Mexico clinic in the Spring of 1963… My reaction to the mescaline was positive, a very deep and satisfying spiritual experience.” Riley had been given half a gram of Mescalin at the clinic of Drs. John and Louis Aiken, Socorro, New Mexico. The visions hade lasted for six or seven hours and Judy sat beside Riley during the experiment and tape recorded the session. A very detailed description of this experiment was published in a 15- page article in Round Robin vol. 19, no. 5, July-August 1963.

Trevor James Constable and Riley Crabb, June 1962

Riley Crabb had for several decades a deep inpact on many ufologists. Still he has no separate entry in Ronald Story´s The Encyclopedia of UFOs or Jerome Clark´s The UFO Encyclopedia. One of the American ufologists that regularly corresponded with Riley Crabb and asked for advice and opinions was Joan O´Connell (Joan Whritenour), editor of Saucer Scoop 1966-1970. In one letter May 25, 1973 she wrote ”You know, I just don´t READ your material, I STUDY it. And I have for years.” After Joan had some problems with the controversial contactee Ted Owens, Riley Crabb wrote: ”… his connections with elementals he calls Saucer or Space Intelligences. My favorite Kabala teacher, Dion Fortune, warns us to beware of the self-trained occultist. In my estimation, Owens falls into that category. The fact that he drained you of energy during a visit points toward elemental vampirism. They get drunk on human vitality… That he is a truly dangerous character is proven by the willingness to call upp great storms and other destruction without a second thought or concern about the misery, death and destruction he is causing. He thinks he is using the SI´s to cause these spectacular demonstrations of elemental power, but in the long run he will discover that the Elementals are using him for their purpose. When he has served his purpose he´ll be tossed aside like a wet dishrag.” (Letter to Joan Whritenour, November 1, 1971). This warning is similar to the conclusion I reached after having read Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove´s book The PK man.

When reading Riley Crabb´s articles and booklets you immediately notice his profound knowledge of The Esoteric Tradition. There are constant references to Helena Blavatsky, Charles Leadbeater, Alice Bailey and many others. Regarding Alice Bailey he commented: ”D.K.`s Treatise On Cosmic fire should be in every metaphysician´s library.” (Letter to Joseph S. Haas, August 30, 1983). But Riley and Judy also wanted a more practical magical work, hence their study of Dion Fortune and Kahuna magic: ”The magickal system Judy and I study, the Cabala of the Western Mystery Tradition, has built-in safeguards for the calling forth and directing of these forces in constructive work. We are also well aware of the fact that our work is overshadowed by Inner Plane Teachers who supply knowledge and protection which saves us from burning ourselves to death in certain Alchemical experiments. The Arcane School of Alice Bailey is not our Path but we don´t hesitate to dip into the magnificent literature channeled through her for the edification of Students of the Mysteries here in America.” (Letter to Carl B. Cahill, October 30, 1976).

In 1984 Judy Crabb suffered from various health problems so Riley had to reduce his BSRF work and lecture engagements: ”This belated reply to yours of Aug 4th indicates how far behind I got attending five conventions in the Summer. Maybe I´ll have to cut down next year, or even pass them all up if Mrs. Crabb´s health does not improve. Right now I´m a male nurse, as well as housekeeper and director of BSRF, and janitor, and am not accepting any lecture invitations.” (Letter to Mary Marie Satterlee, American Society of Dowsers, October 14, 1984). Unfortunately Judy´s condition did not improve and she became bedridden with a combination of pneumonia and acute pancreatitis. Judy Crabb died on July 12, 1985. In Round Robin, vol. 41, no. 5, September-October 1985 Riley wrote In Memoriam:”Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not dead. I do not sleep. Judith Miyama Crabb, July 31, 1909 – July 12, 1985”.

Riley Crabb at the home in Vista

After Judy´s death Riley found a new director of BSRF and editor of Round Robin in Thomas J. Brown who entered his responsibilities beginning 1986. Riley left for New Zeeland where he married theosophist Phyllis Hall in December 1985. He continued writing articles and booklets until his death in January 20, 1994. Unfortunately his widow consigned Riley´s private archive to the municipal dump. Perhaps this was not only the fault of Phyllis Crabb. In a letter to me May 27, 1984 Riley said: ” :”I did find the 1973 file in the attic and am enclosing a Squance letter for you to follow up on. All of this old material is going to the dump when I sell out here, hopefully later this year.” This attitude to archives is tragical and for me and my AFU colleagues impossible to understand. Why destroy your life work?

The Auckland Sun, February 22, 1988

Riley Crabb was in many ways a pioneering and unique researcher in the Forbidden Science. His approach to esotericism was eclectic and open minded, sometimes, in my opinion, too openminded, when presenting channeled messages. But he was an accomplished esotericist which he proved in his comment in a letter to me after I had sent him The Knowledge of Reality by Swedish esotericist Henry T. Laurency: ” ”Yes, we did receive the Laurency opus and thank you very much. It appears that he is an initiate of some standing in the Western Mystery Tradition, and has some interesting, even startling, observations on philosophy and occult science, past and present. The Knowledge of Reality is a welcome addition to our reference library.” (Letter to me, December 18, 1981).

I am deeply grateful for having known and corresponded with Riley Crabb. He was a mentor and a friend – even though we never met. It is a privilege for AFU today to be the custodians of the unique BSRF archive. A treasure trove of information for coming generations of scholars and researchers.

During the 1950s and 60s there were three channelers or mediums that had a large impact on the ideas and writings presented by Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (BSRF) directors Meade Layne and Riley Crabb. They were Mark Probert, Ralph Holland (Rolf Telano) and Gerald Light (Dr. Kappa). Two of the channelers, Holland and Light, can also be regarded as UFO contactees. Mark Probert and Ralph Holland are quite well known and biographical data is presented both in books, articles and on the internet. But when it comes to Gerald Light information is very hard to find, except a few comments and articles in BSRF´s magazine Round Robin. An internet search will almost only give references to Light´s famous 1954 letter to Meade Layne, with the story of Eisenhower´s meeting with space people.

One of the reasons for this scarcity of data on Gerald Light is probably because the many booklets and pamphlets he wrote were published on low quality paper, which today is so fragile that it is almost impossible to handle without destroying. In the BSRF archive donated to AFU, I have found, besides the original 1954 letter, no less than thirty booklets written by Gerald Light. They are so fragile that it will be impossible to keep them in our regular AFU library so I have digitized all booklets to preserve them for research and study.

I have not been able to determine the year of birth and death of Gerald Light but from a biographical and UFO research viewpoint his 1953 booklet Signs In The Skies is the most informative. He was born in Peking, China, the son of Irish diplomats. In 1930 he worked at the Presbyterian College in Allahabad, probably as a teacher. It was here he realized that his destiny was to go to America:

”When, in 1930, I first learned, as did all mankind, of the discovery of the strange planet Pluto… I first heard this sensational bit of news as I sat at my desk in the Chumbi Valley, a little bit of paradise nestling just beneath the towering heights of the Himalayan Mountains between India and Tibet. In the same mail that brought this news there was a magazine which pictured the amazing buildings which were to be a part of the World´s Fair in Chicago…I knew also that, somehow, I must find my way to Chicago and personally stand before such creations… I had heard the Call – and I set forth upon what was to prove by far the most important voyage I have made in this mortal world of earthly men. In a very real way I was to become an ambassador of the Aquarian Age.”

Gerald Light was no stranger to the occult world and had spent years in meditation and prayer. He was obviously clairvoyant and claims an almost daily awareness of the ”invisible worlds” and having met and conversed with various beings including devas and nature spirits. The Chicago World´s Fair was held May 27, 1933 - October 31, 1934. It was during this period that Gerald Light arrived i Chicago and it was here he met an extraterrestrial for the first time: ”I contacted my first Flying Saucer at the Chicago World´s Fair in 1933… in 1933 I knew nothing of Flying Saucers”. The encounter occured during a bright Summer morning near the shores of Lake Michigan: ”… as I turned a corner in a rather deserted section of the ground, I came face to face with what I can only call the Presence. He, or She, was not of our earth. This I knew instantly, completely – and fearfully, the moment my eyes met His. Deep within myself I heard, my mind, my soul perhaps, I heard these words: ”Son of Aquarius! Flame of Uranus! Witness the White Company in the Land of the Heights. Hear Our Message, observe Our Genius! Prepare!”

”… this Being bore but slight resemblance to a human man. A single, solitary eye blazed in his forehead. It pierced me to the quick of my soul. This ”eye” was more than an eye. It is the one thing I remember most clearly about this astonishing personage from worlds beyond our own. The ”eye, which seemed almost to be a composite brain in itself, was perfectly round and divided into hundred of facets of surfaces somewhat like a multicolored jewel. Surrounding the eye, which rested in the center of a large head, beautifully shaped and bordered with a kind of hair which looked more like fine metallic wires than ordinary hair, around the eye was a vivid circle of delicately contrived muscles. These were automatic in their action, similar to the pupil of a cat´s eye, expanding or contracting according to the requirements of the light touching it. This Being stood easily twelve feet in height, yet the body was a s large as our standards of proportion would expect. He was slender, almost to the point of delicacy; yet for some reason I sensed that his weight was enormous. I had the impression that I was observing a man of granite and lead, rather than of flesh and blood.”

A couple of years after this seminal event Gerald Light traveled to Wyoming to spend a year at the Teton Mountains. On the night of September 16, 1936 he observed a hugh spherical object emerge from the top of the highest peak, the Grand Teton. Golden sparks emitted from the object which illuminated the landscape. It made a wide circle around the mountain top and disappeared. ”Since that foreboding day nearly twenty years ago, I have personally and consciously contacted the People of the Space Ships many times”, narrates Light. ”I had met The Masters. The Masters! I had met Those overwhelming Beings Who, verily! Are The Lords of the Universe!... Today I am in frequent contact with These Forces That Control the destinies of many planets; subjectively, that is, in my sleep and hours of meditation and prayer.”

There is not much information about Gerald Light´s activities in the 1940s. He appears to be one of the founders of The Aquarian Society in 1941. An association of occultists and Christian mystics working for the coming of ”The Lord Aquarion” (Christ) who ”entered the Etheric Aura of our Earth on Christmas Day 1941” and will stay until Christmas Day 2011. In the 1950s Gerald Light founded The Lodge of Light in Los Angeles and then his contact with Meade Layne of BSRF began. The Lodge of Light published 36 lessons, Harmonics, many small booklets, a bulletin and also a magazine named Galaxies.

I have read most of the booklets written by Gerald Light. They are a curious mixture of various occult ideas, esotericism and messages from the Etherians. Light has a tiresome tendency not being able to get to the point. Eighty percent of the text could easily be discarded as general talk. Some of the booklets give me the same reading experience as when confronted with the intellectual and philosophical quicksand of the Krishnamurti works. In one of his Etheric Notes Light mention that there is often great confusion at the question and answer period after his lectures. He compares this situation with ”reciting The Iliad to the gold-fish in my lily pond expecting them to follow me verse by wondrous verse.”

Long Beach Independent, February 20, 1954

Light claims to have been a student of the mystic and philosopher George Gurdjieff which is reflected in several booklets: ”The Etherian technique for achieving ”immortality” (relative of course) is reasonably simple in the early lessons, and possibly quite enjoyable to some as it has to do with eating and drinking and use, generally, of all our five senses… Briefly, my instruction on this point was to taste every bit of food as though my future life depending upon recognizing all of the separate flavors contained in the food. Smell, - the same way. Look, see, in the same attitude… Let me refer you to Gurdjieff… He was famous for his ability to consume tons of food, and not get unusually fat. His office was lined with shelves crammed full of exotic and peculiar delicicies which he nibbled on constantly… Asleep his body could be lifted by two men; awake, a dozen of us could not budge him. To this day I carry a scar on my left wrist, the result of his hand being laid casually over mine. The pressure, inert weight, was so great it burst the tissues and skin of my left wrist.”

(Gerald Light, Etheric Notes 2).

It is almost impossible to distinguish a clear wordview from the writings of Gerald Light. There are many contradictions. Sometimes it is only the Etherian Masters who have real knowledge of the universe while all other metaphysical systems and Masters are obsolete. While in the next booklet reference is given to the classic Esoteric Tradition. The following to quotations could even be interpreted as that the Etherians are materialists:

”Could it be, with abject apologies to the CS`ers, that there is nothing but matter? That Matter is the One Supreme Element of the Universe of Universes. The God of Gods, the Heavenly Absolute of Absolutes??? The Etherians say – Yes! They of OuterSpace declare Matter to the the All of All. The magnificently superior Beings streaking through our skies insist that ”beyond matter there is nothing”.
(Gerald Light, Etheric Notes 4).

”Why do we lose our chemical instruments, when the mountains, the seas endure ”forever?” Because, The Etherian Friends tell us, because we have no conscious awareness of the ”divine” or eternal nature of our chemically-compounded bodies. Why is this true? Largely because we simply choose to ignore the reactions of these chemicalized organs as we live our daily hours through.”
(Gerald Light, Etheric Notes 5).

An internet search for Gerald Light will almost exclusively yield references to his classic 1954 letter to Meade Layne on Eisenhower´s meeting with extraterrestrials. The obvious questions is of course why would an relatively unknown California occultist be invited to such a historic event? Given that this contact actually happened I can think of two options.
1. Gerald Light witnessed this event but with the help of remote viewing or astral travel.
2. He heard rumors of the Eisenhower contact with extraterrestrials and made it his own story.

There are in fact several individuals who claims to have witnessed the contact. Some of these stories have been summarized by Timothy Good in his latest book Earth An Alien Enterprise. Very intersting is also the follow-up research made by William Moore. He tried to get to the bottom om the rumor by checking official sources at the Eisenhower library and in 1979 interviewing the widow of dentist Dr. Purcell. The official explanation of Eisenhower´s sudden disappearance from Palm Springs February 20, 1954 is that he at a dinner knocked a cap off a tooth and had been taken to a local dentist for treatment. Moore found that Dr. Purcell´s widow were unable to recall any specifics relating to her husband´s alleged treatment of the president. Neither is there any record at the Eisenhower library of any dental work performed in February 1954 although the library maintains extensive records relating to the president´s health. Moore concludes: ”Clearly something occurred involving President Eisenhower on the evening of February 20, 1954. Whether it was a trip to the dentist, a trip to Muroc, or something altogether different and unrelated, remains a matter of conjecture.”

(Ike and The Aliens, Focus, vol. 1, no. 2, April 30, 1985.)

Meade Layne frequently commented on the experiences of Gerald Light in Round Robin. And he appears to have a very high regard for his contacts and knowledge: ” When publishing his Etheric Notes, Layne wrote: ”In my opinion, as a student and novice of occutism and the physical sciences, this is the most important material of its kind which has yet appeared in Borderland Sciences publications… Gerald Light, better known to our readers as Dr. Kappa, will be remembered for his singular and unhappy adventure with Etherian visitors (described by us three years ago – Transcripts IV and V, 1950. He is a man of rare gifts and unquestionable integrity, and in my opinion a very great occultist.” Meade Layne also made the note that ”We accept the M.P. controls, who are always sui generis.”
(Round Robin, vol. 9, no. 5, Jan-Feb. 1954, p. 2).

Riley Crabb, who entered as director of BSRF in 1959 was seemingly of a different opinion regarding Gerald Light. In 1960 Riley Crabb received an undated letter from Theosophist Evna Edmundson, who expressed grave doubts concerning Light. He had been invited to speak for the Theosophical Society headed by Edmundson. As she was very knowledgeable about astrology she, before the lecture, asked Light som questions. But he proved to have a very superficial knowledge of the subject and only delivered a few platitudes: ”I gave him plenty of rope and he ”hung himself in moments” with me”. Just as the lecture was about to begin Gerald Light slipped out, telling someone at the door he had another engagement.

In his reply, January 18, 1960, Riley Crabb wrote: ”Certainly appreciate your reply to my query about Isabel Devereux. Frankly I was curious about her relations with the occult Gerald Light. I have heard she sponsored him in some classes there in New Orleans in 1954, I believe. Then apparently she discovered he wasn´t all he claimed to be and tried to expose him. If she succeeded in this apparently it had no effect because I have recently received publicity from him, with a New Orleans address. Many of our associates are still intersted in him and his work and are asking about him. If my advice is to be of any value to them I must know the truth. I certainly wouldn´t want to be responsible for urging anyone to study under a charlatan.”

Riley Crabb

About ten years later Riley Crabb had obviously formed an opinion on Gerald Light and his contacts very far from that of Meade Layne. In his 15-part series articles, Inspired By The Dark Forces he wrote: ”Was Himmler really human or was he a humanoid , a soul-less monster, an invader from some dying planet, desperately trying to gain a foothold on this one?...In his writings to Meade Layne back in the 1950s, Gerald Light gave us a eyewitness description of such a Pagan God from beyond Saturn… Gerald ”Dr. Kappa” Light was a devoted student of Gurdjieff, and Gurdjieff was one of Aghartas free agents in Europé during the buildup of the Nazi power in the 1920s and 30s. Before World War he was at the court of the Dalai Lama in Lhassa, instructing that holy? Man in the arts of black magic. In view of all this I´m inclined to suspect that Light´s Uranian-Aquarian was really a Plutonian trying to direct the world crisis to His own purposes… through the Nazis and other extremist groups.”

(Round Robin, vol. 27, no. 6, Nov-Dec. 1971, p. 33).

Whatever the truth about Gerald Light he was a fascinating figure in the underground world of mystics and occultists. He claimed to have been a member of most of the known metaphysical and esoteric societies in the 20th century and have a library consisting of more than six thousand volumes upon every phase of occultism and mysticism. But I can only wonder at the spiritual discernment of a man who listen in awe to a giant, one-eyed robot-like humanoid, who suddenly materialize proclaiming: ”observe Our Genius”.

In his obituary of George Adamski, published in Flying Saucer Review, July-August 1965, Desmond Leslie wrote of his old friend: ”Our first contact was so strange. My Flying Saucers Have Landed was being rejected by publisher after publisher when I heard, through Meade Layne, of the first desert contact a week previously. I immediately wrote to George asking if he would let me see, and possibly buy his photos for my book. He replied by sending me the whole remarkable set of pictures with permission to use them without fee. What an extraordinary man, I thought. He takes the most priceless pictures of all time and wants no money for them… I am satisfied that his photographs and early contacts are authentic and will in time be proven so.”

Many books and thousands of articles have been written, both pro and con, about George Adamski. But now, for the first time, his photographs has been digitally enhanced and evaluated by a professional photographer – Rene Erik Olsen from Denmark. He is a painter, photographer and researcher. Olsen documents his investigation in the beautifully illustrated The George Adamski Story – Historical Events of Gigantic Implications. Information about Rene Erik Olsen and the book can also be found at his website. This unique investigation may be the first step forward in making Desmond Leslie´s hope of authenticating the Adamski photographs come true.

Rene Erik Olsen

Olsen is not a ufologist but has been marginally interested in the subject for many years and in the 1990s did some illustrations for the Danish group SUFOI and Adamski co-worker H.C. Petersen. In 2001 Rene contacted Glenn Steckling, director of the Adamski Foundation as he wanted to do a computer animation of George Adamski´s contact experience November 20, 1952. From Steckling he received copies from the original negatives. But other projects engaged Olsen for 16 years until 2017 when he finally decided to make digital enhancements of the Adamski photos. It was then he made a revolutionary discovery. There was much more on these photos than even Adamski himself could have guessed.

Olsen have done enhancements of the three out of four Kodak Brownie photos George Adamski took on November 20, 1952. Also one telescope image from the desert contact, used by Glenn Steckling in his talks. The enhancements are done in Photoshop. The image enhancement process in respect to each Adamski photograph is documented. Olsen remarks that it ”does NOT change or manipulate the actural image (change what is already there in the frame), but does make the image sharper, remove noise, make some areas darker or lighter, make shadows lighter or darker and make highlights darker. These are the same image enhancements/processes I use on every image I take”.

In one of the Kodak Brownie photos the upper left hand and right hand corners of the image is very over-exposed. When enhanced this photo clearly shows the large cylindrical-shaped mothership or carrier craft with three smaller craft in the vicinity.

Many times I have looked at the Brownie photo of the rocky valley in the original edition of Flying Saucers Have Landed. In the background a small dark object is visible which is said to be the scoutship rising. I have always found this photo a bit disappointing and have, like Olsen himself, thought this was just the upper part of the craft which could be seen. But an enhancement of this photo show much more details of almost the whole ship. The dome and cabin are very distinct.

The most important and sensational Brownie photo is the forth as an enhancement shows both part of a craft and a figure, not noticed on the original print. Olsen makes this comment: ”Did Adamski know that he took this photo of a ”person” and the craft? I am sure he did. This is the only reason why he NEVER talked about these Brownie photos. He must have known what this picture showed (or potentially showed) and in the wrong hands might have revealed that he was in possession of a photo of an extraterrestrial.”

I am not so sure this is the explanation. In the 1950s no one could have found out what was hidden in the photo. The first image-processing software was developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the 1960s for satellite image processing. There was no Photoshop until the late 1980s.

Glenn Steckling has not provided Olsen with first generation photos from the original negatives of the December 13th photos taken by George Adamski. But Olsen concludes that these classic images represent the same craft as observed on November 20, 1952. Olsen has received good copies of a film taken by George Adamski in Mexico 1957 and the well known Silver Spring film, taken by Madeleine Rodeffer and George Adamski on February 26th, 1965. The enhancements made from still frames of the Silver Spring film reveal many more details than the poor quality copies aviable on YouTube. Olsen has made six enhancements from the film and presents a detailed analysis of how the force field around the craft distort the images and the function of the spheres under craft: ”One ”ball” was kept retracted at all times during the ”display” to make the craft stable and the other two ”balls” were rotated and moved up and down… Had all three ”balls” been retracted the protective field would have been fully operational and not allowed for any details to be shown. The craft would then have been enveloped in the protective magnetic field which would have rendered the craft as a white/light orange form of energy.”

Very fascinating is the analysis of the 45 seconds film taken by George Adamski in Michoacan, Mexico 1957. I have seen it and was like Olsen not very impressed as I couldn´t understand what was going on. A treeline filmed from a moving car with a hardly visible craft in the background, behind some trees. The car eventually stopped and Adamski kept on filming. The enhancements though show some remakable details. The upper part of a craft with semi-transparent column and cabin. We are actually witnessing how the craft is changed from a solid object to a semi-transparent stage: ”… there must be some kind of either very powerful force at work (magnetic force/electromagnetic force) which can make the physical properties of metal (the electron structure of the solid material (metal of the craft) seem to be nullified…”

Photo by George Adamski, December 13, 1952. Notice the semi-transparency of the left sphere.

There are several more photos enhanced and studied by Olsen and also an analysis and discussion about the technology and propulsion systems used in these craft. An obviously very efficient and powerful clean energy, ”which the Planet Earth sorely could use”, concludes Olsen in his final chapter. The last pages of the book is an Image Section with additional Adamski photos and some very beautiful paintings of craft and the ”crew member” Orthon, as imagined by Olsen. Truly a feast for the eye.

Olsen hope to be able to continue investigating and analysing the Adamski photos and films. Hopefully he will also be given access to some of the original negatives for a more definite study. In my correspondence with Rene Erik Olsen I asked him for a summary of what he hopes to achieve with his book and research: ”My small hope is that George Adamski and his photographic work will be taken more seriously today, as it does give us a glimpse of what Adamski was exposed to – and his problems in trying to present (not convince) his facts to the times he lived in. Today our ”informed and enlightened” generation should be able to gain a lot more from his material – if we consider the evidence at hand with an open mind. I, for one, am considering my next book – a much closer look at the technology and evidence for – those flying crafts that was captured on Adamski´s 8mm and 16mm films and his photos.”
(Email from Rene Erik Olsen, May 28, 2018).

My late friend ufologist Franck Boitte was, because of personal experiences, convinced that ”there is in the George Adamski saga much more than meets the eye.” A new generation of investigators and authors have reopened the Adamski case and provided much new information regarding this controversial contactee: Timothy Good, Tony Brunt, Michel Zirger, Maurizio Martinelli and Warren P. Aston. We can now add Rene Erik Olsen to this list. Their findings also support the theory I have personally advanced that some of the 1950s contactees were authentic and involved in a cultural, psychological influence test made by a benevolent groups of alien visitors with access to Vimana technology.

Desmond Leslie and George Adamski 1954

When a revised and very much enlarged edition of Desmond Leslie´s and George Adamskis´s Flying Saucers Have Landed was published in 1970, Flying Saucer Review editor Charles Bowen aptly named it The Book That Was Dynamite. This classic tome, originally published in 1953, changed the course of UFO history and the life of thousands of people – including my own – when I as a young teenager found it in my parents bookshelf. After almost 50 years in the UFO movement it is very seldom that I wholeheartedly and without reservations recommend a new UFO book. The George Adamski Story by Rene Erik Olsen is a real challenge to the UFO research community. The book is only 99 pages, but it is 99 pages of dynamite. Read it!

AFU and UFO Research

AFU in the 1980s

The Meade Layne - Desmond Leslie Correspondence

"We Are Here"

Some Further Notes On "We Are Here"

AFU in the 1990s

Mothman and Spirits of the Air

The Richard Höglund Case - Second Contact

Franck Boitte and George Adamski

UFO Research and Counterintelligence

The Silent Witnesses

Guardians and Invaders In The Esoteric Tradition

Dorris Van Tassel - A Contactee In The Background

UFOs In the Sture Johansson Channeling

From Outer Space To You

A Rare George Adamski Interview

The Enigma of Sonja Lyubicin

The Riley Crabb Correspondence

Gerald Light And The Etherians

George Adamski - The New Evidence