Contactees are persons who claim to be in regular contact with extraterrestrials. Contactees have typically reported that they were given messages or profound wisdom by aliens, and that they were compelled to share these messages. The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, currently used by the SETI project in the search for extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth, the only place in the universe currently known to support life. ...

As a cultural phenomenon, Contactees perhaps had their greatest notoriety from the late 1940s to the late 1950s, but individuals make similar claims to the present day, one of the best known currently being Swiss cult leader Billy Meier. Some shared their messages with small groups of followers, and many issued newsletters or spoke at UFO conventions. Billy Eduard Albert Meier (born February 3, 1937) is a citizen of Switzerland and contactee. ... A purported 1952 photo of a UFO over Passaic, New Jersey, from an FBI document. ...

The stories of contactees contained much material that has not stood the test of time, such as claims that there were unknown planets within our solar system, and that all the planets of our solar system are inhabited by human beings physically like us, but more spiritually evolved. Certainly at least some of the claims were fraudulent (Spencer 1991:82). A planet (from the Greek πλανήτης, planetes or wanderers) is a body of considerable mass that orbits a star and that produces very little or no energy through nuclear fusion. ... Major features of the Solar System (not to scale): The Sun, the eight planets, the asteroid belt containing the dwarf planet Ceres, outermost there is the dwarf planet Pluto (the dwarf planet Eris not shown), and a comet. ... Space Brothers aka Space People aka Nordic Spacemen were the type of space alien normally reported by classic contactees, those who claimed to have had face-to-face encounters with flying saucer crewmembers and (usually) rides in their saucers, beginning in 1952 with George Adamski and continuing with many inspired...

Randles and Hough write that, "The contactee movement is a rich treat for anthroplogists, sticky with sincere and sincerely deluded individuals. Were the contactees in touch with anything other than their own internal fantasies?" (Randles and Hough, 108) In fact, the contactee movement has seen serious attention from academics and mainstream scholars. Among the earliest was the classic 1956 study, When Prophecy Fails by Leon Festinger, et al, which included information about, and analysis of, contactee groups. Additionally, there have been at least two university-level anthologies of scientific papers regarding the contactee movements (see sources below). Initiation rite of the Yao people of Malawi Anthropology (from the Greek word , man or person) consists of the study of humanity (see genus Homo). ... A delusion is commonly defined as a fixed false belief and is used in everyday language to describe a belief that is either false, fanciful or derived from deception. ... Leon Festinger (born May 8, 1919 - February 11, 1989) was a social psychologist from New York City who became famous for his Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. ...

Contactee accounts are generally different from those who allege alien abduction: While contactees usually describe beneficial, human-like aliens, abductees rarely describe their experiences positively. The Abduction Phenomenon is as umbrella term used to describe a number of kidnap individuals--sometimes called abductees--usually for medical testing or for sexual reproduction procedures. ...

Overview

Astronomer J. Allen Hynek described Contactees as asserting "the visitation to the earth of generally benign beings whose ostensible purpose is to communicate (generally to a relatively few selected and favored persons -- almost invariably without witnesses) messages of 'cosmic importance'. These chosen recipients generally have repeated contact experiences, involving additional messages. The transmission of such messages to willing and uncritical true believers frequently, in turn, leads to the formation of a flying saucer cult, with the 'communicator' or 'contactee' the willing and obvious cult leader. Although relatively few in number, such flying saucer advocates have by their irrational acts strongly influenced public opinion." (Hynek, 5) Dr. J. Allen Hynek. ... This article does not discuss cult in its original sense of religious practice; for that usage see Cult (religious practice). ...

Contactees usually portrayed the "Space Brothers" as more or less identical in appearance and mannerisms to humans. The Brothers are also almost invariably reported as disturbed by the violence, crime and wars that infest the earth, and by the possession of various earth nations of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. However, despite their global concerns, the "Space Brothers" never landed their flying saucers in front of the United Nations building, the White House or the Kremlin to spread their message. Instead, they invariably selected obscure people (dishwashers, road crew members, assembly-line workers, sign-painters and taxi-drivers), often having a long prior history of involvement with mystical sects. Almost every contactee asserts that the urgent message of the Space Brothers is religious rather than technical; extraterrestrial religions as reported by the contactees are generally difficult to distinguish from a careless blend of Christianity and Theosophy. Space Brothers aka Space People aka Nordic Spacemen were the type of space alien normally reported by classic contactees, those who claimed to have had face-to-face encounters with flying saucer crewmembers and (usually) rides in their saucers, beginning in 1952 with George Adamski and continuing with many inspired... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... North façade of the White House, seen from Pennsylvania Avenue. ... Kremlin (Russian: Кремль IPA: ) is the Russian word for fortress, citadel, or castle and refers to any major fortified central complex found in historical Russian cities. ... Mysticism from the Greek μυστικός (mystikos) an initiate (of the Eleusinian Mysteries, μυστήρια (mysteria) meaning initiation[1]) is the pursuit of achieving communion or identity with, or conscious awareness of, ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight; and the belief that such experience is an... A sect is generally a small religious or political group that has branched off from a larger established group. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Possible emblem of some Theosophical Society Theosophy, literally knowledge of the divine, designates several bodies of ideas. ...

Peebles (1991:146) summarizes the common features of many contactee claims:

• Certain humans have had personal and/or mental contact with friendly, completely human-appearing space aliens.
• The contactees have also flown aboard flying saucers, and traveled into space and to other planets.
• The Space Brothers invariably come from Utopian societies which are free of war, death, crime, disease, or any other vexing human problem.
• The Space Brothers want to help mankind solve its problems, to stop nuclear testing and prevent the otherwise inevitable destruction of the human race.
• This will be accomplished very simply by the brotherhood spreading a message of love and brotherhood across the world.
• Other sinister beings, the Men in Black, use threats and force to continue the cover-up of UFOs and suppress the message of hope.

Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA) Outer space, also simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. ... Left panel (The Earthly Paradise, Garden of Eden), from Hieronymus Boschs The Garden of Earthly Delights. ... A war is a conflict between two or more groups that involve large numbers of individuals. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A disease or medical condition is an abnormality of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, distress, or death to the person afflicted or those in contact with the person. ... Preparation for an underground nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site in the 1980s. ... Common depiction of the Men in Black. ...

History of Contactees

Early Contactees

Though the word "contactee" was not in common use until the 1950s, the authors of the anthologies noted in "sources" below use the term to decribe persons whose claims occurred centuries before the UFO era, seeing them as part of the same tradition.

Though not specifically linked to flying saucers or odd aerial lights, it's perhaps worth noting that there is a long history of claims of contact with non-earthly intelligences. The founding revelations of many of the world's religions involve contact between the founder and an extraterrestrial source of wisdom, whether identified as an angel, a god in human form, or a spiritually-advanced "Space Brother." In this context, it might be expected that most of the 1950s contactees would form their own religions, with the contactee as sole spiritual leader, and that is just what happened, almost invariably.

As early as the 1700s, people like Emanuel Swedenborg were claiming to be in psychic contact with inhabitants of other planets. 1758 saw the publication of Concerning Earths in the Solar System, in which Swedenborg detailed his alleged journeys to the inhabited planets. J. Gordon Melton notes that Swedenborg's planetary tour stops at Saturn, the furthest planet known during Swedenborg's era--he did not visit Uranus, Neptune or Pluto. (Melton, 3) Emanuel Swedenborg, 75, holding the manuscript of Apocalypsis Revelata (1766). ... Dr. John Gordon Melton is the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is a research specialist with the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. ...

Later, Helena Blavatsky would make claims similar to Swedenborg's. Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Hahn (also Hélène) (July 31, 1831 (O.S.) (August 12, 1831 (N.S.)) - May 8, 1891 London, England), better known as Helena Blavatsky or Madame Blavatsky was the founder of Theosophy. ...

In 1891, Thomas Blott's book The Man From Mars was published. The author claimed to have met a Martian in Kentucky. Unusually for an early contactee, Blott reported that the Martian communicated not via telepathy, but in English. (Melton, 7) // Telepathy (from the Greek τηλε, tele, distant; and πάθεια, patheia, feeling) is the communication of information from one mind to another by means other than the known perceptual senses. ...

Another contactee book (of sorts) was From India To The Planet Mars by Theodore Flournoy (1900). Flournoy detailed the claims of Helene Smith, who, whilst in a trance, dictated information gleaned from her psychic visits to the planet Mars--including a Martian alphabet and language she could write and speak. Flournoy determined that Smith's claims were spurious, based on fantasy and imagination. Her "Martian" language was simply a garbled version of French. A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... Glossolalia comprises the utterance of what appears (to the casual listener) either as an unknown foreign language, or as simply nonsense syllables; the utterances sometimes occur as part of religious worship (religious glossolalia). ...

1900s

Two of the earliest contactees in the modern sense were William Magoon and Guy Ballard (the later a follower of Madame Blavatsky). Godfre Ray King or Guy W. Ballard was a government person who visited Mt. ... Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Hahn (also Hélène) (July 31, 1831 (O.S.) (August 12, 1831 (N.S.)) - May 8, 1891 London, England), better known as Helena Blavatsky or Madame Blavatsky was the founder of Theosophy. ...

Magoon's book William Magoon: Psychic and Healer was published in 1930. He claimed that, in the early 1900s, he had been unexpectedly and instantaneously transported to Mars. The planet was essentially earthlike, with cities and wilderness. The inhabitants had radio and automobiles. Though they were invisible, Magoon sensed their presences. An example of how an object could appear to be invisible through the use of mirrors Invisibility is the state of an object which cannot be seen. ...

Though Magoon was obscure, Ballard would have more impact via the I Am movement he established. In 1935, Ballard claimed that, several years earlier, he and over 100 others witnessed the appearance of 12 Venusians in a cavern beneath Mt. Shasta. The Venusians played music for the audience, said Ballard, then showed the crowd a large -mirror-like device that displayed images of life on Venus. The Venusians then allegedly reported that the earth would suffer through an era of tension and warfare, followed by worldwide peace and goodwill. I am is: The first person singular present tense form of the main copular verb in English (to be) Some Christian writers think it is the most meaningful English translation of Yahweh in Hebrew (YHVH, יהוה), but this interpretation is disputed The name of an album, I am. ... Mount Shasta, a 14,179-foot (4,322 m) stratovolcano, is the second-highest peak in the Cascade Range and the second-highest point in California (after Mount Whitney). ... A mirror, reflecting a vase. ...

George Adamski, who would later become probably the most prominent contactee of the UFO era, was one contactee with an earlier interest in the occult. Adamski founded the Royal Order of Tibet in the 1930s. Writes Michael Bakun, "His [later] messages from the Venusians sounded suspiciously like his own earlier occult teachings." (Bakun, 150) George Adamski (April 17, 1891 – April 23, 1965) was a Polish-born American who claimed to have seen and photographed ships from other planets, met people (whom he called Space Brothers) from other planets and to have gone on flights with them. ...

Christopher Partridge notes, importantly, that the pre-1947 contactees "do not involve UFOs." (Partridge, 8) Rather, he suggests that an existing tradition of extraterrestrial contact via seances and psychic means promptly incorporated the flying-saucer mythos when it arrived. A séance (SAY-ahnce) is, on its most basic level, an attempt to communicate with the dead. ...

Contactees in the UFO era

The 1947 report of Kenneth Arnold sparked widespread interest in flying saucers, and before long, people were claiming to have been in contact with flying saucer inhabitants. Kenneth Arnold (March 29, 1915-January 1984) — a private pilot from Boise, Idaho, United States, and a part time Search and Rescue Mercy Flyer — made what is generally considered the first widely reported UFO sighting in the United States. ...

There was a nearly-continuous series of contactees, beginning with George Adamski in 1952. Radio host John Nebel interviewed many contactees on his program during this era. The stereotypical contactee account in these days involved not just conversations with friendly, human-appearing spacemen but visits inside their flying saucers, and rides up to Mother Ships in earth orbit, and even jaunts to the Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. George Adamski (April 17, 1891 – April 23, 1965) was a Polish-born American who claimed to have seen and photographed ships from other planets, met people (whom he called Space Brothers) from other planets and to have gone on flights with them. ... Long John Nebel (1911-1978) (born John Zimmerman in Chicago, he adopted his radio name, Long John Nebel from the surname of his stepmother, Knebel) was a talk radio show host. ... Space Brothers aka Space People aka Nordic Spacemen were the type of space alien normally reported by classic contactees, those who claimed to have had face-to-face encounters with flying saucer crewmembers and (usually) rides in their saucers, beginning in 1952 with George Adamski and continuing with many inspired...

By the late 1950s, many contactees were no longer claiming to have been physically visited by aliens; rather, they were more often in psychic contact with the spacemen, who passed their messages on to people in trances. However, alien contact via Ouija board, spirit mediums and channelling was fairly common even in the early 1950s. Eventually, there was a complicated crossover with the later "psychic channeling" movement, which found a degree of renewed popularity beginning in the late 1960s. A psychic is a person who has the abilities of extra-sensory perception, such as clairvoyance, psychometry, premonition and precognition, or other paranormal abilities such as psychokinesis. ... Space Brothers aka Space People aka Nordic Spacemen were the type of space alien normally reported by classic contactees, those who claimed to have had face-to-face encounters with flying saucer crewmembers and (usually) rides in their saucers, beginning in 1952 with George Adamski and continuing with many inspired... An altered state of consciousness is any state which is significantly different from a normative waking beta wave state. ... A typical Ouija board Ouija (pronounced wee-juh or wee-jee) refers to the belief that one can receive messages during a séance by the use of a Ouija board (also called a talking board or spirit board) and planchette. ... In spirituality, a medium or spirit medium (plural mediums) is an individual who possesses the ability to receive messages from spirits (discorporate entities), or claims that he or she can channel such entities — that is, write or speak in the voice of these entities rather than in the mediums... According to Websters Dictionary: the practice of professedly entering a meditative or trancelike state in order to convey messages from a spiritual guide. ... Channeling is the communication of information to or through a physically embodied human being, from a source that is said to exist on some other level or dimension of reality than the physical, and that is not from the normal mind (or self) of the channel. ...

In support of their claims, early 1950s contactees often produced photographs of the alleged flying saucers or their occupants. A number of photos of a "Venusian scout ship" proffered by George Adamski and identified by him as a typical extraterrestrial flying saucer were noted to bear a suspicious resemblance to a type of once commonly available chicken egg incubator, complete with three light bulbs which Adamski said were "landing gear." (See [1]). George Adamski (April 17, 1891 – April 23, 1965) was a Polish-born American who claimed to have seen and photographed ships from other planets, met people (whom he called Space Brothers) from other planets and to have gone on flights with them. ...

For over two decades, contactee George Van Tassel hosted the annual "Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention" in the Mojave Desert.[2] Another 1950s contactee, Buck Nelson, held a similar convention in the Ozarks of Missouri up until 1965. George Van Tassel (1910-1978) A contactee, UFO enthusiast and religious cult leader who in 1958 commenced building --- but never quite completed --- the Integratron, in the California desert town of Landers. ... Looking across from Emigrant Pass towards the Kingston Range in the eastern Mojave. ... Buck Nelson (1894 - 1982) is one of the more unusual of the 1950s contactees. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ...

Though contactees faded from mainstream consciousness, people continued making claims of extraterrestrial contact.

Swiss cult leader Billy Meier has managed to include every one of the classic 1950s contactees within his own religious framework, and has made room for tens of thousands more, as this reported exchange between Meier and one of his extraterrestrial contacts indicates: "Meier: ... If you allow, I want to ask you about some matters respecting contacts. How many contactees exist in the world today...?" "Ptaah: The exact number of real contactees on Earth is presently 17,422 (1975). They are scattered over all your states and lands. Of that number only a few percent come to public attention. Many of them are working according to our advice at different labors and tasks.... In different cases such persons are also having contacts with us without being informed that we do not belong to Earth.... Of all these 17,422 contactees (the number increases continuously) only a few hundred are known publicly...." Billy Eduard Albert Meier (born February 3, 1937) is a citizen of Switzerland and contactee. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

Examples since the 1990s include the Heaven's Gate group (whose members committed mass suicide) and the Raelian Movement, which earned international attention with their claims of successful human cloning. Heavens Gate is a movie that came out in 1981 and is widely considered the biggest Hollywood flop of the 1980s. ... Raels first published book, the basis of the Raelian movement Raëlism is the belief system promoted by the Raëlian Movement, a religious organization which believes that scientifically advanced extraterrestrials known as the Elohim (derived from a Hebrew word appearing in the Torah) created life on Earth through...

Response to Contactee claims

Though contactees earned a degree of mainstream attention, most mainstream observers seem to have concluded that the claimants were either hoaxers or mentally ill. A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ... Mental Illness is a concept in psychiatry and other mental health professions referring to mental abnormality associated with distress and/or dysfunction. ...

Even in ufology -- itself subject to at best very limited and sporadic mainstream scientific or academic interest -- contactees were generally seen as the lunatic fringe, and "serious" ufologists subsequently avoided the subject, for fear it would harm their attempts at "serious" study of the UFO phenomenon (Sheaffer 1986:17; 1998:34-35). Jacques Vallee notes that "No serious investigator has ever been very worried by the claims of 'contactees.'" (Vallee, 90) Ufology is the study of unidentified flying object (UFO) reports, sightings, alleged physical evidence, and other related phenomena. ... Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ... Dr. Allen Hynek (back), and Dr. Jacques Vallee (far right, front) at U.N. General Assembly, 1978. ...

Some time after the phenomenon had waned, historian David Michael Jacobs noted a few interesting facts: the accounts of the prominent contactees grew ever more elaborate, and as new claimants gained notoriety, they typically backdated their first encounter, claiming it occurred earlier than any one else's. Jacobs speculates that this was an attempt to gain a degree of "authenticity" to trump other contactees.

Were Contactees an attempt to discredit UFO studies?

There has been speculation that some Contactees were Central Intelligence Agency operatives following the Robertson Panel's directives to "reduce 'public interest'" in UFOs and to infiltrate UFO groups. This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... The Robertson Panel was a committee commissioned by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1952 in response to widespread Unidentified Flying Object reports, especially in the Washington DC area. ...

Randles and Hough write, "Some historical analysts think that the sudden arrival of countless Americans claiming contact with 'space brothers', and the quirky behaviour of some of them, may not be coincidence. Were some of the more extreme cases planted by the CIA as a way to speed up the Robertson panel's requirements? They definitely tarnished UFO credibility." (Randles and Hough, 104). Space Brothers aka Space People aka Nordic Spacemen were the type of space alien normally reported by classic contactees, those who claimed to have had face-to-face encounters with flying saucer crewmembers and (usually) rides in their saucers, beginning in 1952 with George Adamski and continuing with many inspired...

Though the Robertson Panel undoubtledy recommended the surveillance of civilian UFO groups, to date no evidence has been presented that would verify the speculations noted by Randles and Hough.

List of Contactees

• George Adamski
• Wayne Sulo Aho
• Orfeo Angelucci
• Truman Bethurum
• Albert Coe

• Daniel Fry
• William A. Ferguson
• Calvin C. Girvin
• Gabriel Green
• Dana Howard (contactee)
• Marian Keech/Dorothy Martin
• George King (Aetherius Society)
• Elizabeth Klarer
• Dino Kraspedon (aka Aladino Felix)
• Gloria Lee
• Dan Martin
• Billy Meier
• Howard Menger
• Buck Nelson
• Ted Owens
• Reinhold O. Schmidt
• Frances Swan
• George Van Tassel
• Samuel Eaton Thompson
• George Hunt Williamson

George Adamski (April 17, 1891 – April 23, 1965) was a Polish-born American who claimed to have seen and photographed ships from other planets, met people (whom he called Space Brothers) from other planets and to have gone on flights with them. ... Wayne Sulo Aho (1915 - 2005), born in the state of Washington, one of seven children of Finnish homesteaders, worked for most of his life as a logger. ... Orfeo Angelucci (aka Orville Angelucci) was born near Trenton, NJ in 1912 and died in California on July 24, 1993. ... Truman Bethurum (August 21, 1898 - May 21, 1969) was the second of the classic 1950s contactees, individuals who claimed to have spoken with humanoid space aliens and entered or ridden on their flying saucers. ... Albert Coe was an American contactee who supposedly made contact with a young Space Brother-type alien, who needed assistance from Coe, who was on a fishing trip in the wild hinterlands of Ontario, Canada. ... 1950 Press Photo of Daniel Fry Daniel William Fry (1908 - 1992) was an American contactee who claimed he had multiple contacts with an alien and took a ride in a remotely piloted alien spacecraft in 1949. ... Cosmic Circle of Fellowship was an organization active during the peak of the contactee era of the mid- to late-1950s, founded by a postman named William A. Ferguson. ... Calvin C. Girvin in 1958 Calvin C. Girvin in his 1958 book The Night Has a Thousand Saucers related how he had served in the Pacific briefly at the end of World War II, then returned to his home in Pennsylvania where he and his father, after Kenneth Arnolds... Gabriel Green (born 1924 in Whittier, California, died 8 September, 2001, in Yucca Valley, California) was a write-in United States presidential candidate in 1960 and 1972. ... Dana Howard was one of the mid-1950s contactees inspired by George Adamski. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ... Elizabeth Klarer (1910 - 1994) was a South African disciple of California contactee George Adamski, and appears, based on frequency of reference, to be the best-remembered South African contactee and UFO photographer today. ... Dino Kraspedon was the pen name of Brazilian Aladino Felix, convicted political terrorist, who in 1959 published My Contact with Flying Saucers, a book that told a story very much in the vein of classic USA contactee George Adamski. ... Gloria Lee Gloria Lee (1925 - 1962) was an airline stewardess and occultist and a follower of Oahspe who became part of the 1950s contactee movement in 1953. ... Dan Martin is a music journalist and supabuff hottie with NME. As the publications resident Fucking Manics Fan, he is always at service when the paper needs someone to bum the manics for a review or an article. ... Billy Eduard Albert Meier (born February 3, 1937) is a citizen of Switzerland and contactee. ... Howard Menger (1922- ) is an American Contactee who claimed to have met extraterrestrials throughout the course of his life, meetings which were the subject of books he wrote, such as From Outer Space To You and The High Bridge Incident. ... Buck Nelson (1894 - 1982) is one of the more unusual of the 1950s contactees. ... PK Man symbol used by Ted Owens to identify himself as a representative of Space Intelligences (SIs) Ted Owens (1920-1987) was claimed to be a divine being living as a person. ... Reinhold Schmidt (1897 - 1970?) was one of the late-comers of the 1950s contactee era that began with George Adamski in 1953. ... Frances Swan was certainly among the most obscure of the classic 1950s contactees, individuals who claimed to have established direct personal contact, or some other form of regular communication, with friendly extraterrestrials. ... George Van Tassel (1910-1978) A contactee, UFO enthusiast and religious cult leader who in 1958 commenced building --- but never quite completed --- the Integratron, in the California desert town of Landers. ... Samuel Eaton Thompson (1875? - 1960?) is certainly the most unfamiliar of the 1950s contactees, individuals who claimed to have met and talked to human-appearing crewmembers of landed flying saucers. ... George Hunt Williamson (December 9, 1926 - January, 1986), aka Michel dObrenovic, was one of the four guys named George among the mid-1950s contactees. ...

Sources

• Michael Bakun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America; University of California Press Berkeley, Los Angeles, 2003; ISBN 0-520-23805-2
• J. Allen Hynek (1972), The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry, Henry Regenery Company
• David Michael Jacobs (1975). The UFO Controversy In America. Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-19006-1
• Gordon J Melton, "The Contactees: A Survey", pages 1-13 in The Gods Have Landed: New Religions From Other Worlds, James R. Levin, editor; University of New York Press, Albany, 1995; ISBN 0-7914-2330-1
• Christopher Partridge, "Understanding UFO Religions and Abduction Spiritualities; included in UFO Religions, Christopher Partridge, editor; Routledge, London, 2003, ISBN 0-415-26324-7
• Curtis Peebles (1994). Watch the Skies: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth. Smithsonian Institution ISBN 1-56098-343-4 (Chapter 7, pages 93-108, is about the contactee era.)
• Jenny Randles and Peter Houghe (1994).The Complete Book of UFOs: An Investigation into Alien Contact and Encounters. Sterling Publishing Co, ISBN 0-8069-8132-6
• Christopher F. Roth, "Ufology as Anthropology: Race, Extraterrestrials, and the Occult." In E.T. Culture: Anthropology in Outerspaces, ed. by Debbora Battaglia. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2005.
• Robert Sheaffer (1986). The UFO Verdict: Examining the Evidence, Prometheus Books ISBN 0-89775-338-2
• Robert Sheaffer (1998). UFO Sightings: The Evidence, Prometheus Books ISBN 1-57392-213-7
• John Spencer (1991). The UFO Encyclopedia. Avon Books ISBN 0-380-76887-9
• Jacques Vallee (1965). Anatomy of a Phenomenon: Unidentified Objects in Space, A Scientific Appraisal. Henry Regnery Company, ISBN 0-8092-9888-0

Dr. J. Allen Hynek. ... Indiana University, founded in 1820, is a nine-campus university system in the state of Indiana. ... Dr. John Gordon Melton (b. ... Curtis Peebles is an aerospace historian for the Smithsonian Institution and the author of several books. ... The Smithsonian Institution Building or Castle on the National Mall serves as the Institutions headquarters. ... Jenny Randles is a British author and member of BUFORA who specialises in writing books on UFO and paranormal phenomena. ... Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ... Robert Sheaffer is a freelance writer and a leading investigator of unidentified flying objects. ... Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by Paul Kurtz and publishes scientific, educational, and popular books, especially those of a secular humanist or scientific skepticism nature. ... Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by Paul Kurtz and publishes scientific, educational, and popular books, especially those of a secular humanist or scientific skepticism nature. ... Avon is a paperback imprint of HarperCollins. ... Dr. Allen Hynek (back), and Dr. Jacques Vallee (far right, front) at U.N. General Assembly, 1978. ...

External links

• Survey of 1950s Contactees

• Long John Nebel's radio interviews with 1950s Contactees

• A collection of links to web pages of and about various contactees

• Another overview of 1950s contactees

• A critical look at 1950s contactees

• Another survey of 1950s contactees and their associated religious cults