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 existence of extraterrestrial life remains hypothetical though human beings continue to search Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth. ...

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. This article is in need of attention. ... UFO redirects here. ...

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. ... Presentation of the solar system (not to scale) The solar system comprises the Earths Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally bound to it. ...

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) Anthropology (from the Greek word άνθρωπος, human 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. ...

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. ... In religion and sociology, a cult is a cohesive group of people (often a relatively small and recently founded religious movement) devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be far outside the mainstream. ...

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 Brothers never landed 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. Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The southern side of the White House The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States of America. ... Kremlin (Кремль) is the Russian word for citadel or castle and refers to any major fortified central complex found in historical Russian cities. ... The Flammarion Woodcut can be taken to illustrate the Gnostics mystical search for spiritual worlds by circumventing the constraints of materialism. ... A sect is generally a small religious or political group that has branched off from a larger established group. ...

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.

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 aliens, 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. Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA) Outer space, also called just space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the Universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. ... It has been suggested that utopianism be merged into this article or section. ... The only atomic weapons ever used in war - the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan by the United States on August 9, 1945, effectively ending World War II. The bombs over Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki immediately killed over 120,000 people. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A disease is an abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress 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. ... In UFO conspiracy theories, the term Men in Black (MIBs), also known as Men in Gray, are alleged to be men dressed in black suits claiming to be government agents who attempt to harass or threaten UFO witnesses into silence. ... Psychic or psychical is a term referring to psi or extra-sensory abilities. ... The phrase altered state of consciousness was coined in the 1970s and describes induced changes in ones mental state, almost always temporary. ... 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 claims 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. ...

For over two decades, contactee George Van Tassel hosted the annual "Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention" in the Mojave Desert.[1] 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). ...

In support of their claims, 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 noticed 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 [2]). 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 from other planets and to have gone on flights with them. ...

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. ... A mental illness (or emotional disability) is defined by the medical profession as a disorder of the brain that results in a disruption in a persons thinking, feeling, moods, and ability to relate to others and to work. ...

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. Randles and Hough typically 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). No evidence whatsoever of such a conspiracy has turned up. The CIAs seal features an eagle atop a sixteen-point compass. ... The Robertson Panel was a committee commissioned by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1952 in responses to widespread Unidentified Flying Object reports, especially in the Washington DC area. ...

Historical Continuum

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. As early as the 1700s, people like Emanuel Swedenborg were claiming to be in psychic contact with inhabitants of other planets; Helena Blavatsky and others would later make similar claims. 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." It would 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. Emanuel Swedenborg, 75, holding the manuscript of Apocalypsis Revelata (1766). ... 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. ...

Incomplete List of Contactees

• George Adamski
• Wayne Sulo Aho
• Orfeo Angelucci
• Truman Bethurum
• Albert Coe
• Daniel Fry
• Gabriel Green
• Dana Howard (Contactee)
• Marian Keech
• George King (Aetherius Society)
• Dino Kraspedon (aka Oswaldo Pedrosa)
• Gloria Lee
• Dan Martin
• Billy Meier
• Howard Menger
• Buck Nelson
• Reinhold O. Schmidt
• George Van Tassel
• 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 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. ... 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. ... 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. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ... This article is in need of attention. ... Howard Menger (1922- ) is an American Contactee who claimed to have met extra terrestrials during the coarse of his live which he wrote about in his books From Outer Space To You and The Highbridge Incident. Menger, who rose to prominence as a charismatic contactee in the late 1950s... Buck Nelson (1894 - 1982) is one of the more unusual of the 1950s contactees. ... Reinhold Schmidt (1897 - 1970?) was one of the late-comers of the 1950s contactee era that began with George Adamski in 1953. ... 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. ... 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

• 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 0253190061
• 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 0806981326
• 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 0809298880

Dr. J. Allen Hynek. ... Indiana University, founded in 1820, is a nine-campus university system in the state of Indiana. ... 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. ... Robert Sheaffer is a freelance writer and a leading investigator of unidentified flying objects. ... Prometheus Books is a publishing company, which publishes Scientific, educational, and popular books. ... Prometheus Books is a publishing company, which publishes Scientific, educational, and popular books. ... 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

• A critical look at 1950s contactees