Flying Saucer Contactees and the New Age

A rendition of an otherworldly visitor as described by Truman Bethurum: 'Captain Aura.'

These are the two letters given to Truman Bethurum as chronicled in the case study Aboard a Flying Saucer (1954).  One of the quoted statements of the female flying saucer captain is: "There is more to this than meets the eye.  It is impossible for me to explain to you so that you can understand.  And I'm not certain I ought, even were it possible.  Remember, I am speaking to you in a tongue quite foreign to me about matters entirely foreign to your comprehension."  Truman mentioned something he'd noticed about talking to 'Captain Aura Rhanes': "I had several questions just on the tip of my tongue that I never had a chance to ask, because she seemed to have the power of channeling my questions along a line that she was willing or possibly even anxious to answer . . . I even asked her questions about the solar system and her religion.  And she told me, 'We worship a Supreme Deity who sees, knows and controls all.'"  (An English translation of the letter in French may be read in a 2016 blog article.)  Previous articles about paranormal case studies with letters as a factor are "The Mahatma Letters", "The ITC Letters", "A Sitting with Slate-Writing Medium Mr. P. O. Keeler 1911" and "The Bangs Sisters".
 

 

The four 'flying saucer contactees' who are the subjects of this article are men who for the rest of their lives devoted themselves to informing others about their metaphysically revelatory experiences.  This article presents excerpts of commentary concerning the New Age from autobiographical books by these contactees.  The accounts range from ostensibly physical experiences to psychic phenomena/telepathic communication.  The circumstances for the contactees result with communication transcripts that are not verbatim and it is possible that the choice of recalled words may have altered some of the intended meaning of the information being imparted.

Sadly, there were also a few people who identified themselves as contactees yet their conduct made it apparent they were disinformation purveyors presumably working in conjunction with government agency directives that resulted with socially detrimental assumed imperatives.  (1, 2, 3)

Contactee: Truman Bethurum

Contactor: the 'Clarionites' (space people)

Books: Aboard a Flying Saucer (1954), The Voice of the Planet Clarion (circa 1957) and The People of the Planet Clarion (1970 published posthumously)

Related Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 

Truman Bethurum wrote in the final book about the Clarionites:
 

The crew, or crews, as far as I could determine, would range in size from the Captain, approximately four feet, six inches, to the tallest of the men, about five feet, two or three inches.  They were all fully developed and, in their general appearance, resembled adults.

The Captain, although mentioning that she is a mother and a grandmother, looked as youthful as any young college girl of this Earth.


Their features were symmetrical and one could quickly detect that these people were a race apart from our familiar mixtures on Earth, although I suspected at first that they were of Spanish or Italian origin.

I noticed that each had a slight, peculiar crook at the bridge of their nose.  Their foreheads were normally high in comparison to their size.  None had a receding hairline or any semblance of anything except perfect health.  Their movements indicated that these people are very agile, far beyond the ordinary concept of agility.  I found I had to hurry a little to keep up with their leisurely manner, whether walking with the lady Captain or the men of her crew.

In his first book, he had reported about Captain Aura and her "high pitched voice": ". . . this woman was talking to me in a swinging, rhythmic tone of voice, much like you read Mother Goose verses to your children . . ."

In The Voice of the Planet Clarion, Truman described a unique visitation incident in December 1955 when Captain Aura visited him in his home in Prescott, Arizona.  Telling him that she wanted him to build a 'Sanctuary of Thought,' she informed him: "My purpose in bringing this message to you is so that you and your people of your Earth planet can, and will, bring PEACE to your troubled world."  (article)

In the Foreword of the book, Truman wrote:

At the close of the first visit, the lady Space Captain Aura Rhanes told Truman to make the visit "known to the people of your world."  As Truman was a construction engineer, welder, machine operator and mechanic, and not a writer or a poet, he was at a loss as how to best place his wonderful experiences before the general public.

Captain Aura told him to write down the visits and what was said, in the manner in which she spoke.  Upon his return home, after the second visit, he took his pen and started to concentrate.  To his surprise, the words flowed from the pen, as if Aura, herself, had hold of it.  The following pages are the result.

In his final book, Truman mentioned something unusual he'd noticed that occurred to him when promoting his initial book:

I had never written any poetry and could not rhyme two words.  I just didn't have it in me to do that — but now it's different!  Many times, when I have sold a book and the purchaser wishes me to autograph it, I have found myself writing something that a second before I had no thought or knowledge of.  The peculiar thing, even to me, it usually turned out to be in the same vein that AURA spoke, and also, a thought far above anything that I could have previously conceived.

One time in San Francisco, I became quite ill and decided to go to Los Angeles.  A friend brought a book to me to be autographed before I left.  I was so weak that I actually had to lean across a fender of my car to stand up, but something took my pen and continued writing after I had signed my name!  The friend was so impressed that a copy was made and mailed to me later.  I, too, was impressed with the utter impact of the words and their apparent meaning.  I will reproduce this copy here to show how thought transference can really work:

The world will awake, and sometime soon,
     Regret of dancing to the same old tune.
Science and knowledge will both join hands
     And fill the floor from the crowded stands.
Life with gaity, understanding, too,
    Will very soon become the rule.
We'll realize before too long,
     That wars all follow a macabre song.
Nothing is gained from national duels,
     But the realization we were led by fools!

Truman himself observed: "From talking with many people, I am convinced that the world is ready, willing and anxious for a change — a peaceful change from the conditions existing on Earth now!  It is not necessary to have a nuclear war causing mass-murders and contamination of everything by radioactivity in order to bring on the New Age."

Contactee: Orfeo M. Angelucci

Contactor: 'Neptune'

Books: The Secret of the Saucers (1955), Son of the Sun (1959)

Related Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Orfeo Angelucci self-published the newspaper-style periodical Twentieth Century Times Vol. 1, No. 1 on February 19, 1953 after being instructed by Neptune: "For the present you are our emissary, and you must act!  Even though people on Earth laugh derisively and mock you as a lunatic, tell them about us!"  Later that year, the first issue of Mystic Magazine presented as a "true mystic adventure" the article "I Traveled in A Flying Saucer" by Orfeo Matthew Angelucci (as told to Paul M. Vest).  There would be two other articles with the same authorship attribution the following year.  Magazine editor Ray Palmer also worked with Orfeo to bring to publication Orfeo's nonfiction case study The Secret of the Saucers (1955). 

One night walking home alone beneath the Hyperion Avenue Freeway Bridge, Orfeo was astonished to physically encounter the being whose "golden" and "kindly" voice he had first heard during two previous contact interludes.  Orfeo quoted what the visitor said to him while noticing the visitor's "extremely large, dark and expressive eyes and nobility and beauty of his features": "I know that in your mind you have given me a name . . . You may call me by that name, Orfeo — it is as good as any other and has more inner significance to you than any name I might give you."  Here are some of the statements of 'Neptune' that are quoted in the book.
 

Once there was another planet in your solar system . . .


That planet was the original home of Earthlings. 


Ultimately they destroyed their own planet . . .


In order that those entities might gain understanding, compassion and brotherly love they were born into the animalistic, material evolution of a lesser planet, Earth.


In the illusion of Time and through repeated births and deaths each entity slowly and painfully evolves spiritually toward its former glorified state of divinity.

 

Yes, war will come again to your Earth.  We are powerless to prevent it.  Millions in your land will fight to the end for their cherished ideals and freedom of the human mind, with only a minimum on their side for victory.

 

And already the clouds of war are on the horizon, dark and ominous; but overhead beams the rainbow, infinite and eternal.  Mankind will survive Armageddon and awake to a more glorious day of fellowship and honest brotherly love.  In the dawning great New Age of Earth all will forget their bitter hurts and build constructively together upon the solid foundation of the Brotherhood of Man.

 

There is not much more I can tell you now, Orfeo.  Since the first publicized modern sighting of our disks in the year 1947, thousands upon Earth have come to believe in us.  Many have actually seen our disks.  Some have seen us clairvoyantly.  Others have communicated with us clairaudiently.  Still others recognize the truth of our existence and greater scope of our being, through intuitive perception.

Another encounter with Neptune occurred during Orfeo's visit to New Jersey in December 1953.  Here are some excerpts of the quoted commentary:

There is still a slight chance to avert the War of Desolation for in the Time dimension nothing is absolute.  But if the horror of the End of an Age shall come, our multitudes are at hand to aid all of those not spiritually arrayed against us.

My brother of the universe, be not dismayed.  Remember it is always darkest before the dawn.  And the dawn is close for Earth.  So close that the first glorious rays are already breaking for many in your world.  Already we can behold the shining reality of your great world of tomorrow — a world of brotherly love and fellowship when Man is for Man and bound in unity through the love of the Father.  The clouds on the horizon will pass quickly and tomorrow the sorrows seem only as dreams of darkness.  We of the universe wait for the dawning of Earth's great tomorrow when we can welcome the children of Earth into our midst.

During the July 1952 second contact experience when Orfeo was able to go aboard a flying saucer, the communication from the one later to be called 'Neptune' included the following:

We know your mind is filled with questions.  One question in particular troubles you and it concerns the entity the world knows as Jesus Christ.  May we set your mind at rest.  In allegorical language Christ is indeed the Son of God . . .

During an experience related in the chapter "I Have a Vision," Orfeo described seeing Jesus step down from his cross to engage in a conversation with him.  Here is a passage from this episode. 

Remember, Orfeo, wherein it was revealed to you not long ago that beings from other worlds now walk upon the Earth.  Each is a double of the other and they have of their own free will entered the valley of sorrows that is Earth, to help mankind.  One moderates another when too little is accomplished or when certain limits are exceeded.  No man upon Earth shall know them except the ones to whom they reveal themselves.  And who publicly claims to be one, is not at all.  Only by their fruits may they be known.  This is the beginning of the mysteries of the New Age.

Contactee: Daniel W. Fry

Contactor: 'Alan'

Books: The White Sands Incident (1954), Alan's Message: To Men of Earth (1954), To Men of Earth (1973)

Related Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4

Like Truman Bethurum and Orfeo Angelucci, Daniel W. Fry published an account of going aboard a flying saucer and presenting a recollected transcript of the communication of the "spaceman" who while remaining unseen replied upon being asked about his name: "We have names.  Though there is seldom any occasion to use them among our own people.  If I become a member of your race I shall use the name of Alan, which is a common name in your country and is nearly the same of my given name which is A-lan."  Another statement of Alan found in the first book is: "I think I can fairly say that I know much more about you than you know about yourself."
 
The following quotations of 'Alan' are from To Men of Earth (1954).

We have expanded considerable time and patience in the effort to light a few candles among the races of your planet.

We have given you information which is both of interest and of value to your people.  Why do you keep it to yourself?

Of course you will be ridiculed.  Ridicule is the barrier which the ignorant erect between themselves and any truth which frightens or disturbs them.

The attitude of your government, in common with the governments of other advanced nations of your planet today, is that all new knowledge, particularly scientific knowledge, is the property of the state.  This is not the fault of any individual or political faction, but is simply a philophism of government which developed during the last two great wars upon your earth.

If we were to land in both countries simultaneously [the U.S. and Russia], the result would be only to intensify the existing race for armaments, and would eventually bring about the very holocaust which we are attempting to prevent.

Whether or not your children have any future to look forward to will depend largely upon the success or failure of your own efforts.

Mankind, on the other hand, has, from the very beginning of his development, sensed the fact that there is a supreme power and intelligence which pervades and controls all nature.  Man's attitude toward this power has varied from fear and resentment, to reverence and love, but always he has had the desire to learn more of the nature of this power.

. . . our ancestors were a group of survivors of the last complete collapse of civilization on this planet.  This was more than thirty thousand years ago as you measure time today . . .

They, too, failed to realize the absolute necessity of an equal development of the spiritual and social values.

You are spending tens of billions yearly in preparation for the global conflict which, if it comes, will only prove that the illness has become fatal.  If ten percent of this money and effort were spent in an attack upon the illness itself, (which is imply the lack of knowledge in the individual and the lack of understanding between them) in a few years the illness would be cured.

Your greatest era, your Golden Age lies just before you.  You have only to go through the proper door.

I have given you as much instruction as you are capable of absorbing at this time.  Do everything possible to bring our words to the attention of your people.  If you make any progress we will contact you again.  As I have said before, we will not and cannot force our knowledge on our culture upon your race, nor can we appear in person before your people as a whole unless and until there is substantial evidence that the majority desire it.  This is far from being true at the present time.

I will leave you with a final quotation from your own philosophy, 'Examine all things.  Cling to that which is good.'

Good-bye, Dan.  Do your best.

Contactee: Arthur Shuttlewood

Contactor: four beings of 'Aenstria'

Books: The Warminster Mystery (1967), Warnings from Flying Friends (1968), UFOS — Key to the New Age (1971), The Flying Saucerers (1976), More UFOs Over Warminster (1979), UFO Magic in Motion (1979)

Related Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
 

Arthur Shuttlewood's books document how receiving "mystery phone calls" from three people of the planet 'Aenstria' was something beyond Arthur's capacity to believe; however, the author became convinced of the beings' otherworldy authenticity with a visit from a fourth Aenstrian named 'Karne,' as documented in Warnings from Flying Friends.  The strange interlude resulted with Arthur commenting: "You may think this a fantastic story within the framework of my broader story, more incredible and astounding than any fiction.  I can but assure you that it is, as Karne would assert, strictly TRUE; and add that only the fantastic is feasible and plausible at the cosmic level of evolution to which these people have aspired."

The following is an example from The Warminster Mystery of the recollected conversation of 'Selorik,' "who described himself as the English interpreter for Aenstria . . . Selorik concerned himself, chiefly, with personal messages from his beloved Traellison [female queen of Aenstria]."
 

I ask you to believe that we are just as you, physically.  You have exceptions to the rule in giants and pygmies, in differing colours of skin.  We have these, also.  Specific tasks are carried out for us by robots of or own creation.  These, if seen on the ground, could cause confusion in the minds of your peoples, being mistaken for grotesque denizens of other planets.  They are harmless and obey our will.

We do need your friendship, so that we can share our knowledge with your scientists and doctors.  There is so much of value we can offer, freely and willingly, to your peoples.  Please tell them, by publications in all your cantel [planet] papers and writings, that we are not to be feared.  We come in infinite love and peace.  Yet many of you are still hostile to us.  Shots from earth-guns have been fired at our spacecraft.  We are immune to such attacks, when prepared to meet them.  But some of us have been killed, needlessly.

You see, Shuttlewood, we cannot retaliate.  That is against the laws of our cantel and the demands of the Only One's code.  We may lose lives while endeavouring to help your peoples, though we shall never take one in return.  That is forbidden.  We have been commanded by the Only One, and by our beloved Traellison, to come here and save you from self-destruction.

The third telephone caller from Anestria was 'Caellsan,' a senior spacecraft commander, whose messages for humans included: "Use nature's beneficial resources to the full for peaceful and productive objects.  Your heads of government must come to their senses before it is too late . . . We ask you to help us put this important message before your cantel councils . . . do not let us down — make the publications we ask of you."

Shuttlewood wrote about the Aenstrian queen:
 

Traellison had a strangely sweet, sing-song voice, nicely modulated and yet like that of a child, although she wields great authority among her subjects.  She told me that Earth peoples have much to learn; the eyes and minds of many are clouded by misapprehension and lack of true understanding as to the prime purpose of life.  We are all children and living parts of the great Creator, the Living Force who controls every single particle of the universe, human or inanimate.

'Karne' is quoted in Warnings from Flying Friends:

 

Greetings to you, Shuttlewood.  We bring great love and peace with us.  You must learn fully to trust us, before it is too late. Your Earth time is desperately short.


All indications are that there will be a third World War on the Earth cantel.


We are not permitted to subjugate the wills of other brethren to our own, no matter how far they have strayed from the paths of Love, Light and Truth.


Man must learn to use his faculties.


But the forthcoming years presage the death of your old civilization and the birth of a new and glorious age.  Already many of your people are sensing a change within themselves, by peaceful usurping of their thought and behaviour patterns, by personal vibrations they now experience, have wondered at and are beginning to understand.


We have known your peoples from the long ago.  Sadly, they have forgotten us.


Look deep within yourself and the prayed-for inspiration of Light, Wisdom and Truth will be perpetually with you in your journeying through life.  It was always so, and always will be so.  Time changes but truth does not.

Arthur explained: "On a personal note, he said I was 'pinpointed' by Aenstrians 'when of tender years in your native place.'  (I spent my early life in Essex.) . . . [and that] The old order would die.  The new one taking its place would fit us to become members of the interplanetary brotherhood and sisterhood . . . only the Spirit of Universal Truth knew full details of how this actually will be accomplished."

Some other people who reported 'Contactee' experiences are: Michael X Barton, Betty and Barney Hill, Dana Howard, Gloria Lee, Allen Michael, Paulina Peavy, Maureen Puddy and Partana Vegan.

Other UFOlogy blog articles include "The Ectoplasmic Flying Saucer", "The Early Days of Modern UFOlogy", "UFO Secrecy", "Donald Keyhoe and Contactees", "To Save This Planet Earth", and "Metaphysical Instruction from 'Yada Di Shi'ite' - 'The Inner Circle' Q&A Transcript Mystic Magazine 1955".

An Arthur Shuttlewood book title offers an example of how many contactees considered their experiences as transitionary events to an age of heightened metaphysical understanding among mankind.  Below is shown the cover of the fourth issue of Mystic Magazine that featured an article about Orfeo Angelucci, one of three about him published in the magazine preceding the release of his first book.  In the last article "My Awakening On Another Planet," Orfeo described finding himself in a strange and wonderful world where the being 'Orion' told him: "Our discs, or saucers as earthmen term them, are in your space-time frame as harbingers of mankind's coming resurrection from the living death.  Although our discs are essentially etheric . . . Other space craft are also visiting earth . . . ."