Arthur Shuttlewood's Encounter with 'Karne' of the Planet 'Aenstria'

 

In 1965 Arthur Shuttlewood received "mystery phone calls" of "callers from the planet (or 'cantel') Aenstria."  A description of these contact events is presented in the last chapter of his first book about his UFO experiences The Warminster Mystery (1967).  Arthur commented: "I have noticed, when casually mentioning these phone conversations to friends, that they are all fascinated by what the three persons told me; and the majority are convinced that these Aenstrians are real and anxious to communicate certain timely warnings and advice to our planet Earth . . . these calls were indeed made . . ."  In his second book of UFOlogy Warnings from Flying Friends (1968; American title: UFO Prophecy 1978), two chapters provide a detailed account of the telephone conversation that was immediately followed by Arthur's astonishing face-to-face encounter with the Aenstrian named 'Karne.' 

other books by Arthur Shuttlewood

  

Arthur Shuttlewood's account in Warnings from Flying Friends begins by offering the date of the incident: May 28, 1967, two days after the publication of The Warminster Mystery.  The book chronicles how Arthur was features editor/journalist of the Warminster Journal at the beginning of an amazing and long-term succession of UFO sightings.  His second book describes the author as a former Grenadier Guardsman, policeman and town councillor who at that time had been a news reporter and professionally trained observer for more than 20 years.

Arthur acknowledged: "Although I did not take verbatim notes during our interview, I can rely on memory pretty well to recapture certain things Karne talked of in those nine minutes."  Nonetheless, some of Arthur's wording of Karne's commentary is problematic.  (1)  A statement about the Aenstrians working to prevent another World War "would be contravention of Universal Law which decrees one cannot interfere with freewill and liberty of others in any galaxy" seems contradictory when one considers Arthur's own circumstances with Karne.  Keeping in mind the other statements quoted about 'Universal Law,' what's missing is such a clarification as, for example: 'one cannot interfere with freewill and liberty of others through physical force.'  (2)  Another questionably paraphrased sentence (reminding of some Christians' association of the term 'Christ' with 'Jesus of Nazareth' [when perhaps some allusion to another 'Christed one' was being made]) states that "Christ, the Alpha and Omega of our Solar System, will arrive not later than 1975 . . ."  (3)  A response to a question concerning the "contacts alleged and related by [George] Adamski" to some readers may seem vague as well as being subject to individual interpretation.   

The following excerpts from Warnings from Flying Friends offer readers some understanding of Arthur Shuttlewood's unforgettable personal encounter with 'Karne' from 'Aenstria.'  

. . . This, by the way, was Whit Sunday [Christian holiday], and at dawn our team had come off an all-night skywatch on our celebrated Cradle Hill.

I managed to snatch a few hours sleep before attending the official foundation laying ceremony of a new out-patients' department at Warminster Hospital . . .


After lunch I was busy transcribing shorthand notes of Lord Bath's speech . . .


Then . . . the telephone in the hall rang insistently.

A member of my family answered, a few moments later running in to tell me: "It is one of those people from Aenstria again.  He says his name is Karne.  He says he must speak to you, as it is very important."

As outlined in my last book, three persons purporting themselves to be space visitors from a cantel (planet) called Aenstria regularly rang me during a seven-week period in September and October 1965.  Traellison was the female queen of the cantel, Caellsan the senior spacecraft commander, Selorik the English interpreter.

I labelled them 'hoaxers' in my book and was soon to discover that this opinion had aroused their indignation.  If their claims to be extraterrestrial were not genuine, they were Earth people of high intelligence and accurate knowledge.  Remember the warnings Traellison gave about dangers of drug-taking and peddling?


Another Aenstrian warning concerned the importance of the protective belt or girdle around the Earth.

It must not be damaged, gouged or warped by insane nuclear experimentation by Man.  If this happened, harmful rays from the suns would activate in water supplies and oceans during the planetary orbit and rotation, resulting in gross disfigurement, infant mutation in the womb, even death.


Yes — warnings had been proved correct by subsequent events, in several instances, I had noted.  That our Sun is not growing colder, as our experts have adverted for years, was something the Aenstrians told me in September 1965.

And now — the return of the Aenstrians?  'It is too good to be true,' whirred my mind as I bounded from my chair.  Shorthand notes went flying!  I rushed from the room and leapt for the phone.  The receiver cracked . . . Then I heard: "Shuttlewood, this is Karne of Aenstria.

"We are disappointed that you persist in calling us hoaxers in your book, which we have read.  You have faithfully reproduced much of that which was told you for the good of your peoples, and should know by this late hour that we speak only truth to you, for their sake and cantel Earth's.

"Another point that causes us dismay in your work is the reference to a telephone call box used by Traellison, Caellsan and Selorik, in Boreham Field.  This information could alarm those who have habitations in that locality.

"You should not have revealed this, which is of no consequence and hardly secondary importance: only the many messages we issued to you for publications.  As we emphasized, we speak truth: if you ignore this fact in future, it is probable we shall have to sever communication with you.

"When you fail us, in our work and yours as a purveyor of news, we hesitate to tell you more, but the situation is urgent now.  You must copy our example and have complete trust in us, as we have had in you, or we shall know our trust was misplaced and we imagized the wrong person."

His voice was taut, imperious, aggrieved, yet his English faultless.  I was still unconvinced, wanting stronger proof.  Moreover, I was tired and irritable through lack of sleep.  With Bob and Sybil, I shared weariness of libelous comment over the integrity of our team and Warminster witnesses that had gained unmerited headlines in ill-informed magazines published by a certain group of 'armchair' Ufologists begrudging our experience.

Thankfully, our former thin skins and sensitivity bore the brunt of these successfully.  Nowadays, while still welcoming constructive criticizm, we ignore tirades of abuse.  People must make up their minds as to whether we relate truth or falsehood.  Our consciences are clear.

Leg-pulling we can stand; mild disbelief is excusable; but vicious attacks on character are unwarranted and totally unnecessary.  Remember, pioneering in an unusual subject is often rebuked through ignorance: Galileo, Marconi, Stanley and Bell are perfect human examples of targets for public derision that misfired in the past.  Envy and jealousy are terrible traits that show deficiency in Man.

Normally I am a calm and 'unflappable' person, tolerant and refusing to give way to outburts of temperament under pressure.  Now, in a nettled and needled state, I hurled bitter words at Karne: "Look — if you Aenstrians had the guts and courage to come up to my flat in person, there to be interviewed properly, even if you wear horns on your heads I would have had no hesitation in calling you genuine. . . ."


". . . The sensible thing to do is come and see me personally, to answer my questions and give me your messages," I retorted.

"I am a reporter of news, with a reputation at stake.  I cannot afford to take anyone's word for anything, over the phone."  With that, I slammed down the receiver.  White-faced and inwardly fuming, I walked back to work in the living room.

Within seconds of the call my doorbell rang.  I told a member of my family to tell whoever was there that I was extremely busy; then altered this to say I was out and would the caller kindly return at 6 p.m.?  The 'white lie' was forced because I was so far behind with my work.

The 'caller' shook his head and smiled gently, when told this.  "No — he is here, I know.  He has just spoken with me.  Tell him I must see him and that I have special warnings to present to him."  I was staggered when I learned this.


. . . Our nearest public phone kiosk is next to the Town Hall, more than 140 yards from where I live.  Karne had negotiated that distance in no more than seven seconds flat, from the time I hung up on him.

No ordinary mortal can travel at that phenomenal speed!  This thought was flickering through and gnawing at my mind as I ran downstairs, opened wide the door, which stood slightly ajar.  What would my caller be like?  What had he to tell me?

I beheld Karne of Aenstria, fully expecting him to be the same person who frequently haunts the pavement opposite my window, looking up incessantly with a sad-sweet smile on his face, as related in The Warminster Mystery.  No — it was not he.  This man was a good two inches above my own height of six feet.

His eyes, although blurred by thick spectacle lenses, impressed me straight away.  They held my gaze riveted for several seconds.  The glasses had silvery rims and sidepieces to long and slightly outthrust ears.  The eyes were bright, a brilliant blue or gray-green, set wide in a long and narrow face.

I noticed no trace of pupils at their centre, yet cannot be positive he had none.  If he had, they were indiscernible to my penetrating scrutiny.  I was on the watch for physical characteristics that vary from ours.  Standing on the doorstep, a trifle irresolute, I judged his physical strength less than mine.  I was bigger built and more powerful.

For a fleeting fraction of time I was tempted to lunge forward, grasp him tightly, usher him indoors, overpower him and ring the police.  This would finally end all doubts as to whether Aenstrians are actual entities and not fakes.  His hands, more than his eyes, dissuaded me from such action.

Slender, pointed fingers of his hands were meeting in a repeated movement in front of him as he stood there, immobile.  He pressed them together as though making a personal power circle or circuit around him and between us.  I find it difficult to convey in words, but as soon as the hostile thought flashed into my mind it froze.


There was no alteration in his serious expression, meanwhile.  His eyes met mine squarely, frank and fearless, held and locked.

He glanced for a split second at a wafer-thin disc on his left wrist.  I imagined it to be a watch, pale gold in colour.  At that instant a warming glow filled me, intense, comforting, so that my frigid attitude thawed.  My hand instinctively went out: he had no wish to shake it, so I withdrew, yet was not offended.

By now there was a shy smile lighting his countenance.  Dozens of cars were lined-up over the road, carrying sightseers to the Longleat lions of Lord Bath and awaiting clearance of traffic congestion at the junction of Portway, where I live, with the main thoroughfare.

Several people I know walked past Karne on the nearside pavement.  Each member of my family, mainly from curiosity, came downstairs and surveyed his tall figure.  The only one he touched was four-year-old Daren, his hand flat on the boy's head while he blessed him in an alien tongue.  My youngest child gave him a quick, confident smile.

Karne wore an ordinary gaberdine mackintosh coat, beige in color.  His brown boots—I initially thought them shoes until he eventually walked away—were about size ten.  A muffler or silk neckerchief was wrapped close to his shirt collar, about which there was nothing distinctive.  His thumbs were upbent and formed a triangle over touching finger tips.

Calmed and at ease, I said sincerely: "So you have come at last?  I must say I admire your courage and am glad, after all this time, to meet you."  He made a short bow, oddly polite, and replied simply "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."

This momentarily worried me and has caused me anxiety since. . . .


I saved the question, noting other slight peculiarities that would pass unnoticed in a crowd.

His lips were a bluish tinge, rather like those of a patient suffering a weak heart or chronic asthma.  On each cheekbone, high up, were similar blue blotches or contusions.

These features I saw subconsciously, concentrating on what he was telling me.  When he spoke, or more exactly just before speaking, he drew in a deep breath with a low whistling sound that puckered his lips and mouth.  Then, before taking another breath, his words tumbled out in a lengthy flow of sentences.

Remember what I have written about his upraised thumbs, which is relevant, as explained later.  Karne had a high and long forehead, not particularly wide.  Two startling tufts of pure white hair were brushed back to either side from the front.  At their terminus, they slanted slightly inward, one toward the other.  His age I judged to be fifty-three.

Nevertheless, when he turned his head in profile, clearly observed when he prepared to depart, his head was then wide to my vision, the remainder of his hair iron-grey, satin smooth in texture despite the unruly frontal tufts.  He assured me he had never seen or met me previously.  That he recognized me immediately came from a special 'imagizing' process he later described.

The Aenstrian queen, Traellison, spacecraft commander Caellsan and English interpreter Selorik had returned to their cantel, said Karne.  This is because none of his people can survive too much Earth atmospheric pressure and density difference for more than short periods.  Two newly formed 'minor cantels' are fairly close to Earth, he revealed, small space stations artificially formed, possibly by UFO crews of his own race, I gathered.

". . . 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."

Karne mentioned that the stability of the whole Universe depends upon magnetic balance.  Even when what we term a supernova occurs, all people in habitable planets around that dying Sun system are warned well in advance, other homes awaiting them in similar type atmospheres elsewhere in their galaxy.

He wondered whether anyone had yet grasped the importance of the Aenstrian warnings, or reminders, that "Remember — the light from the other suns affects us all."  He referred to "another sun" or "a second sun," although not elaborating on this theme.  "Man must learn to use his faculties," he urged.


Eager to get at truth over Earth time being in desperately short supply. Karne admitting that no Man knoweth the exact day and hour of the Second Coming, I asked him point blank—in view of woeful prophecies of those placing a wholly religious construction upon UFO appearances—if this meant our Earth would come to a close in a physical sense before Christmas of 1967.

"By the end of the twelfth month of this year, by your Earth time calibration, no," he assured me.  "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 behavior patterns, by personal vibrations they now experience, have wondered at and are beginning to understand."

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.)  He told me there had recently been an implementation of the "imagizing" process I had then undergone.  My image was imprinted by Aenstrian visitors because I had specific tasks in preparation for the dawning of the Golden Age and must be instantly recognizable to them; all Earth contactees have been imagized and photo-recorded on all planets engaged in this vast mission on Earth.

The end would come with great suddenness, he warned.  Those who were fully prepared, who believed in UFOs—but, more important, in God and the Second Coming of Christ—would have much work to do in necessary re-construction.  The overall impact upon the unready and disbelievers would be cataclyzmic in its physical, emotional and spiritual effects.

The old order would die.  The new one taking its place would fit us to become members of the interplanetary brethren and sisterhood.


. . . only the Spirit of Universal Truth knew full details of how this will actually be accomplished.

Sons of Light from this and other galaxies are simply carrying out essential preparatory work before the moment of illumination when deficient Earth minds and souls will be enriched by new experience and awareness.  He said many other things, which I mentally registered in the absence of a notebook . . .


I noticed that Karne sometimes had difficulty with his breathing.  From time to time, as I shot questions at him during the nine-minute interview, he glanced at the pale gold disc on his wrist.  He replied to certain queries immediately, shaking his head in the negative over others, after looking at his 'watch.'


Repeatedly he stressed that Earth time, as we know it, is short: only the transmutation of human weaknesses and a change for the better in the thinking, conduct and moral code of Man could save our planet from darkness and doom in a spiritual sense whereby all souls are retarded instead of being elevated to higher planes and dimensions.

On evidence our visitors have uncovered about us thus far, during millennia of surveys and examinations in depth, this seemed most unlikely; yet they are dedicated to saving those who staunchly tread the right paths.  The final decision rests with the Deity who is the Supreme and Divine Majesty of All Creation and Wisdom.

This I found rather conflicting, bearing in mind his earlier remarks regarding the dawning of a New Age; but he reiterated that this will come for those who combat dark forces continually warring against the finer instincts of Man, who—through progression from elementary life patterns—was created in the image of the One and Only.

"Man has the answers to all problems that beset him inside himself, plus the key to correct living and the great importance of love, if only he searches for Truth diligently," said Karne.  "We speak truth as we know it," he solemnly told me.  "Final truth, however, must come from His Divine Majesty, from Whom all Love and Wisdom flows in an unceasing stream of Light.'

When Karne prepared to leave, again giving a brief bow at departure, I could not resist an urge to show him a little of the brotherly love he exuded and advocated: a small reciprocal gesture.  He would not shake hands, I remembered, so this was my way of bidding farewell in friendly fashion.  I stepped forward and firmly grasped his left wrist and thumb.

Karne winced!  I wondered why, assuming he disliked personal contact.  My mind was busy with another visual mystery by them, however . . . On gripping his wrist and thumb, I looked at the pale gold disc.  It was not a timepiece; simply a crystal and mother-of-pearl surface which glistened in colourful sheen and made no ticking sound.

Karne used it frequently, as though seeking guidance about how much or how little he should expound on any subject thrown up by my eager questioning.  Karne promised that I would meet other space travellers in the future, providing I did not continue terming them hoaxers.

In response to one question, he told me that if ever I met him again in coming years "It will not be in this present form."  Which set me wondering anew . . .


Before he waved farewell, to walk up Portway and towards the Cradle Hill direction, he turned stiffly as a soldier might under a 'right turn' command.  Then it was that his left hand lifted in indication of au revoir.  As he walked, I observed that his hands, fingers and thumbs remained in the same position by his sides as when he was completing the finger tip-pressing motion.  The thumbs struck outward, upraised, fingers together and curled inward.
 
From the waist up his bearing was smart, military, almost arrogantly proud.  From the waist down, however, his movements were slow and deliberate.  His legs seemed weighted, feet slightly dragging; yet to a casual onlooker he would have been dismissed as an old gardener type or old-fashioned and hard-worked farm labourer.

The greatest revelation of all was still to come . . . Next day, Whit-Monday afternoon, my 16-year-old son Graham was near the lake and pleasure grounds in Weymouth Street, Warminster.  Jet aircraft were screaming overhead when Graham espied the 'stranger' standing on his own at the top end of the park.

He stood looking upward, shaking his head sadly from side to side.  Not much is unusual about this behaviour, perhaps, in itself, but consider the following: "I am sure it was him, Dad," said Graham, rising excitement in his tones.

"Had he hurt his hand when he was here yesterday afternoon?"  I thought it an odd question from my son, assuring him that there were no marks of injury on Karne's limbs, so far as I knew.  Then came the bombshell!  "That's funny, then, because he must have hurt himself somehow," said Graham. "He had a protective pink stall on his left thumb and a strip of bandaging up and around his left wrist."

Why?  I have often cogitated on this aspect.  Obviously, when I grabbed him there at our parting the previous day, I must have injured his flesh.  He could not stand the undue manual pressure I exerted, in addition to coping with our atmosphere, which is not the same as that of Aenstria, as he had pointed out.


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.'

Karne said I could publicly reveal his message in my next book, which I now do.  No — I have no doubts about meeting extraterrestrial journeyers. . . .