Flying Saucer to the Center of Your Mind: Selected Writings of John A. Keel

by Keel, John A.

  Unfortunately, the few American scientists who have been attracted to the subject of flying saucers have been sidetracked by the quest for proof of extraterrestrial visitations. On the other hand, the controversial UFO contactees – who now number in the thousands in the United States alone – have been talking about invisible UFOs for years.

  On April 24, 1964, a young farmer named Gary Wilcox allegedly encountered a grounded UFO in a field in broad daylight. Two small men in silvery suits were apparently collecting soil samples outside the objects, and they were startled that Wilcox could see them at all. According to Wilcox’s story, they told him they and their craft were normally invisible at distances of beyond 190 feet in the daytime. At night, however, their saucers glowed in the dark and were easier to spot. (Mr. Wilcox was later carefully investigated by Dr. Berthold Schwarz, a prominent psychiatrist, who found no trace of hoax in his story.)

  It is true that there are many reports in which the witnesses claimed the objects did not fly off, but simply disappeared into thin air after lifting several feet off the ground. We might speculate about this “focusing effect.” Objects that slip out of focus to the human eye may remain at least partially in focus to a camera lens at greater distances.

  Contactees who claim to have been taken aboard flying saucers – and there are many of them – often report that while the exterior of the object appeared solid and windowless, once they were inside, they found the walls were transparent and they had a clear view of the surrounding countryside. One man in Texas, Carroll Watts, allegedly had an encounter with a grounded UFO in 1967. A bodiless voice invited him aboard and, among other things, told him that UFOs were based all over this planet, could not be detected, and possessed instruments that could tell them how many people were in a given building, and their ages. In some respects, Mr. Watts’ story was reminiscent of the biblical account of Zachariah (Zachariah, 5-6), the prophet who described seeing a “flying roll.” Zachariah was told by “a messenger” that these flying rolls were “the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole Earth,” and could even penetrate into homes to spy on the occupants.

  Thanks to the diligent efforts of a handful of hard-working researchers, we now know that UFOs have been seen in our skies since the dawn of mankind. So they are not really “alien” but are, instead, a permanent feature of our environment. While the behavior of the UFO occupants is often mischievous, even backward (the late Ivan Sanderson, a zoologist, observed that they seemed to have the mentalities of 5-yr. old children), the overall source of the phenomenon seems to be extraordinarily complex. If UFOs are normally invisible, then they could be everywhere at once. But what purpose do they serve? Are they keeping close tabs on all of us, generation after generation, century after century? This seems to be the case.

  To understand this phenomenon, we must discard all our preconceived ideas and come to grips with the hard facts of the empirical evidence. Our 20th Century technology has now given us the tools necessary for fruitful investigation. Having now identified the problem, we can examine its many bewildering aspects and search for the cause… Two of our tools, radar and photography, have proved to be unreliable. Radar can be deceived electronically. And the phenomenon seems able to manipulate cameras and film in ways that seem almost magical. Perhaps this is why the USAF stopped taking radar reports and UFO photographs seriously several years ago.

  Among our other tools is the infrared detector – a simple device that can be built by any teenager for a few dollars. They consist of a photoelectric cell mounted behind an infrared filter. The Army’s famous “sniper scope” is similar to this kind of device. NASA and the CIA have orbiting satellites containing highly sophisticated infrared detectors… Another device is the ultrasonic microphone, though this really cannot be used by amateurs. It is capable of picking up sounds radiated above the range of human hearing. The National Bureau of Standards has experimented with them. In 1965-66, the NBS mounted such instruments along the East coast, facing the notorious “Bermuda Triangle” where so many ships and planes have vanished mysteriously. They picked up some odd “whispering sounds” of unknown origin.

  The original biblical word sheol meant “invisible world,” but was translated into “hell” and given an entirely new meaning. Obviously, the ancients had knowledge of the invisible phenomenon that surrounds us, and all of the early cults and magical societies based their lore upon that knowledge. But the concept of invisibility is hard for us to grasp, although there have been rumors of secret experiments with invisibility for years. And during the 1933 Chicago Exposition, a mysterious “Professor Tompkins” proudly demonstrated an invisibility device. He would have a member of the audience stand on a small platform while he manipulated switches and dials. The volunteer would then slowly fade away. No one seems to know what happened to the professor and his device after the fair closed.

  A man named Carlos Allende has kept ufologists in a lather for years with his claim of knowing all about a WWII experiment where government scientists tried to make a Liberty ship invisible. His story has never been corroborated in any way. Allende’s story was taken very seriously by the Office of Naval Research in the 1950s, and a Navy subcontractor, the Varo Corporation of Garland, TX, went to the trouble and expense of reprinting a UFO book that had been annotated by Mr. Allende. At that time, Varo was involved in making infrared devices (such as sniper scopes). Coincidentally, Garland, TX was very much in the news in 1973, when a peculiar fungus appeared on a lawn there. It grew, even bled, and defied efforts to kill it. The press labeled it “The Blob.”

  Invisible UFOs are just as possible as interplanetary UFOs. There is, in fact, far more evidence to support their invisibility than there is to support their extraterrestrial origin. But imagine the chaos that would result if the existence of these invisible legions could be verified? Even if the government confirmed it years ago, would they dare release such information to the public?

  The answer to that question was contained in a frustrating statement issued by the RAF in April 1955, and widely published in the British press on April 24th. An RAF spokesman told reporters that the official British UFO investigation, begun in 1950, was “completed” and that the mystery had been solved. However, he said, the solution could not be released to the public, because it involved certain top military secrets and would create even more controversy. Soon afterwards, RAF Air Marshall Lord Dowding gave a public lecture in which he stated that UFOs and their occupants apparently had the power of invisibility and were able to walk among us freely and unnoticed. There was very little official comment after that, until Sir Victor Goddard gave his speech in London in 1969.

  Since 1949, the USAF has steadfastly adhered to the official line that flying saucers are not extraterrestrial spaceships and do not represent a “superior intelligence with an advanced technology.” The air force line has consistently been that UFOs are swamp gas, conventional craft, hoaxes, or illusions. Obviously, the RAF and USAF had independently put everything together and come up with an answer that they knew would be unacceptable to the public, and, particularly, the hardcore flying saucer enthusiasts. That answer could be more unbelievable, and more frightening, than the UFO mystery itself.

  CHAPTER 15

  UFOS AND THE MYSTERIOUS WAVE OF WORLDWIDE KIDNAPPINGS – SAGA MAGAZINE, DEC. 1970

  Every time there is a flying saucer “flap,” people by the hundreds – particularly youngsters – literally vanish from the face of the earth. From remote northern Eskimo villages to population-packed Japanese cities, the reports flood in of their sudden disappearances. And, just as strangely, some of them re-appear weeks and months later, thousands of miles from home – not knowing their own names or where they’ve been!

  Early in Dec. 1969, children began to disappear in the city of Vila Velha, Brazil, and what started as a minor mystery soon exploded into a frightening kidnapping epidemic. Within a few weeks, scores of youngsters, all between the ages of 9 and 15, and all from very poor famil
ies (which eliminated ransom as a motive) vanished without a trace. Police in the state of Espirito Santo began a massive search for a sinister kidnapping ring. But they had no leads. The disappearances seemed random, were not ordinary “runaways,” and none of the children knew each other or went to the same school.

  Then, in Feb. 1970, four of the missing youngsters reappeared separately. Two were found stumbling about the streets blindly, suffering from amnesia.

  Although the other two were able to remember who they were and fragments of what happened, their stories were as bizarre as a science fiction tale. They each had been stopped on the street, they said, and were offered a ride in a large American-style limousine (a hard-to-resist treat for a poor Brazilian youth). Once in the car, each was given a cigarette, which was apparently drugged, for they then lapsed into unconsciousness. One returnee recalled that he awoke in a small hut, tied hand and foot, and that a stranger finally entered, freed him, and told him how to find the nearest police station. An 11-yr. old girl named Vani said her kidnapper was a woman named “Laura.” Laura fed her sweets and then took her to a field where an airplane was waiting. But when Vani began to scream and fuss, Laura gave her some money and returned her to her village. Most of the victims were boys, although a few girls were included.

  Once the kidnapping wave began to receive publicity, several youths who had heard of it had narrow escapes, fleeing the big cars and their mysterious occupants when they were offered lifts. Brazilian correspondent Eduardo Keffel reported in the German magazine Die Bunte Illustrierte (March 24, 1970) that the police were speculating that a slavery ring was operating in the area. But the possibility exists that saucer men may have been the culprits.

  Actually, large numbers of children have been disappearing for centuries all over the world, and most of these cases have remained unsolved. Some have been handed down as rumor and myth; others have been heavily documented and repeated in books dealing with unusual events. The celebrated Pied Piper of Hamelin, Germany, is more than just a charming children’s story. A stranger actually did appear in Hamelin in the Middle ages, and he did lure 150 children away, never to be seen again. The event is still celebrated in Hamelin each year with a festival.

  One of the first colonies of the New World, the Roanoke Island colony, established in 1585 off the coast of what is now North Carolina, disappeared magically. Virginia Dare, the first child of European descent born on this continent, was among the missing. The local Indians were not hostile, and were as baffled by the colony’s disappearance as the explorers who searched for it. Historians have been arguing the fate of Miss Dare and her compatriots ever since.

  Another village, a remote Eskimo settlement in northern Canada, lost its entire population in Aug. 1930. Supposedly the village was found abandoned. Its 30 inhabitants had left their food, clothing, kayaks, rifles, and dogs. Since no Eskimo is likely to travel very far without his precious rifle (or his dog), everyone was baffled. Strangest of all, a grave on the edge of the village had supposedly been opened and the body taken. Grave robbing is an unspeakable crime among Eskimos, and it is unlikely that they dug up the body and fled the village, leaving behind their weapons, tools, food, and dogs. A purported investigation failed to yield any clues (and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police claims to have no record of the incident).

  More recently, in the summer of 1967, another very peculiar report came out of the Canadian north, from an Indian village accessible only by air. This case came to the attention of a leading Canadian investigator named Brian cannon. He pieced it together from the stories told by bush pilots and hunters. According to cannon, about 40 Indian schoolchildren suddenly vanished from the village one weekend. Forty-eight hours later, they all reappeared unharmed, bubbling over with an amazing story. They had been taken, they said, by a group of very small men who subjected them to various examinations but treated them very well. When they were released, each child was given a small white cube that was sweet, but did not melt like sugar.

  Since the village is so remote, there has never been an on-the-spot investigation by Mr. Cannon or other competent researchers. The case must remain pure hearsay, but it is not unique. The fairy tales of Ireland and northern Scandinavia contain similar accounts: little people – fairies and leprechauns – who are supposed to have frequently indulged in kidnapping. Even today, there are periodic epidemics of vanishing children.

  One district in Sweden has had so many “little people” reports that for centuries, it’s officially been known as “Elfland.” One of the most celebrated cases of occult kidnapping took place there in 1668, at the peak of the worldwide witch craze. One hundred children in the villages of Mohra and Elfdale were allegedly lured into the night to participate in strange rites. A legal trial was later held, so there are extensive records of the whole affair. The judges were impressed by the fact that all of the 100 victims gave identical details. Fifteen of the children were later executed, While 60 others were sentenced to be whipped, once a week, for a year. Their stories involved mental telepathy, astral projection, strange entities that possessed the power of flight, and amnesia. All of these things are familiar ingredients in modern flying saucer stories.

  In reviewing this bizarre case, the British parapsychologist Peter Robson recently commented, “Suppose (there was) a black magician possessing immense powers – powers that included the ability to set up some form of telepathic communication with the untroubled mind of a sleeping child. And not just one child, but 100… Subconsciously, the children receive an order to go to a certain place at a certain time. The next day, the children rendezvous at the gravel pit near the crossroads. The magician appears and leads them like a kind of satanic Pied Piper. Afterwards, the children are ordered to forget the place and the way to it; their memory of the journey is hypnotically supplanted by a surrealist dream.”

  In modern flying saucer stories, we find that the unknown objects frequently appeared over, or landed in, gravel pits near crossroads. Innumerable UFO witnesses have purportedly received telepathic messages and also have suffered from amnesia. Modern psychiatrists and psychologists investigating UFO contact stories have concluded that the witnesses had actually experienced “a surrealist dream,” and that their memories of what actually took place were replaced by false memories of visits to other worlds. This process is known as “confabulation,” and may be a vital key to the whole flying saucer mystery.

  In other words, just as the children of 1668 remembered incredible (if not altogether impossible) meetings with a “black magician” or the devil, modern flying saucer contactees may be remembering only what they have been programmed to remember.

  Some witnesses are simply programmed to forget a specific period of time altogether. This type of amnesia is prevalent in the early fairy and witchcraft lore and, now, in the present-day UFO reports. In 1959, Pfc. Gerry Irwin, a Nike missile technician, was the subject of an intensive investigation by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO). While driving near Cedar City, Utah, on Feb. 28, 1959, Irwin saw what appeared to be an airliner attempting a forced landing nearby. He stopped his car and started out on foot for the site of the “crash.” The next thing he knew, he was in a hospital in Cedar City, minus his jacket.

  A few weeks later, Irwin felt a compelling urge to revisit the same area. He went AWOL from his post at Ft. Bliss, TX, and made his way back to the spot where he thought the object had crashed. There he found his jacket with a pencil through the buttonhole. A piece of paper was wrapped around the pencil. Without knowing why, Irwin burned the paper without even reading it. It was only after the paper was reduced to ashes that he came out of the “trance” that had drawn him to the spot. He turned himself over to the local sheriff immediately. For several weeks after, Private Irwin was in and out of hospitals. Psychiatrists could find nothing wrong with him. Then, on Aug. 1, 1959, he went AWOL again. It was as if he had vanished into thin air, for he hasn’t been heard from since.

  Movie and soap opera plots
to the contrary, a simple blow on the head rarely induces amnesia. The traditional medical explanation for amnesia is that it is caused by an overwhelming emotional trauma. A man murders his wife in a fit of rage, and then his mind represses his entire memory of the act. A child sees his beloved dog run over by a car, and erases the painful memory by forgetting that entire period of his childhood. Psychiatrists can spot this form of amnesia and cope with it. But most of the amnesia cases apparently induced by paranormal happenings, such as encounters with “fairies” or flying saucers, are not so easily diagnosed and dealt with. And there are many other cases of amnesia that are not so easily explained. The nature of the trauma is never determined.

  Every July, there is a sudden rash of amnesia cases in the national press; and July is also a peak month for UFO sightings. People mysteriously turn up in all parts of the world, sometimes knowing who they are, but baffled that they are suddenly so far from home. A Londoner inexplicably finds himself in South Africa; a girl from Cleveland awakes to discover she is in Australia; an unemployed Swedish milkman suddenly finds himself on a golf course of a remote resort island for the very rich. They become the subjects of amusing little “human interest” stories in the July newspapers. But what really happens to such people? Who, or what, suddenly transports them thousands of miles from home without their conscious knowledge? Often they are also displaced in time, unable to account for or remember the past six months or two years.