The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters

by Story, Ronald

  —DAVID M. JACOBS

  POSTSCRIPT: As with the other “contactees,” to regard Bethurum as a simple charlatan is to miss much of the point. Like the stories of the other contactees, Bethurum’s classic book, Aboard a Flying Saucer, is rich in metaphors. Take for example the lady captain, Aura Rhanes, or “Aura Rains”—as we would spell her name if we thought about what she signifies. Indeed, Bethurum was quite “taken” by her. She was everything his own wife was not. When one reads the details in Bethurum’s book about his own life, it is no wonder he required this kind of fantasy to escape his world of loneliness and uncaring people. A utopian dream was precisely what he needed.

  The flying saucer (called the “Admiral Scow”) as described by Bethurum

  When the alien crew brought Bethurum aboard the saucer, he found the ravishing captain seated at a desk in her cabin. He described her as having short black hair “brushed into an upward curl at the ends,” and wearing a “black and red beret” tilted on one side of her head. Her blouse “looked like black velvet, with short sleeves decorated with a small red ribbon bow”; and she wore a red skirt that “looked like wool and was set all round in small flat pleats.” Bethurum remarked that “Her eyes…seemed as if they saw and understood everything, including the questions I was about to ask even before I was able to get them out.” (Bethurum, 1954)

  Mrs. Rhanes (who was said to have two grandchildren back on the planet Clarion) explained to Bethurum that the Clarionites had come to Earth only for their own education (which means for our education, if they are teaching by example, reading the account metaphorically). But she also mentioned that other space people might be watching us as well: “you have taken such an interest in atomic power, some of them might be surveying you. If you blow up your own planet, it would cause considerable confusion in the Space around you.”

  As for life on Clarion, Captain Rhanes described an idyllic existence: She told Bethurum that on Clarion there were no such things as prisons, lawyers, guards at banks, and child delinquency; no divorce or adultery; no illnesses or doctors, no traffic problems, and definitely no politicians. “That’s what’s cleft your world through,” she said. Nor was there any use of liquor or tobacco. The Clarionites were said to be very religious—“Christians” in fact—who “worship a Supreme Deity who sees, knows, and controls all.”(Bethurum, 1954)

  As in the case of Adamski and the other contactees, Bethurum’s account is shot through with technological metaphors. When he asked Captain Rhanes about the greatest problem the Clariorites had to solve, he was given this answer: “It was, of course, learning how to control magnetic force. You know that we have solved it, both pro and anti of course, or we wouldn’t be here tonight.” In other words, they have learned the secret of the reconciliation of opposites. Throughout all the contactee accounts, “magnetic force” symboblizes primal psychic energy (or libido), which is precisely what man must learn to control if he is to achieve psyhic balance (and thus survival).

  Everything associated with the Clariorites was a model of perfection. The little men were described as having “masklike faces, without scar or blemish….” Aura Rhanes, the “queen of women” was rated “tops in shapeliness and beauty”; She “wore no makeup” because she “needed none,” and couldn’t be smarter or more capable. The beautiful 300-foot diameter saucer “was smooth and symmetrical,” magically floating several feet above the ground, and produced “no noise of any kind at…takeoff.” In a word, we are talking about “Utopia.”

  Sociologist David Stupple was the first, I believe, to point out that the contactees were essentially “utopians,” who envisioned a better world, and came to believe their own fantasies in pursuit of that goal. “In contactee parlance a ‘Space Brother’ is not an entity who drops by and gives nonsense information,” Stupple says, “a Space Brother is a being who visits a contactee and imparts some special knowledge” so that “by using that information the contactee can then go forth and help humanity.” (Stupple, 1980) (And for those who are familiar with the ideas of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, that, of course, is the archetypal pattern of the “hero’s journey.”)

  And speaking of classic examples, I would be amiss if I did not point out the perfect example of the anima archetype in Aura Rhanes. That she is Truman Bethurum’s ideal woman goes without saying. What is more subtle, and more in need of an explanation, is why the feminine aspect of this fantasy requires such intense projection. I think it is clear in all of the contactee accounts that the world is in desparate need of more balance between matriarchal and patriarchal qualities. And what we are missing, of course, is the necessary addition of more feminine aspects, such as: unconditional love, understanding, and compassion.

  At the request of Aura Rhanes, Bethurum later established a “Sanctuary of Thought,” dedicated to world peace, understanding, and universal brotherhood.

  —RONALD D. STORY

  References

  Bethurum, Truman. Aboard a Flying Saucer (DeVorss & Co., 1954).

  ________. Messages from the People of the Planet Clarion: The True Experiences of Truman Bethurum. Beckley, Timothy Green, ed. (Inner Light Publications, 1995).

  Gibbons, Gavin. They Rode in Space Ships (The Citadel Press, 1957).

  Stupple, David. Quoted in Proceedings of the First International UFO Congress. Fuller, Curtis G., ed. (Warner Books, 1980).

  Bible and Flying Saucers, The (Lippincott, 1968). Presbyterian pastor Barry H. Downing argues that Biblical events and teachings were deliberately inspired by visiting extraterrestrial “angels.” His interpretation of the scriptures indicates that Jesus’ resurrection occurred as he was spirited away by a flying saucer.

  The same sort of space vehicle led the Israelites across the Red Sea by parting it, spoke to Moses from a cloud, and emitted radiation which produced the plagues described in Exodus. In other words, Downing substitutes supertechnology for the supernatural.

  —RANDALL FITZGERALD

  Biblical miracles as supertechnology Biblical miracles have generally been explained in one of three ways: they are seen as 1) mythology, 2) as misunderstood or rare natural phenomena, or 3) they are supernatural. (Note that interpretation of modern UFOs have followed similar lines.) Connecting Biblical miracles with UFOs offers a fourth interpretation: supertechnology or more specifically, extraterrestrial science.

  The general academic/scientific view of UFOs and Biblical miracles is that they are mythology. Perhaps driven by unconscious Jungian archetypes, mythologists argue that stories like the parting of the Red Sea were invented by humans to comfort and inspire them in what appears to be a godless world.

  Then there are those who have taken many of the stories in the Exodus, for example, to be historical facts—although misidentifications of natural phenomena. Scientists John Marr and Curtis Mulloy have argued that the plagues during the Exodus were caused by a “toxic algal bloom.” The late Harvard astronomer Donald Menzel has argued that the burning bush seen by Moses was St. Elmos’s fire. Immanuel Velikovsky, in his book Worlds in Collision (1950), argued that the “pillar of cloud and of fire” (the Exodus UFO) was the planet Venus making a near pass at the Earth with its gravity causing the parting of the Red Sea. Those making these kinds of arguments say that the Biblical people were involved in natural events, which due to their lack of scientific understanding they called the work of God.

  The supernatural explanation of the parting of the Red Sea and other Exodus miracles is simply this: God can do anything. The miracles are supernatural events and thus not explainable in logical terms.

  Each of the above theories treats the historicity of the story differently. Those advocating the mythological theory do not require that the parting of the Red Sea, or any other reported Biblical event, actually occurred.

  Those advocating naturalistic explanations accept many of the reported events as described (the plagues, the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea), but see them as fortuitous natural events (for good or ill). For them, Go
d was not involved.

  The supernatural theory, on the other hand, assumes that the reported events occurred and were also caused by the supernatural power of God.

  Those who support the mythological, naturalistic, or supernatural points of view do not usually welcome the UFO interpretation of the Exodus. However, the UFO interpretation supposes that the Biblical reports must be given serious factual consideration; something the mythological view does not do.

  The UFO interpretation takes the Biblical reports as seriously as either the naturalistic or the supernatural interpretation, but it has an advantage over the naturalistic view by giving coherence to the reported facts while also making scientific sense, which the supernatural interpretation makes no attempt to do.

  In my book The Bible and Flying Saucers (1968, 1997), I have explored the Exodus in detail. The Bible says that during the forty-year wilderness journey, something described as a “pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night” (Exodus 13:21,22) was constantly present. One might suppose with Velikovsky that this was the planet Venus or a comet making a near pass at the Earth.

  Or one might suppose with Dr. Menzel that the burning bush was St. Elmo’s fire. But what about the voice Moses heard? (Exodus 3:4) The naturalists suppose the voice is mythology. But suppose that a UFO landed in a clump of bushes. Modern UFOs have been reported to cause bushes to glow. And when modern persons have close encounters, they often report hearing a voice.

  One of the most compelling stories that might link the Bible and UFOs is the story of the parting of the Red Sea.

  Could this have been the scene at the parting of the Red Sea?

  (Painting by Monarca Lynn Merrifield)

  According to the Bible, when the pillar of cloud hovered over the Red Sea, the voice of God or an angel of God was in frequent voice contact with Moses. The main point of the Exodus is that Moses was in constant contact with an intelligent being connected with a UFO, which was cloudlike during the day and glowing like fire in the dark. It may have been cylindrical in shape like modern “cloud-cigar” UFOs. This UFO then landed on Mt. Sinai and gave Moses the commandments for the Jewish religion in verbal and written form.

  I believe that a UFO used its power system—some kind of force field—to part the Red Sea, and when the Egyptians tried to drive their chariots under the force field, they were knocked flat.

  For those who are committed to the Biblical religion, what does this mean? Were the Biblical miracles carried out by super-technological—rather than supernatural—beings? If so, how would this effect our religious beliefs? These questions have yet to be debated in the halls of theology.

  The approach I have taken to UFOs and Christianity is this: we need to wonder a lot more and not shut ourselves off from possibilities.

  —BARRY H. DOWNING

  Biblical UFOs Strange objects are reported throughout the Bible. In fact, so many references to UFOs in the Bible exist that a complete list is impossible here. Most Biblical UFOs can be divided into two categories: (1) those that seem to be connected with what we might call psychic phenomena and (2) those that we would now call “multiple witness” sightings. The question of whether Biblical UFOs and modern UFOs are directly connected has of course not yet been answered.

  Abraham, while in a “deep sleep,” had some kind of UFO experience. “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces” (Gen. 15:17). Jacob, while sleeping, had a well-known dream that the angels of God were ascending and descending on a ladder leading to heaven (Gen. 28:12). These experiences have traditionally been viewed as spiritual or psychic rather than “objectively real,” as this phrase is usually understood in modem science. In the modern UFO field, it must be remembered, however, that some of the most important UFO research is done by placing persons who have experienced close encounters of the third kind under a hypnotic trance in order to recover a UFO experience which someone experienced, apparently in a trance. Thus the modern trance experience has its twin in the Bible. Whether the famous wheels of Ezekiel belong in this category is not clear. Ezekiel describes his experience as a “vision,” which most have assumed means trance, but the former NASA engineer, Josef Blumrich, in his book The Spaceships of Ezekiel (1974), argues for the objective reality of Ezekiel’s experience.

  “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.” (Ex. 3:2)

  There are important “multiplewitness sightings” in both the Old and New Testaments. The most important in the Old Testament is the Exodus UFO. “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night” (Ex. 13:21). This UFO, similar to “cloud cigars” described today, was present during the forty-year Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. It is understood to be the same reality which met Moses in the “burning bush” (Ex. 3:2).

  “And as they still went on a talked, behold a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” (II Kings 2:11)

  The Exodus UFO is given different names, sometimes called “the cloud,” sometimes “the glory” of the Lord, sometimes called “the Presence.” It apparently leads the Israelites to Mount Sinai, descends on Mount Sinai (see Ex. 19), gives Moses the commandments of the Jewish religion, and dictates the building of the Tabernacle. Finally, it leads the way to the Promised Land. Some have argued that the “pillar of cloud and fire” caused the parting of the Red Sea with its propulsion system and that it dropped the manna for food during the Exodus. The “pillar of cloud” is called a multiplewitness sighting because it is understood to have been seen by all the Israelites during all of the Exodus. (Downing, 1968)

  Another famous Old Testament multiplewitness sighting involves the ascension of Elijah in a “chariot of fire” (II Kings 2). The Bible reports that about fifty priests witnessed this event.

  Multiplewitness sightings in the New Testament include: the shepherds who saw the angels and the bright “glory” of the Lord at the birth of Christ (Luke 2:9); the “bright cloud” seen by Peter, James, and John during the transfiguration of Jesus (Matt. 17:18); several disciples witnessing the ascension of Jesus in a “cloud” (Acts 2:9) as angels explained the event; and the bright “light from heaven” which blinded the Apostle Paul and brought about his conversion on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-9). Angels are connected with the “clouds of heaven” in the New Testament, which seem to be understood as a heavenly form of transportation.

  What is the meaning of UFOs in the Bible? Some have suggested that UFOs in the Bible, like modern UFOs, are mainly an expression of man’s unconscious needs; that they are myth, creations of man’s mind.

  “And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh… [to] the firstborn of cattle.” (Ex. 12:29)

  Others have suggested that UFOs carried “ancient astronauts,” who may have contacted man for scientific purposes but who never intended to start religion as we know it.

  Another theory is that UFOs started the Biblical religion, either as a kind of giant interplanetary hoax or because UFOs are in fact a divine reality. This latter view would see UFOs as carrying the angels of God in the past to start the Biblical religion and, as still being seen today, shepherds watching over their sheep.

  —BARRY H. DOWNING

  References

  Downing, Barry. The Bible and Flying Saucers (Lippincott, 1968; Avon, 1970; Marlowe, 1997).

  Jessup, M. K. UFO and the Bible (The Cidadel Press, 1956).

  birth memories hypothesis The birth memories hypothesis (BMH) culminated a decade of research into hypnosis and CE-3 reports, including the Imaginary Abductee Study, which led my colleague Dr. W.C. McCall and me to a skeptical view of abduction claims
. We concluded that abductions are nonphysical, archetypal fantasies involving belief or deception in which the witness’ perinatal (pre-and postnatal) memories play a central role.

  Some basic assumptions of the BMH follow from recent brain research. The fetus, once described as incapable of thought and memory, is now seen as keenly responsive to its environment. Of the two memory systems in the brain, the verbal declarative memory in the hippocampus matures by age four, but the non-verbal emotional memory, located in the amygdala, is all but matured at birth. Daniel Goleman writes, “…many potent emotional memories date from the first few years of life, in the relationship between an infant and its caretakers. This is especially true of traumatic events, like beatings or outright neglect.” These “emotional lessons” are stored in the amygdala as “rough, wordless blueprints for emotional life” and are difficult for an adult to articulate exactly because they originated before words were there to help the infant understand experiences. It is our belief that this process typically starts long before birth, certainly by the tumultuous events of the last trimester of pregnancy, so that the earliest if not most intense emotional memories in everyone are prenatal.

  Perinatal memories show a strong connection with fantasy, which seems to encourage access to often-inexpressible emotional memories. For example, one can relive the ordeal of birth with the aid of hallucinogenic drugs, as psychiatrist Stanislav Grof has shown, but it can be done somewhat easier under hypnosis, or even while fantasizing an abduction scenario. Our hypnotized real and imaginary CE-3 witnesses were giving us figurative perinatal imagery long before I recognized it, and before I found that Grof’s birth narratives contain major parallels with abduction imagery. The relation also works in reverse: some of Grof’s subjects describe hallucinations involving flying saucers, aliens, and Star Treklike adventures.

  UFOs as flying saucers are rich and varied perinatal symbols, but witness descriptions are usually indirect and metaphorical. Accounts of entering or leaving a UFO may suggest a symbolic birth: abductees squeeze through small cervical doors into big rooms, a process clearly analogous to the newborn’s feelings of decompression at delivery. Or they may exit through a small passageway to the “big room” outside. Sometimes the birth reference is explicit, as with the abductee who said she had to twist her shoulders 90 degrees to pass through a little doorway —an exact reliving of fetal rotation in birth. A few witnesses choose to be reborn repeatedly (as in the Andreasson case) by passing from one amniotic room to another, through narrow vaginal tunnels, elevators, exploding doorways, or cervical openings.