Operation Trojan Horse: The Classic Breakthrough Study of UFOs

by John A. Keel

  Finally, we come to the problem: How do you investigate something that doesn’t exist?

  The answer is that you investigate and study the people who have experienced these things. You don’t investigate them by checking their reliability. You study the medical and psychological effects of their experiences. This cannot be done by teenagers with telescopes and housewives with tape recorders. It must be done by trained professionals.

  We need to know much more about the human mind and how it is linked up to the greater source. We must study the process of confabulation (falsification of memory) which produces the majority of our UFO landing and contact stories and demonological events. These victims genuinely believe that they have met splendid space beings, but as Goddard stated, they have really encountered “denizens” who “are eager to exemplify principalities and powers.” In my field work I have developed interviewing techniques which separate the confabulations from the real experiences. It can be done. But a large part of the UFO lore is based entirely on confabulations.

  The elementals or ultraterrestrials are somehow able to manipulate the electrical circuits of the human mind. They can make us see whatever they want us to see and remember only what they want us to remember. Human minds that have been tuned into those super-high-frequency radiations, described early in this book, are most vulnerable to these manipulations. Discovering and understanding this process should be given top priority.

  The symptoms of the contactee syndrome usually appear in early childhood, even though overt contact may not be established until many years later. Many contactees, like Howard Menger, have a long sequence of experiences with the paraphysical entities before their real UFO encounters formally begin. Some contactees begin to receive telepathic messages sporadically years before they have overt contact. Those whose minds misinterpret the information (or the signal) often begin to suffer weird forms of psychic attack. Once they untangle the misinterpretations, the attack ceases, and they become silent contactees and remain in almost constant communication with the source. I do not mean to imply that any of these people are insane. Far from it. But many are driven insane when their minds are unable to translate the signal properly. They fall prey to the negative aspects, and their mental confusion attracts induced hallucinations, visits from Oriental gentlemen in dark suits and black Cadillacs, and they can eventually suffer total deterioration of personality. I had to find this out the hard way, only to discover later that Dr. Meade Layne had worked it all out in the early 1950s, but nobody would listen to him.

  Dr. Layne tried to express his ideas in occult terminology. He called the ultraterrestrials the Etherians and thought in terms of “ultrasonics” as well as electromagnetic frequencies. In 1955, he published a concise (and time has proven it valid) appraisal of the situation in which he stated: “It is possible that some persons may be less affected by supersonic frequencies than others; this may account for the selection of certain persons by the Etherians. It is also possible that some such persons are now showing signs of amnesia and other physical and mental deterioration.”

  If Dr. Layne was aware of these factors fifteen years ago, then it is almost criminal that no suitable psychiatric program has been instituted to study and understand this phenomenon. Thousands, perhaps millions, of people all over this planet are being directly affected. My mail is filled with cries for help. I have watched helplessly as witnesses fell into hopeless personality deterioration and went insane or even committed suicide. For some time now I have been working closely with a small group of psychiatrists, but our efforts can be compared only to the proverbial drop in the bucket. The whole UFO subject has been so widely ridiculed and denounced that most qualified men are reluctant to enter into it.

  Not all ultraterrestrial contacts are evil and disastrous, of course. But there are many people throughout the world who are deeply involved in all this without realizing it. They have entangled themselves through other frames of reference and, in many cases, have been savagely exploited by the ultraterrestrials in the games being played. These games have been thoroughly documented and defined in the literature of the various frames of reference. The psychology of the elementals or ultraterrestrials is well known and fully described in the fairy lore of northern Europe and the ancient legends of Greece, Rome and India. In fact, we know almost everything there is to know about the entities and their games. Unfortunately, most of this valuable information has been buried in the beliefs of the various frames of reference and clouded by obscure terminology. It will take teams of accomplished and objective scholars to wade through all the literature and distill all the facts. This job should be begun immediately, for the game seems to be headed for some kind of grand climax.

  Everything from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient scriptures of the Orient, and the records of early Egypt to the modern messages of the psychics and contactees and the thousands of inspired books indicates that mankind was directly ruled by the phenomenon for many centuries. The god-king system established a universal theocracy which enabled ultraterrestrials posing as gods and superkings to supervise human events. Remnants of this system prevailed until the early 1800s when the United States established a political structure that separated the church from the state. More than fifty major revolutions were staged in Europe in 1848, breaking the back of the god-king system for all time. The phenomenon simply shifted to new frames of reference, notably spiritualism and a new cycle of minor religions based upon the teachings of prophets who were contacted by angels and elementals. Even Abraham Lincoln was a spiritualist and openly admitted that he based some of his decisions upon information and advice he received at séances.

  Rapid industrialization and technological development in the Western cultures apparently led to further restructuring of the phenomenon’s frames of reference. The inundation of airships in 1896-97 marked the beginning of the modern UFO phase. Although the phenomenon experimented with the “outer space” frame of reference as early as 1866, it did not attempt to advance this concept on a worldwide scale until 1946. By 1950, it had, in a mere four years, firmly established the extraterrestrial visitants idea as a humanly acceptable frame of reference for the flying objects and manipulations.

  The study and interpretation of all this belongs in the hands of historians, philosophers, psychiatrists, and theologians. However, physical scientists can also make a contribution by applying standard scientific methods to the wealth of data and preparing statistical studies of the events themselves. My own attempts at this are admittedly very limited, but it is obvious that the phenomenon is controlled by hidden laws and cycles. Psychic and occult events seem to follow the same cycles as the UFO phenomenon. The Wednesday-Saturday phenomenon exists in all the frames of reference. For some reason, the twenty-fourth days of April, June, September, November, and December seem to produce exceptional activity year after year. It is probable that manifestations are dependent upon unknown conditions that have an electromagnetic basis. When specific individuals (people with latent or active psychic abilities) are in specific places (window areas) at specific times (flap periods when the undefined electromagnetic conditions exist), the phenomenon is able to manifest itself in one of its many forms.

  These events are staged year after year, century after century, in the same exact areas and often on the same exact calendar dates. Only the witnesses and the frames of reference used are different. The phenomenon can be extremely dangerous, because the objects move through frequency changes that can produce deadly gamma and ultraviolet rays. On Friday, July 4, 1969, Arcesio Bermudez of Anolaima, Colombia, was a witness to a low-level luminous object maneuvering over a farm field. Accompanied by other witnesses, he attempted to signal to it with a flashlight. Representatives of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) investigated this case in depth. The July-August 1969 issue of the APRO Bulletin summarized their startling report:

  Within two days of the observation, the principal witness, Mr. Arcesio Bermudez, was taken very ill
; his temperature dropped to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and he had a “cold touch” although he claimed he did not feel cold. Within a few days his condition became far more serious; he had “black vomit” and diarrhea with blood flow. He was taken to Bogota and attended by Dr. Luis Borda at 10 A.M. on July 12 and later by Dr. Cesar Esmeral at 7:30 P.M. At 11:45 P.M., local time, Mr. Bermudez died.

  Doctors noted that Mr. Bermudez’s symptoms indicated gamma-ray poisoning. Other UFO witnesses have come down with leukemia and died shortly after closely approaching an unidentified flying object. Leukemia can be caused by radiation poisoning.

  This is not a subject for teenagers and wild-eyed believers. It demands a cautious, comprehensive, well-financed investigation by independent, objective professionals unhampered by the petty causes of the cultists and the political machinations of the government agencies.

  Somebody or something somewhere is trying to tell us about all this. Our skies are filled with Trojan horses and always have been. They are operating on a mysterious timetable, deliberately sowing confusion and nonsense in their wake. The believers and cultists have been crying for us to throw open the gates of the city and wheel the Trojan horse in. But the governments of the world, and the churches, have been trying to nail the gates shut. The Vatican has repeatedly warned that spiritualism is “evil” and the “work of the Devil.” When seemingly authentic religious miracles occur today, and there have been many, the theologians and churches approach them with great caution and try to play down their significance. The Bible warns us that during “the last days” this planet will be overrun with wonders in the sky and false prophets and performers of miracles.

  There are now many cases in which the voices of deceased persons have seemingly called up their loved ones on the telephone, just as the metallic-voiced space people have been phoning researchers and reporters around the world. To add to our problems, the telephone system, worldwide, is sagging and breaking down, unable to keep up with the increasing load we are placing on it. We face a complete breakdown of all communications within the next few years. Television sets, telephones, ham and citizen’s band (CB) radios in flap areas have been going awry on a massive scale during the periods when the UFOs have been most active.

  Thousands of people deserted California in April 1969, after hundreds of people had received prophecies in dreams, through Ouija boards, and at séances that the West Coast was about to slip into the Pacific Ocean.

  As Sherlock Holmes used to say, the game is afoot. It is happening on every level of our society, manifesting itself in countless ways. The year 1968 was comparable to the year 1848. Great changes are taking place on our college campuses, in our churches, and in the halls of government. The demons of old are marching among us again.

  In 1966, 1 was a lifelong atheist raised in the hard school of objective journalism, skeptical but hopeful that I could somehow validate the enthusiasts’ speculations about extraterrestrial visitants. The extraterrestrial hypothesis then seemed to me to be the only acceptable explanation. But my experiences over the past few years have changed both me and my outlook, just as similar experiences have changed so many others. I have stood on many a windy hilltop staring in amazement at the multicolored objects cavorting about the night skies. I have dealt with thousands of honest, sincere witnesses by mail, phone, and in person. My skepticism has melted away, and I have turned from science to philosophy in my search for the elusive truth. The late Wilbert Smith, the Canadian scientist who chased UFOs in the 1950s, apparently followed a similar course. “The inevitable conclusion was that it was all real enough,” Smith said in 1958, “but that the alien science was definitely alien—and possibly even beyond our comprehension. So another approach was tried—the philosophical—and here the answer was found in all its grandeur…”

  All of the various ologies represent the famous blind men trooping to Cathay who encountered an elephant. Each ology has been examining a different part of the elephant and giving it a different interpretation. It is time now for us to gain the total vision necessary for viewing the elephant as it is, not as we would like it to be.

  We all seem to be embarked on some new adventure. Our little planet seems to be experiencing the interpenetration of forces or entities from some other space-time continuum. Perhaps they are trying to lead us into a new Dark Age of fear and superstition. Or perhaps they will be guiding us upward to some unexpected destiny. I am not a scientist, theologian, or philosopher. I am only a reporter. My business is asking questions, not answering them. But there are men who do know part of the answers. Among them are our astronauts who have been closer to the infinite than anyone else. One of them, Neil A. Armstrong, the first man to set foot upon the moon, said this when he addressed Congress on September 16, 1969:

  “In the next twenty centuries… humanity may begin to understand its most baffling mystery—where are we going? The earth is, in fact, traveling many thousands of miles per hour in the direction of the constellation Hercules—to some unknown destination in the cosmos. Man must understand his universe in order to understand his destiny.

  “Mystery, however, is a very necessary ingredient in our lives.

  “Mystery creates wonder, and wonder is the basis for man’s desire to understand. Who knows what mysteries will be solved in our lifetime, and what new riddles will become the challenge of the new generations?”

  Acknowledgments

  This book could not have been written without the unselfish, dedicated, and knowledgeable assistance of hundreds of people throughout the world who offered me immeasurable support in my research and provided me with rare documents, reports, forgotten files, and back issues of early journals and publications. The back issues of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) Bulletin and the British journal Flying Saucer Review were especially valuable, since they had carefully recorded the general history of the UFO phenomenon for the past fifteen years.

  I also owe a large debt to those people who have worked for many years without reward, often suffering considerable ridicule and even persecution for their perseverance. There are many who have asked to remain anonymous, such as police officers, sheriffs, and local officials who quietly kept me informed of developments in their areas. And there were also several hundred local newspaper editors, reporters, and stringers who cooperated with me in every possible way and provided me with much valuable background information. In addition to this group, there were thousands of readers of my newspaper features and magazine articles who wrote thoughtful letters offering me testimony of their own sightings and experiences.

  Obviously, it is impossible to give full credit to all my sources or to personally acknowledge the help of so many people. Some parts of this book have appeared in slightly different form in True, Saga, Flying Saucer Review, Flying Saucers, Flying Saucers-UFO Reports, Male, Men, and in my syndicated newspaper features distributed by the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA).

  Lastly, this book is dedicated to Laocoön. In these past four years I have learned how he must have felt.

  Selected Bibliography

  This bibliography presents a cross section of the material encompassed in this book. It is by no means complete or comprehensive. Many of the books named in the main text have been deliberately excluded from this list to make room for equally pertinent works.

  PP: Privately published and, in some cases, rare.

  PB: Paperback editions.

  Abbott, Edwin A., Flatland. New York, Dover Publications, 1952.

  Adamski, George, Behind the Flying Saucer Mystery. (PB) New York, Paperback Library, 1967. Originally published in 1961 under the title of Flying Saucers Farewell.

  Adamski, George, Inside the Flying Saucers. (PB) New York, Paperback Library, 1967. Originally published in 1955 under the title of Inside the Space Ships.

  Angelucci, Orefeo, The Secret of the Saucers. Wisconsin, Amherst Press, 1955.

  Arnold, Kenneth, with Ray Palmer, The Corning of the Saucers. Wisconsin, Amherst
Press, 1952.

  Bardens, Dennis, Ghosts and Hauntings. New York, Taplinger Publishing Co 1965. New York, Ace Books (PB).

  Baring-Gould, S., Historical Oddities and Strange Events. London, Methuen & Co., 1889.

  Barker, Gray, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. New Hyde Park, N.Y., University Books, 1956. New York, Tower Books (PB), 1967.

  Bayless, Raymond, The Enigma of the Poltergeist. West Nyack, N.Y., Parker Publishing Co., 1967. New York, Ace Books (PB).

  Bender, Albert K., Flying Saucers and the Three Men. Clarksburg, W. Va., Saucerian Books, 1962.

  Bernheimer, Richard, Wild Men in the Middle Ages. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1955.

  Binder, Otto, Flying Saucers Are Watching Us. (PB) New York, Belmont Books, 1968.

  Binder, Otto, What We Really Know About Flying Saucers. (PB) New York, Fawcett World Library, 1967.

  Blair, Clay, Jr., The Strange Case of James Earl Ray. (PB) New York, Bantam Books, 1969.

  Bloecher, Ted, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947. (PB) 1967.

  Bordon, Richard C., and Vickers, Tirey K., A Preliminary Study of Unidentified Targets Observed on Air Traffic Control Radars. Technical Development Report No. 180. Indianapolis, Civil Aeronautics Administration Technical Development and Evaluation Center, 1955.