Flying Saucers from the Kremlin

by Nick Redfern

  The final word on the QFSRB – also from August 1959 - goes to the ASIO: “At present the Queensland Bureau does not appear to constitute any serious concern, mainly due to the control exercised by the President, Seers, but its activities will be constantly watched as there is the ever present possibility that with the loss of Seers’ guidance as President, together with Soviet contact and any increased Communist Party of Australia membership, the Bureau could become of far greater interest [italics mine].”

  It’s worth noting that George Adamski was also watched closely by intelligence agencies in 1959 – and, in part, in relation to the matter of Russia and communism and a certain trip he made overseas. In early 1959, Adamski was invited to deliver a series of lectures in New Zealand: specifically in Wellington and Auckland. Notably, this lecture-tour was of interest to the world of government, and his presentations were clandestinely scrutinized by government operatives. A Foreign Service Dispatch of February 1959 was sent from the American Embassy in New Zealand to the Department of State in Washington, D.C., that summarized Adamski’s activities in New Zealand. Also forwarded to the FBI, the CIA, the Air Force and the Navy, the report was titled “‘Flying Saucer’ Expert Lecturing In New Zealand” and recorded the following, amusing information:

  Mr. George Adamski, the Californian “flying saucer expert” and author of the book Flying Saucers Have Landed and others, has been visiting New Zealand for the last two weeks. He has given well-attended public lectures in Auckland and Wellington as well as meetings with smaller groups of “saucer” enthusiasts. In Wellington his lecture filled the 2,200 seats in the Town Hall. He was not permitted to charge for admission as the meeting was held on a Sunday night, but a “silver coin” collection was taken up and this would more than recoup his expenses.

  Adamski’s lectures appear to cover the usual mass of sighting reports, pseudo-scientific arguments in support of his theories and his previously well-publicized “contacts” with saucers and men from Venus. He is repeating his contention that men from other planets are living anonymously on the earth and, according to the press, said in Auckland that there may be as many as 40,000,000 of these in total. He is also making references to security restrictions and saying that the U.S. authorities know a lot more than they will tell. The report of Adamski’s lecture in Wellington in The Dominion was flanked by an article by Dr. I.L. THOMPSON, Director of the Carter Observatory, vigorously refuting Adamski on a number of scientific points. However, the news report of the lecture called it “the best Sunday night’s entertainment Wellington has seen for quite a time.”

  Quite! Moving on, there is this from the authorities who had Adamski under surveillance:

  Interest in flying saucers in New Zealand seems to be roughly comparable to that in the United States. There is a small but active organization which enthusiasts have supported for some years. This organization publishes a small paper and receives and circulates stories of sightings. At the Adamski lecture in Wellington, approximately 40 members of the ‘Adamski Corresponding Society’ wore blue ribbons and sat in reserved seats in the front row. Press reports suggest that Adamski probably is making no new converts to saucer credence in his current tour. His audiences have given forth with a certain amount of ‘incredulous murmuring’ and are said to be totally unimpressed with his pictures of saucers.

  In late 1959, Adamski was yet again the topic of FBI interest when an unidentified American citizen offered an opinion that Adamski was using the UFO controversy as a means to promote communism. In a report on the affair, the FBI recorded the following:

  [Censored] said that in recent weeks she and her husband had begun to wonder if Adamski is subtly spreading Russian propaganda. She said that, according to Adamski, the “space people” are much better people than those on earth; that they have told him the earth is in extreme danger from nuclear tests and that they must be stopped; that they have found peace under a system in which churches, schools, individual governments, money, and private property were abolished in favor of a central governing council, and nationalism and patriotism have been done away with; that the ‘space people’ want nuclear tests stopped immediately and that never should people on earth fight; if attacked, they should lay down their arms and welcome their attackers.

  [Censored] said the particular thing that first made her and her husband wonder about Adamski was a letter they received from him dated 10/12/59, in which it was hinted that the Russians receive help in their outer space programs from the “space people,” and that the “space people” will not help any nation unless such nation has peaceful intent. It occurred to them that the desires and recommendations of the “space people” whom Adamski quotes are quite similar to Russia’s approach, particularly as to the ending of nuclear testing, and it was for this reason she decided to call the FBI.

  Moving onto the 1960s and away from Adamski and New Zealand, and back to Australia, there is an enlightening file contained in the ASIC archives that has the lengthy title of Australian Flying Saucer Research Society, Allegations of attempted take-over by pro-Communist Sydney group. Prepared by one K. Cotton of the Special Branch division of Police Headquarters, Adelaide, South Australia, and dated January 4, 1962, it begins as follows:

  I have to report that recently Fred Stone, former President of the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society, called at this Branch and stated that his organization feared that they were in danger of being taken over by a Sydney group known as the Unidentified Flying Object Investigation Centre, whose headquarters were situated in Sydney, New South Wales.

  Former members of the Adelaide committee, who resigned on the 3rd November 1961, were concerned at this maneuver as they believed the Sydney society was “pink” in outlook and atheistic in attitude, a fact which Stone had confirmed to his own satisfaction on previous visits to that State.

  Before we continue with the content of the document, it’s worth knowing, for those who may be unaware, what, precisely, the term “pink” meant back then. RationalWiki notes: “‘Pinko commie’ is a phrase used in parodies or mockeries of opponents of communism, particularly those from the McCarthy era. ‘Pinko’ refers to someone who is not himself or herself a communist but who sympathizes with communism (hence ‘pink,’ not quite red). Consequently ‘pinko commie’ is arguably (logically) an oxymoron. The phrase started gaining popularity as a description of the communist movement as early as the 1930s.”

  With that said, back to the document:

  Stone stated that the present unrest had been instigated by Mrs. J. Ingram-Moore, otherwise known as June Marsden, a member of the UFO Society, who resides in New South Wales, but who has recently visited Adelaide lecturing on Flying Saucers. During the conversation Mr. Stone mentioned the following persons, whom he said were, or had been, connected with such matters in New South Wales:- Andrew Tomas, Editor of the UFO magazine, an accountant employed by Hookers of Sydney, Dr. Lindtner, a veterinary surgeon, and an ex-Polish pilot, who was employed by the C.S.I.R.O in Sydney, a former Vice-President of the UFO. Mr. Clifford, a retired Dental Surgeon of Sydney.

  As neither the UFO society, nor the persons mentioned as connected with it, had previously come under the notice of this Branch, a request was made to Sydney Special Branch as to whether the society or the people had come under their notice.

  Files were opened on Lindtner, Clifford and Tomas; the latter was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was someone who had a deep interest in the matter of what today has become popularly known as “ancient aliens.” His books included Atlantis: From Legend to Discovery; On the Shores of Endless Worlds; We Are Not the First; and Shambhala: Oasis of Light. As for the aforementioned Dr. Lindtner, we have the following from the ASIO’s Special Branch:

  The Unidentified Flying Object Investigation Center has not previously come under the notice of this Branch. The only person referred to in the attached report who has previously come under notice at this Branch is Dr.
Lindtner, born at Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, on the 30.8.1920, arrived in Australia, who is identified hereunder...He first came under notice in 1954 when it was reported that about two years prior to then he had been seen at the Russian Social Club, Sydney. In 1955 he was reported to be a member of the Committee of the Russian Social Club. In 1961 he came under notice as President of the “Yugal” Soccer Club, which is alleged by anti-Communist Yugoslavian immigrants to be sponsored by the Yugoslav CVonsul at Sydney and to be composed of pro-Tito Yuogslavs.

  The Encyclopedia of World Biography says of Yugoslav statesman Marshal Tito: “The Yugoslav statesman Marshal Tito became president of Yugoslavia in 1953. He directed the rebuilding of a Yugoslavia devastated in World War II and the bringing together of Yugoslavia’s different peoples until his death in 1980.”

  And Your Dictionary states: “From 1945 to 1953 Tito acted as prime minister and minister of defense in the government, whose most dramatic political action was the capture, trial, and execution of Gen. Mihajlović in 1946. Between 1945 and 1948 Tito led his country through an extreme and ruthless form of dictatorship in order to mold Yugoslavia into a socialist state modeled after the Soviet Union. In January 1953, he was named first president of Yugoslavia and president of the Federal Executive Council; the 1963 Constitution named him president for life.”

  Yet again, we see why, exactly, Australian security personnel were so keen to put all of the pieces together when it came to the strange UFO jigsaw in their midst: seemingly, there were Russian and communist links just about everywhere. It’s intriguing to note Officer Cotton’s final words on this issue of communist infiltration of an Australia-based UFO research group: “In view of the above information, it would appear that Mr. Stone’s fears may not be entirely groundless [italics mine], and future intelligence obtained regarding the composition of the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society will be transmitted to A.S.I.C. Perhaps this report might now be forwarded to the Regional Director, ‘D’ Branch, Adelaide, for his information.”

  Although, I do think that having concerns about a local soccer team is taking concerns just a bit too far!

  Moving onto the decade of the 1970s, the fear – whether valid or sculpted by paranoia – that Australia’s alien hunters were working hand-in-glove with the Russians led yet further secret surveillance to be undertaken. An ASIO document of October 11, 1972, provides us with this: “Colin Norris, the Public Relations Officer for the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society, who lives in Adelaide, claims to be in correspondence with Soviet Academicians on the subject of unidentified flying objects (U.F.O.’s). Norris is [deleted] and works for the G.P.O. [General Post Office].”

  Norris stated that he had, and I quote from the ASIO papers in the public domain, “no political interests.” Maybe so, but ASIO agents recorded this: “Norris spoke to members of the Young Socialist League in South Australia about U.F.O.’s on the 14th November, 1969.” Interestingly, two documents that are focused on the 1969 meeting are still withheld – and for reasons relative to national security. Many of the ASIO’s general files on Australia’s Young Socialist League remain unavailable, too. Connected or not, back in the late 1980s, and when I lived in England, I subscribed to Norris’s UFO-themed magazine. When my airmailed copies arrived from Australia, they were always opened and resealed. No attempt was ever made to mask the fact that someone had taken a look at the contents. A message of sorts? Maybe.

  13. “British-Russian cooperation in observation of UFOs”

  It’s intriguing that in the mid-to-late part of the 1960s there occurred a great deal of activity in relation to Russian meddling and manipulation of the UFO arena. We’ll begin with something that became known infamously as UMMO. It was during the 1960s that a man named Fernando Sesma, a Spanish UFO enthusiast, started to receive a wealth of strange “technical papers” through the mail. They were said to have been penned by the OEMII, the people of a faraway world known as UMMO. It wasn’t long before close to a dozen additional people in Spain’s UFO research community began to receive such material too. Sesma was a controversial contactee, someone who, in 1967, wrote a publication titled UMMO, Otro Planeta Habitado (UMMO, Another Inhabited Planet). Few, at first, took much notice of the strange affair of UMMO. But that soon changed.

  Was Sesma really in touch with aliens? Let’s see. Investigative writer Scott Corrales said: “In the mid 1950’s, Jose Luis Jordan Pena [a Spanish communications technician who died in 2014 at the age of eighty-three] was elaborating the theory that paranoia was much more widespread among the population than psychiatrists of the time were willing to admit. Jordan Pena believed that no less than 79% of the population was afflicted, and proceeded to demonstrate the validity of his theory by concocting the UMMO affair - the story of tall, blond and friendly aliens who had landed near the French locality of Digne…

  “The perpetrator of the hoax of the century [Pena] penned his own confession in an article entitled ‘UMMO: Otro Mito Que Hace Crash’ for La Alternativa Racional, an Iberian equivalent of The Skeptical Enquirer. A believer in the concept of ‘systematical paranoia,’ Jordan Pena put forth beliefs that, in his own words, were imbued with a certain logic. He didn’t limit himself to the theoretical framework, but actually took steps (by his own admission) to create a false landing in the Madrid suburb of Aluche, leaving bogus landing marks behind…”

  Pena bolstered his hoaxed saga by claiming to have had his very own sighting of a flying saucer in the skies above the Spanish city of Madrid. Most notable of all, the UFO had a large emblem on the base of the craft. It was a cross with a half-circle on each side. Reportedly, a near-identical aerial vehicle of unidentified proportions was seen in May 1967, also in Madrid. This time, the saucer was caught on film. There is, however, very little doubt at all that the story – as well as the attendant photo – was bogus. It was not so much a deliberate, malicious hoax, though. Rather, it was more along the lines of a carefully-crafted program designed to demonstrate how belief-systems can be created, molded, and used to manipulate people – even on an extraordinarily large scale. On this latter point, the UMMO affair most assuredly did attract a huge following.

  One of those who took a particular interest in the notoriety surrounding UMMO was the late Jim Keith, a conspiracy-theorist whose books included Saucers of the Illuminati and Black Helicopters over America. Keith also wrote Casebook on the Men in Black. In the pages of the latter book, Keith said: “The UMMO case was created through a large number of contacts – UFO sightings, personal contacts, messages through the mail and telephone – alleged to be from space brothers from the planet UMMO,” which, Keith said, was “…located 14.6 light years from our solar system.”

  Keith also noted that the UMMO data was made up of “…six-to-ten page letters containing diagrams and equations, delineating UMMO science and philosophy. Differing from most channeled and beamed by space beings, they were scientifically savvy, although according to Jacques Vallee, smacked more of Euro sci-fi than superior extraterrestrial knowledge.”

  Keith too came to the conclusion that the whole UMMO affair was one huge grand hoax. He cited the words of a Spanish journalist named Manuel Carballal. It was Carballal, Keith said, who wrote that researchers Cales Berche, Jose J. Montejo and Javier Sierra had identified a well-known Spanish parapsychologist – who turned out to be none other than the aforementioned Jose Pena – as being the originator of the UMMO material. Keith expanded on this and stated that Pena “…is later reported to have admitted his creation of the complex hoax, stating that it had been a ‘scientific experiment’ aimed at testing the gullibility factor amongst Spanish UFO researchers.”

  As all of the above shows, there’s very little doubt that UMMO was a fabrication – from the start to the finish. But, it wasn’t quite the end, after all. There were those in the UFO research arena who suspected that the original UMMO hoax was, later on, ingeniously hijacked and expanded upon by certain official intell
igence services - and, chiefly, the former Soviet Union’s KGB. The scenario involved Russian operatives exploiting the original hoax as a cover for the dissemination of psychological warfare within the public UFO research community, as well as a means to secretly infiltrate and manipulate that same community to gather information.

  Jacques Vallee stated of UMMO that, “…some of the data that was supposedly channeled from the UMMO organization in the sky was very advanced cosmology.” He added that a portion of it “came straight out of the notes” of Andrei Sakharov, including what were described as “unpublished notes.” Vallee also said that, “somebody had to have access to those notes, to inspire those messages, perhaps the KGB.”

  Andrei Sakharov – who died in 1989 – was a scientist who played an instrumental role in the development of the Soviet Union’s hydrogen bomb program. He ultimately became, in the words of the Nobel Peace Committee, a spokesperson for the conscience of mankind. In 1975 Sakharov was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. That the KGB might have decided to use the UMMO affair to its own, secret advantage, and to try and infiltrate and manipulate Ufology, sits nicely with what we have seen already with regard to the CIA’s Robertson Panel and the attempts of the Soviets to secretly recruit Contactees like Orfeo Angelucci. But, when it came to UMMO, what was the exact goal of the Russians?

  Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen, who penned the book The 80 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time, pondered on that very matter. They suggested the following: “Per Vallee, there are at least a couple of reasons: Cults are an ideal way to incubate ideas – and irrational belief systems – that might later prove destabilizing to enemy governments. Moreover, a cult might provide cover for foreign spies doing technical assessment; after all, the UMMO ‘channelings’ were distributed to noted Western scientists, who were encouraged to correspond with UMMOs representatives on Earth.”