Rather early in my ufological career I lamented the fact that so few of the classic contactees of the 1950s had been thoroughly and seriously studied and their experiences documented. “Scientific” ufologists usually dismissed these individuals as cranks and cultists, without further investigation. Many contactees, of course, belonged to the rogue and crackpot category but there were, in my opinion, a few intriguing exceptions: George Adamski, Orfeo Angelucci, Daniel Fry, George van Tassel, Howard Menger a.o. Activists in the 1950s and 60s UFO and new age community were usually either rather naïve believers or debunkers on the issue of contactees. There were few open minded, serious investigators looking into the contactee enigma.
Timothy Good during his Swedish visit in 1998
This situation began to change in the 1980s with the publication of George Adamski – The Untold Story, written by Lou Zinsstag and Timothy Good (1983). Finally a study that was neither a hagiography nor a debunking dismissal but a careful weighing up of the evidence for and against this controversial man. After reading and reviewing the book in 1983 I immediately wrote to Timothy Good expressing my appreciation of their research: "Isn´t it peculiar that the first actual biography on Adamski should be written by Europeans? Where are the American UFO detectives?" I received a very kind reply and since then we have kept the correspondence going all these years. Timothy Good has provided me with many interesting documents, transcripts of interviews, photographs and data relating to his worldwide investigation of contactee cases. We have compared data and discussed all the tricky issues of this fascinating enigma.
In my first letter to Timothy I presented my theory regarding secret brotherhoods on Earth and UFOs, the Esoteric Intervention Theory. Here a quote from Tim´s reply, dated February 27, 1984: "Let me discuss your fascinating theory, which, as you correctly point out, is not a new one. It may please you to learn that Howard Menger, with whom I spent a lot of time in 1978, shares your view. He does not now believe that the people he met (and meet them he did - of that I am certain) came from Venus and Mars, Saturn etc. He think´s it far more likely that they come from a superior civilization here on Earth that has existed for thousands of years. BUT may use Venus and Mars as bases, since they obviously have spaceflight capability."
The book by Lou Zinsstag and Timothy Good in many ways reopened the George Adamski case and inspired renewed investigative efforts to understand contact experiences. A more open minded view on contactees had earlier been presented by American ufologist Ted Bloecher at the First International UFO Congress in 1980. George Adamski - The Untold Story contain a mass of new data and insights into the controversial claims of this the first generation contactee.
Timothy Good is not, like Desmond Leslie, an esotericist but his theories and conclusions relating to the experiences of Adamski and other contactees are in line with the Esoteric Tradition. Referring to the extraordinary feats of yogis like Paramhansa Yogananda he concludes: "It is my conviction that many extraterrestrials are capable of these and other even more fantastic feats: indeed, I see little difference in this respect between highly-evolved human beings on this planet and those from any other. These abilities are precisely what we should expect..." (p. 197). Timothy Good also express a deep fascination with individuals like Comte de St. Germain, Cagliostro and Anton Mesmer and finds it likely they were associated with the "ancient races". (Earth. An Alien Enterprise, pp. 405-406).
Timothy Good
From an esoteric aspect there is an interesting point made by Lou Zinsstag, relating to the rather doubtful claim that Adamski had some "private tuition" in Tibet at an early age: "I suspect that the young boy must have enjoyed tuition by a teacher or guide, connected with a group in Tibet, as he subsequently founded the "Royal Order of Tibet"". (p. 5). Could Adamski, at an early age, have been contacted by a Tibetan teacher, similar to the experiences of Millen Cooke, who wrote the prophetic article Son of the Sun in 1947?
One of my favourite books by Timothy Good is Alien Base (1998), a comprehensive account of physical contactee cases documented by the author during his worldwide travels. Here we find the remarkable contact experiences of Joelle Marchemont, a good friend of Timothy Good for many years. In a letter in 1984 I asked why he regarded her as reliable: "Re. my contactee friend. Why reliable? I have known her since 1952 and can vouch for her integrity. She has never tried to capitalise on the story, and, indeed, is unable to discuss all the details, due partly the the ET`s ability to control her memory of certain things they told her, and also becuase she was in the Maquis (French Resistance) in the last war, and thus is able to keep some information to herself." (Letter August 28, 1984).
To mainstream serious ufologists Timothy Good is probably best known by his classic studies Above Top Secret (1987) and Need to Know: UFOs, the Military & Intelligence (2006). He has for many years lectured worldwide and several of these lectures can be found at YouTube. As a professional violinist and a member of the London Symphony Orchestra for fourteen years, he has worked together with famous musicians as George Harrison, Elton John, Paul McCartney and U2. A rather unique combination of talents and achievements.
A young Timothy Good in Japan
The latest book was published in 2013, Earth - An Alien Enterprise, which I reviewed in an earlier blog entry. Chapter eleven is a summary of the Swedish Richard Höglund case, which I spent many years documenting and has discussed extensively with Timothy. We have sometimes differed in opinion on the veracity of various contactees. One example is the controversial Amicizia story from Italy of which I have grave doubts. But most of the time during our years of correspondence we have reached similar conclusions on cases investigated.
Reading and listening to Timothy Good is a stimulating adventure and intellectual challenge. You may not always agree with his ideas and theories but he has done what serious ufologists neglected to do: to thoroughly investigate and document the first generation contactees and their experiences. Because of this interest he is sort of a heretic among the "scientific" ufologists and skeptics who continue investigating the easily explained lights in the sky instead of going after the real enigma, the close encounters and contact experiences. It was very much with the help of Timothy Good that I was able to elaborate an extended version of Vallee´s Esoteric Intervention Theory. In this respect he has been an important guide and mentor of which I am eternally grateful.
