1957-1958 were the formative years of the Swedish
UFO movement. Before 1957 there were no formal societies dedicated to the UFO
enigma, only a few isolated individuals with a personal interest. Behind the
Flying Saucers by Frank Scully was published in a Swedish edition 1951 (De
flygande tefaten) and in 1955 Swedish ufologist K. Gösta Rehn had translated
Donald Keyhoe´s Flying Saucers From Outer Space (Flygande tefat – observatörer
från världsrymden).
In July 1957 Danish-born Ms Edith Nicolaisen founded
the publishing house Parthenon in Helsingborg. The Board included three women,
all active in the Theosophical Society (Adyar), Brita Rodosi, Rut Lindberg and
Sonja Lilienthal. Parthenon published several of the classic contactee books of
the 1950s and inspired the formation of UFO societies in Sweden. On March 19,
1958, Sällskapet för Interplanetariska Studier (The Society for Interplanetary
Studies) was founded at Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg. It was
initiated by the women in the Parthenon board but the the society was a very
short-lived organization consisting mainly of university students.
After a visionary experience in 1950 Theosophist
Jan-Erik Janhammar, together with his friends Gustaf Adolf Pettersson and Gösta
Eklund, founded the lecture society Måndagsgruppen (The Monday Society) in Stockholm,
1951. It became a free and open minded forum where people from various
religious, philosophical, esoteric and New Age groups met for lectures and
discussions. This rather remarkable society celebrated 35 years of activity in
1986 after having arranged 1336 lectures.
Jan-Erik Janhammar
In March 1958 Måndagsgruppen faced the predicament
of having no lecturer for the coming week. A suggestion was then made to invite
Mrs Kerstin Bäfverstedt for a lecture on flying saucers. The lecture was a huge
success and was held once again a week later, when enrollment lists were
circulated for those who wanted to participate in the formation of a UFO society
in Sweden. On March 23, 1958 Ifologiska Sällskapet (The Ifological Society) was
formally founded and announced in the press. This society folded in 1969.
Kerstin Bäfverstedt in 1959
Before the founding date there had in fact been an
informal group of UFO interested persons belonging to Måndagsgruppen, calling
themselves The International Space Investigators (IS), later referred to as
”The Nine”. According to a an university essay on the history of Ifologiska
Sällskapet by ufologist Heikki Virtanen, 1980, the members of the IS group
were: Kerstin Bäfverstedt, Eric and Gunnel Nordquist, Greta Berg, Anna Lycke,
Richard (?), Karin Lidelius, Britta Ekbom and Hilding Havrenius. Not much is
known about this informal group and there is also some different claims
regarding their founding. In the March-April 1959 issue of Flying Saucer Review
(FSR) a small note says that The
International Space Investigators ”have just been formed”, headed by engineer
Eric Nordquist. He also wrote a letter to Ray Palmer´s Flying Saucers, July
1959, presenting IS as ”a small, exclusive group living in Stockholm”. I
haven´t been able to find any more data on IS and they were probably a
short-lived informal group of friends interested in UFO research.
Kerstin Bäfverstedt (1909-2000) became fascinated by
Theosophy, reading Helena P. Blavatsky in her early teens. This initiated a
lifelong spiritual quest involving Spiritualism, esotericism, paranormal
phenomena, alternative healing practices, UFOs a.o. Kerstin was married to Bo Bäfverstedt
in 1936, MD, later Attending Physician and Professor at Södersjukhuset
1946-1979 (Stockholm South General Hospital). In 1957 Kerstin Bäfverstedt
lectured on reincarnation at Stockholm Spiritualist Society, a lecture that was
published as a series of articles in the magazine Spiritualisten: ”Människans
liv. Från födelsen – genom döden – till återfödelsen” (The Life of Man. From
Birth – Through Death – to Rebirth). The articles are partially based on the
works of Max Heindel, founder of The Rosicrucian Fellowship. Kerstin was a
member of the Swedish Section of The Rosicrucian Fellowship since 1956. She was
also a frequent lecturer to local Spiritualist groups in Sweden.
During her many travels around the world Kerstin
visited researchers and leaders of various societies involved in UFO and
paranormal investigation. In the United States she became a good friend with
several members of Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (BSRF): Riley Crabb,
Trevor James Constable and Dr. Ruth Drown. She was for many years Regional
Director of BSRF and her letters and comments were sometimes published in
Round Robin. The Journal of Borderland Research. During the 14-15 October 1961
Kerstin participated in The Giant Rock Space Craft Convention, organized by
George Van Tassel.
Trevor James Constable, photo by Kerstin Bäfverstedt 1961
Kerstin´s photos from Giant Rock Convention 1961
Orfeo Anglucci speaking at Giant Rock
BSRF associate Dr. Ruth Drown (1891-1965) became a
lifelong friend and they often visited each other in USA or Sweden. ”… she was
my dearest friend that I will never forget” Kerstin recounted in a letter to
Round Robin, May-june 1976. They corresponded between 1962-1965. Ruth Drown was
an American chiropractic and proponent of Radionics which led to many
controversies with the American Medical Association (AMA). She was also one of
the associates of BSRF and lectured on the Kabbalah, which is evident from the
front page of her book Radio-Vision. Scientific Milestone. A Research Activity
of Drown Laboratories, published in 1960.
Dr. Ruth Drown
Riley Crabb comment on Ruth Drown in Round Robin
In 2013 the archive of Kerstin Bäfverstedt was
generously donated to AFU by her daughter Eva Sundler Malmnäs. From a
historical viewpoint it is interesting to notice that the ideas of Borderland
Sciences Research Foundation, because of Kerstin Bäfverstedt, influenced the
Swedish UFO movement. It also reinforces my assertion that the ufology in Sweden was to a large extent initiated by persons active in various esoteric
and spiritualist societies.
Eva Sundler Malmnäs
