Interview With Rene Erik Olsen

Recently a deeply fascinating and challenging UFO book was published by the Danish painter, photographer and researcher Rene Erik Olsen – The George Adamski Story – Historical Events Of Gigantic Implications. By doing digital enhancements from copies of the original negatives taken by George Adamski, Rene Erik Olsen has succeeded in presenting unique and unknown details in the photos and films. Details which give a whole new dimension to the controversial George Adamski case.

Rene Erik Olsen was born in 1956, educated in the military and spent 30 years in the financial world. Painting has been his interest for many years and he is now working as a professional photographer doing lots of photoshoots. Special interests are research into UFOs and their technology. Visit his beautiful and inspiring website here.

Håkan: What started your UFO interest?

Rene: An observation 1966, together with my family, when I was 10 years old. A disc, around 8-10 meters, moving close to our house – maneuvering in an erratic way, standing still, moving again and disappearing extremely fast upwards.

Håkan:  Are you a member of any UFO group?

Rene: No.

Håkan: Most mainstream UFO researchers are very skeptical of George Adamski. How come you decided to study his experiences, photos and films?

Rene: I know that many people are skeptical of the Adamski case. I am not a ”believer” of everything about this case (at least not at face-value) but the photographs has always looked real to me. That is why I thought it worth while to study some of the images closer. Those first photos of the mothership and the objects around it (taken in 1951) looked hard to fake to me (double exposures could be one way to fake such photos, but it takes a really good knowledge of how to do double exposures and I understand that Adamski did not have such specific photographic knowledge)) – but they look real. Also the images in Flying Saucers Have Landed – are particularly good. I do consider these real as well. As it happened I was sent these four Brownie photos by Glenn Steckling in 2001 for another project (animation of the desert landing). I then had them on a hard disk for 16 years – until I considered them worthy of a good look. Had always thought that two of them looked like something could be enhanced and details brought forward.

Rene Erik Olsen

Håkan: When did you begin to consider Adamski´s case as genuine?

Rene: Well, as stated previously, I am not a fan of everything Adamski – or for that matter other contactee-cases, as a clear pattern in contact-cases is that the contactee often times embellish in – shall we say – less than truthful ”stories” to keep the ”fans” interested. A reason for this could be that they no longer are in contact with the ”aliens” and therefore ”make up” their own stories to keep people interested in the case. It is often seen – unfortunately (The Meier case for instance). But the Adamski photos and films – these can be forensically researched – without being influenced by the case as such. Everyone can do it. Nobody should be scared to do so. Unfortunately most researchers are scared of everything that has the name ”Adamski” on it – including the photos and films.

Håkan: What, in your view, is the strongest evidence in favor of Adamski?

Rene: The photos and films (those of them which I have been enhancing) and the witnesses to the first contact on 20th November 1952. Those things will always – to me – be the strongest evidence.

Håkan: Has anyone duplicated your efforts in enhancements of Adamski´s photos and films, to check your results?

Rene: I have no idea. Nobody has contacted me in this regard – even though it would be easy to check the results (you need a good knowledge of how to use Photoshop). It could be that nobody really has the inclination – since ”the Adamski case has already been proven a fake” by all the big players in Ufology. Or maybe there is nobody who is sincere enough, who wants to put their name to anything ”Adamski”.

Photo by George Adamski, December 13, 1952

Håkan: Today it is very easy to fake UFO photos and films. What would be your answer if accused of faking the enhancements?

Rene: I will agree that anything is possible with all the software available today, but the original films – your eyes (especially when you see the films) cannot ”fake” what you see in front of you. Especially the Mexico film and the Silver Spring film – they are just so ”bizarre” that your eyes and brain just need time to understand what is going on in front of you – and no ”software” can ”undo” what is really there in front of you. The photos which I have researched are from 1952 – they are NOT double exposures or anything of the sort. Anybody can investigate the same films and photos and get the same results – that is my answer.

In support of my findings it was actually Michel Zirger who discovered some of the things in Brownie frame 1 (the one with the mothership in the upper left corner and the three crafts) and not me. I just enhanced what we both agreed we saw in the frame. The enhancement process anybody - with a good knowledge of photoshop – can do. Enhancements do not bring out what is not there from the start.  I am actually surprised that at least the skeptics of the Adamski case has not come forward to dismiss the enhancements, but nothing of the sort has happened. Maybe because the enhancements are showing the real thing.

Håkan: What has been the response to your book The George Adamski Story?

Rene: Very positive. A few people have told me that had been waiting a long time for a closer look at the Adamski material. No skeptics have contacted me at all. 

Håkan: Are there any photos or films by Adamski that you regard as dubious or not genuine?

Rene: I cannot claim to have seen all of the Adamski material – I wish I had that opportunity.  I have only been asked to enhance a few things for Glenn Steckling of the Adamski Foundation. And that does not include the Brownie photos – they were done of my own interest. What I have enhanced I can clearly say – the raw material (film and photos) is real. I cannot remember having seen anything which would make me say that ”they were of dubious nature” – but again, I have not seen all of the Adamski photo and film evidence.

Rene Erik Olsen

Håkan: Will you continue researching the Adamski case?

Reen: Oh yes, there are so much material that another book is in the works. I only hope that Glenn Steckling will keep sending me material to be enhanced. In so many ways the Adamski case  and the material is very unique.

Håkan: What do you hope to achieve with your research?

Rene: I hope to inform other researchers and people in general about the extraordinary evidence for another form of intelligence outside of the Earth, who actively are visiting the Earth – both in the past and now and that George Adamski produced some evidence for this ”extraordinary technology” both in photos and films.

Håkan: Do you favor any specific UFO theory?

Rene: No. Certain is it though that ”the visitors” need some form of transportation surrounded by shields to move around in the Earth atmosphere. This is what is being photographed and filmed and also observed.

Rene Erik Olsen photographing a "Venusian beauty"

Håkan: Have you had any other personal UFO or paranormal experiences?

Rene: Two other sightings. One with multible objects, more than ten, moving high in the sky at sunset. Another sighting, daytime, with a single object moving erratically

Håkan: What is your general worldview?

Rene: I think we are here on Earth to do the best we can, in any given situation with the aid of our knowledge of what is good or bad, right or wrong. Pure and simple. I assume we have one chance in life. So do your best in all situations. That is my life philosophy.

Håkan: Are you a member of any spiritual group or church?

Rene: No.

Håkan: What advice would you give to new UFO researchers?

Rene: Look at every aspect of this field with an open mind (just like life itself). Never judge anything because it is ”beyond-your-understanding” – It could be you just need to ”adjust” your frame of mind.

Åke Franzén And Mothman, Part 2

This is the second part of the interview Anders Liljegren and I did with Mothman investigator Åke Franzén, May 19, 1973 and originally published in our Swedish magazine Ufologen, no 12, Nov-Dec 1973.

Åke Franzén: ”I also talked to a woman from New Haven. She and her husband were part of the group that investigated the ruin looking for traces. The walked around checking the various rooms. When she was about to leave a small room ´it´ appeared, crouching in a corner. She screamed and the others – Keel was there – hurried to the place, but saw nothing. The husband made fun of her in front of the others, which of course made her upset.

On the was home – now Keel was not there – they crossed a field and the woman noticed the creature standing in the field. Now her husband also observed ´the bird´ and became very pale. ´The Birdman´ disappeared straight up with a terrific speed, like a robot. It simply spread out the wings, but did not flutter with them, like an ordinary bird. Another woman I talked to was one of the few witnesses who had seen the face of the creature. She had observed an incredibly ugly, scaly head leaning towards one side.

Åke Franzén at AFU, May 30, 1989

Håkan Blomqvist: Did you estimate how many within the TNT area who had witnessed ´the bird´?

Åke Franzén: It is hard to say as I didn´t have time to visit all the witnesses. I talked to around thirty witnesses. I found it peculiar that they lived so far away from each other. It was pretty large distances. In spite of this they told the same story, with insignificant variations. Another common factor was the poltergeist phenomena. Something strange always happened in the house right after someone had seen the ´bird´. It was somehow connected. Certain witnesses received strange phone calls, any time day or night. When they picked up the phone all that was heard sounded like metallic clicking. Four of the witnesses I talked to – among them Marcella Bennett and Linda Scarberry – had experienced this.

One of the weirdest experiences was related by the Lilly family. One evening they were together conversing in one of the rooms. Mrs. Lilly happened to look in the direction of a bookshelf with a large vase. Suddenly the vase began moving, leaning outwards. Slowly, slowly, like in slow motion it fell over the edge of the shelf towards the floor where it shattered in two parts. Not in small parts, but straight edges! It was only the wife who observed the vase falling through the air and she felt paralyzed. She told me it wasn´t like the vase fell through the air, but rather ´sailed´.

Åke Franzén at AFU, May 30, 1989

No one could explain this incident but it was associated with the strange noices heard in the house. Several times it sounded like a woman or child crying in the house in the middle of the night. There were no children in this house and they found it impossible to locate from where the sound was coming. The sound was ´everywhere´. It was heard but they were unable to find out from which direction it came. The area seemed ´infected´ in some way. After a couple of weeks so much had happened that the family were forced to move. Nothing happened on the new adress.

Håkan Blomqvist: Did anything happen during your visit?

Åke Franzén:  I don´t know whether you believe me, but it continued all the time. Even during my visits, now and then. But it seemed hopeless to have a personal observation. During these five weeks, I never got a chance to visit a witness directly after an observation, although I asked the people in the neighborhood to call me at the hotel any time day or night. It looked like ´the bird´ simply appeared in the most unexpected places.

Åke Franzén during a field investigation to a presumed landing site outside Södertälje, Sweden, Winter 1973

There were lots of theories about all this, but no one actually knew what it was. Some believed it was a sort of robot sent out and the large ´eyes´ were cameras that registred what happened. Then there appeared several rare birds in the area e.g. storks and a Turkish Snowy Owl. They were small birds compared to the ´Birdman´, but were used by summoned experts as excuses. The experts of course depricated the occurences and this was presented in the American media, and even in Vietnam.

Håkan Blomqvist: Before your return journey to Sweden you had a short meeting with John Keel. What were your impressions?

Åke Franzén: Keel appeared as a really honest, serious person. Above all he had humor and a natural distance to his work. This is my impression of him, both from correspondence and our meeting. I received the adress from his girlfriend. Because of various reasons he had been forced to change residence now and then. From what I gathered both known and unknown people were looking for him. Maybe it is not good to know too much… .

He lived in East End. One of the most notorious parts of New York, where you kill a man for ten cent. This was not because of economic causes but simply the place where he felt most secure, with all of the criminal underworld around. Few dared to enter this area. I barely had time to pay the cab when various gangs appeared from both the beginning and the end of the street. I rushed to the doorway.

I arrived at ten in the evening and stayed until two o´clock. Then I had to leave his tea to get in time for the plane to Sweden. Four hours with such an interesting person was of course too short. I only had time to get fragments of all his experiences. On one occasion Keel and a few others spent the night in one of the water towers in the TNT area. ”The Birdman´ did not appear but they watched saucers now and then. Keel once used his flashlight towards an object that passed overhead and it tipped back and forth, like answering. This happened twice together with several witnesses.

Håkan Blomqvist: Finally, what is your opinion on what´s going on in West Virginia?

Åke Franzén: After all I have read on the subject and talked with the witnesses my conclusion is that this is something non-physical. No one has ever found any feathers or markings.

Åke Franzén And Mothman, Part 1

Because of the renewed interest in Mothman and John Keel I have decided to translate the original interview Anders Liljegren and I made with Åke Franzén on May 19, 1973. It was published in our Swedish magazine Ufologen no 12, Nov-Dec 1973. I have written some blog entries on Åke Franzén before but here is the complete interview as transcribed from our tape recording. Åke travelled to West Virginia in the Summer of 1969 and spent five weeks in the area around Point Pleasant and also a few days in New York where he met John Keel. From a research point of view it is interesting that this interview was published before Keel´s classic The Mothman Prophecies, 1975.

Anders Liljegren and I interviewing Åke Franzén, May 19, 1973

What was planned as an ordinary field investigation proved to be much more. Åke fell deeply in love with Mothman witness Linda Scarberry and soon became a close friend with several people in Point Pleasant, including journalist Mary Hyre who was his chauffeur during these weeks, visiting witnesses and observation sites.

Åke Franzén, October 22, 1977

Åke Franzén: ”I was surprised by the openness I met from these people. Whether this was because they felt I believed them and wanted to listen to what they told me, or if it is an American characteristic I don´t know. Anyhow there were no closed doors.”

We asked Åke if there was any connection between Mothman and UFOs:

Åke Franzén: ”To my knowledge there is only one case where saucers have been observed together with ´the bird´. I have promised not to reveal the names of the people who witnessed this but they were out cruising late at night  and observed a saucer and a ´birdman´ with the characteristic luminous eyes, melting into one object and disappearing in the sky.”

Åke then related some of the encounters with Mothman:

Åke Franzén: ”One of the main witnesses, Linda Scarberry, had moved from Ohio when I came to Point Pleasant, but 2-3 weeks later she moved back to her parents home. I asked Mary Hyre to contact her and she drove me there. Linda Scarberry told that she and her husband, and another young couple, had gone to the TNT-area one evening. This place is a sort of nature reserve and ´lovers lane´. They were about to park their car behind a ruin of a closed power plant when one of them suddenly shouted ´look there in the corner´. They watched a creature, about seven feet tall, with glowing eyes or rings.

Linda´s husband, who was driving, tried to start the car real quick to get away from this horrible sight but because of excitement gave too much gas. The two young girls were hysterical and shouted ´drive´. They finally succeeded in getting away and when looking back they noticed how the creature turned around wobbling, and went towards the building like a clumsy duck. They reached the road, route 2. Halfway home one of them happened to look behind the car. Above them they could see the creature flying and its wing tips on either side of the car. The wings didn´t flutter, but were completely still. It was so low above them that the frightened witnesses could observe its legs hanging and dangling right above the windshield. I especially remember Linda saying she could see ´veins´, thick as rope, around the legs. They didn´t see any feet.

When they saw the first lights from Point Pleasant the ´bird´ made a turn and went in the opposite direction. The couples went straight to the police station where the chief of police listened to their story. He believed them as these young people were considered well-behaved and reliable. In spite of their fear they immediately returned to the spot accompanied by the policeman. On arrival there was nothing to see but the communication radio in the policar was turned up like listening to a 45 rpm record at 78 rpm. According to rumors a senior police officer made an investigation of the observation area and got a glimpse of the creature. After this encounter he refused to talk about this event. If anyone mention ´the birdman´ he withdraws from the conversation.

Linda Scarberry had to seek medical help because of the psychological trauma caused by the encounter. None of those traumatized by close encounters with this creature have recovered completely. Previously they were calm and harmonious which has changed to nervousness. Linda Scarberry woke up at the hospital one morning with her arms and legs badly scratched. She had large scars after this. The witnesses nervousness was above all evident in how much they smoked. My God, how they smoked. Even I who was a non-smoker when I arrived started. One witness, Marcella Bennett, could not be still. Most of the people who had seen ´the bird´ had these kind of symptoms. One witness started crying when she told me of her observation.

It was like they watched a movie when they told of their observations, talked like they experienced it again. I told them ´you don´t need to recount what happened of you don´t want to´ but they insisted on relating the event anyway. Maybe they noticed I believed them and felt confidence in me. I think it is important to the witnesses to behave in such a manner. It was fascinating but made me ill at ease listening to their encounters. When I talked to relatives they always said ´it is not the same old…´ and then the name of the witness.

Åke Franzén reading John Keel´s the Mothman Prophecies 1978

Marcella Bennett didn´t want to relate her experience to anyone else but John Keel and me. She said she had confidence in me. The night after Linda Scarberry´s encounter Marcella and some of her acquaintances were planning to visit friends living near the TNT-area. Because of what had happened the night before they decided to spook their friends by knocking on the window. They parked their cars on a slope and walked towards the house. Mrs. Bennett was just about to take her two year old daughter out of the car when she heard a sound like a wet sack had fallen behind the car. She turned around and noticed something gray rise up behind the car. What she especially saw was the shining red ´circles´. She felt like paralyzed by them.

Håkan Blomqvist: Was this some kind of eyes?

Åke Franzén: Yes, that´s the theory, but they are placed very low, shining with a hypnotic glow. The witnesses often talked more about these ´circles´ than the creature. Mrs. Benneett was unable to move when she saw the ´bird´ coming between the cars. Her arms were sort of straightened out and she dropped the little girl on the ground. Not until the child began crying did Marcella ´wake up´. She picked up the girl and together with the others started running towards the house. They were hysterical when they knocked on the door and rushed in. Only three of the children were at home. Their parents had gone to Point Pleasant on an errand. They locked the door. Mrs. Bennett was speechless from fear and the others hysterical. Suddenly they heard something moving on the porch and how the ´bird´s´ wings hit against the logs holding the porch. Someone picked up the phone and called the police but when they arrived there were no traces, nothing. Only some hysterical witnesses. They were five grown up people so it could hardly be a misinterpretation.

Håkan Blomqvist: Could they observe how it disappeared?

Åke Franzén: No, it´s understandable that after the chock of having seen the creature and hearing it hit the logs with its wings. They crouched, didn´t want to see. The girl Tina, who was only two years when her mother dropped her, was five when I met her. We became good friends and in spite of her age she was better in giving a clear and coherent picture of what had happened than her mother.”