Daniel Fry is one of the most well known of the
1950s contactees. Besides the ride in a saucer on July 4, 1949 he told of
several messages received by an inner voice. Not until 1961 did Fry actually
meet the spaceman, named Alan, who landed with his spaceship in a secluded area
in Merlin, Oregon. Later Fry would help Alan to work covertly as an
international businessman while engaged in work for peace. In the cold war era
of the 1950s this type of contact claims made some researchers speculate that
Soviet spies used space people as a cover to infiltrate the U.S. In 1957
zoologist and Fortean Ivan T. Sanderson said: ”Some of these who tell such
stories can´t be dismissed as liars, psychotics or conscious charlatans… So there
is a definite possibility that some form a craft have landed here, unknown to
the authorities.” There is no indication however that Daniel Fry´s contact Alan
was a Soviet spy. But he is definitely an enigma.
In the former blog post I made a brief study of
Understanding, the organization founded by Daniel Fry in 1955. There are still
some unanswered questions regarding when Understanding was dissolved. In
October 1978 Dr. Lloyd Sellman was elected President and Daniel Fry President
Emeritus. But already in February 1979 Dr. Sellman resigned because of
conflicting views on a lawsuit of which Dr. Sellman had not been informed. This
conflict also resulted in the resignation of several other long time members. The
last issue of Understanding magazine was published in September-October 1979.
The organization was now falling apart, even physically because in September
1978 an arsonist had burned down the kitchen and library at the Understanding
center in Tonopah, Arizona. They were never rebuilt. As a additional blow Daniel´s
wife Florence died in 1980. At the age of 72 Daniel Fry was now a widow with
the Understanding organization in ruins.
Many idealists would have given up under such
circumstances. But Daniel Fry came back and on August 22, 1981 he married Cleona
Castle and they settled in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Together with his new wife
Daniel began publishing a small, two or three page, monthly Newsletter in November 1982.
It was essentially a sort of editorial comments on world events, politics and
the problems of peaceful co-existence between nations. The first part of the
Newsletter was written by Daniel and the second part, often poems and Christian
themes, written by Cleona. I have read all the Newsletters published between
1982 and 1989 to try to find out what really happened to the organization
during its last years.
Daniel Fry in conversation with Swedish ufologist K. Gösta Rehn 1970
There was obviously a deep conflict among the new
board members of what was left of Understanding. This was mentioned in the
Newsletter for November 1983: ”At the July board meeting, we were very aware of
duplicity, (so thick one could cut it with a knife,) of persons appearing as
friends. We KNEW there was undermining and plotting, but we said nothing…. Now
we know their plot, which was to overthrow Pres. Daniel W. Fry… They planned to
run it in their questionable ways. With `friends`like these, who needs
enemies?... They are out.”
In the same Newsletter is mentioned that three new
Understanding units had been formed, in Puerto Rico and Texas. But there are no
names of Presidents nor any address given to the new units. This kind of
presentation continues in the Newsletter March 1984 where Daniel inform the
readers of new units in New Orleans and Texas: ”As soon as we get to it, they
will receive charters, and become full fledged units of Understanding.” But
nothing more is heard of these or other units. Understanding as an organization
is now in practice run by Daniel and his wife Cleona. He continous lecturing around
the country and the couple distribute the pamphlet The Area of Mutual Agreement
to politicians and world leaders. On March 27, 1985 Understanding, Inc. is re-incorporated
into World Understanding, Inc. But nothing more is said about the fate of the
90+ Understanding units founded since 1955. ”The Sad Time of Parting” is the
title for the last issue June 1989. I have not been able to determine whether
World Understanding, Inc. was officially dissolved as a corporation.
Daniel Fry claimed that all this activity and work
for world peace and understanding was inspired by the spaceman named Alan. What
I find somewhat puzzling is the scarcity of information about this man. Very
few ufologists, journalists or even members of Understanding seems to have been
interested in finding out more about this individual and his activities on
earth. Daniel himself gives very little information, often just clues and hints
of the covert work he does together with Alan.
In April 1954 Daniel was contacted several times by
inner voice. He had been given much information and Alan now wanted to know
whether Daniel would accept the offer to help his group with their projects on
earth. Alan made it clear that it would be almost a mission impossible: "The
time has come when you must make the final decision as to whether you will be
that person. It is a free choice on your part and there is no penalty for
refusal. If you do not wish to assist us, you will be permitted to return to
your quarters at once. All memory of this meeting and the previous one will be erased
from your mind but everything else will be the same. You will be no worse off
than before we came. If, on the other hand, you do decide to assist us, you may
find yourself in a situation that is not easy to endure. You will have
thankless tasks and seemingly profitless investments of time, effort and money.
Your reputation will probably suffer, at least in the beginning and you may
find yourself much worse off than before. The only reward we can promise you is
the inward satisfaction of having assisted in the survival of your race and the
acquisition of considerable knowledge and understanding that you would not
otherwise be able to gain." (Daniel Fry, To Men of Earth, p. 88).
Why it would be necessary to erase Daniel´s memory
of his contacts if he didn´t accept the offer is not explained. But Daniel did
accept and he made his first public appearance on April 4, 1954 at the Giant
Rock Spacecraft Convention organized by George Van Tassel. On September 18,
1954 Alan helped Daniel to get a picture of one of their spacecraft. He told of
this episode in a letter to Dorris Andre (later Dorris Van Tassel). She was a
secret or silent contactee who helped other individuals who had been contacted
as a sort of booking agent and also healer.
”I have some interesting pictures, or rather seven
different views of an interesting object. I took them two weeks ago Saturday
near Balwin Park. I had started to drive out to the little shop in Balwin Park
where I work on instruments in my `spare´ time. Midway down Garvey Blvd., I was
told that if I would get a camera and film, I would get some pictures… I loaded
the camera, in the car, and twenty minutes later I had the pictures. The craft
is shaped somewhat like G.A.´s but not so streamlined. I will send you a copy
but please don´t show it around too much, as I don´t know yet, just what I am
supposed to do with it.” (Letter from Daniel Fry to Dorris Andre, October 13,
1954). Daniel mention seven photos but to my knowledge only one has been
published.
Photo by Daniel Fry, September 18, 1954
Beginning in 1954 Daniel Fry entered a new life
cycle as a public and controversial person. Besides founding and operating the Understanding
organization there were endless meetings, lectures, radio- and TV appearances.
But it was not until 1961 that Daniel met Alan in person. This encounter was
never described by Daniel in his books. The first public mention I have found
is from journalist Cleve Twitchell´s article A Conversation With Daniel W. Fry,
Scientist Living in Merlin, published in Medford Mail Tribune, January 6, 1963:
“In the first part of 1961, Fry said he went up to his cabin in the Merlin area
“on an impulse” and met A-Lan face-to-face. The spaceman’s craft was on the
ground in a clearing next to the cabin. A-Lan was an ordinary looking person
wearing casual clothes, Fry reported. After a conversation of about 20 minutes
the visitor got back in his craft and took off. Fry hasn’t said a great deal
about the contents of that 20-minute conversation with A-Lan, but from that
point on he began making frequent trips to Merlin.” Cleve Twitchell was a good
friend of Daniel Fry and President of Understanding Unit no. 1 in El Monte,
California 1960-1961. He later wrote The UFO Saga (1966), a 94-page book about
the 1950s contactees.
There has never been a description of the craft Alan
travelled in when he landed in Merlin and very few details mentioned about Alan
himself. When Daniel Fry visited Sweden in 1970 the journalists did ask some
relevant questions and were told that ”Alan is a middle-aged gentleman with an
appearance that does not disclose his origin. But if a doctor examined him he
would probably make some shocking discoveries.” (Helsingborgs Dagblad, Sept. 9,
1970).
Some further details were presented by journalist
Ingmar Kommonen in an article September 17, 1970. Fry was asked to describe
Alan: ”He is about my height with light brown hair. He looks like us, has blue
eyes but is not as fat as I am. You will not notice any difference between Alan
and us unless you try to give him a blood transfusion. Our blood types don´t
match. He appears to be 45 years, but to him age doesn´t have the same meaning
as to us.”
Swedish article published during Fry´s visit to Sweden 1970
As there was no legal way Alan could get a birth
certificate, passport and drivers license Daniel helped him in this respect
with some special contacts, obviously pre-arranged by Alan. (To Men of Earth,
p. 100). Daniel Fry must have been involved in several secret activities and
projects with Alan, who found work at an import/export company and in this
way could travel all over the world. In his Fry biography Sean Donovan relates
this episode:
”In a 1983 trip to Puerto Rico, Daniel stated that
Alan had lived and worked in Cairo, which might explain why Fry and his future
common-law wife, Tahahlita took a rather impromptu and mysterious trip to Cairo
in 1965:
Many people have wondered why your editor and his
wife should suddenly take off for Europé with almost no advance notice, and
then, after a few days, with no notice at all, to depart from London, bound for
Egypt, Jordan, Greece, etc. What were we looking for in Cairo, Sakkara, Jerusalem,
Bethlehem, Athens, Rome or Paris? The answer to these questions cannot as yet
be given in full, not because the answer is a secret from our readers, but
because we ourselves do not as yet comprehend the full significance of the trip
or why it was necessary to do the things we did. We only know that the trip was
urgent, and that the tasks were accomplished” (p. 152). The last time Alan is
mentioned in Understanding magazine is 1978: ”There has been a brief message
from Alan this Summer. He beamed in one evening at the Fry residence and stated
that he might possibly see us in Japan. (He didn´t say we would see him).” (Vol
23, no 6, July-Aug. 1978, p. 24).
Given that Daniel Fry told the truth, who was Alan and the group he was working with? Some of his activities could as well be associated with an emissary from some of the esoteric lodges on earth, especially is this evident in Fry´s last book When In Cairo. Whatever his origin the work he implemented became an inspiration for thousands of people. A message of goodwill, peace and understanding: ”We have expended considerable time and patience in the effort to light a few candles among the many nations of your planet.” (To Men of Earth, p. 95).
