Andreas Cromnow - artist and UFO Witness

In Sweden we have several very talented artists who have devoted part of their work; paintings, drawings and digital illustrations to the UFO enigma. I have always been fascinated by UFO iconography which is one reason visitors to AFU will find many of the walls in our different premices covered with paintings and posters. On July 24 my wife Margaretha and I was visited by one of these talented artists, Andreas Crownow, living not far from our home in Örebro. Andreas fascination with UFOs and astronomy was partly inspired by a close encounter when he was nine years old.

Andreas illustration of his UFO sighting 1981

In a email July 26 he related his encounter which occurred In February 1981. Andreas was then living with his parents at Burkarls väg 3 in Borlänge, Sweden. 

”When I was nine years old I had a UFO observation or rather I saw something I could not understand at that time. I didn´t even know what a UFO was and had never pondered on visitors from other worlds and things like that. It happened in February 1981. I don´t remember the exact date but my birthday had recently been celebrated and I am born on February 4, 1974.

Andreas Cromnow

It was evening, bedtime and I stood upstairs in our house brushing my teeth. Through the window in our bathroom I noticed a luminous, elongated object, possibly triangular coming slowly gliding in the sky, right above the trees. The object is moving very slow, stop a few seconds and then continue to glide. I noticed two steady lights in the middle and at the edges of the craft was also some unknown light source. My first thought was that it was a helicopter but later I realized that was impossible. It apperared rather close and there was no noice. The only thing I can think of is some form of dirigible but I find that inconceivable. Why would a dirible be moving here is an ordinary residential area on a cold February evening?

Illustration by Andreas Cromnow

The craft continou gliding to the right coming closer to our house and then disappears in the dark of the night. What I found difficult to understand was the total lack of sound. I have many times tried to understand what I saw. Maybe it was a craft from another world? Personally I believe some UFOs could be time machines. Who knows what types of craft mankind can create in 600 hundred years. It is like bringing a Galaxy Samsung to the eighteeth century. The people living then would not be able to comprehend it. That telephone would be something heavenly, frightening and fantastic, impossible to explain – like a UFO. So if some UFOs are time machines I hope they appear in our world for the good of humanity.”

Illustration by Andras Cromnow

Andreas is today very interested in UFO and space research and an avid readers of books on mysteries of all kinds. He is also helping UFO-Sweden with illustations to our magazine UFO-Aktuellt.

Let me also give a few examples of other UFO illustrations made by various Swedish artists. We sure have many talented illustrators in Sweden.

Eugen Semitjov

Dezsö Sternoczy

Max Magnus Norman

Tobias Lindgren

The Real Contactees

In George Van Tassel magazine Proceedings, Feb-March 1961 there is an interesting statement regarding real and fake UFO contactees: ”… the authentic, publicly known ”contactees” can be counted on one hand.” (Flying Saucer Activity Analysis, Proceedings vol 7, no 1, p. 14). In other articles Van Tassel explained how he was able to determine who is who in the controversial world of contact claims. To know who was a genuine contactee or fake Van Tassel was given a secret code by his visitors. Like a covert agent he used this code several times in his meetings with various people in the UFO movement. In 1961 there were obviously only five public contactees who had stood the test.

George Van Tassel at Giant Rock

Using this secret code was one of the reasons he could say that Howard Menger was genuine. Van Tassel personally investigated the Menger contact claims and interviewed several of the witnesses. His defence of the Menger story was presented in Proceedings, Feb-March 1957, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 4-6: "In my contact with the four men who landed here on August 24th of 1953, they gave me information which they told me to use as a "key" to establish authentic, or phoney, contactees in the future. Howard Menger used the words of this "key" properly and correctly." That code words were used was also revealed by Howard Menger´s wife in her book Song of Saturn (1968): Connie Menger mention a meeting Howard had with one of the visitors at the local post office: "He smilingly spoke the code word to Alyn (Howard) which Alyn recognized immediately as one of the means of identification between friends and agents of the visitors from other planets." (p. 109).

To my knowledge George Van Tassel never revealed the names of the other four authentic public contactees. My guess would be Orfeo Angelucci, George Adamski, Daniel Fry and of course Van Tassel himself. Using secret code words and hand shakes is not a foolproof method in checking identities. Both the public and hidden or silent contactees were sometimes seemingly deceived by impostors, whether U.S. intelligence operatives or Russian spies, as documented by Nick Redfern in his latest book Flying Saucers From The Kremlin. George Van Tassel also mention this in his article Flying Saucer Activity Analysis: ”… hypnotists and other agents are employed by the ”hush-hush” group to create dissension in many of the organized saucer clubs and groups.”

Readers of my blog are aware of that I have advanced the theory that several individuals in the 1950s were involved in a psychological and cultural influence test. An experiment implemented by a group of benevolent aliens, earth based or extraterrestrial, a group with access to “vimana” technology.  Some of the people contacted tried their best to implement the projects and ideas received by the visitors. Others couldn´t stand the psychological strain and social stigma of the experiences or invented fake stories when the real contacts ended.

That this ”esoteric intervention” was a carefully orchestrated project by the alien group is revealed in the article Venusians Walk Our Streets by California journalist och esotericist Paul M. Vest (Mystic Magazine, no. 5, Aug. 1954). In my view this is one of the most interesting and informative articles ever written on the UFO contactee phenomenon. Vest´s experiences and articles in Fate and Mystic Magazine has been decisive in my formulation of an alternative Esoteric Intervention Theory.

Paul M. Vest

In the Summer of 1953 Paul Vest was contacted at his home in Santa Monica by the alien visitor ”Bill” who asked Paul to help his group publicize the experiences of Orfeo Angelucci. This was part of a experiment in contacting ordinary citizens in various ways by physical meetings, ham radio, clairvoyance and clairaudience. Paul Vest was exceptionally well equipped to handle this delicate project as an investigator of paranormal phenomena as well as an experienced esotericist with a profound knowledge of the Esoteric Tradition: "I have met swamis, yogis, mediums, clairvoyants, mystics and self styled messiahs by the score, but I have never been duped by any one of them, even those who were sincere but self-deceived. Also I have met several persons whom I know without any doubt to be true spiritual adepts; even as I have known several sensitives, or mediums, who are honest, sincere and able to produce authentic paranormal phenomena." Bill makes it clear that the choice of Paul Vest was not random but that his group were well aware of Vest´s deep interest and unusual experiences in the field of ”metaphysics, religions and the supra-normal.”

The alien group behind Bill had obviously done a lot of preparation before contacting Paul Vest. He is given a list of names, addresses and telephone numbers of people in the Southern California area who had been contacted by space visitors or would be useful because of their special knowledge. Later Vest spent several months contacting the people on the list given by Bill to get a verification of his claims: "Several of these had met him only briefly. Others didn´t even know who he was and were startled to learn of the data he had given me about them in connection with the saucers.”

Orfeo Angeluccis wife Mabel was seemingly not amused by the visit from Bill: "Oh, that man gave me the creeps. He rang the doorbell one day and introduced himself with an odd name I can´t remember. He seemed to know everything about us. It frightened me - there was something so strange and downright weird about him." Paul Vest decided to help Bill and his group with their contact project and wrote three articles for Mystic Magazine on the experiences of Orfeo Angelucci, published in November 1953, May 1954 and October 1954. After the publication of Vest´s articles Bill visited him again and explained that he and his group were pleased with the result and reaction that followed the articles, ”but it would require considerable time and efforts, understanding and experiences of many persons before earthlings would be able to attain even the haziest understanding of the true nature of extra-terrestrials and the saucers.”

Orfeo and Mabel Angelucci

The contacts that were made in the 1950s were not only a test of the public reaction to contact with alien visitors but also a somewhat novel way to present the Ancient Wisdom. Upon a careful rereading of he classic books of George Adamski, Orfeo Angelucci, George Van Tassel, Daniel Fry and Howard Menger I discovered that the world view and philosophy of the alien visitors given in these boks was actually a simplified version of esoterism or in the terms used by Adamski and others, cosmic philosophy and universal laws. This discovery, that present day alien visitors were involved in what is called The Externalisation of the Hierarchy and the ongoing ”disclosure” of The Ancient Wisdom, became another heureka moment in my formulation of the Esoteric Intervention Theory, involving some of the 1950s contactees.

I found a possible confirmation of this operation in a statement made by the Tibetan to Alice Bailey: ”The movement for the spreading of the Secet Doctrine is eighteen million years old… The work (impusive and  controlling) lies now in the hands of three groups of lives, if it may be so expressed:
a. In the hands of those of our Earth Humanity who have equipped themselves so as to serve.
b. In the hands of certain Existences who have come into our earth scheme of evolution from other planetary schemes.
c. In the hands of a large number of devas of superhuman evolution.
These in their aggregate, form the occult Hierarchy of the planet, working in three main divisions, and in seven groups.” (Alice Bailey, A Treatise On White Magic, p. 377).

Trying to make the inhabitants of this unhappy little planet understand the deeper aspects of existence and live in a spirit of goodwill and tolerance must be regarded as mission impossible and also dangerous. The visitor Bill emphasized the need for secrecy and mystery surrounding the visitors, the contacts and their work. The experiment with public contacts made in the 1950s was only partially successful and was terminated around 1960. Bill was no naive mystic and had a very realistic view of human nature och the cultural level of humanisty on earth: "Upon your earth the mere colour of one´s skin - a slight difference of religious belief - merely belonging to a different race or country - in fact the most trivial deviations precipitate animalistic belligerencies, hideous brutalities and the bloody slaughter of millions of your fellow creatures. Can you then truly be surprised when I tell you the the beings of certain other worlds view earth as earthlings might look upon a den of deadly serpents stinging each other to death."

There is still very much research to be done to fully understand the implications of the UFO contacts made in the 1950s. It is an exciting and fascinating study and much data is still buried in various archives, correspondence and personal memoirs. The group of alien visitors that initiated the contact experiment are probably still around, working behind the scenes for the good, the true and the beautiful on this planet. Making a summary of the earlier work together with their friends upstairs Howard and Connie Menger wrote: "... they were intelligent, advanced people who had a technology to be envied and a philosophy that was inspiring." (The High Bridge Incident. The Story Behind the Story, 1991 p. 108.

Space Age Indians

During a period of more than thirty-five years Dr. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke has collected and documented five thousand plus stories of encounters with various types of Star People by American Indians. Now Clarke has written her fourth book – Space Age Indians. This time concentrating on contacts and abductions involving both seemingly benevolent and malevolent or dangerous entities. Her study is a unique and specialized research and documentation accomplishment, unsurpassed in UFO history.

As a woman with American Indian ancestry and a professor emeritus of Montana State University Dr. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke is highly respected by the men and women she interviews.  Because of their trust and confidence in her, protecting their names and integrity, the witnesses dare to relate their personal UFO contact experiences. ”Madison”, an FBI agent on a southwestern reservation, told Clarke before an interview: ”I know you keep everthing anonymous. I applaud your approach to your interviews. Many researchers don´t understand why Indians don´t talk to them. But you honor them with the way you treat them. They can be free and honest with you and they know you will not condemn them.”

Clarke is not a ufologist in the ordinary sense, not a critical investigator trying to determine the ontological status of the experiences. Instead her approach is what in Anthropology is called the emic or insider perspective, simply recording the narratives, avoiding judgements about the encounters. But the author makes her position clear regarding the reality of what she is recording: ”While the stories told in this book by individuals like you and me suggest that extraterrestrials visit this planet almost daily, we have no really hard evidence to prove that is the case… But as a researcher and social scientist, I believe the stories in this book are genuine, legitimate, and indisputable.”

The collection of encounters are divided in three sections: The Blue Men, Reptilians and Insectoids, Other Star People. While some of the narratives are definitely scary, reminding me of scenes from H.P. Lovecraft novels, others are beautiful tales of healing and help from Star People, wherever they come from.

The first sixteen chapters describe encounters with the Blue Men. The name refer to their blue skin and that they are encased in a shimmering blue light. According to some Indian legends a race of blue-skinned people live in underground cities and possess an advanced technology. These people are described as benevolent, often helping and healing ordinary humans in difficult or dangerous situations. As in the story of the Chickasaw Indian Mele, who during his two years in the Vietnam war became trapped in an area sprayed with Agent Orange. Seeking safety in a cave he encounter three tall entities, surrounded by a blinding blue light. They guide him to an enlarged area in the cave where a spacecraft is placed. The Blue Men offer to remove Mele to safety. They board the spacecraft and he is placed in an area free of Agent Orange: "It toook me several days to find my squad. Everyone thought I was dead. I didn´t tell them I was with the Blue Men… They told me Earth was too beautiful to be destroyed by war and biological weapons and that I should do more to change it. I discounted their thoughts. I didn´t believe I could make a difference.”

In section two of Space Age Indians is documented twelve encounters, or rather abductions by shape-shifting Reptilians and Insectoids. As in all UFO contact and abduction cases it is difficult to determine the degree of reality behind these experiences. In Clarke´s book two stories are of special interest in this respect.

”Julian” is a former Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) police detective. It was during his years as a federal officer he encountered a being on a desert road in Arizona. He told his story to Ardy Sixkiller Clarke at a dinner in a small town near the Montana/South Dakota border. Julian hade been called out to check on a house reportedly used by a drug cartel. On his way to the address he suddenly noticed a tall figure on the edge of the highway. The figure looked like a giant grasshopper. When caught in the shine of the car spotlight it crouched down and when it stood up again it was human. Julian is abducted by the now human-loking alien unto a spacecraft where two small grey beings enter the room. They are ordered to take Julian to another room with human beings in a trance-like state.

The human-looking alien ask Julian how he can identify individuals captured in his work. He takes out his fingerprint pad, take the hand of one of the transfixed female captives and press her thumb into it and then transfer the print to a small notebook. When the alien is distracted Julian slip the notebook into his pocket. In the room he notice three females and three males, appearing to be in their twenties, ”handsome men and beautiful women.” Julian is then escorted out of the craft and to his car. 

Part of the time he was unconscious during the abduction and he lost three-and-a half hour of time.

At work Julian was able to get a positive ID of the abducted woman by using the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). Asked by Clarke is he could identify the individual:
”Yes, she was a seventeen-year-old female from Las Vegas. She had been arrested four times for prostitution. She disappeared three years ago. Her roommate reported her missing. She said the last time she saw her, she was getting into a car with a strange looking man who was driving a Cadillac.” There was also a photo and Julian could identify her as the same girl he had seen on board the spacecraft. According to Julian there are three species that represent a threat to humanity: the reptilians, the buggers, and the Grasshoppers or Mantis-men. The buggers are insectoids. The Greys are a sort of manual workers doing the bidding of these entities: ”The buggers are the ones in control, and they are scary dudes.”

Clarke has documented another case that is interesting from a reality or evidence perspective. An American Indian doctor ”Wiley” is abducted during a hunting trip. The aliens look like lizard men, working together with smaller entities. On board the craft he notice three other men but two appear oblivious to what is going on. The third man is fully awake like Wiley. His name is Frederick and he is a doctor from New York City. The agree, if possible, to contact each other if they are freed. They are released by the aliens and after a few days Wiley search for Frederick on the internet and find him in New York City. In the email contact they can both confirm what has happened but Frederick remember more details of the abduction.

Cases like these are very disturbing and raise many questions. Who are the abductors? Real aliens or is this some kind of secret mind manipulation intelligence work (MILABS)? I have personally corresponded with one American abductee, Laura, who together with her husband (retired military, special ops, military intelligence) had a very frightening experience with shape-shifting aliens looking like large insects. In Sweden or Scandinavia these types of encounters are almost unknown. I have only tried to make an unsuccesful follow-up on the controversial Lacerta file. An interesting book dealing with these types of entities is Solomon Islands Mysteries by Marius Boirayon. I have often wondered, what if some of these frightening creatures mentioned by a.o. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke really exist and are secretly operating on our planet, how does the Disclosure activists deal with this issue? A Disclosure of such evil and dangerous activities would probably cause widespread fear and paranoia that would make the Orson Welles War of the Worlds panic of 1938 look like a peaceful Sunday picnic.

There is very little information in the Esoteric Tradition that could be of interest anent these types of aliens. But I did come across a very curious reference, a prediction of a possibly future threat made by Rudolf Steiner in a lecture given at Dornach, Switzerland on May 13, 1921: ”And from the earth there will spring forth a terrible brood of beings, a brood of automata of an order of existence lying between the mineral and the plant kingdoms, and possessed of an overwhelming power of intellect… This swarm will seize upon the earth, will spread over the earth like a network of ghastly, spider-like creatures, of an order lower than that of plant-existence, but possessed of overpowering wisdom. These spidery creatures will be all interlocked with one another… The earth will be surrounded — as it is now with air and as it sometimes is with swarms of locusts — with a brood of terrible spider-like creatures, half-mineral, half-plant, interweaving with masterly intelligence, it is true, but with intensely evil intent.”

There is not much help here in information from the core esoteric works of Blavatsky, Bailey or Laurency who very seldom mention evil extraterrestrials. But there is one interesting comment made by the Tibetan to Alice Bailey, warning of a form of ”cosmic evil” reaching mankind: ”… an evil which is not indigenous to our planet, an evil with which it was never intended that men should deal.” (Alice Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, p. 753).

As a sort of comforting compensation to Reptilians and Insectoids the last seventeen chapters of Space Age Indians deal with benevolent aliens, often giving practical help in distressing situations or medical help. A good example is Eve´s Story: The Star People Are Healers. Eve´s mother, a retired tribe council member suffered from a dibilitating form of arthritis. She encounter a human-looking alien wearing a dark brown one-piece uniform. When he walk he doesn´t seem to touch the ground. He claim to be a doctor from another planet. ”His hands had magic in them", according to Eve. After a healing session Eve felt no more pain and can now do things like in her youth. Before the healing she was so bad she couldn´t open a door knob or a jar.

The four books so far published by Ardy Sixkiller Clarke are exceedingly fascinating, thought provoking and for the mainstream ufologist a bit frustrating as no follow-up on the cases is possible by other investigators. But that gives no reason to dismiss these stories, many which would probably never be known and documented without the persistent efforts of the author. Personally I look forward to the next volume of Star People stories.