A Study of the Inner Circle Teachings

Meade Layne (1882-1961) was a lifelong student of psychical research, paranormal phenomena and UFOs. He was a connoisseur of both Eastern and Western esoteric traditions, having been a member of Dion Fortune´s Society of the Inner Light and began publishing articles on psychical research in the 1930s. Meade Layne was well acquinted with all types of paranormal phenomena and had in 1936 written an article, Experiments in Evoking Images, published in The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (vol 30, no 9). When founding the small newsletter Round Robin in February 1945 (later The Journal of Borderland Research) and circulating it among 15-20 friends he had no idea that within one year he would begin co-operating with a unique deep trance medium of unusual capacity – Mark Probert.

Irene and Mark Probert

Meade Layne discovered Mark Probert´s unusual gifts as medium in the Spring of 1946. Probert never channeled any ”space people” as so many of the other mediums in the 1950s and 60s. Instead the communicators claimed to be ordinary individuals who had lived on earth before. The group speaking through Probert were referred to as the Inner Circle and presented themselves with names such Charles Lingford, Ramon Natalli, Theresa Vandenberg, Professor Luntz and Yada di Shi´Ite. Information channeled by mediums is generally a bore to read, platitudes coupled with naive love-and-light mysticism, But the Mark Probert communications are different, of a definitely higher intellectual and cultural quality, with interesting discussions of science, philosophy and esotericism. Meade Layne and his associates worked for many years with Mark Probert and the results were published in Seance Memoranda.

Mark Probert

In 1953 Meade Layne wrote a summary of this work in Round Robin:

”For some seven years past we have had the volunteer services of one of the finest deep-trance mediums in the world (Mark Probert). Through him, some hundreds of the excarnate have spoken with us - and particularly an Inner Circle of some fifteen communicators, ancient and modern, from both East and West. This is not at all the kind of thing made familiar by spiritualism, and it serves no cult or creed or propaganda. Instead we have recorded thousands of pages of science, philosophy, psychology and history - three-fourths of which does not have the sanction of existing text books. And after hundreds of hours of free conversational exchange with these invisibles, we feel that we have come to know them intimately and well, and … · that they are honorable and highly informed persons, human and limited like ourselves but speaking from standpoints of immense advantage.”
(Round Robin, vol. 9, no. 1, May-June 1953 , p. 4).

Meade Layne

When the BSRF archive was donated to AFU in 2016 and 2018 a full set of the Seance Memoranda was found, most of these Memoranda have been digitized. I have made a study of the information and statements made in these seances. They are of interest especially as the views and data presented by the Inner Circle has influenced the UFO movement. Mark Probert was also one of hundreds of witnesses to the UFO observed over San Diego October 9, 1946.

Eugene Register-Guard, October 14, 1946

Members of the Inner Circle explain that they have trained Mark Probert for many years to be able to channel comunications from their group on the astral plane. Readers of the Seance Memoranda will probably find it unusual that the Inner Circle often allow various types of not very interesting individuals talk through Probert. We find a.o. a temple dancer, suicide victim, man killed in an air plane crash etc. Many of these communicators are confused, not knowing where they are. The Inner Circle mention that they also perform a sort of astral rescue work. Helping people who have recently died to understand their condition.

Yada Di Shi´Ite

Ramon Natalli

Professor Luntz

The leader of the Inner Circle, Yada Di Shi´Ite,  presented this explanation of their work:

”What is your particular interest in these meetings, asked John.
Yada Di Shi´Ite: ”My interest is in the Boy; first, because we have spent several years in developing him to this point where we can use his vocal cords to express our ideas. But please understand, we wish no following; we wish only to express some ideas that may be of help to those who care to listen. There has come a time now in your civilization where the teachings and ideas you have held as being true must be changed. There are many, many ways of bringing about these changes, and we do not classify ourselves as being great teachers with wisdom greatly superior to yours – not by any means. We only hope you will find what we say of some value to you in your own particular path as you go on in life.”
(Seance Memoranda, May 29, 1949, p. 16. BSRA No 10-D Previously Unpublished Series).

For blog readers to get some overview and estimation of what is discussed during the seances I have chosen a few subjects of interest to ufologists and students of the Esoteric Tradition.

UFOs
”Anonymous communicator came as formerly – repeated that ”Kareeta” really came from…  planet not in our vibration rate , and that K. could pass from one rate to another and materialize here, just as everything else on this planet is rooted in the invisible planes as source.”
(Seance Memoranda, 8-A, no 1, Nov. 3, 1946, p. 14.)

For some reason the communicator refer to the UFO observed over San Diego on April 9, 1946 as a Kareeta. Of significance is that the Inner Circle already in 1946 claimed that some UFOs were interplanetary visitors, but coming from a different level in the multiverse. This theory, advanced by Meade Layne and BSRF came to be known as the 4-D, etheric or interdimensional theory and influenced ufologists like John Keel, Jacques Vallee, Allen Hynek and many others, although they used different terms for the same idea.

”Ramakalo: Yes, these people come in peace – they are much more advanced than you are. Their bodies are similar to yours, but much lighter. These people would like to make a landing but they are afraid of their reception. They know they will not be understood…
(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 1, October 10, 1946, p. 10. BSRA No 8-A).

”Charles Lingford: Now, I want to add about the discs, we haven´t given any wrong information. The predictions of that woman, about the discs being of Russian origin, are incorrect. There is no new information at present. But the Russians source is ridiculous. I do know that they come from the etheric world.”
(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 4, July 13, 1947, p. 66. BSRA No 8-B).

”Ramon Natalli: The phenomena of the flying discs will continue and probably increase. And no doubt there will be some of your bold and devoted pilots who will pursue these phantoms of the skies – very foolishly, of course. … No, we do not change the interpretation of the discs as we first gave it to you. They do come from the Etheric world.

(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 5, Janury 24, 1948, p. 26-27. BSRA No 8-C).

”Yada: Space people from various planets have certain work to do here on earth…There are many hundreds of space people walking on this earth. They have ships that go to the bottom of the ocean; they go deeper into the bed of the ocean to test conditions there. The earth is heating up, you are not going to have another ice age, you are going to have a water age. The space people are testing the snow on the top of the mountains as well as rocks, the atmosphere, the changing conditions of the atmosphere and the rate of cosmic radiation.
(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 30, February 1956, p. 2. BSRA No 9-E).

This is an interesting and very early prediction that the earth is heating up and that we are going to have a ”water age”. Appears to be a correct assessment when looking at todays environmental problems. Regarding the 4-D interpretation even ufologist and iconoclast James Moseley had a few kind words commenting on BSRF:
”Borderland Sciences Research Foundation… claims to have come out with the ”4-D” explanation of UFOs back in 1946, quite a few years before ”4-D” became respectable or even acceptable in Ufological circles. Among those who used to snear at that sort of thing was yours truly. Now we aren´t sneering quite as loudly.”
(James Moseley, Saucer Muse, Non-scheduled Newsletter, vol 23, no 18, April 1, 1976, p. 1).

Epistemology
Epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge. How do we know that we know. This question should have been asked more often to the members of the Inner Circle but I have found very few examples in the Seance Memoranda.

Charles Lingford: ”Marc´s hatred of Catholicism is due to the fact that he was a Lutheran and was put to death by the Inquisition, or at any rate by Catholics.”
(Seance Memoranda, Sept 29, 1947, BSRA 8-A, No 1, p. 4).

Professor Luntz: ”We greatly deplore the boy´s antagonistic feelings towards certain religious groups, but we understand the reason, because we know that in a former life he was percecuted and finally burned at the stake, so it is understandable that he would hold this feeling of resentment against this one church in particular.”
(Seance Memoranda, July 28, 1949, p. 8. BSRA No 10-E Previously Unpublished Series).

Meade Layne: ”How do you get hold of data like that?” (Marc Probert burned by the Inquisition in a former incarnation).
Charles Lingford: ”Well, it can be secured from the astral records, of course, but there are so many ways, on both sides of life, for learning things that it is hard to explain. We might say that the desire to learn sometimes creates a kind of telepathic or clairvoajant response, or draws in some way on universal knowledge and life. Names are often forgotten simply because they are not used.”
(Seance Memoranda, Sept 29, 1947, BSRA 8-A, No 1, pp. 4-5).

George Adamski

 "The story is in the main true. The Disc did land and Mr. Adamski did carry on a conversation with the operator of said ship. But brother Adamski was so excited he does not remember clearly all that was said. This particular ship was from the planet Venus. We would like to remind you however, that the intense heat on that body, due to its proximity to the sun and an atmosphere heavy with carbon dioxide, make it highly unlikely or impossible that beings with the same organic structure as earth-man could abide on its surface. The Venus beings live in the ether of this planet."
(Journal of Borderland Research, Jan-Feb. 1972, p. 20. Trance session December 1, 1952).

The Yada di Shi´Ite: ”New conditions are developing. You are verging upon a contact with these other beings. Certain persons in high official places have had this information already – in Scotland, Australia and the Andes. These have received definite contact, not through a medium or any psychic means, but in ordinary conversation, just as we converse sitting here. The Etherians, to use your word, were present in natural earth bodies. To turn first to our friend, Mr. Adamski – it is a Polish name with accent on the first syllable. This man, while somewhat excitable, is honest and sincere. These people from other time shave been among Earth people for many years, going and coming as you do, but unknown to you as different from yourselves.” 

(BSRA Release 12-A-52, Dec 1952, p. 1).

This confirmation of George Adamski´s contact in the California desert November 20, 1952 caused much dissension among ufologists and co-workers of Adamski as he always maintained that the space people had organic physical bodies like we. But the etheric interpretation is in accordance with the core Esoteric Tradition regarding people living on other planets in our solar system.

Impersonations
Meade Layne: ”The honesty of a medium is in itself no guarentee against deceit by the communicators. There have been occational impersonations, such as that of ”Sir Isaac Newton” who knew no mathematics and less Latin, but was a very smart fellow for allt that. And it is obvious that the true identity of Lo Sun Yat cannot be verified. All one can say is, that they are (very often) powerful, learned and fully integrated personalities, and that there is no reason to suppose them fictions of the subconscious etc. The RR Editor merely reports, from time to time, communications which seem of interest… He only entreats the sceptical-minded to suspend judgement, and above all to continue to investigate with patience, and growing knowledge, and with a critical but open-minded attitude.”
(Seance Memoranda, BSRA 8-A, No. 2, Jan. 5 – April 6, 1947, p. 28).

This is an interesting comment from Meade Layne. The Inner Circle in a few instances let people of dubious character talk through Mark Probert. They then made it clear that these were impersonations or simply pretended to be famous historical persons. Meade Layne discussed this problem in his booklet Mediums and Mediumship (1949):
”Much importance is attached, in some quarters, to establishing the alleged identity of spirit communicators. The question seems of little importance to the present writer, except when spiritism is considered only in its consolatory and religious aspects. The basic question is whether any intelligent and excaranate operator is present; and beyond this, the importance of the communication lies in its content, whether it is intellectually and morally profitable, and whether it conveys any information not easily aviable by normal means.” (p. 14)

Esotericism
Although the statements of the Inner Circle cannot, in philosophical and intellectual quality, be compared with the writings of Alice Bailey or Henry T. Laurency the core teachings is in accordance with the Esoteric Tradition. Mention is frequently made of Masters and the work of secret esoteric lodges on our planet. The weak point is the often referred Advaita mysticism and subjectivism adhered to by several members of the Inner Circle. A problem found in much of Eastern presentations of esoteric philosophy. Even Alice Bailey´s teacher, the Tibetan, was not always clear on this point. Esoterism is basically Hylozoism - all matter (forms) have consciousness at all levels of the multiverse. 

”Yada: Soon comes the day you think of as Christmas Day – this is the day of all the Christ minds, the day of all the great masters. By masters I mean those great individuals who through many life experiences finally came into the highly advanced state of awareness, and by a certain process which is sometimes called the mystical presence have finished, completed their final initiation here on earth which gave them the right of being free beings.”
(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 21, December 23, 1952, p. 9. BSRA No 9-D).

”The principal feature of this sitting was an anonymous communicator who declared that he was an Adept still having an earth body; that he had left his body in trance, in India, and was attending a meeting of Adepts on the Astral – that they were experimenting to see how well the medium could be controlled by an Adeptus who was still earth-living; that if the method worked out it might be of much use for spreading knowledge of occult facts, etc.”
(Seance Memoranda, Transcript 1, November 17, 1946. BSRA No 8-A).

”There is a certain secret work going on at present between the Etherians and certain high earth authorities (You understand, I suppose, that I do not use the word ”high” in the usual sense. I am referring to those belonging to some of the secret Lodges on Earth). This work has to do with the great possibility of the Earth´s destruction… These men have landed in Australia in a secret landing field. They have not only been to Scotland, but to high authorities in England, and to a few of your men and women here of high standing (I refer to the secret Orders).”
(Seance Memoranda, November 28, 1951, p. 30).

Secrecy
Yada Di Shi´Ite: ”Some things we are not allowed to say…”
(Mark Probert Seance, Oct 15, 1953. Clips, Quotes & Comments A9, Oct. 31, 1953).

A very intriguing statement by the Inner Circle, indicating they were part of a larger organization controlling what data could be given openly.

Mark Probert

Who were the Inner Circle?

The Inner Circle present themselves with names such as Ramon Natalli, Dr. Charles Lingford, Yada Di Shi´ite, Lo Sun Yat etc. Could these names be personas, fictional characters used by members of some of the secret lodges on earth? If this theory proves correct my guess would be the Yucatan Brotherhood mentioned by Charles Leadbeater, Annie Besant, Alice Bailey and Henry T. Laurency. This secret lodge created the first physical materialization phenomena that inspired the formation of the Spiritualist movement in the 19th century. Academic scholar Dr. Joscelyn Godwin has written several interesting articles seriously discussing this "The Hidden Hand Theory". He advances the theory that there was a "hidden hand" behind the spiritist phenomena in the 19th century, a secret group with the aim of changing the culture of the West. This is also stated as a fact by the Tibetan in the Alice Bailey books: "It is interesting to note that this movement (modern spiritualism)  was started by a secret society which has existed in the world since the last period of seventh ray dominance in Atlantean times."
(Alice Bailey, Esoteric Psychology, vol 1, 1970 clothbound ed., p.166-167).

Meade Layne´s meeting with Mark Probert was a seminal event in the history of Borderland Sciences Research Foundation and had a tremendous impact on the work and theories of BSRF. Whatever is the truth behind the Inner Circle teachings they have influenced a whole generation of ufologists and students of paranormal phenomena. After nine years of working with Mark Probert and the Inner Circle Meade Layne summarized his position:
”Mark Probert is one of the finest trance mediums now living, and the communications received through him have been of exceptionally high intellectual quality, mainly in the field of the sciences, metaphyscs and philosophy.”
(Meade Layne, Clips, Quotes, & Comments, B11, June 1, 1954, p. 10).

The Youthful Space People

”They were dressed alike, in blue-gray ski-type uniforms… I could see they were fair-skinned, and of average height… Through the large opening in the craft stepped a beautiful woman. She had long blond hair and was dressed in a similar outfit… as she approached, she appeared to be the same woman I had met 14 years ago… This lovely creature had not changed at all in appearance during those 14 years. She still looked only about 25.”

Connoisseurs of contactee literature probably recognize this quote from Howard Menger´s classic From Outer Space to You (p. 51), published in 1959. Several other contactees have described this group of benevolent alien visitors in similar terms, intrigued by their youthful and ”ageless” physical appearance. They generally look like young men and women between 20 and 30 years. Ufologists and esotericists who have investigated contactee cases have proposed various theories to account for this mystery. A question often asked: do these visitors have the same type of organic physical bodies like us?

On January 30, 1965, at about 2 a.m., radio and TV technician Sid Padrick was walking along the Pacific coast near Watsonville in California when he heard a sound like a jet roar. When he looked up he saw a shadowy outline of a huge disc-shaped UFO, and started to run away down the beach in panic. He then heard a voice coming from the UFO that assured him the occupants of the object meant no harm to him. They invited him on board. The crew of the UFO was of 8 men and 1 woman, basically human in appearance. One occupant told Padrick he could call him "Xeno", the Greek for "stranger" and guided him into the ship; which had two floors with seven rooms each. Xeno was the only one to talk to Padrick, with "no accent whatsoever". He said he was the only one in the crew who spoke English. Sid Padrick would tell that space men are on mission of exploration and survey, that they had been in contact with a group of people in New Zealand for two months, but are not interested in meeting governments.

After a while, the spaceman told Padrick that they had traveled some distance and were now parked in a deserted area, which revealed on subsequent investigation to be near Leggett, California, 175 miles northwest of Watsonville:
"After we had landed on the hillside, he told me to step out so that I could come back to the place later - to know this was real and not dreamed. I stepped out alone and walked around the outside of the ship. I felt the hull. It seemed very hard but not metallic: I never felt anything like it before. The closest thing to it I ever felt on this Earth would be a windshield - plexiglass. It had a very fine finish, a highly polished finish. He didn't tell me that touching this craft would do me harm, and I had no bad effects from it - none whatever. I was outside for not more than three minutes. I got down and looked at the legs it was on and I tried to find markings on it: I didn't find a mark on it anyplace."

Padrick was then taken back to where he had been picked up two hours earlier, he stepped out of the craft and walked home. He reported his experience to the Air Force, and was grilled for three hours by a team headed by Major Damon B. Reeder from Hamilton Air Force Base, the Headquarters, Western Air Defense Force, near Sacramento. Sid Padrick was interviewed by several ufologists and journalists. I found one of these detailed interviews in the Wendelle Stevens archive, which I am presently organizing. In an article A Probing Conversation With a Contactee by Harold D. Salkin, we learn some further details of the visitors physical appearance: 

”Question: What did the people you talked with look like? Were they human in appearance?

Padrick: The people were all about 5´ 9´´ tall, about 150 to 155 pounds. They all had the same short hairdo, all exept the woman. She had long hair, pushed right down the back, under her clothing. We didn´t go into the room she was in – we just passed by the door – so I didn´t get a close look at her; but I did see that she was very pretty. By our standards, I would say they all looked between 20 and 25 years old, very young , pert, energetic and intelligent looking. (Official UFO, January 1978, pp. 33-34).

Regarding the venusian "Orthon" George Adamski writes: "The flesh of his hand to the touch of mine was like a baby’s, very delicate in texture, but firm and warm. His hands were slender, with long tapering fingers like the beautiful hands of an artistic woman. In fact, in different clothing he could easily have passed for an unusually beautiful woman; yet he definitely was a man. He was about five feet, six inches in height and weighed – according to our standars – about 135 pounds. And I would estimate him to be about 28 years of age…  As nearly as I can describe his skin the colouring would be an even, medium-coloured suntan. And it did not look to me as though he had ever had to shave, for there was no more hair on his face than on a child’s."
(Desmond Leslie, George Adamski, Flying Saucers Have Landed, Werner Laurie edition, London 1959, p. 195).

In the Daily Times Advocate, December 23, 1973 Adamski co-worker Charlotte Blob told of visit from what she belived was the space people: ”… she was lecturing on UFOs once in a home in a remote section of Wisconsin and only the scientists and teachers invited were given the address. As it got under way there was a knock on the door, and two young men, with golden suntans that you just don´t get in a Wisconsin Winter, she said, asked to come in. Believing that they were students told about the meeting by one of the professors, she let hem in and only after considerable conversation which they carried on in an unusual accent and a singsong tone, and after the intensity with which they followed each speaker and the information he contributed, did she even begin to believe they might be visitors from a ship.”

As I have documented in a former blog entry my Danish friend and research colleague Rene Erik Olsen had several meetings in 1990-1992 with two intriguing, good looking individuals who displayed unusual knowledge and technology. The man said he was 28 years old and the woman appeared around 30. The result of these encounters was the book The Alien Visitors.

” While doing research both in the U.S. and researching the Eduard Meier-case (trips to Switzerland in 1988-1990) I was contacted by many people during that period, but especially two people stood out - they knew of my research in Switzerland and my planned trip to the U.S. and they wanted to part some information on the subject. Subsequently I had four meetings with these two individuals who provided intricate details on the propulsion principles… Those two individuals (a woman and a man - who knew each other) had information which I could not question. The woman worked at a research lab (in Copenhagen) and the man I do not know where he was working (or if he had a job). They both knew each other (I gathered that from a joint meeting with them both) and they presented things which I had no way of proving or refuting - photos attached to metallic surfaces (never seen that before) showing crafts (both large and small) and they also showed movie-clips on what best can be described as a small "Ipad" - which was not available back then (Ipads came out in 2010). They did not tell me what to do with the information, only that they wanted to give this, so I did the prudent thing  (back then) and sat on the information. 

(Email from Rene Erik Olsen, April 5 2019).

On October 18, 2018 Mr. Glenn Steckling, director of the George Adamski Foundation, lectured at the UFO-Sweden field investigator seminar. During a private conversation Glenn showed me a photograph from a UFO meeting claiming that one of the men in the photo was a space man. To me he looked like a very young man. Once again a case of youthful space people. The encounters I have mentioned are only a few of many similar cases documented in UFO literature.

A peculiar feature of these visitors is their ability to disappear in front of witnesses, whether this is accomplished by advanced technology, materialization or some form of hypnosis. All three options can be found in contact cases. An interesting example is the meeting between journalist and esotericist Paul M. Vest and the youthful alien visitor ”Bill” in 1953. Bill suddenly appeared out of nowhere to the astonished Paul:

Paul M. Vest

" We shook hands and I recall being aware of the peculiar feel of his hand-as though it were without any underlying bone structure... He was about six feet tall or slightly over and appeared to be about twenty-eight years old… A casual observer would certainly not be startled by his appearance. In a crowd he would pass as a rather unusual appearing person. But as I studied him more closely while he talked, I was aware of certain strange characteristics in his physical appearance. His skin was exceptionally white – so white in fact that it appeared to have an odd bluish tinge. His cheek bones were unusually high and his eyes and brows had a peculiar Oriental cast. Yet in no way did he resemble a true Oriental. And I noticed that his ears were oddly pointed and appeared to be more delicate and complex than any I had ever seen. I recalled how odd his hand had felt in my grasp. Looking at his hands, I noticed that his fingers were long and tapering and so smooth that they seemed to be without joints or underlying bone structure. He spoke slowly and clearly with no trace of an accent, but he seemed to be choosing his words with great care. I noticed too that his voice had a peculiar resonant quality."

Cases like these are often disregarded a priori by scientifically oriented  ufologists but I think it is time to reconsider many of the old contactees of the 1950s and 60s and follow an alternative approach in research, looking for confirmation of the contact from independent witnesses and various types of circumstancial evidence. Some years ago I asked psychiatrist Dr. Berthold E. Schwarz about this problem regarding his investigations of Howard Menger. Schwarz told of the many witnesses who really did experience strange phenomena, including aliens at the Menger farm. In a letter to me May 29, 1986, Schwarz concludes: "Yes, the contact claims or case of Howard Menger is far from being an open and shut or black and white matter." This could be said regarding many of the both classic and recent contact experiences.

The Founding of AFU

From two book shelves in a small one room apartment to 14 premises housing more than 2,5 Swedish kilometer shelf capacity. This is the ”physical” history of AFU from a bird´s-eye view. But AFU is essentially an idea and a vision. In several blog posts I have documented the archive history and development in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Blog readers may find it of interest to know how the idea and vision was born and formulated during the first years of our existence.

Already in 1969 my old friend and AFU colleague Anders Liljegren began taking an active interest in ufology, placing an ad in the local paper, looking for UFO-interested people. A small informal group was formed, When the national organization UFO-Sweden was founded in 1970 the group joined UFO-Sweden and was renamed Norrköpings UFO-förening (Norrköping UFO Society). They rented a small habitat not far from the present AFU premises.

Anders Liljegren, October 1971 at the premises of Norrköpings UFO-förening

As a young teenager I had read all the UFO books found in my parents library and when I introduced my friend and schoolmate Kjell Jonsson to these books he immediately became intensely fascinated by the subject and entered a subscription to Flying Saucer Review. In November 1970 we contacted the newly formed UFO-Sweden, which resulted in our founding a local group, UFO-Södertälje, later Södertälje UFO-Center. I met Anders Liljegren for the first time in January 1971, when entering senior high school studies at Norrköping. We had both of us founded local UFO-Sweden groups and soon became good friends. Already from the beginning Anders was the down-to-earth practical realist in UFO matters and when I now and then went too far out on a limb in the UFO and paranormal world, Anders pulled me back with his critical common sense.

Kjell Jonsson, August 29, 1971. Notice the UFO button

During the first years of the 1970s the UFO-Sweden ideology was heavily influenced by a combination of Donald Keyhoe ETI theory and new age philosophy. One of the objectives was to achieve an ”official recognition of the extraterrestrial origin of the flying saucers”. On the positive side, UFO-Sweden began the first organized field investigations of UFO incidents and many serious research oriented ufologists became active members. Anders, Kjell and I participated in the UFO-Sweden convention 1971. A problem was the often rather absurd statements in media by the first chairman Carl-Axel Jonzon. In 1968 and 1970 there had been two presumed landing cases in different parts of Sweden. By a funny coincidence both places were called Anten och both of the observers were named Johansson. When Carl-Axel Jonzon was interviewed on TV during the 1971 UFO-Sweden convention he claimed the organization was expecting a third landing at another Enebacken and that the UFO witness would probably again be called Johansson. Statements like these were detrimental to the public image of Swedish ufology. 

In the middle from left Kjell Jonsson, Håkan Blomqvist, Anders Liljegren together at the 1971 UFO-Sweden annual meeting

In spite of these problems Anders, Kjell and I continued our active work within UFO-Sweden. In August 1972 Anders started publishing a small newsletter Ufologen (The Ufologist) concentrating on UFO reports. But in the Autumn of 1972 we became more and more discontented with the ideology and public image of UFO-Sweden. The organization was at this time very much information, or ET missionary, oriented with the idea to build a large public organization lobbying the authorities to start UFO research. In an effort to create a more serious national organization Anders and I formulated a ”Suggestion for a Democratic re-organization of UFO-Sweden”, which emphasized more and better research. But this idea was more or less rejected.

Beginning in February 1973 Anders, Kjell and I started to seriously consider the possibility of leaving UFO-Sweden and creating a new research oriented group. Not an easy decision as Anders headed the reporting center in UFO-Sweden and I information and PR. We had by this time been very much influenced by the writings of Jacques Vallee, John Keel and Allen Hynek. On March 2, 1973 Anders phoned me and after some discussion we decided to officially leave UFO-Sweden on the coming planning conference March 17, 1973.

Our public defection during the conference on March 17 naturally resulted in much confusion and speculation. We wanted to be entirely honest and open to all members regarding the reasons for our decision and distributed a letter to all groups: ”Why we leave the UFO-Sweden work”. In this paper we tried to explain our research ideology: ”It is a paradox that we try to inform (i.e. convince) the public about the existence of a phenomenon whos nature we hardly try to investigate in depth”. In this paper wee also published a quote from Jacques Vallee´s Passport To Magonia.

March 17, 1973 became the official founding day for what we decided to call Arbetsgruppen för ufologi – AFU, (The Working Team for Ufology). It was an informal group consisting of three members, Håkan Blomqvist, Anders Liljegren and Kjell Jonsson. The newsletter Ufologen now became our official AFU publication. All three of us were very bookish and avid readers. Especially Kjell Jonsson who already in 1972 started collecting UFO books and creating a lending library as a service to the UFO-Sweden field investigators. This library, in 1973, became instead a AFU project.

During 1973-1974 we were rather indecisive regarding what should be our main focus and what direction AFU should take. Our aim was building a foundation for serious UFO research in Sweden but in 1974 both Anders Liljegren and I were occupied with personal and practical problems. I suffered from a severe depression during the Spring and Summer 1974. Our magazine Ufologen was folded in the Spring of 1974 and in the Autumn I moved to Stockholm and began my studies at Stockholms University. Both Anders Liljegren and I had now become rather passive members of AFU. 

The AFU gang 1975

In the Spring of 1974 Lennart Johansson, Stockholms UFO-Center, donated his entire collection, around 200 UFO books, to AFU. The collection became an important part of the AFU library. In an interview I did with Kjell Jonsson in 1977 he said that this donation further inspired him to continue building a UFO library. As he planned to become a librarian he felt that it was in this way he could benefit ufology. The library was housed in his very small, one room apartment and it only consisted of two bookshelves.

The practical work of keeping AFU alive now rested on the shoulders of Kjell Jonsson. In a letter written September 30, 1974 to a Swedish ufologist  he tried to explain the situation: "I am now the only active AFU representative. AFU has closed down all former activities, our magazine Ufologen and field investigations. Instead I am presently engaged in planning a lending library of books and magazines and will also serve ufologists with copies of magazine articles." This was the beginning of what later became the large archive and library. So the credit for the library and archive idea should go to Kjell Jonsson who kept AFU going during the first years.

In the beginning of 1975 my social and personal life had stabilized and the UFO interest and activity returned. In March 1975 I started publishing AFU Nyhetsblad (AFU Newsletter), a venture that Anders Liljegren continued from 1976 until 2008, all in all 52 issues. From a very humble beginning the library continued to grow  but between 1974-1980 it was mainly a one man enterprice handled by Kjell Jonsson. With his gallant idealism he spent a lot of time and his own money to run AFU. 

Kjell Jonsson and the two book shelves, August 1977

By 1980, as several ufologists began donating books and magazines to our library, the international contacts increased and because of our new name – Archives for UFO Research -  we realized that we couldn´t just function as an informal group. So in January 1980 AFU was registred as a formal foundation with a governing board and bylaws. But our greatest problem was lack of space as the entire library was housed in Kjell Jonson´s small one room apartment in Södertälje. Anders Liljegren succeeded in finding a 38 square meters basement facility in Norrköping and on November 15, 1980 the AFU library was transported to our new premises. Norrköping was chosen as our new headquarters for practical reasons. Anders had a steady job and the rent for the facility was reasonable. With our new premises AFU entered an era of continued expansion.