Fifty Years of UFO Research and Study - A Summary

Readers of my blog har noticed there are no blog entries after August 2020. The reason, as I have explained on FaceBook, is various health problems which have reduced my working capacity. From now on I will only write blog articles if something of special interest comes up.

In 2015 I presented a position statement, a summary of my research and theories. So much new data have come up since then that I find it relevant to update my position statement, making it easier for new readers to get an overview of my writings with easy to find links.

Paradigm, worldview, working hypothesis

In many blog posts I have asserted that accepting, as a working hypothesis, the reality of a multiverse as presented in the Esoteric Tradition does not imply irrationalism or a loss of intellectual integrity. Like Hynek and Vallee I see no problem in having one foot in empirical science and one foot in esotericism. In Forbidden Science, vol I, Jacques Vallee expound his view on this problem: ”To me there is indeed a fundamental reality of hermetic science…Everyone must find his or her own expression of it. The spiritual path I have chosen is that of intelligence tempered by the fire of love, but always applied to accessible, solid, consistent, calibrated facts.” (p. 82). This is esoteric philosophy, an aspiration towards the good, the true, and the beautiful.

In the follwing blog entries you will find my empirical, intellectual and philosophical reasons for adopting Esotericism or the Science of the Multiverse as a tenable paradigm.

Esotericism and the Intellectual Humanist

Esotericism and Intellectual Integrity

Esotericism, Ufology and the Academy

Esotericism and the Critical UFO Investigator

Humanism, Skepticism, Esotericism

Paranormal Phenomena and the Paradigm Problem

The Esoteric Intervention Theory
Based on both empirical evidence and Esotericism as a paradigm I have advanced the theory that some of the physical UFO contactees of the 1950s were involved in a cultural and psychological influence test. An experiment implemented by a group of highly andvanced, benevolent aliens, earth based or extraterrestrial, a group with access to “vimana” technology.

In the following blog entries you will find studies of some of the first generation contactees and authors in the light of the Esoteric Tradition.

Daniel Fry and the Esoteric Intervention Theory

From Outer Space To You

The UFO Contacts of Trevor James Constable

Orfeo Angelucci and the Esoteric Tradition

Who Was Paul M. Vest

The UFO Contactee No One Investigated

Millen Cooke, UFOs and the Esoteric Tradition

Dorris Van Tassel – A Contactee in the Background

Rosemary Decker – Silent Contactee

I find it intellectually untenable to defend a materialist, reductionist or physicalist worldview. There are two basic reasons. The enigma of consciousness and the enormous amount of well documented paranormal phenomena, including UFO phenomena. Facts clearly indicating that reality is larger than what we presently know and can scientifically verify. Hopefully the new generation of ufologists will keep the torch of research burning, searching and investigating these profund mysteries. But they will have to be heretics and intellectual non-conformists and dare to knock on the door of Forbidden Science. Adhering to the motto of my old mentor Riley Crabb: ”If I have one goal in life it is an uncompromising search for Truth, whatever that might be, and wherever it may lead.”

Swedish Women Ufologists

Perusing the biographies in any UFO encyclopedia it becomes evident that ufology has to a large extent been the occupation of men. I did a fast check in Ronald Story´s classic The Encyclopedia of UFOs (1980) and found 98 biographical entries on male ufologists and 5 (five!) entries on female ufologists. I have no good answer for the cause of this difference, but the situation is somewhat similar in Sweden. In this blog article I would like to present and honor some prominent Swedish women ufologists.

Edith Nicolaisen
Although not a ufologist in the ordinary sense I would not hesitate to designate Miss Edith Nicolaisen (1911-1986) the Mother of the Swedish UFO movement. Her pioneering work inspired thousands of people. Together with three ladies from the Theosophical Society (Adyar) Edith Nicolaisen founded the publishing house Parthenon in 1957 and moved from Copenhagen to Hälsingborg, Sweden. In spite of a severe car accident, periods of illness and many other obstacles Ediths succeeded in publishing many of the early classics in UFO contactee literature.

Several years later she described the heureka moment in her life when she decided on her life´s mission: "The first book I read was that of Leslie-Adamski´s Flying Saucers Have Landed and something in me recognized the truth, however fantastic it all sounded to my intellect and narrow-minded teaching, we all have received. I am a Danish citizen, who in 1954 was faced with the difficult choice either to accept the doors suddenly flung open for an additional three years college-training in USA for a future career under WHO Geneve... or, to volunteer for the SAUCER-cause here in Sweden, which meant to chose the "thorny and stony" road of the lonesome pioneer. After a fierce fight between intellect and heart, the latter gained supremacy."
(Letter from Edith Nicolaisen to Basil van den Berg, September 1, 1963).

Edith Nicolaisen 1962

Edith Nicolaisen succeeded in founding Sällskapet för interplanetariska studier (The Society for Interplanetary Studies) at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg on March 19, 1958. This group of UFO-interested technology students soon disbanded but it was the first attempt to found a UFO society in Sweden. She also inspired the founding of Malmö Interplanetariska Sällskap (MIS), a UFO society still active today.

Edith Nicolaisen corresponded with hundreds of ufologists, contactees, esotericists and new-age activists from around the world between 1950-1986. The Parthenon archive was donated to UFO-Sweden and AFU and is a treasure trove of valuable data for research on the early UFO and contactee movement.

Kerstin Bäfverstedt
Kerstin Bäfverstedt (1909-2000) became fascinated by Theosophy, reading Helena P. Blavatsky in her early teens. This initiated a lifelong spiritual quest involving Spiritualism, esotericism, paranormal phenomena, alternative healing practices, UFOs a.o. Kerstin was married to Bo Bäfverstedt in 1936, MD, later Attending Physician and Professor at Södersjukhuset 1946-1979 (Stockholm South General Hospital).

In March 1958 the society Måndagsgruppen (The Monday Society) faced the predicament of having no lecturer for the coming week. A suggestion was then made to invite Mrs Kerstin Bäfverstedt for a lecture on flying saucers. The lecture was a huge success and was held once again a week later, when enrollment lists were circulated for those who wanted to participate in the formation of a UFO society in Sweden. On March 23, 1958 Ifologiska Sällskapet (The Ifological Society) was formally founded and announced in the press. This society folded in 1969.

Kerstin Bäfverstedt

During her many travels around the world Kerstin visited researchers and leaders of various societies involved in UFO and paranormal investigation. In the United States she became a good friend with several members of Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (BSRF): Riley Crabb, Trevor James Constable and Dr. Ruth Drown. She was for many years Regional Director of BSRF and her letters and comments were sometimes published in RoundRobin. The Journal of Borderland Research. During the 14-15 October 1961 Kerstin participated in The Giant Rock Space Craft Convention, organized by George Van Tassel.

In 2013 the archive of Kerstin Bäfverstedt was generously donated to AFU by her daughter Eva Sundler Malmnäs. From a historical viewpoint it is interesting to notice that the ideas of Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, because of Kerstin Bäfverstedt, influenced the Swedish UFO movement.

Barbro Magnusson
One of UFO-Sweden´s best field investigators was Barbro Magnusson (1944-2008). For many years chairman of the the local group UFO-Nyköping and board member of UFO-Sweden 1987-2007. She was an enthusiastic and meticulous researcher and one of the first ufologists to establish contacts with Swedish Military Intelligence. During 1983-1987 Barbro was very active in the Hessdalen Project in Norway and visited the area on twelve  occasions for interviews and field investigation.

Barbro Magnusson, March 25, 1996

Birgitta Andersson
For many years active in the local group Enköpings UFO-förening, Birgitta Andersson was in 1979 elected chairman of UFO-Sweden. She was succeeded in 1980 by Christer Nordin. Birgitta is the only woman to have been chairman of UFO-Sweden.

Birgitta Andersson, April 7, 1979

Gudrun Andersson
In 1975 the local UFO-Sweden group Bärke UFO-förening was founded by five women, with Gudrun Andersson as chairman. In 1976 this group merged with Ludvika UFO-förening and adopted the new name Västerbergslagens UFO-förening. Gudrun was the leader of this group for many years and it was one of the most active UFO groups in Sweden, with some 150 members. Between 1977 and 2012 they published 147 issues of the magazine UFO-Nytt.  Gudrun Andersson was board member of UFO-Sweden 1986-1988, 1997-2013 and also very much involved in field investigation and the Hessdalen Project.

Gudrun Andersson, August 29, 2009

Irre Bredin (Grytdal)
In 1978 Irre Bredin (today Grytdal) observed a triangular object passing overhead. This was the beginning of her intense UFO interest and in 1978 she founded the local group Vetlanda UFO-förening together with Stig Olsson. This group arranged the annual UFO-Sweden meeting in 1983. Irre was a hard-working enthusiast in UFO-Sweden until she moved to Norway in 2012. For many years a board member she has been resposible for several projects and activities, including the Hessdalen and Martebo field investigations. Chairman of UFO-Köping 1995-1999. 

Irre Bredin (Grytdal) with a drawing of the UFO she observed in 1978

Berit Bergqvist
In 1991 Berit Bergqvist, together with Kurt Persson founded the UFO-Sweden magazine Rapport-Nytt and they also headed the reporting centre for the national organization 1991-1993. Berit was UFO-Sweden board member 1990-1994 and participated in many activities and projects.

Berit Bergqvist and Kurt Persson visiting AFU September 21, 1991

Inga-Lill Wallin
In 2000 the book Marteboljuset – myt och verklighet (The Martebo Light – Myth and Reality) was published. Written by Inga-Lill Wallin it was a thorough documentation of the the mysterious lights observed for many years at Martebo, Gotland. Inga-Lill was for many years chairman of Stockholms UFO-förening and an active field investigator. Member of the UFO-Sweden board 1991-1992, 2001-2006.

Inga-Lill Wallin at Martebo, Gotland 2002

Eva-Maria Malmqvist
A very active UFO-Sweden group was UFO-Z, based in Östersund in the north of Sweden. Between 1978-1998 this group was engaged in many research projects, field investigations and local exhibitions. For many years chairman and the driving force was Eva-Maria Malmqvist. She was often interviewed in local media and worked hard to inspire the founding of local UFO-Sweden groups.

Eva-Maria Malmqvist at Expo-Norr, Östersund, Summer 1991

Eva-Maria Malmqvist interviewed in Östersunds-Posten, Nov. 13, 1991

Jennie Backman
One of the new and active women ufologists in UFO-Sweden. Board member since 2014. Proficient in social media work, Jennie is responsible for UFO-Sweden´s FaceBook site.

Jennie Backman at AFU, November 15, 2014

There are of course many more Swedish women ufologists that should have been included in this list. But with these examples it is evident that the Swedish UFO movement has in many ways been founded, inspired by and progressed because of the active women ufologists.

Notice to readers

I have been writing this blog since 2009. From the beginning in Swedish and since April 2013 written in English. In recent years I have tried to produce three articles every month but from now on will reduce it to one or possibly two articles every month. The reason is to have more time for AFU archival work. Perusing the shelves in our 14 premises at AFU I am constantly reminded of the existential problem – so much work, so little time. 

AFU Memories - Road Trips With Clas Svahn 1992-1993

During the early AFU years in the 1970s and 80s we became increasingly aware of that any type of serious UFO research required an extensive and easily accessible archive, covering all aspects of the phenomenon. Not just reports, books, magazines etc. but also private correspondence and organizational files, facilitating a thorough study of the history of the UFO movement, including the psychological and sociological aspects. From the Heureka Moment when we became aware of the importance of saving archives the AFU team has consistently ”pestered” old ufologists with requests to donate their collections. No wonder Robert ”Bob” Rickard has named us The Viking Raiders.

Clas Svahn ready for our first road trip, Mariestad June 25, 1992

In the 1990s we began a systematic effort to locate old Swedish ufologists and representatives of UFO groups no longer active, to salvage and retrieve as many archives as possible. In this way much of Swedish UFO history was saved for future research. Practically all people contacted generously donated their archives but now and then our inquiry came to late and we were informed that all material had been burnt or dumped not long ago. A sad message when the collection was especially large or valuable. But many times we could celebrate a happy ending to our efforts when travelling home to AFU with still another archive in the car.

During the Summers of 1992-1993 Clas Svahn and I made two memorable road trips to the south of Sweden, combining field investigation with archive retrieval.  

June 22, 1992
Clas Svahn pick me up by car in Norrköping and our first stop is Mariestad, birthplace of Clas. When 16 years old he began his ufological career by founding the local UFO-Sweden group UFO-Mariestad in 1974.

Mariestads-Tidningen, May 3, 1974

June 23, 1992
We head south towards Ängelholm and the home of pioneer ufologist and science fiction author Henrik Nanne. He wrote several sf-novels using the pen name Carl Henner. Henrik was a close associate of Edith Nicolaisen, founder of the publishing house Parthenon and he was the translator of the Swedish edition of Flying Saucers Have Landed by Desmond Leslie and George Adamski. Together with Henrik Nanne we first make a visit to the UFO monument outside Ängelholm sponsored by Swedish close encounter witness and contactee Gösta Carlsson. We spend the rest of the day in Henrik´s small one room apartment listening to his memories of the early UFO movement and also packing part of the Parthenon archive donated to AFU by Henrik. He offer us to stay the night in his small apartment but there are no beds for us so we try to sleep on the kitchen floor with only some sheets underneath. Not much sleep of course. We wake up every half hour with aching limbs. Luckily we were offered a couple of Whiskys before bedtime.

Clas Svahn and Henrik Nanne at the Gösta Carlsson UFO monument, Ängelholm June 23, 1992

Science fiction novel by Henrik Nanne (Carl Henner) published 1958

June 24, 1992
Tired and with aching limbs – but with high spirits - we continue our journey to Ebbe Johansson, another of the Swedish UFO pioneers, chairman of Malmö Interplanetariska Sällskap (MIS), founded in 1958. We also met Gert Carlsson and his wife. Gert was one of the founders of the magazine Arcanum, with articles on esoterism, UFOs and ancient mysteries. Arcanum also had a large library, which was now to be donated to AFU so we loaded the car with books and magazines. After saying godbye to our friends we returned to Norrköping and AFU with our latest donations.

Interviewing Ebbe Johansson at his home in Malmö

From left: Håkan Blomqvist, Ebbe Johansson, Gert Carlsson and wife

As we were promised further donations from several ufologists Clas and I made another road trip to the same southern part of Sweden during the Summer of 1993.

July 11, 1993
I go by train to Stockholm where Clas, together with his young son Niklas, pick me up by car and we travel to Enköping, loading the latest issue of UFO-Aktuellt. Crop circles was a big issue in the 1990s. Before going south we visit a field outside Sala to study a reported crop circle. Here we are met by UFO-Sweden board member Mats Nilsson and Ingrid Roxhed.

Looking for the crop circle. From left: Ingrid Roxhed, Mats Nilsson, Clas Svahn with Niklas

After having documented the crop circle the journey continues to Mariestad where little Niklas is taken care of by Clas´ parents and we head for Gothenburg and dinner with two UFO-interested ladies Louise and Wiweka.

July 12, 1993.
After breakfast at a Gothenburg hotel we spend a few hours visiting antiquarian bookshops. I bought a biography of French esotericist René Guénon and then our next stop was Henrik Nanne, Ängelholm.

July 13, 1993
As we had been promised further donations from the Arcanum library we travel to the home of Yngve Freij. Here to our great joy the entire library is given to AFU so now the car is once again filled with books.

Yngve Freij in front of the Arcanum library

One of the real pioneers of the Swedish UFO movement was librarian, translator and writer Roland Adlerberth (1923-1993). We had been promised a donation of his extensive collection of UFO and Fortean clippings. At his home we are met by his wife who helped us load the clipping collection, now housed at AFU.

Roland Adlerbeth interviewed in Morgon-Bladet, August 3, 1957

The Roland Adlerberth clipping collection at AFU

Before returning home our last visit was Gösta Carlsson at his home in Ängelholm. We waited a long time before he appeared but finally he let us in for an extended interview. The result of this interview and many others done by Clas Svahn resulted in the by now classic Mötet i gläntan (Meeting in the Glade). Already published in two editions, a third edition is in the planning.

Clas Svahn interviewing Gösta Carlsson July 13, 1993

Back at AFU Clas and I could once again celebrate a successful journey, resulting in new donations and joyful memories.

"They Have Hidden Behind the Extraterrestrial Myth"

The quote in the title of this blog article comes from a letter from John Keel to my AFU colleague Anders Liljegren, August 10, 1982. And Keel continues: ”Forget the flying saucer propaganda. We are dealing with something very close to home.”. During my many years of investigation of contactee cases I have now and then pondered whether this could actually be the answer to some of the very physical contact experiences reported worldwide. If we are partly dealing with one or more groups of earth-based and undiscovered aliens we are faced with an even greater enigma than extraterrestrial visitors.

To delve into these aspects of the UFO enigma the ufologist has to be both a meticulous, critical investigator and a detective. In-depth research of close encounter and contact cases of this type is time-consuming and can be quite unnerving as you will discover facts very difficult or impossible to publish. Ufology at this level is very far from writing reports of lights in the sky or being entertained by fake videos on YouTube. You have all the chances of entering Forbidden Science.

There are contactees who have doubted whether the aliens they have encountered really come from Venus, Mars etc. as they sometimes claim. An interesting example is Enrique Castillo Rincon from Costa Rica, author of UFOs. A Great New Dawn for Humanity (1997). Enrique meet a businessman, Cyril Weiss, of Swiss nationality and they become friends. Later he encounters this man aboard a UFO, as he actually belongs to an advanced group of extraterrestrials trying to help Earth. Enrique is taken to their secret retreat or base in the Andes. Enrique is given secret code keyes to be used to identify agents of the organization but also as a protection against "the opposition". Whether it is the "opposition" or a real intelligence group, in 1974 Enrique is contacted by three foreign-looking individuals offering to take him to Washington D.C., all expenses paid, for a test in "regressive hypnosis". He accepts the invitation: "Outside, two men were waiting with a luxurious, dark-coloured Cadillac. I started feeling like a star in a suspense movie." (p. 113) After this visit to Washington D.C. and interrogation Enrique has several doubts: "What were the true identities of those obscure agents who could take me and return me to Bogota, with arrangements made with a complete network of people, all so well coordinated? What were their true motivations?" (p. 119)

Enrique Castillo Rincon

Rincón is very puzzled of what it all meant and who the aliens actually were. One of the chapters of his book is named "The Venusians - are they Venusian?" In the preface he states: "I am not a mystic nor a religious fanatic... Neither have I considered myself a "chosen one" to save humanity, and I detest those "contactees" who pretend to have been appointed by some divinity to carry some message to the suffering and almost disgraced human race...Over twenty years have passed and I still don´t know why I was contacted. Was it plain chance?... Why was an individual belonging to the "sandwich-class" (middle-class), such as myself, assigned such an "ungrateful" task as this one, which has meant jeers, calumnies, epithets, and nick-names against my person and my dignity?" (p.xiii-xiv)

A case of very physical and partly normal contact with aliens is reported by a man named Leland and documented by Dr. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke (Encounters With Star People, Chapter 6, They Are Among Us). He describes what has happened during several nights at his ranch near the Nebraska border: ”They come at night. They hover over the field. They lower automobiles to the ground. They´re filled with people. The craft goes away and when the car returns the next night, only the driver returns. They take the car and the driver on board their spacecraft and then they´re gone again.”

Leland especially remember one night when he noticed that the car had a flat tire. The driver got out and walked to Leland´s cabin. ”He was a strange looking fellow… He wore a black suit with a white shirt and kept pulling at his necktie like he was not used to wearing it. He avoided looking at me so I never got a good look at his face, but he had a short thick neck. Almost no neck. Like his head sat directly at his shoulders. Maybe that´s why he struggled with the necktie. He just stood there. I got the feeling he wanted me to follow him”.

 

Leland follows the man and find three men and two women waiting in the car. None of them spoke. Leland help them change the tire and for this work he receives ten real silver dollars. Asked by Ardy Sixkiller Clarke what makes him think they are not humans his comment is: ”Well, they came in a spacecraft for one thing. They weren´t friendly. None of them spoke to me. They acted strange. Like they were scared or they didn´t belong here. The women were wearing those high heel shoes and had trouble walking in them like they had never worn them before.”

The alien covert activity theme was discussed in an article, Unseen, Unspoken, Unknown, by R. Perry Collins, published in Ivan T. Sanderson´s classic magazine Pursuit vol. 22 no. 1, 1991. Collins mention several cases involving aliens leaving UFOs and entering ordinary cars. "There have been UFO reports that may be directly representative of actions that are not staged, that are not demonstrations and may have not been intended for our perception." A newspaperman from the Miami Herald told Collins of a case involving a man in Miami, Florida. One evening he noticed a large, dark UFO hovering low over a field at the rear of his building. The object began lowering two large cylinders to the ground below. One contained a large Sedan and the other several men dressed in business suits, carrying briefcases. The UFO moved off into the evening sky. The men got into the Sedan and drove off the field, onto a nearby road, and away.

But who are the people encountered by Leland and Rincon? They are physical like us and seem to be earth-based in their activities.. If this is the case, where is their hiding place on this planet? Could some covert intelligence groups have discovered who these people are and trying to deal with the issue in their own way? Disclosure of such a fantastic scenario would probably not be regarded as an option by the people who have a need to know.

Very few of the scientific mainstream ufologists try to uncover the truth in these controversial areas. In his article R. Perry Collins comments on this situation: ”The facts that such reports are very seldom submitted and are scarce in the literature indicates that such direct activities are usually carried out in a completely covert manner. These reports do exist, however, and we must consider them in any complete analysis of the UFO situation.”

Another case illustrating the complexity of the contact experience case was investigated by then APRO respresentative Dr. James Harder, University of California and Dr. Evelyn Brunson. On January 23, 1985 I wrote a letter to Dr. Harder to get more data on his study but unfortunately received no answer. It is documented in Direct Encounters. Personal Histories of UFO Abductees (1980) by Judith and Alan Gansberg, pp. 19-23.

 

In August 1974 Lydia Stalnaker was driving north from Jacksonville, Florida when she saw a bright light coming out of the sky. She stopped the car at a parking area and got out to have a better look. Suddenly another car pulled into the area and a man that Stalnaker thought she vaguely knew joined her by the side of the road. They stared at the light hovering over some trees, assuming it was a helicopter and noticed it descending as if crashing behind the trees. They decided to drive toward the region to see if they could be of help.

”I asked the man if he had seen what I had seen… He said, ´Yes, and its right on time´. The man was short, less than five feet five inches, and had a dark, Italian or Jewish look… He coaxed me into his car, and we drove off to find the spot.”

When they got closer to the area of the assumed crash Stalnaker felt un uncomfortable sensation of being suffocated. ”Then it seemed like just a moment passed and we were heading back towards Jacksonville on another road. It was midnight and Stalnaker´s forehead was hurting and she felt nauseated. After this incident she was having frightening dreams of being on an operating table surrounded by people wearing masks, sticking painful needles in her sides. Eventually she sought professional help and was hypnotised. During hypnosis she recounted a classic abduction scenario. After the missing time incident Stalnaker developed telepathic and healing powers and received messages from the spaceman Antron.

What makes this case especially interesting is the physical meeting with the strange man in the parking area. Stalnaker tried to find him again but found out he had disappeared from the town. He had quit his job and no one new where he was. ”His employer said that the man had appeared in town one morning looking for work, but they did not know where he had come from.” I have not read of any ufologist who have followed up on these important clues. But this is the kind of data ufologists should look for.

In his series of articles Science, Counterintelligence and UFOs Val Germann recommends that the ufologist study the techniques and history of Intelligence work including counterintelligence and apply this knowledge when dealing with the more complicated and controversial UFO cases. From the flood of material and documents the researcher must sift out what is a) interesting, b) significant, c) correct information. The social and psychological problem of this endeavor is that the ufologist may find himself in pretty deep water, discovering aspects of reality that are exceedingly controversial and almost impossible to communicate to the general public.

”He can steep himself in the subject, try to collect everything relevant, and then be fearless in where that material leads him. This may sound like ”no big deal”, but for those who take the work seriously it is anything but trivial. In many cases the information relevant to the UFO can lead down rabbit holes where no respectable person would want to go. But down the hole the investigator he must go or he will not have the perspective needed to judge the relevance of information.”

What better way to finish an article like this than a quote from John Keel:

 ”Suppose a strange metallic disk covered with flashing colored lights settled in your backyard and a tall man in a one-piece silver space suit got out. Suppose he looked unlike any man you had ever seen before, and when you asked him where he was from, he replied, "I am from Venus. " Would you argue with him?”
(John Keel, Operation Trojan Horse, p. 214).

Invisibility and Materialization

On March 11, 1973 Thorvald (Bevan) Berthelsen, together with three witnesses from his workplace in Köping, Sweden, observed a cylinder-shaped object silently passing over the city. No explanation was found to this observation, which was reported in local media. Thorvald Berthelsen and his wife lived in a country house with good views in all directions. On the same day his UFO observation was mentioned in the local newspaper a man knocks on their door. Thorvald is met by a man in his thirties, dressed in a brown suit and white shirt. He has dark hair, appears suntanned and his eyes are slanted but still not Asian looking. The man ask Thorvald how he is feeling and continue asking about directions. He says thank you and leave. "I thought, who the hell was that? I ran out and looked for him. The road was straight in both directions. If he had come walking I would have seen him. His eyes were slanted. That caught my attention. Afterwards I felt this experience was weird".  Thorvald later became the chairman of UFO-Sweden (1976-1978).
(Interview with Thorvald (Bevan) Berthelsen, October 10, 1992)

Interviewing Thorvald (Bevan) Berthelsen at AFU, October 10, 1992

Experienced investigators of UFO and paranormal phenomena immediately recognize the situation.  Our visitors from wherever they come from have the uncanny ability to disappear right in front of witnesses. In my investigations of contactees and close encounter reports I have stumbled on this phenomenon several times. Connoisseurs of UFO literature know there are hundreds of similar cases documented.

My old friend, ufologist Gösta Johansson, often discussed the various abilities of the aliens with contactee Richard Höglund, an enigmatic case which I have documented in several blog entries:
Håkan: How did the aliens look?
Gösta: They were brown, like suntanned, thin, dark eyes, long fingers. Only once did he notice something defective in their bodies. It was a man with a scar on his head. There were no women among them and they didn´t sleep or eat but drank, even liquor, and smoked. They could disappear into thin air. He told me that once he had been sitting chatting with two aliens on a bench in the Bahamas when some people approached them. He felt so ashamed because he was suddenly talking into thin air.The aliens were simply gone. But otherwise they seemed totally material.
Interview with Gösta Johansson, February 13, 1980).

Gösta Johansson, September 15, 1986

There appears to be at least two different ways this disappearance is achieved, as described by witnesses and contactees – advanced technology and classic materialization. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", is a classic quote from science fiction author Arthur C Clarke. But in individual cases it can be quite difficult to determine what is to be regarded as the most likely explanation.

In a recent interview Glenn Steckling, director of the George Adamski Foundation told of meetings with a group of highly advanced, benevolent visitors and their use of technology to accomplish disappearance:
”They carry a little device which is also on their ships as well. And this device that they carry on their person, about the size of a cigarette lighter, is bending light rays around the object. So in other words they activate the device and the light rays bend around it and since you only see what is reflected back into your eyes and into your brain because in reality the brain sees not the eyes. Then the light rays continue around the object and so you can no longer see it. Physically there is no such thing as dimensional shifting and time warp or all this other science fiction nonsense. What it is, physically it is still there. You can touch them, you can hear them. And they can walk right past you. And so my father said I´d love to see that in action. And so a few weeks later we´re walking along the streets of Washington D.C. and this gentleman, the same guy´s coming towards us and in his arms he has his hans full of laundry and as he gets close within a couple of meters all of sudden he lifts his hand and wavs and disapperars. Gone he is. And you can hear him walking right past us, the sound of his shoes. And we all three of us turn around and look and a couple of meters behind us he suddenly reappears and turn around and waves again and smiles and keeps walking.”
(Talking Weird. Episode 14: Glenn Steckling, interview June 24, 2020).

Glenn Steckling lecturing in Sweden, October 20, 2018

George Adamski gave a somewhat different answer to this question. I don´t know if Adamski ever told of a technical device to accomplish disappearance.

”Q – Do space people materialize and dematerialize?
A – They do not but they can place their mind in a high frequency state that causes their body to become invisible to our limited range of vision. There are some Earth people that can use this law. But the body reamains as solid as the blades of an electric fan revolving at a high rate of speed that causes them to become invisible to our sight.”
(George Adamski, Answers to Questions Most Frequently Asked About Our Space Visitors And Other Planets, revised 1965, p. 16).

American contactee George Van Tassel also mention a technical device used by one of the alien visitors named Mr. Wheeler or Venuto, when visiting Giant Rock: "The man didn´t dematerialize. He was still there, because the third time he disappeared I had my hand on his shoulder, and he was solid; still there under my hand."
(Proceedings, April, May, June 1977, p. 14)

Ufologist William F. Hamilton, who was a good friend of Van Tassel interviewed some of the witnesses to this event: "About thirty people were present for this session. Venudo took out a crystal device, identical in appearance to the one worn by Solgonda, and proceeded to demonstrate it by tapping it and disappearing from view. Dan (Boone – HB) asked Venudo to repeat this performance and reached out to touch his shoulder when he disappeared again. Dan found Venudo invisible but tangible. I interviewed Dan and another female witness about three years after the event and when Saturday night sessions were a thing of the past." Unfortunately these interviews have never been published to my knowledge.
(William F. Hamilton, Alien Magic, 1989, p. 9)

Compare this description with the experience of contactee Howard Menger:
”When the alien is approx. 20 ft. From me, I (Howard) can see that it is a female. She had on a suit or uniform which appeared to be a strange, stiff material and it seemed difficult for her to get from the craft to where she was. She touched the light on her belt, the light expanded and enveloped her whole body and she disappeared from view. I (Howard) yelled to the two men standing at the craft, ´where did she go´? And they yelled back that she had returned to the craft.”
(Howard and Connie Menger, The High Bridge Incident, comment on one of many pictures between pages 103-105).

Space woman just before she disappeared, photo by Howard Menger 1956

If some alien visitors can make themselves disappear how to explain the disappearance of their cars? John Keel encountered alien visitors, often the so-called Men in Black, several times during his investigations in the 1960s. “On a number of occasions I actually saw the phantom Cadillacs as advertised, complete with sinister-looking passengers in black suits. On Long Island, following the directions given me in an anonymous phone call, I pursued one of these cars down a dead-end road where it seemingly vanished into thin air (there were no side roads or turn-offs).” (John Keel, The Eighth Tower, p. 141)

A interesting case of a disappearing car has been investigated by British ufologist Jenny Randles:
It all began in late August 1971 in a town in East Midlands, England.  Jim Wilson had observed a white light moving slowly across the sky. Just an ordinary mundane sighting of no special interest but ufologist Derek James, a close colleague of Jenny Randles, made a standard follow up. He was rather surprised to find that two men in smart business suits and driving a black car har interviewed Jim Wilson. The men claimed to be from the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and instructed the witness to forget the sighting as it had been identified as the Russian satellite Cosmos 408.

Why would the MoD send two men to interrogate a witness to such an ordinary sighting? Derek James checked the satellite information centre at Farnborough. At the time of the observation Cosmos 408 had been over Canada and had not passed over England at all. Now the witness contacted Derek once more and was rather alarmed because several nights in succession two unknown men in a black Jaguar car had parked outside his house and he was sure they were watching him. Derek James had a relative who was a high ranking police officer and a plan was hatched to check the car as they were perhaps planning a robbery.

A police car was asked to keep a look out and on October 19 and 20 the policemen watched the car outside Jim Wilson´s house. The car waited for about thirty minutes and then drove off. A check of the car registration found out that the vehicle did not exist and now the police became really interested. On October 21 a police patrol was ordered to bring in the occupants of the Jaguar for questioning. Following standard procedure the two policemen walked towards the car, one on either side. They noticed two smartly dressed men inside. They were just about to knock on the window when the car simply disappeared into nothingness in front of the astonished policemen. The area was examined but gave no clue to the disappearance. Neither car nor occupants were ever seen again. For rather obvious reasons a cover story was presented in the final police report.

This unusual Men In Black case was published by Derek James and Jenny Randles in Flying Saucer Review, vol. 23, no. 3, October 1977. A somewhat updated version was later published by Jenny Randles in her book Investigating the Truth Behind MIB the Men In Black Phenomenon,1997.

If disappearance is accomplished by technology how about cases where visitors walk through doors or walls? There are indications that the visitors encountered by Richard Höglund could also pass through walls, as told to me and witnessed by my friends Sture and Turid Johansson. But that takes more than just bending light rays. Passing through walls requires materialization.

Some contactees also mention what must be regarded as a form of materialization. In his letter to Karl and Amy Veit, September 19, 1961, published in Besucher aus dem Weltraum, American contactee Eugene Drake makes these interesting comments (my translation): "There are very few people who have had real physical contact with space ships or space people, like ourselves. I have on various occasions experienced how space people appear in condensed form and I could shake their hands. After the contact they disappeared into a higher frequency."

Eugene Drake 1951

Dorris Van Tassel, wife of George Van Tassel, claimed several encounter with alien visitors and that her home functioned as a sort of safe house for both contactees and space people. One of her close friends told me how he reacted the first time he became aware of this: ”I remember the first time there was about 5 space people in Ms.Van Tassel's house talking with her as I quietly watched, and then suddenly one of the men turned , looked directly at me, smiled gently, and then very slowly turned to the kitchen room wall and walked right through the wall! I watched this very closely as he then came back in. Let me tell you , those kind of incidents have a very deep and troubling affect on our minds because we cannot comprehend it.” I asked my correspondent whether Dorris was aware of that these five men were space people: ”O yes, she knew them well. It was perfectly normal for her.” 

(Email, February 26, 2012).

There is still much research needed to understand this phenomenon. A thorough study of all cases documented in UFO literature would be of great help. A worthy project for my many colleagues around the world.

Finally I cannot resist a humourous comment on the issue of disappearance by my favourite Fortean iconoclast John Keel, from his autobiography Jadoo: "One lama told me the way to vanish into thin air is to make the mind a complete blank. (If this is true, then I know several people who should have disappeared long ago.)"