How would you, as an experienced ufo investigator, react if a trusted friend and research colleague suddenly announced that he has, for several years, been in physical contact with a group of extraterrestrial visitors? And further claims to have, with several others, been invited on a long journey in space to their home planet in another solar system?
That was the dilemma I faced a few months ago when I
read Other Civilizations. Journey To Another Star System by Danish photographer
and artist Rene Erik Olsen. I must admit that at first thoughts like these
crossed my mind: Is this a joke? Is he trying to test the credulity of the ufo
research community? It has taken me a lot of pondering on how to write a review
of a book that is both exceedingly controversial and fascinating.
Rene Erik Olsen has published three very interesting
ufo books based on his research and first contact experiences in Copenhagen
1990-1992, which I have reviewed in earlier blog articles. We have been
corresponding since 2017 and I have found no reason to doubt his sincerety or
quality of research. As a professional photographer Rene has thoroughly
investigated the photos taken by the contactee Eduard (Billy) Meier, and found
them to be fakes. What is even more interesting is Rene´s meticulous study of
the 1952 George Adamski photographs, which he considers to be genuine.
On August 15, 2021 I received an email from Rene
with the following message: ”This email to inform you that I will not be able
to respond to emails as per 13 September 2021 for a period of six month (end of
March 2022). You can continue to send emails but I will not respond… You may
ask why I will not be able to respond to emails – the reason is that I have the
opportunity to do some long-distance traveling. It will simply not be possible
for me to ”be on the grid”.”
At the time I thought Rene simply was going on a
world tour investigating ufo contact cases and didn´t want to be distracted by
too much social media communication. Not until March 10, 2022 did I receive an
email again from Rene: ”I am back (returned on 7th of March at 11.30 p.m.) – it
has been an amazing journey and a life-changing experience… Book-writing has
already begun.”
On October 2, 2022 I read a very fascinating
interview with ufologist Michel Zirger in New Dawn vol. 16, no 5, UFO
Disclosure A Copernican Revolution. Zirger reveal his contacts with a man that
together with ”about 500 people travelled to and stayed on a planet outside our
solar system… slightly over 400 lights years away from the earth.” I mentioned
this article in a email to Rene and on October 9, 2022 he wrote: ”Now comes an
announcement from me. I am the source for the Michel Zirger interview. As you
may have noticed from my website I will in December publish a last book (I will
not write any more books about ”The Visitors”). It will a.o. be an account of
my trip (in diary form) and otherwise about ”The Visitors.”
Rene Olsen´s 310 page diary, Other Civilizations.
Journey To Another Star System, is certainly a contactee book different from
everything else published in the genre. The 169 days diary is richly
illustrated with beautiful drawings by Rene and also a few of the photos given
him by the Visitors. One of them on the front page of the book. There is also a
five page very useful index. A summary of the reason for the space peoples
contacts and work on our planet is stated by one of the Visitors: ”The
Clandestine Associated Interaction Program was initiated when we finally
decided to make a planetary effort to explore and colonize space. It would be
inevitably that during these missions we would encounter civilizations which
were less developed both intellectually and technologically. As we also were
exploring, we had to land on planets in inhabited systems. So as our nature
always has been to help where we can no
matter the circumstances, we had to establish a ”helper-program” to be able to
contact individuals to ”guide” the cultures in a clandestine way without the
culture being closer to or at our technological
and especially intellectual level. This program is still being refined and
is in use on many planets in our galaxy.” (p. 226)
Four months before departure Rene was contacted by
one of the Visitors and asked whether he would accept a journey in space based on
these preconditions:
1. Be able to travel five to six months.
2. No health issues of serious nature (scans will be perfomed in advance of
journey).
3. No camera, telephone or recording device to be brought on board.
Rene accepted the conditions and close to midnight
on September 12th the Visitor who had asked him about the journey arrived at
Rene´s place. They went by car to a point just south of a large town in
Denmark, where Rene was to embark on a small shuttle:
”There, after some walking, we came to an opening in the forest where a craft
awaited. A scan was performed before I could enter… I was then told to quickly
enter the craft and in entering, I turned to see my point-contact walking back
on the path from where we had come. The door closed without any noise behind me
and there was a slight vibration under my feet as I entered the craft. A man
was just inside the opening motioning me to enter the central cabin. As I
entered there was a woman waiting. The pilot was already at the control panel
waiting for the clear sign. All three wore uniforms of dark blue color. The
woman told me to take a seat as we were ready to depart”. (pp. 29-30)
On the shuttle Rene met two other Danish citizens
who were also contactees: ”During the journey I had inquired who the two other
Danish people were and their circumstances for taking the trip. They both had
different stories to tell; so did all the people on board.” (p. 30) The first
hour ten other persons from different countries in Europé was to be picked up.
The group was then taken to a large cylindrical spaceship (cruiser) and there
escorted to the reception area för registration. All in all there were 500
people from 100 different countries invited on this journey. Rene met people
from Belgium, Thailand, Peru, China, India, Mexico etc. Every one is told to
put a small spherical ball into one ear, a translator making it possible to
hear and understand any language.
During a large reception for all travellers the
reason for this journey is explained: ”The woman explained that all the
approximaterly five hundred Earth people on board this cruiser would hopefully
be inspired enough to incorporate the experience into their life when getting
back to Earth. Perhaps we should not tell anybody of the experience – because
no one would believe us anyway – but that we should try to incorporate the
experience into our creative lives and in that way ”communicate” to the world
about the possibilities for Earth, without each individual actually having to step
forward and tell about their experiences. We had to choose our own way. (p.
34).
The journey to the Visitors home planet 400+ light
years distant from Earth took only a few days because of their advanced use of
gravity propulsion and electromagnetism. All travellers have their own ”Visitor
companion” to guide and help them during the journey and stay on the planet.
Because of the different interests and ages (35-70) of the travellers they can
choose different study programs and places to see when on the Visitors planet.
Rene is installed on the planet and informed about advanced robots and androids
used by the Visitors. Every household had at least one robot.
His stay on the Visitors planet is not much
different from an ordinary holiday in another country. The people look like
normal Earth citizens, but are very friendly and proficient in the use of
telepathy. Therir average lifespan is approximately two hundred and forty
years. Architecture is somewhat futuritic and the technology used very
advanced. Rene learns to use a sort of flying car, he visit shops, restaurants,
archives etc. and socialize with the inhabitants.
”I was quite surprised to see something very much
like a shopping center on Earth. There were a lot of specialized shops. There
was not much difference except that some of the assistants in the shops were
androids – looking very human-like… I went to the scanner area and scanned my
goods. An android human was standing close by and asked if I needed any help. I
said OK and thanks for asking. It took a bag and held it open for me. It
understood my language as I spoke in Danish and it came out in Visitor
language. It worked! That was a real test.” (pp. 162-163)
A large part of the diary is devoted to descriptions
and discussions of various technical devices, as this is of special interest to
Rene, who ask about propulsion methods, food machines and all other advanced gadgets
used by the Visitors. In this respect I personally found the book somewhat
disappointing, as my interest in and knowledge of technology is minimal. Other
Civilizations now and then gives me the impression of reading a science fiction
novel. I had hoped to find answers to the classic existential questions: the
enigma of consciousnes, life and death, reincarnation, multiverse, good and
evil. But these issues are only addressed very briefly and not very satisfying.
An interesting psychological effect resulting from the long journey is
described by Rene. About 250 travellers were forced to discontinue the trip and
were transported back to Earth earlier because of claustrophobic attacks and
other stress-related problems, among them the other two Danish citizens.
Here a few quotes on existential issues:
”A certain consciousness pervades the Universe which will be clear to every
civilization the more advanced it becomes.” (p. 80)
”That which holds the human form together is the
soul or spirit – the same as with the universe itself.” (p. 112)
”From the Old Ones they even learned that such a
thing as higher consciousness is possible.” (p. 223)
”… their culture is very much a spiritual one as
well as a highly technological one as well. These two can easily be combined
into a higher existence and there has been a planetary development in that all
of the people have reached what could possibly be described as a somewhat
”ascended” nature or existence. It does not mean that these people are not physical;
they are indeed physical, but they have acquired a physical glow which actual
is a radiating electromagnetic field which surrounds every living thing.” (p.
263)
”There is a creative force which permeates the
Universe. It is embedded within the creation of the Universe. It is an unseen
consciousness which can be sensed in every process of creational force.” (p.
265)
The problem of evil on planet Earth is only given a
brief comment: ”She had been told that Earth had chosen the hard path of
destructive ways, but they still had hope for a change of path for the Earth”.
(p. 66) This is very different from what was stated by George Adamski and other
contactees (including the Esoteric Tradition) that Earth is a quarantined prison world used as a sort of cosmic Alcatraz by other highly developed
civilizations in space. And that we also are visited by not very nice space
people.
I had hoped to find some interesting information on
abductions, evil space people and what or who is really behind incidents
reported in the ufo community. According to Rene there are no evil Visitors
coming to Earth. What is reported as negative experiences is the work of
intelligence agents. But that is not the reality documented by ufo
investigators, (including me) worldwide. I would like to know who was behind
the rather brutal Swedish abductions of Gösta Häger 1974 and Ante Jonsson 1984.
Or what group was behind the Swedish contactee Richard Höglund who was deeply
afraid of his Visitors and told they were totally insensitive to humans and
completely without morals, which they proved by shooting one of his friends. I
would not trust a Visitor who told me there is only love and light from space.
So what is my final conclusion regarding Other
Civilizations and the contact experiences of Rene Olsen? The truth is I have no
final conclusion. I have found no evidence indicating fraud or deception. On
the other hand there is no empirical evidence in support of Renes´claims. The
photos from the Visitors home planet were given to Rene by one of his contacts.
Interesting is that after the journey Rene have met two other European citizens
from the trip and compared notes. What we can hope for is that some of the
other travellers also decide to publicly
tell of their experiences. A somewhat frustrating statement by Rene is that,
after about one hundred years work on our planet, the Visitors have now left
Earth and will never return. Other groups continue similar clandestine activity
and help.
