Flying Saucer to the Center of Your Mind: Selected Writings of John A. Keel

by Keel, John A.

  In medicine, there are several ailments and diseases that can produce light flashes. Sudden flashes of light can be the warning sign of a detached retina. These flashes are also a common symptom of epilepsy.

  The major theory now evolving among top ufologists is that a large percentage of all UFO contacts and ground-level experiences are entirely hallucinatory – that some unknown, outside force (like a radiowave) is broadcasting directly to the brains of the witnesses. Their minds then translate this force into images and experiences. The remembered images and experiences are therefore invalid. They have no real meaning at all. Amateur ufologists have spent years trying to interpret these unreal experiences, just as amateur theologians have labored to interpret the meaning of religious apparitions.

  The thorough investigator concentrates on the witnesses’ physical experiences and reactions. These physical manifestations can be disguised by the remembered experience, but they apparently cannot be erased. Thus, an olfactory response will be remembered as a gas, or even as the work of a mysterious MIB with a gas gun (as in the case of the Mattoon Gasser in the 1940s). Actually, the sensation of being gassed may be the result of a signal traveling along the olfactory nerves, just as the flashes might result from a signal passing along the optical nerves. Strange smells, particularly the smell of violets or sulfur, are common in psychic experiences. The sulfur smell is frequently noted in UFO cases.

  To compound the problem, it must be noted that in at least a few cases, the overpowering sulfur smell appeared to have an outward physical cause. Here, the odor may have been the byproduct of the mysterious process of materialization – a process that seems to play an important role in psychic, monster, and UFO events.

  All contactee episodes are now very suspect. While the witnesses are sincere and fully believe their stories, they are actually victims of a complicated mind-tampering process. They have been programmed by some unknown force. There are ways and means for studying this programming process, and qualified scientists in England and the Soviet Union are now working in that direction. The U.S. lags behind in this kind of research.

  The light flashes, strange smells, and sharp pains are vital clues to the overall process. The true evidence is medical rather than physical. Hypnosis has questionable use in UFO studies. It has served to confuse the issues by creating confabulations. The real meaning of these experiences is buried at a deep level of the human mind and is related to the so-called “Alpha wave” phenomenon.

  CLASSIFICATION OF HALLUCINATION

  The mere mention of the word “hallucination” produces a strong emotional response in most ufologists, because they commonly associate hallucinating with insanity. Many ufologists have an inordinate fear of “insanity” after suffering years of ridicule. We have not been using “hallucination” in the colloquial sense, however, but in its strictest medical sense.

  A hallucination is an apparent perception for which there is no external cause. A person who repeatedly sees or hears things having no discernible external cause – that are not physically real – is said to be suffering from hallucinosis.

  There are three main types of hallucination: visual, audio, and sensual. Visual hallucinations are eyeball impressions of objects that do not exist in reality, and can include everything from animals and insects (such as those seen by alcoholics suffering delirium tremens) to ghosts, monsters, and some categories of unidentified flying objects.

  The UFO perception can be divided into two main classes: subjective sightings of objects and entities that may not physically exist, and objective sightings of objects and beings who leave some sort of evidence indicating they were physically real.

  The deeper we investigated these things, the more obvious it became that a large percentage of all reported UFO sightings fall into the subjective category. We conducted field tests that verified the fact that only certain people could see the objects at certain times. Too often newspaper reporters and amateur investigators simply accepted the percipient’s testimony without conducting appropriate medical and psychological tests. We found that such people often proved to have active or latent psychic abilities. Many experienced the classic symptoms of deep trance, which accounted for the time lapses and physical symptoms they suffered. For example, Miss Clem, the girl who was the main witness at the Presque Isle, PA landing in 1966, had a history of psychic experiences that included poltergeistic manifestations.

  The second type of hallucination (audio) consists of hearing sounds and voices with no discernible external cause. The two types of audio hallucinations most frequently reported are the sounds of a baby crying and the sound of an unseen car door slamming. The “crying baby” phenomenon is common not only among UFO witnesses, but also among thousands of “ghost” and monster witnesses as well. We found that the “door slamming” phenomenon is universal, but is rarely reported in print, because few investigators bother to collect the necessary background information from the witnesses.

  The third type of hallucination is a tactile perception. The most common example of this would be the sensation of being touched by invisible hands. This occurs in every frame of reference, ranging from religious experiences to demonology and ufology. In more advanced forms, the feelings can be sexual, or can be impressions of pain. The most common pain hallucinations center around the solar plexus – a sense that a needle or knife is being plunged into the middle or lower abdomen. Stigmata can result in some cases, with slow-healing wounds appearing on the tips of the fingers, the face and jaw, and the forearms. This phenomenon was so widespread in the Middle Ages that it gave rise to the vampire legends of central Europe.

  During one of our first visits to the Wanaque Reservoir in New Jersey in 1966, we interviewed a woman who told us of an unusual “dream.” she said she had awakened in the middle of the night and gone into the kitchen, where she found a group of “little men” who placed her in a semi-trance, stretched her on the kitchen table, and drove a long needle into her stomach. We were intrigued because we already knew about Betty Hill’s alleged “pregnancy test” at the hands of the “little men,” even though John Fuller’s account of the Hill case had not yet been published. Among other things, the NJ woman said she had the distinct impression that this same thing was happening simultaneously in homes throughout the world.

  Pains in the abdomen are an integral part of occult lore. The history of these experiences can be traced back hundreds of years.

  Another major symptom reported so often in religious miracles and UFO contact cases is a mental state in which the pleasure centers of the brain are stimulated. Volition is diminished, and the feeling is very sexual. It is usually described as being a kind of extreme orgasm, which can last for a long period of time (or seem to). Percipients who experience this are usually very receptive to – even anxious for – further contacts. This state of “ecstasy,” as the religionists call it, seems to be a response in the brain circuits to a beam of electromagnetic energy. It may be nothing more than a side-effect of the mechanism that produces hallucination.

  Hearing voices of people who aren’t there is really not an extraordinary phenomenon. Millions of people have heard these mysterious voices throughout history. In psychic phenomena, the ability to hear allegedly supernatural voices has long been known as “clairaudience.” In psychiatry, people who hear voices that drive them to destructive acts are generally labeled “schizophrenic.” Many of the major political assassinations in history were carried out by individuals who claimed a disembodied voice drove them to act.

  Clairaudience became closely associated with UFO manifestations in the mid-1940s. Richard Shaver tried to explain that the voices were actually projected by “rays” from the caves of the Deros (“detrimental robots”). In 1948, one of the first issues of FATE magazine, then edited by Ray Palmer, carried an article on the subject. Mr. Palmer was obviously aware of the relationship between clairaudience and UFOs, even in those days.

  Victims of this eerie manifestation usually attem
pt to place the voices within the context of some personal belief. It is not unusual for such victims to accept the voice as coming from God or the devil. Others come to believe they are hearing “a broadcast from the government.” And in thousands of UFO contact cases now on record, the witnesses described silent “telepathic” conversations with entities from outer space.

  The cases we have investigated personally proved to be combinations of visual and audio hallucinations, with the percipient entering a trancelike state at the outset of the experience. While in a trance, the victim’s consciousness is cut off from reality. His or her mind constructs a false, but seemingly genuine, reality for the course of the experience, just as conventional schizophrenics withdraw into a reality of their own making.

  Traditionally, the contact experience begins with a visual hallucination, which establishes the frame of reference. The victims see and converse with an angel (seeing and talking with angels is a widespread phenomenon, even today), a demon, a spaceman, or even – like the giant rabbit, “Harvey” – a large animal of some sort. In a number of unpublished cases in our files, the witness first had a seemingly chance encounter with a man in a gray or black suit, or a woman in a long, Native American type of dress. These entities quickly establish (“prove”) that they know everything about their victim’s history, and can accurately predict his or her future. At first, they appear almost daily before the percipient, passing along valid information and advice, and creating a solid “friendship.”

  If the UFO frame of reference is being used, the first encounter may be staged on an isolated road. Often the victim goes to the first encounter on sheer impulse. That is, they suddenly get an urge to get into their car and go for a pointless drive. But a skillful interview usually brings a number of seemingly unrelated facts to the surface. The victim may have had a series of minor experiences and symptoms long before the first contact. One of the most common is the sudden blackout. Weeks or months before contact, the witness passes out suddenly for several minutes, for no apparent medical reason. Such blackouts usually occur while riding in a car, train, or plane, but they can happen in the bedroom or bathroom, or at work.

  Another early warning sign of impending contact is the “number-calling phenomenon.” Here, the victim begins to hear a monotone voice calling out meaningless numbers over their radio or television set. In some cases, the numbers are read to them over the telephone in a succession of mysterious phone calls. The victim is always alone when this happens. If another person should enter the room while numbers are being recited on the TV, for example, the voice will suddenly cease.

  So, the victim is prepared for contact, subliminally. Perhaps this process even programs their mind in the same way that a computer is programmed.

  Once contact is established, the victim can be drawn into a series of complicated adventures. They may be called upon to “help” the space people in various ways, just as the fairies in earlier times often asked for human help. The games can become tremendously involved. One percipient was asked to purchase some items from a store and leave them in an isolated field late at night. Another percipient, a person completely unknown to the first, is then directed to the field to retrieve the merchandise and deliver it to another place. Percipient #1 believes the material was picked up by the space people. Percipient #2 believes the material was dropped by the space people.

  Howard Menger and other published contactees have described their involvement in this kind of game. When we investigated a number of these “drops,” we were impressed by the obvious fact that the unrelated contactees had to have a common bond – that they were experiencing something beyond ordinary schizophrenia. That bond had to be the intelligence or force that was somehow controlling these people.

  Some victims are told to set up communications through indirect means such as a “sounding board” (Ouija board), or by taking hypnotics (sleeping pills). They are also directed to go to specific places when they desire contact. These places are usually isolated spots like high hills, graveyards, deserts, and beaches. In a number of instances, the percipients were drawn again and again to the site of their original UFO observation. Once there, they underwent a new hallucination.

  In 1957, Ohio’s Olden Moore was supposedly driven to a UFO landing site by the local sheriff. A helicopter was waiting there to whisk him to an airport. He was then flown to Washington and held there for three days in a government building. Actually, when we collected all the facts on this case, it was apparent that this trip never really took place. Moore remembered the trip vividly, but the memory was probably a confabulation to account for the days during which his body, sans consciousness, was engaged in some other activity.

  Persons directed to use a Ouija board often fall prey to uglier manifestations, such as the incubus and succubus phenomenon. Many have told us in detail of how invisible entities attacked them sexually after they began using a Ouija board. There are many striking similarities in the details in these widely separated, rarely publicized cases, so we can’t discount them as being purely psychological.

  Someone trapped into, and obsessed by, a particular frame of reference can undergo all of these experiences, in every possible variation. They can take imaginary trips to heaven, hell, the caves of the Deros, “secret underground UFO bases,” and other planets. They can become involved in elaborate games with Men in Black types, and can experience total distortions of reality.

  In UFO cases, paranoids are made, not born. The entities make it very clear that their victim’s every move is being observed. The mail and phones behave mysteriously, providing further “evidence” of this continual surveillance. They are given very precise predictions about the future – not the usual wearisome generalities of the professional seers (“there will be an earthquake somewhere in april”) – but exact information such as, “next Thursday you will receive a phone call at 9:32 a.m., informing you of the death of a distant relative.” When the call comes in at exactly 9:32 on the appointed day, the victim is further convinced that the entities know everything about the future, as well as the past.

  In some cases, the victim begins to believe that he or she is doing more than receiving insights into the future. They begin to believe they are causing future events merely by thinking about them. This notion produces great fear and mental confusion, and leads to real paranoia and a complete mental breakdown.

  Over the years, we have investigated and studied innumerable cases in all the various frames of reference. The modus operandi of the “spacemen” and the angels and demons is identical. The UFO lore is clearly based upon classic manifestations that have no connections with beings from outer space. UFO contactees who hear voices in their heads follow the same patterns found in other frames of reference. Many are driven nuts by the phenomenon, or fall into patterns of fanaticism, becoming UFO evangelists.

  When Dr. Simon first hypnotized Barney Hill, he left him with a posthypnotic suggestion. Whenever Dr. Simon uttered the word “trance,” Barney was to lapse instantly into a hypnotic trance.

  The UFO phenomenon is partly based on a form of post-hypnotic suggestion. Certain words or perceptions are introduced into the percipient’s mind, and when these words or perceptions reappear again – even years later – the percipient is automatically triggered into a trance or hallucinatory state. The number-calling phenomenon may be one such “trigger.”

  Another standard example was given in B. Ann slate’s article in the April 1972 issue of SAGA. An engineer named Wheeler had a classic sighting of a grounded UFO on a highway in the mid-1950s. Although there were undoubtedly many more important details to that sighting than Mr. Wheeler later remembered, he did recall vividly the dark lettering he observed on the object – stylized versions of the Greek letters “BXP.” Years later, he saw – or thought he saw – these same letters in another UFO sighting. Actually, the letters were the clue to the “trigger” used in his case. Although his conscious mind may not have had any knowledge of Greek, the sublimi
nal technique is such that if the letters “beta-xi-pi” were projected into his mind, or over his car radio, he would lapse instantly into a trance state.

  An even more widely used UFO trigger is a pulsing, beeping sound that can be projected on the specific frequency of the percipient’s mind. The victim hears the beeping sound, lapses into a trance, and enjoys a hallucination. Then he wakes up to another beeping sound (this happened to Barney Hill). In the interval between beeps, the victim may travel a great distance, change clothes completely, and carry out acts foreign to his nature. Like a person who has been hypnotized, he or she experiences a time lapse. That is, no time seems to have passed between the beeps, but when they check a clock later, they find they cannot account for several minutes or, in some cases, several days.

  Some UFO experiences appear to be variations of the classic “death dream” so well known to medicine, religion, and parapsychology. Arthur ford’s book, They Came Back, is only one of several tomes documenting such dreams.

  In a death dream, the patient is often in a hospital or involved in a serious accident, and is comatose. While he or she is close to death they have a vivid, lifelike dream in which they are ascending a staircase to heaven, greeting deceased friends and relatives, or even meeting God. Needless to say, no two death-dreams really match. Each one describes a highly personalized concept of heaven. When the patient comes out of their coma, they often remember the dream as a very real, physical experience. Religionists and cultists use such dreams as “evidence” to support their beliefs in an afterlife.

  We have investigated several UFO experiences that seem based on death dreams. In one of the most recent, the victim was alone aboard a small boat in the fall of 1971. He heard a beeping sound and observed a brilliant blue light overhead. He had a history of heart attacks and was in an alcoholic stupor at the time. His entire experience lasted 12 hours, during which his boat (which was out of gas) moved several miles. Men in black suits appeared on his boat. Others in frogman garb came out of the water. They wanted him to go with them. Perhaps if he had consented to do so, his dead body would have been found later.