The Andreasson Affair

by Raymond E. Fowler

  Betty: No, it was—uh, there was land and there were buildings, but there was no vegetable life. Just land, and buildings.…

  Evidently, the scene was distant and none too distinct:

  Betty: All you can do is make out the forms of things. And now we are passing—oh, boy, we are coming to where there’s some beings!

  Betty gaped in horror at what she saw crawling on the buildings. (See Figure 29.)

  Betty: And these beings are—got two eyeballs…and there are loads of them. Oh, they’re scary! And they’ve skinny arms and legs and kind of a full body. And their eyes can move every which way, and they can climb just like monkeys. They can climb up quickly and swiftly and down and around and in and out of windows. They are all over the place!

  The weird creatures were headless. They had two large eyes located on the tips of stalks that emanated from the top of their bodies, and the stalks moved independently of each other.

  Figure 29: The lemur or monkey-like creatures. June 19.

  Betty became very agitated as they passed by the frightful animals. “Who are these? Who are these?” she cried. The entities wouldn’t tell her.

  Betty: But they are all around us, everywhere! They are all around and they keep looking at us.

  “Was there animosity between the beings and these lemur [monkey] types?” Dr. Edelstein later asked her.

  Betty: The beings just had the hoods over them.

  The creatures’ huge eyes gawked at Betty and her companions as they glided by. When they passed by without mishap, Betty breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Was there anything else in the red place?” Dr. Edelstein later asked.

  Betty: Just the buildings and those beings.

  The track swept them forward.

  Betty: We are in this red place. We are still going on this—I don’t

  know if it’s an escalator or what. It just seems like we are going along—further and further on…and we’re coming to…

  The threesome approached a circular membrane and passed through it without resistance into a place with a green atmosphere. (See Figure 30.)

  Later, Joseph Santangelo asked her, “When did it change to green? I mean, did it change suddenly, or…”

  Betty: No, we went a distance, and I seen those things [the monkey-like creatures]. And then it started to change.

  The track curved upward. This new area was vast.

  Betty: It’s beautiful here. Oh, it’s so beautiful here, and we are still along the thing. And now that we are in the green atmosphere, they are taking off those black hoods. And…going along and it seems like mist or sea or something off to the side there. Beautiful. And we’re like on a narrow, narrow passage of land and we’re gliding across it. And off to the side, I see—I don’t know if they are fish or what. It looks like a combination fish and bird. And it seems like it’s haze all over, and fog, and yet it’s light so I can see it. And we are going someplace. I don’t know where it is, up ahead, but it seems that we’re going someplace.

  Betty peered down upon strange plants, mist-enshrouded water, and a distant complex of buildings. The sheer vastness of this alien realm overwhelmed her senses. Where was she? What place was this? It reminded her of some legendary underground kingdom.

  Betty: It’s getting brighter green and beautiful. Oh, it’s so beautiful. That one in front of me told me, “See, I told you not to be afraid.” There’s a lot of different stuff I’m seeing, but I can’t describe it. It’s just unusual and different. Plants are different. It’s like, uh—long stems that come out in loops and the different colors. But they are green!

  Betty sounded puzzled and frustrated at not being able to describe verbally what she saw.

  Figure 30: The circular entrance between the red and green atmospheres. June 26.

  Betty: I don’t know how that can be, unless I’m just feeling or thinking the colors. Because it’s green all around, and yet I can see the color in it. It’s all green.… We are coming.… [Pause] Must be to a city or something, because there seems to be—buildings or something up ahead. It’s just…[pause] I don’t have the words to be able to explain it.

  All of a sudden, Betty and her bracketing companions coasted to a halt. Other similar elevated tracks crisscrossed the area. They stopped to let something go by. Betty just watched, dumbfounded. Later she found nothing in her vocabulary to describe it.

  Betty: We are stopping because there is something white there. There is something white. I don’t know what it is! It is something like—I can’t ever explain it. [Sigh]

  “You mentioned starting and stopping,” Fred Youngren reminded her later. “Could you feel yourself speed up and slow down? You know how in a car or train you can feel acceleration? Could you feel that?”

  Betty: Yes.

  Fred: Yes, but when you stopped, could you feel yourself being thrown forward? And when they started up, could you feel yourself being thrown backward?

  Betty: No, there was no thrust. We just stopped—slowly stopped, and that was it. There was no—you know, fast stop.

  Fred: Very smooth?

  Betty: Yeah.

  Their stop was brief, and soon they were on the move again. Betty was fascinated as she gazed down upon a building that reminded her of a pyramid. To its apex a sculptured head was affixed.

  Betty: I’m seeing a pyramid. But this pyramid is a different kind of a pyramid—it has one big flat side and the others indent, sort of. We are going over it, high in the sky.

  In a later debriefing, Jules Vaillancourt elicited from her a more complete description.

  Jules: Getting back to those pyramids you mentioned—

  Betty: One pyramid. With a white edge.

  Jules: Where was the white edge? Was it on all three edges?

  Betty: It was like a—okay, let’s see if I can explain this. You take a star. You know, if you had a regular star, like this, right? Well, it had the edges, which were just like a star but it was cut off right in the middle, the center, so it was straight across. And then you just had the star.

  Jules: You mean like a painted white edge or a source of illumination?

  Betty: It was white, going down the whole edge.

  Ray: Like if you took a knife and cut off the sharp edge and made it a flat edge all the way down and painted it white?

  Betty: Yes, and then there was the head on the very top. There was no white there. It was just stopped at a certain section, and here was the big head on top—it still came to a point.

  Ray: What was the head? Could you see?

  Betty: It looked sort of like an Egyptian head, and it had like—you know, how they wear those hats? It was just a regular head. It wasn’t fat like the Sphinx—the Sphinx has a big fat face. This had 11 cheeks, but it looked sort of feminine, yet male.

  Figure 31: Betty’s view of the Green Realm. June 19.

  Jules: Do you think that you could draw a sketch of it now?

  Betty: Not up close. I couldn’t see the features that good. I could try. I’ll attempt it, to get it down, but it was feminine-male. It was a combination of the two. [See Figure 31.]

  I later asked Betty for some clarification on one point.

  Ray: You say you were flying over this pyramid. What were you in? You said you were looking down. Have you been up in an airplane before? Was it like being up in an airplane?

  Betty: It wasn’t. No. That thing just went up into the air, and we just were going over it and able to look down.

  Joseph: This thing that you were talking about. Was it like a bus?

  Betty: No.… We’re just standing up, that’s all. It’s just on this thing that we’re standing on as we’re going along.

  Betty was talking about the same black track that transported them through the tunnel.

  Joseph: And whatever that is, does it have any constraints? It just seems like you are out in the open, but that track is what is guiding you?

  Betty: That’s right.

  Ray: Did you feel dizzy? Like you
were going to fall off this thing at any time?

  Betty: I felt dizzy a couple of times, yes, but I didn’t feel as if I were going to fall off.

  Jules: Were you breathing normally? I mean, you didn’t have any kind of tubes or anything?

  Betty: No, I was breathing normally.

  Joseph: But you could see things below you as well as above you and to the side?

  Betty: Yes, way below.

  Ray: Did you see a horizon, like you were up in a…?

  Betty: No, it was all fog and mist.

  In her original description, of course, Betty had cited other buildings as well.

  Betty: By that pyramid there’s like a—I don’t know if you would call them bridges or walkways, or what they are. And there’s water there.

  Jules Vaillancourt reminded Betty of this during debriefing.

  Jules: Getting back to the city that you could see at a distance. Were you close enough to see any kind of beings? Any movement? How did you know it was a city?

  Betty: It was definitely a city.

  Jules: Were there high buildings?

  Betty: There were, but they were so—they looked like, you know, a lot like science fiction. Big cities with all these different bridges all around.…

  Jules: Could you see activity?

  Betty: No, I don’t remember seeing activity. It was too far away. That was way over to the side there, way over to the side. The pyramid was closer than that. The city was way over to the side. There was a horizon because that was on the horizon and the sky was in back of it, the green sky.

  Fred: Was there anything up in the sky? A sun?

  Betty: No.

  Harold: Was it artificially lit?

  Betty: No.

  Harold: Was there a dome?

  Betty: Yes, there were domes.

  Harold: Was there a large dome that contained this whole area that you were in?

  Betty: No, there were many domes.

  Ray: Where did you see these domes? Overhead?

  Betty: No, off to the side. There were domes in the city.

  Joseph: Betty, if you looked up, what was overhead?

  Betty: Just endlessness of that green.

  Betty’s journey continued, however.

  Betty: “Where are we going?” My head is so heavy. It feels funny. Still going up, and up—

  Directly ahead of them, a bright light source came into view. It reflected off beautiful crystalline structures like giant prisms. Betty gazed in awe at the changing colors. The stark beauty of it all was frightening. (See Figure 32.)

  Betty: And I’m coming before a bright light—crystals, bright, bright light, and clear crystals that have rainbows all in it. It is all crystal all around—all forms of crystal. I don’t know what it is. I’m afraid! I want to go back! And the bright light up ahead. [Sigh] I want to go back. [Sigh] They are taking me through these crystals. That bright light is up ahead.… Oh-h-h-h-h, that bright light. We are stopping and the two are getting off the thing. And I’m just there, before the light.

  Figure 32: June 26.

  A vague form in front of the light slowly became more distinct. Astonished, Betty observed a huge bird standing directly in front of the dazzling light source. It was too big to be real, and yet it looked as if it were alive.

  Betty: I’m seeing something like a large bird—huge, huge bird. It is standing with its wings and the light in back of it.

  As they approached the birdlike apparition, the temperature became unbearably hot!

  Betty: Whew! It is hot. I’m so hot. [Panting] I’m so hot. I feel like I’m burning, I’m so hot!

  In the chair, Betty’s body began to writhe in agony. The hypnotist immediately came to her rescue.

  Harold: Just relax. I’m bringing you back to the present time, but this thought will remain in your mind where you have left off. And the next time that we conduct this, you will go to this state of mind.

  Betty was allowed to recuperate. While she rested, we investigators hurriedly scanned our notes to frame questions for the debriefing period that began shortly thereafter.

  Fred: Do you think that the ship was somehow connected to those places—through some other dimension, or something like that? I’m putting words in your mouth.

  Betty: I think I went for a trip.

  Fred: In the ship, do you think?

  Betty: In the ship. I think I was kept in those glass chairs while we were going.

  Fred: Okay, that’s when you think the trip occurred?

  Betty: Yes.

  Fred: Do you think the glass chairs were in the ship?

  Betty: Yes.

  Fred: Okay, and that’s when you think the voyage occurred. And then, when you reached the destination, you connected with this red and green place?

  Betty: Yeah. When we reached the destination, we went through the black tunnel.

  Fred: Still in the ship?

  Betty: No, outside of the ship. There were…black tunnels.

  Jules: Did they seem very long?

  Betty: Yes, they seemed long.

  Joseph: Did you have anything over you at that time? Your head felt heavy.

  Betty: It felt like pressure or something on my head. My head was hurting and heavy from it, whatever it was. Even now, my head feels heavy from it.

  Jules: Is this when the pear-head beings had the hoods on? And you didn’t?

  Betty: Yes, they had those black hoods. I didn’t.

  Joseph: Betty, when you said they put the—something dark over their heads—was that—do you think that was for protection?

  Betty: I think so. That red, to me, that red seemed—they seemed worried about the red atmosphere. Because when they got into the green, they took those hoods off their heads.

  Ray: What did they do with the hoods when they took them off?

  Betty: We were out of the red atmosphere, and I don’t know if they laid them to the side or if they kept them on their person.

  Harold: Were these, ah, lemurs—were they on one side of the red atmosphere, or were they intermingled in the same area with the beings without the hoods?

  Betty: No, they were just in one area.

  Harold: There was nothing in the red place. The green place—was there foliage in the green place?

  Betty: Yes. When we went into the green, there was vegetation. There was. I can’t explain it.

  I glanced at my watch. The debriefing period was about over. (Many of our debriefing questions and Betty’s answers have, of course, been interpolated into the foregoing narrative.) Hastily we checked our notes for other questions that we had planned to ask Betty.

  Ray: You seemed to be somehow attached to the track.… Do you think you left this earth and went to another world, or was this all someplace on this earth?

  Betty: Not on top of this earth. I could have been inside the earth, but I went someplace else other than the earth.

  Fred: You don’t know whether it was another world then, or whether it was part of this earth?

  Betty: Are you talking about another dimension?

  Fred: No. I’m saying, did you leave this earth and go through space—to another planet? Or did this all happen on this earth?

  Betty: I left this earth, yes, I left this earth. I believe we were in space, and somehow I believe we were in the center of the earth. Now how can you be in both?

  Harold: It may be that this “other earth” that you went to, that the outside of it is like the shell, the housing. Everything that goes on, goes on within—like a large garage. The door opens and you can go in, and then you can leave it.

  Our time was up, but many intended questions remained unanswered. We wondered about the strange bird, the dazzling light, and the heat that Betty had begun to describe in vivid terms. Could this have been real? Was she hallucinating? The answers would have to wait until the next session, scheduled for June 23, 1977.

  Betty Ann Andreasson. Courtesy of Fred R. Youngren.

  Becky Andreasson. Courtesy of Fred R. Young
ren.

  Dr. Harold J. Edelstein, who conducted the hypnosis sessions. Courtesy of Fred R. Youngren.

  Back row (from left to right): David Stanton, Raymond E. Fowler, Virginia Neurath, Betty Andreasson.

  Front row: Nancy McLaughlin, David Webb, Joseph Santangelo.

  The investigative team. Courtesy of Fred R. Youngren.

  Back row (from left to right): Deborah Vaillancourt, May Ellen Brady, Harold J. Edelstein, Becky Andreasson.

  Front row: Jules Vaillancourt, Fred R. Youngren.

  Joseph Santangelo and Jules Vaillancourt prepare to tape-record Betty’s recollections under hypnosis. Courtesy of Fred R. Youngren.

  Betty’s face registers the fear and discomfort she experienced during the physical examination. Courtesy of Fred R. Youngren.

  Still in hypnotic trance, Betty produces sketches of what she saw during her CE-IV experience. Courtesy of Fred R. Youngren.

  Based on Betty’s sketches and recollections, Fred R. Youngren and his daughter Faith constructed this three-dimensional “mug shot” bust of Quazgaa, the apparent leader of the entities who abducted Betty. Courtesy of Fred R. Youngren.

  The author, Raymond E. Fowler, with the Youngren model. Copyright Ralph Tourcotte, Beverly [Massachusetts] Times.

  CHAPTER 6

  A Vision of the Phoenix

  June 23 was a Thursday. Our next hypnotic regression session was scheduled for that evening. The summer sun still shone as investigators and witnesses filed into the offices of the New England Institute of Hypnosis. We were totally unprepared for what was about to take place. Betty was about to undergo the most painful and emotional segment of her total experience. Her suffering and ecstasy would be contagious. What we were about to witness would become etched indelibly on our minds, and in some hearts.

  Betty lay back in the familiar chair. In a few minutes, she was in a deep trance. I sat at her feet, clipboard in hand, as Harold gave instructions to Betty.

  Harold: Betty, I want you to take yourself back to just before we ended the session. Are you there? I want you to continue from that point on. Please do!