by Timothy Good
“One moment it would blend into the sunset, matching every color and pattern. Then it would go like oily water and abruptly change to a polished mirror or a dark, non-reflective surface like a hillside. It took many minutes for us to work our way to the clearing near the ship….”
At first, the boys did not notice anyone near the ship as they walked up to it, nor the silent lowering of the ramp. But they became aware of a man standing next to one of the huge legs that supported the ship. The man made eye contact with the boys and had started to speak before they suddenly realized there were two men.
“The one who had started to speak to us continued, turning to the other as he spoke [in flawless German]. ‘These boys would like to touch our ship. Make sure it is well grounded, for we probably have developed some [electrostatic charge] in our travels.’ There was no greeting. I think he simply picked the top item off the jumbled pile of our thoughts and responded to it. Then we were given the opportunity to touch something from another galaxy for the first time. The feeling of touching the ship, which definitely sent a chill up my spine, is also very difficult to explain.
“I expected it to be hard and metallic, but to this day, I find it hard to believe the feeling I had touching something that was so smooth and exchanged no heat with my hand. It was neither warm nor cold, and was definitely smoother than glass or polished metal, which will stick to your hand. It was like trying to press one magnet against the same pole of another, like I was not really touching anything at all….
“The colors were somehow projected from inside it, or emanated from it, instead of reflecting as from a painted surface or a mirror. At that particular moment, the colors seemed to match the sky and even the clouds…. The ship was made in such a way, or of such a material, that once it rose several hundred feet in the air, it looked just like the sky….
“We accomplished our next goal in short order when we found ourselves shaking the hand of one of the visitors. It was his actual hand, not through a glove like I had often seen them wear…. The hand was soft and warm, the grip firm. Although I was right in the middle of what was probably the biggest thrill I ever had, I found myself thinking, ‘Sure would like to get into that ship.’ …
“I think that can be arranged,” came the reply to Leo’s unspoken thought. “But first, you will have to go through a ‘process’ to enter the ship. There is nothing to be afraid of [and] you will have to go through the process again to leave the ship.”
The man explained that this process was controlled by what today might be termed an invisible energy beam or field of radiation, comparing it with the energy field that prevented approaching the ship. “I understood that it was a modified form of the invisible shield,” said Leo.
“I finally began to recognize that they were giving us information in some way other than by just what they had told us [and that] they were communicating with us, not so much by what they were saying and we were hearing, but more by what we were feeling.” As Leo explained to me: “They can open up areas of the brain that we don’t use. And they made it clear that we have twelve senses, not five.7
“They seemed to realize that our world was in trouble, and understood about the depression and the drought as we talked about failed crops and the grasshoppers that were invading our country. They [also] gave us the indication that Man would soon bring terrible wars and suffering upon himself….”
Inside the Spaceship
Finally, the boys were invited aboard the spaceship. “The huge ramp descended silently [and] almost before we knew it, we were escorted up the ramp by the man we had been speaking directly with and at last found ourselves entering the ship.
“There was an inner and an outer door. When one door opened, the other door closed. Some kind of mist would go across the door. We asked him what it was. He told us that [it] was a ‘disinfectant,’ as we would call it…. One moment there was a wall, the next it was an open door. I could see no hinges or handle, not even a joint where the door met….
“After we had entered the compartment and the door had closed behind us, our guide told us we had to remove our clothes so the disinfecting process would be effective. Mike and I were both a little nervous about taking off our clothes in front of these people, but felt a little better about it when we saw that we would get to wear some of their clothing.8 I was glad we had both taken baths the night before….
“I was looking around for light bulbs or fixtures or switches, but there was nothing on the walls or ceiling. There weren’t any shadows, either. The light just seemed to come from everywhere at once. After we had dressed in their clothing, which opened at the back like one of those hospital gowns, we passed into another compartment which contained some kind of haze that went over our entire bodies.
“They had given us some light jackets to put on that, compared to any clothing we had ever seen, were just beautiful. They were made from a material of a very slick texture [and] when the edges of the fabric were brought together, they attached themselves without buttons…. When the inner door eventually slid open, we came into what must have been their main compartment. The first thing I noticed was their chairs. They were wonderful, just out of this world.
“Our host invited us to sit in these great chairs [which] were completely adjustable, though the travelers were all so similar to each other, I am certain one size of chair would fit them all … like the ship itself, they didn’t seem to have any individual parts. A force of some kind made them move toward you when you were about to sit without anyone appearing to touch them [and] Mike had a great time trying to outwit the chairs, to the great amusement of our friendly hosts. When I sat, the chair subtly and automatically adjusted to fit and support my body from my heels to my head.”
A screen measuring about five by four feet appeared, showing pictures of “a place or process” that the boys simply could not fathom. Opposite the screen were other types of machine, described as “magnetic sensors.”
“Their meals and the cooking thereof are impossible to explain, although they were very nice about trying to explain it to us. We saw what I would call sleeping compartments with unusual beds, but we asked no questions about their sleeping customs. The toilet facilities were fully automatic; things like towels and toilet tissue were not there. It all seemed to be operating by the ‘magnetic’ force, or maybe some chemical reaction….
“The largest room we saw was their laboratory or workshop. I saw many different things I could not even begin to grasp [though] I tried to ask some questions about these machines.” The men replied that, no matter how they explained it, it would be impossible for the boys to understand any of it.
“Why do you keep coming to our valley?” asked Mike.
“We study the life patterns,” came the simple reply.
Although the inside of the craft couldn’t be seen from outside, from the inside everything was visible. “We could see clearly through to the outside and observe clouds in the darkening sky,” Leo explained. “We called it glass, but they informed us it was some other type of material which they did not explain to us.”
Also, images of real-time scenes could be projected from anywhere on to a screen—evidently imagery being fed in from their sensor systems.
When I interviewed Leo at his home in Helena, Montana, in 2004, he revealed more. “There’s a screen on that panel that shows the entire world, like a map, but it’s different,” he said. “As they travel, the information keeps changing. No buttons are used—it’s done by brain waves, via the eyes, for example.”9
“Another of their abilities that we experienced inside that spaceship is just as baffling,” Leo reports in his book.
“I sat in one of those wonderful chairs watching the sun go down over the mountains outside and listening to one of our hosts trying to explain something about how far away their galaxy is…. Next thing I knew we are walking on the hillside and he was showing us how t
he grasshoppers lay their eggs under the dirt. Just like that. I blinked my eyes and there we were, back with the galaxy lecture. Blink again and he was showing us how the magnetic ‘laser’ beam worked.
“They could [also] stop a bird in flight and hold it motionless in mid-air. Now I saw this done, but I am not sure how. They could catch a rabbit in his jump and stop him in midair [and] they could hold these animals like this for minutes or hours. Then, suddenly, they could just release them. In other words, from the understanding we gained, they had the ability to stop any moving object at any range they desired. Our military men should take note….
“These people who we met and talked to in the year 1932 came right out and told us they had traveled to this planet for over five thousand years. They will continue coming to this planet because it is their responsibility. It is important for us to understand that they said the Earth is their responsibility, rather than mankind’s. We were told that they will continue traveling to our planet, to this very spot, and to many other places as our world gets deeper into trouble….
“One of the reasons for their great intelligence is their ability to use twelve senses. And they told us that twelve people from their galaxy live full-time on our planet Earth. These people live among us, but we cannot tell that they are different from us. We were also informed that these twelve people have often offered to help our world and were rejected every time….”
Leo related to me some amusing anecdotal information he acquired that year from a Native Indian chief. “They come from the heavens,” declared the chief. “They’re white, and they dress funny. We got down on our knees to them. They taught us how to plant things. My granddad told me all these things, which he’d learned from his father. They came by season. Then, when the white men came, we originally mistook them for the people who had come from the heavens!”10
Further Contacts
Further landings and contacts took place occasionally over the years. “I saw the spaceship off and on after that first year, and even saw it land several times,” wrote Leo. Mike was not present at these events. “In 1933, I had the pleasure of seeing it landing about two miles south and a mile and a half east of Dunn Center, North Dakota. It continued landing at that location from 1933 to 1934….
“In August of 1936, about the end of the month, around 9:45 in the evening, I again saw their ship land at the location near Dunn Center and decided to walk up to them. As I approached the ship, I was allowed to enter through their magnetic forces. The ship didn’t look any different from the ship I’d seen in 1932. I was welcomed by three people and was certain they were the same people I had met back in 1932 [and] I did not have to ask to enter their spaceship.
“They said the world would have many problems, but they would not interfere [and] re-affirmed that this planet was their concern, that Man has his own mind, and that he must learn to take care of his planet if he wants to keep his home. [He] assured me our planet would continue to exist. But I was not assured that Man would continue to exist on it, if he did not learn to take better care of his most valuable possession….”
In October 1936, Leo enrolled as a laborer with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)—a public work-relief program for unemployed youth during the Great Depression—receiving an honorable discharge in March 1937.11
There were no further contacts until 1938, at Watford City, North Dakota, close to the Missouri River bridge. Then, on the evening of September 15, 1939 at around 21:30, as he was en route to Watford City, a spaceship landed about three hundred feet off the side road. Two men—identical to those from the previous encounters—alighted and greeted Leo. Expressing their pleasure at seeing him again, they added that he had changed a lot since 1932. Leo said he was bemused that they, on the contrary, had not changed at all.
“We are several thousand years ahead of your time. We are germ-free and our life expectancy is quite different from yours. At this time, it would be impossible for us to explain to you how we have accomplished all this in our lives…. But we can assure you, if your scientists would devote their time to increasing your life span, people on Earth would be capable of living in good health much longer than you do now.”
In You’re Looking Very Well: The Surprising Nature of Getting Old (Faber, 2010), author Lewis Wolpert states his belief that one day human beings may have a lifespan of six hundred years.
Leo was puzzled to note that, although it was now about ten o’clock at night, the area around the spaceship was not dark. “Some type of glow kept shadowless light in the area,” he observed. As Barry Potter pointed out succinctly to me: “The alien light is always described as ‘shadowless,’ which is directly contrary to our understanding of light as a radiant effect, i.e. proceeding in a straight line from source to a reflecting surface.”12 I concur. Additional evidence for this technology is provided later, particularly relating to the Amicizia saga (Chapter 13).
Asking if they were worried about people noticing the glow, Leo received an interesting reply:
“… We have stopped all movement for three miles around us. There is no way that anything can move within that area. No person can approach the ship unless we allow them entrance. It will be some time, well in the future, before people will be able to understand and do much, if any, of what we are capable of doing now. This new understanding will make a tremendous change on your planet Earth.”
Leo was invited aboard, involving the same “disinfection” process and change of clothes as before. Six men, seated in the main compartment, were watching an image on the large TV-like screen, which Leo learned was of their galaxy. Again, he marveled at the lack of any visible light fittings in the ship, and inquired how the light was generated. “Our lighting system is in our metal,” he was told. “The power for our machines is also generated in our metal. This is all we can tell you, for it would be impossible for you to understand how our energy system works.”
By around 23:30 Leo felt it was time to leave. “The first man put his hand on my shoulder. After hesitating for a moment, I put my hand on his shoulder. In turn, I did this with all six men. After I entered the outer compartment, I removed the jacket and handed it inside to them. The door closed and again the mist covered my entire body … as I finished dressing, the unusual door opened and I stepped out of the spaceship.”
Heading back to the car, Leo was astonished to find his way illuminated in some way by the same shadowless light all the way to his car.
In 1941, Leo was called to service with the U.S. Navy and eventually participated in the invasions of Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Most of this period was spent with the Amphibious Unit in the South Pacific, serving, for example, in the minesweeper USS Skirmish (AM-303). He also served in the USS Missouri, witnessing the surrender of Japan to General Douglas MacArthur on that ship. I surmise that he probably served with either the Office of Naval Intelligence or Office of Strategic Services—though he never confirmed as much—as he was involved, for example, with the occupation force in Japan, interrogating prisoners, and also served in Africa,13 mostly related to counter-intelligence.
Following the war, Leo moved to Bozeman, Montana, working as a salesman, returning to Killdeer in 1948. In 1950, he saw a spaceship landing in the high hills along the highway between Norris and Sappington Junction (some thirty miles from Bozeman). He planned his business trips so as to pass through that area regularly, in the evenings, and observed the craft on a number of occasions. “Because the ship was usually well back from the highway in very difficult terrain,” he explained, “I had no real chance to make a personal contact with them.”
Leo does not provide dates of these events, but it is worth noting here that on the late afternoon of April 12, 1950, in Helena—some sixty-five miles from the landing site described by Leo—a Mrs. Ida Welch reported an object that looked like “two soup plates put together,” larger than a bomber, flying so close to the ground that “anyone could have shot it down
with a rifle.” Three months later, five Helena residents in different locations reported an object, described variously as cigar-shaped, a flaming disc, or wing-shaped.14
Sadly, Leo’s younger brother Mike was reported killed in action in 1950, during the Korean War.
In 1962, while driving with his three young daughters and two of their friends at Sappington Junction, Montana, Leo saw a spaceship moving through the evening skies. Perhaps this was an ideal opportunity to secure supportive evidence.
“It was difficult to pick my way over the dark mountain roads, but finally I drove my car within about two hundred feet of the spaceship. It was hovering about twenty feet off the ground, producing all the colors I had witnessed before…. It was very hard to contain my disappointment when I saw [that the girls] were all frightened. There was no way to convince them no one would hurt us. We watched the ship for only about half an hour. Several times, I flashed my headlights at them, certain they knew the girls were with me and were scared…. I was convinced it was the same spaceship I had seen back in 1932 and again in 1939, and had no doubt that the same people were aboard.”
In 2010, Leo’s only surviving daughter, Frances Dworshak Hankinson, provided a testimonial to this event for me:
“The only experience that I have had with UFOs is when Dad took me, my two sisters, and two of their friends over to Sappington Junction. It was late evening. He told us there was something he wanted us to see. He parked out in the middle of nowhere, and had us watch the sky for lights. It was getting late and darker and we wanted to go home. When we spotted lights in the sky—to the best of my recollection the lights were auburn, green, and yellow—the lights were flashing but stationary. Dad flicked the headlights in their direction, and they repeated the same pattern back at him. He did this several times, then it was gone. I have never seen anything like it since.”15