by Timothy Good
“This is what they have done: they have made a vehicle and they have harnessed the forces of nature; they have copied a real planet. Now, the planet Earth that we know spins on its axis, which is nothing more in itself than a static generator—a huge static generator.”4
During a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Pueblo, Colorado, on July 22, 1952, Joe Rohrer of Pikes Peak Radio Co. recounted an interesting story relating to early knowledge of alien propulsion technology which endorses some of Anderson’s claims: “A Californian air pilot told me that, in 1942, he had been right inside a giant saucer and seen giant flywheels sheathed in metal skins, and found that the motive force came from electrostatic turbines, whose flywheels create an electro-magnetic field of force, creating tremendous speeds….”5
Anderson learned that part of the propulsion system of the spacecraft he went on involved a “wheel within a wheel,” the principal process by which they derived their motive power. “This in essence is nothing more than a gigantic static generator,” he explained. “One of these wheels turns in a counter-clockwise direction, the other in a clockwise direction. And when these two counter-rotating forces reach a speed equivalent with the [rotation] of the Earth or of the planet involved, and in direct relation to its mass, then a static charge is forthcoming to the extent that it is repelled away from the Earth.
“We know that the Earth has a magnetic field surrounding it. Now, when you are inside a magnetic field, you are in truth inside of a gravity field, because gravity, electricity, and magnetism are one and the same…. When you go into a gravity field, every atom, every molecule, every electron of your body is acted upon simultaneously with every atom and molecule of everything around it. And therefore, these people, being inside a gravity field, have no sense of motion, no knowledge whatsoever of quick turns, of stops and starts, because they in reality, from an atomic standpoint, are a part of the craft itself….
“Now, another thing that our scientists do not understand is how these craft can travel with such fantastic speeds in our atmosphere without getting hot and disintegrating and burning up. Well, here again, it’s because the forces of nature have been harnessed in this vehicle, and an ionization effect as such takes place with this static charge surrounding the craft—the skin of the craft—whereby you have several inches of complete insulation on the outside of the craft by means of a vacuum, in which your craft travels through a vacuum and carries its vacuum along with it all the time. It can never get hot, it can never get cold; it remains the same temperature always.
“So, you see, they have thought of everything. And they tell us that our science knows this, but it’s being kept from us…. Now, when I took this information to Germany, I was received with open arms [by] various other physicists and scientists who were associated at that time, or who had previously been associated in one way or another—with the teaching staff or in an advisory capacity—with Heidelberg University, and who were in complete accord with what I had to tell them. And checking it out mathematically, Dr. Hermann Oberth said, ‘My God, it will work! Why haven’t we thought of this?’”6
Oberth was one of the few scientists to have the courage to speak out on the controversial UFO topic. In 1962, he wrote an illuminating article in which he refers to the Wiesbaden conference in general—and to Anderson in particular:
“As far as the so-called ‘contact’ persons are concerned (those persons who allege they have been passengers in UFOs or have spoken to space people),” he wrote, “I had expected to encounter swindlers, hysterics, or schizophrenics. But I must say that among these contact persons, Carl Anderson, particularly, made quite a congenial, reasonable, and clean-cut impression. Skeptics should understand that I studied medicine and began my professional career as a doctor in a military hospital for three years, where I also had the care of mentally ill persons [and] I would bet a hundred to one that some of the contact persons are normal and have seen and experienced something. …”7
Oberth was skeptical that aliens would look like us. But it is interesting to note that in the article his technical explanations for UFO propulsion parallel many of those revealed by Anderson in his 1960 presentation (which Oberth translated into German after the conference) and, more comprehensively, during private meetings with Oberth and other scientists. “We cannot take the credit for our record advancement in certain scientific fields alone; we have been helped,” conceded Oberth some years later. When asked by whom, he replied, “The people of other worlds.”8
Regarding UFO sightings per se, Oberth calculated that 11% of reports resisted conventional explanations. “They cannot be hoaxes or lies because they involve responsible men such as senior air force officers, or radar readings, or photographs from responsible sources…. Furthermore, the reports check out against each other so well that a common origin is to be concluded from them….” He then proceeds to describe the “state of the art”—at least, as it was in 1962:
“The discs always fly in an attitude as if the driving power were effective vertically with the plane of the disc; when they hover steadily over a certain area they are in a horizontal position; if they want to fly fast they tilt and fly with the broad side facing forward.
“In sunlight, which is stronger than the luminosity of the discs, they appear to have a metallic sheen. At night they appear dark orange or cherry red if their maneuvers are such that little driving power is required—such as hovering. Under such conditions they emit very little light. If more driving power is required, the luminosity increases and they appear yellow, then yellowish green, then green like a copper flame, and at the highest speeds or accelerations glaringly white. They also may suddenly light up brightly or darken, even disappear….
“If we establish the working hypothesis that the UFOs are machines, we also have to assume the following:
“… They are flying by means of artificial fields of gravity. This would explain the sudden changes of directions. If an apparatus built by humans were capable of changing its direction and speed as suddenly as do UFOs, the passengers would be pressed against the wall so violently they would be crushed to death. Artificial fields of gravity, however, would mean that the occupant would be rushing forward along with the vehicle and that between him and the vehicle no tractive force [the pulling force exerted by a vehicle, or machine or body] would even come into being. The hypothesis also would explain the piling up of the discs into a cylindrical or cigar-shaped mother ship upon leaving the earth because in this fashion only one field of gravity would be required for all discs.
“They produce high-tension electric charges in order to push the air out of their paths, so it does not start glowing, and strong magnetic fields to influence the ionized air at higher altitudes. First, this would explain their luminosity. Even the poles of our electric influence or induction machines glow in the dark. Secondly, it would explain the noiselessness of UFO flight. Our jet aircraft have a high noise level because they move through the calm air and create violent turbulences. The UFO, however, does not create turbulences near it because the air has the same speed it has, and the speed of the air decreases gradually with distance from the UFO…. Finally, this assumption also explains the strong electrical and magnetic effects sometimes, though not always, observed in the vicinity of UFOs….”9
Colonization
Anderson’s particular alien contacts, who said they had come from Mars, explained that Earth had been colonized thousands of years ago by two extraterrestrial races which had amalgamated. These races supposedly had been responsible for the great pyramids. “Primarily, the pyramids were constructed for means of generating a huge amount of energy which was used to charge their crafts when they came here from outer space,” he explained in his 1966 lecture. “The cosmic energy rays of the universe came down upon the pyramids [and] these rays, upon striking these sides of the pyramids—the sides being constructed at the perfect angle—were radiated off the apex and shot for many, many h
undreds of miles out into space, just like a beam from a huge searchlight, only in this case being an invisible beam. And their craft would hover over this beam and re-charge their units.
“This was the reason why pyramids are built all around the earth—you can follow a circle around the earth. They’re in China, they’re in South America, they’re in various places, [constructed] for the purpose of charging their units when they came here, and their energy was getting to such a low ebb that they needed charging [when they] had to go back again. Now, I was told that the ‘wheel within the middle of a wheel’ was, as I said before, an electrostatic generator. And this obviously has to have a means of turning it—a motive power. I was told that the central shaft, or column, of the craft, on which these two wheels were pivoted, was the true energy source. This was a type of battery with which we are not at this time familiar which would last for perhaps fifty or a hundred years, or more. But eventually they did have to be recharged.
“It’s also been noted that many of these craft have been seen hovering over mountains—and the Rocky Mountains in particular—places where it is known that there are large deposits of quartz, or granite containing quartz crystals. And quartz crystals are a source of energy that never dissipates; it’s like a battery that will never run out. And so when the energy source is harnessed from these millions of quartz crystals contained in a mountain, and especially a mountain whose peak is shaped more or less like a pyramid, so that this energy will radiate off the apex of the peak of the mountain, then they can do pretty much the same by charging a unit as they used to do from the great power-house of the pyramids.”10
Another contactee from this era was George Van Tassel. Though I retain misgivings about some of his claims, his report of an encounter in August 1953 with a landed craft and its occupant—“Solgonda”—may be worth citing here.
Following the demonstration of a small device about two by two inches square and around a half-inch thick, with rounded corners, carried around the neck and alleged to make the aliens invisible when necessary, Solgonda demonstrated how the device was periodically charged:
“Suddenly he opened two opposite ends of it and pointed it at the granite rocks of the mountain. I saw a pencil lead-size stream of light between the object and the mountain…. Later he explained that he was charging the device. He said they charge various other pieces of their equipment over granite mountains. This is due to the piezoelectric effect set up by quartz in its granite matrix.
“When they discharge the ‘crystal battery’ by pressing on either side of it, it releases the charge into their electric body, or aura, and causes light to bend around them; therefore appearing to disappear to the limited physical vision of anyone who is watching them….”11
Anderson said that the three aliens who befriended him—two men and a woman—looked identical to Earth people. “If you met them walking down the street or if you sat beside them in a restaurant, you wouldn’t know any difference,” he stated. Except for telepathy, that is. “They know all languages because they are the greatest telepaths. As you go to ask a question, before you can form the words on your lips, they have the answer.”12
In Alien Base, I cited the fascinating case of Albert Coe, another of many claiming extensive contacts with aliens, in this case dating back as far as 1920 in Canada. Coe was informed by his alien friend (who claimed to live on both Mars and Venus) that Earth was colonized over fourteen thousand years ago by his race after their home planet—orbiting around the star Tau Ceti, some eleven light years from Earth—dehydrated. The only solution was mass migration to another solar system with a similar star—ours. Following a successful exploratory mission to Earth, during which contact was briefly established with Cro-Magnon humans, the expedition returned to their home planet. It was decided to colonize Earth. Tragically, only one of their huge spaceships survived the journey, the rest having been drawn into our sun, and were forced to settle on Mars. They overcame its harsh environment, then established bases on the high land of Venus, but mostly on Earth.13
Mars and Venus have frequently been cited by “contactees” as alien abodes or bases. Most astrophysicists, however, point out that the Martian atmosphere is too thin and cold, while Venus’s atmospheric pressure is reported to be about ninety times that of Earth, with a temperature averaging around 464°C (867°F), a massive carbon-dioxide atmosphere (97 percent)—and no water. These findings are disputed by some, as we shall learn.
Probably the first person publicly to claim contact with aliens from Venus was Samuel E. Thompson, a retired railroad worker, who told a reporter that while driving to his home in Centralia, Washington, on the evening of March 28, 1950, he encountered a large flying saucer in a wooded area between Morton and Mineral. Two naked, deeply tanned children with dark blond hair which came to their waists were seen playing near the craft’s entrance ramp. Thompson approached to within about fifty feet of the saucer, which emanated strong heat. Several naked male and female adults—humanoid, attractive, with refined features and also deeply tanned—then appeared at the craft’s entrance. They beckoned Thompson to come closer.
Thompson claimed to have spent the next forty hours with the crew of twenty adults and twenty-five children. He found them “oddly ignorant, yet happy, cheerful, and gentle,” as researcher Jerome Clark reports. They said their craft served as homes on Venus. They had stopped by on Earth, even though other Venusian saucers had been shot at by our military. Before leaving, Thompson explained that he wanted to go home to collect his camera. On his return, and prior to leaving, he tried to photograph the craft, but it was “just like trying to take a picture of the sun.” The aliens themselves refused to be photographed. They told him he could contact them at any time, but that he had to keep certain information to himself. “If I’d tell everything I knew,” he explained to Kenneth Arnold (the pilot who observed nine flying saucers over Mount Rainier, Washington, on June 24, 1947) and his wife Doris, “I never would get to see the ship again. I’d be watched every minute.”14
Much of the additional information revealed in this case, unfortunately first published on April 1, 1950,15 is seemingly absurd. But despite their understandable reluctance to accept a literal occurrence of the events described by Thompson, the Arnolds were impressed by his evident sincerity.16 (Incidentally, Kenneth Arnold was a contractor at the time for Los Alamos National Laboratories, assigned to find out as much as possible about “flying discs,” following the Maury Island incident of June 21, 1947, when several witnesses observed six craft circling above Puget Sound, Washington, spewing molten “slag”—much of which was collected—that occurred three days prior to Arnold’s sighting.)
Mars
Fred Steckling, who had emigrated to the United States and worked with the U.S. Air Force in Germany, was a former chef and private pilot (with whom I flew on one occasion) and close associate of George Adamski, one of the first to claim regular contacts with aliens from Venus, Mars, and elsewhere in the solar system. Regarding the Martian climate, Fred pointed out to me a number of inconsistencies when we met in California a month after the Viking 1 lander had touched down on Mars in July 1976.
“On Mars,” he began, “they’ve photographed sand dunes, and there’s an area there that is the same size and same height as the sand dunes of Colorado. The scientists are baffled by this, because with one-tenth of the atmosphere, which is supposed to exist on Mars, these sand dunes could never be there, because the winds wouldn’t be strong enough to produce this kind of sand dune.”
The winds vary from as low as 4 mph, gusting up to 50 mph, with occasional windstorms as high as 300 mph, apparently. Maybe, given the latter speed, sand dunes can be formed in such extremes? Fred made another point about the atmosphere, which seems harder to contest:
“In the Martian morning, they’ve photographed large patches of fog in the valleys. Now, in my standard pilot’s book, it says that fog is a product of the temperature and hu
midity being nearly at the same point—called the dew point. So if the temperature is below freezing, there’ll be no fog: it has to be above freezing to create fog, and the temperature has to be the same as humidity, so that if the temperature is, say, 40°—which is above freezing—and the humidity is 40%, you have fog…. If the temperature is below freezing, and the humidity is high, you still have no fog, because it will not be created. Consequently, if there are large patches of fog, there must be areas on Mars that warm up sufficiently to produce it. And from what they’re telling us from the Viking Lander, so far, temperatures are too cold—it’s always 20, 30, and 40 degrees below zero.”17
A 2012 article on Mars in Air & Space gives the average temperature as –81°F (–63°C),18 while the NASA Quest Mars current Web site states that temperatures may reach a high of about 70°F (20°C) at noon at the equator in summer, or a low of about –243°F (–153°C) at the poles. “In the mid-latitudes, the average temperature would be about –50° Celsius with a nighttime minimum of –60° Celsius and a summer midday maximum of about 0° Celsius.”19
Contactee Apolinar (Paul) Villa, who took many fine color photographs of alien craft in New Mexico in the 1960s and had a series of encounters with their occupants, told me in 1976 that Mars was used as a base by his alien contacts. They said that the atmospheric pressure at ground level was equivalent to that at 12,000 feet on Earth. Life is sustainable there: cacti and other plants, for example, thrive.20
Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner had been executive secretary of the Joint Research and Development Board in 1946 (under Dr. Vannevar Bush) and, later, a member of the top-secret Majestic-12 group and an adviser to the government and other agencies on the space program—including the alien situation. Carol Honey, another close associate of Adamski, revealed to me that while working at Hughes Aircraft, he sneaked into a closed lecture by Berkner. The subject was Mars. “Berkner said that the atmosphere was a shirt-sleeve-type southern California environment. He very definitely believed that you could walk around on Mars and breathe. And this guy was Eisenhower’s space adviser….”21