”These days, many people when speaking of ´aliens´, refer
only to the ´Greys´, and disregard any mention of the human looking visitors
from the twentieth century.” This comment
and conclusion regarding contactee research is found in the epilogue to
ufologist Moira McGhee´s latest book The Days of the Space Brothers, published
in 2020. I can only agree. If there is one area of research that has been
neglected, especially by American ufologists, it is the classic contactees of
the 1950s. This work by McGhee is therefore a welcome contribution to our
knowledge of a somewhat taboo and controversial subject.
The Days of the Space Brothers present, in chronological
order, the history of the contactee phenomenon beginning with pre-Adamski contacts
like Albert Coe, Leo Dworshak and Udo Wartena. Howard Menger is also included in
this list as his contacts began already in 1932. But here Moira makes a rather
strange remark regarding Menger: ”He once suggested he may write another book
which would ´settle lingering doubts and create more of a public sensation than
anything revealed in the past´. He never did write that book, and died in 2009
aged eigthy-seven.” (p. 19). In a letter to me, May 16, 1985, Howard Menger
said that his new book would soon by published. And it was published. In 1991 I
received a signed copy of The High
Bridge Incident. The Story Behind the Story, written in collaboration with his
wife Connie Menger.
What makes Moira McGhee especially well qualified for writing
about contactees is her long-standing friendship with two exceptional women, Millen Cooke
and Rosemary Decker. Both of them ”silent contactees” and deeply involved in
the early contactee scene in the U.S. In her former book The Alien Gene, Moira McGhee
made quite a startling claim in connection with her two friends: ”Recently I
have been asking myself just how connected both these friends of mine were with
the Visitors? I have been able to gather they had both had personal contacts
before 1952. They also knew in advance of Adamski´s meeting in the desert with
Orthon, but chose to stay back at Palomar – why? Was Adamski the ´chosen one´
to pass on messages?”
(Moira McGhee, The Alien Gene, p. 47).
Moira McGhee
The chapters George Adamski, Rosemary and Millen are filled
with much new data and interesting discussions on the implications of their
contact experiences. There is also a reprint of Son of the Sun, a prophetic
article written by Millen Cooke in 1947, using the pen name Alexander Blade. Rosemary
Decker had a long association with George Adamski but eventually, with other
friends, felt compelled to withdraw her support: ”Yes, he was contacted,
although his ego was inflated beyond a safe point, and he subsequently suffered
the consequences… We were all concerned about his well-being, and grew worried
about his later ego trips and false claims, but he was not reachable by reason.”
(p. 67)
Today it is very difficult to come upon any new data on
Millen Cooke and Rosemary Decker. They had both very extensive collections of
UFO material. After her death Millen´s archive was passed on to Rosemary. But
Rosemary´s home in California burned down some years later and everything was
lost. ”We will never know their hidden secrets”, writes McGhee. Somewhat
frustating is that Moira herself has hundreds of letters from her two friends,
letters which she will not share with other researchers. Hopefully a future
generation of investigators will have access to these letters.
Millen Cooke 1943
From my vantage point here in Sweden I was deeply fascinated
by the chapters on early Australian and New Zealand ufology and ufologists:
Fred and Phyllis Dickeson, Fred Stone, Edgar Jarrold a.o. Fred and Phyllis
Dickeson were early Adamski co-workers but terminated their support when they
found his later claims untenable. Instead they became involved with the rather
unusual contactee Mr. X who had both physical meetings with alien visitors and
received their messages in his letter box. McGhee devotes an entire chapter to
this contact case and also an annex with his writings. I find this story highly
dubious, especially since the visitors take definite sides in the Middle East
conflict in this message received on June 8, 1967: ”We are making further
attempts to rectify the world trouble… Israel is on the side of justice, for
she has a destiny to fulfill… That is where our sympathies are. Her part is
all-important to us and the whole world. In our prophecies of long ago, we are
told of her rise to great things. Justice is on her side.” (p. 113-114). In my
view no culturally highly advanced alien visitors would take sides in a
national conflict or war. With messages like these from Mr. X one could speculate
if he became involved in a covert Mossad operation, using fake space messages
to increase the support for Israel in the Six-Day War between 5-10 June 1967.
Two chapters are devoted to the very controversial issue of
aliens among us. Here we find summaries of the experiences of Daniel Fry, South
African contactee Edwin, Ludwig Pallman a.o. Included in this list is also the very
complicated Italian Amicizia case, which I have never considered to be a
genuine contact. According to
Edoardo Russo in Italy his group CISU has thoroughly investigated the Amicizia
story and are very adamant that this is a complicated hoax involving many
people in Italy, “a dark page of Italian ufology”. Unfortunately they
have not published the extensive CISU documentation, which I hope they will do
in the near future. My Danish friend and research colleague ReneErik Olsen, a professional photographer, have studied the photos and films from
Italy and concludes they are fakes using models. If the aliens described in the
Amicizia story really do exist they are not the kind of people I would buy a
used car from.
Very early in my
ufological career I became involved in several quite remarkable aliens among us
cases in Sweden. Ever since then I have often pondered the $64 question – Who are these people. When John Keel visited me in October 1976 we especially discussed
this enigma, involving also the MIB – Men In Black. Keel was intrigued
by this aspect and convinced there were aliens among us. “I´d really like to
get one”, was his comment. If we as private UFO researchers can dicover
so much data on this hidden activity then special operations intelligence groups
must have studied these alien visitors for
a long time and keeping an eye on their activities. The Olden Moore case
of 1957 is an early indication of an operation by intelligence operatives. UFOs
is not only a scientific problem but a counterintelligence problem.
Moira McGhee
mention this connection in several chapters: ”It only stands to reason that the
government would keep this in their ´need to know files´. If the general public
were to know that we had extraterrestrials incognito in our midst, it wouldn´t be
long before every ´nut job´ in our community would be accusing their
neighbours, or others, of being ´aliens´
and a taking the law into their own hands.” (s. 184). I agree with Moira and
have never been an advocate of total disclosure, which in my view would be both
dangerous and irresponsible. Better a slow process with the help of private UFO
organizations.
The Days of the
Space Brothers is a good introduction to and history of the contactee enigma.
There is an extensive index but unfortunately no notes and references to the
many cases and statements in the book. Private photos of especially Millen
Cooke and Rosemary Decker would have also been a bonus. Hopefully this book will inspire a new generation of investigators delving into
this most fascinating subject. A hope was beautifully expressed by Fred
Stone, a pioneer in Australian ufology and quoted by McGhee:
”Keep plugging away as a pioneer, watch for every
angle where-in an answer may be found. Do not be satisfied with the accepted
ones, maybe there is some greater answer than that generally considered the
real one – an answer that perhaps you or others have avoided because it is
offbeat, and you are afraid of being looked askance at or perhaps not so
popular… Now to those who I know are true pioneers, those in some cases are
leaders of groups, some of whom are deep thinkers, and are still pioneering on,
still searching and digging… Continue your great quest, do not be deterred or
swayed from it, and if age and health cause you to take a quieter way of life,
continue giving all aid to youth, hand the torch on to them…”
