An Unlikely Believer

Prostitution, crime, drugs, and homosexuality – these were the subjects of the first three books by Jess Stearn (1914-2002). Stearn was born in Syracuse, New York, and after graduating college in 1936, became a reporter for the Daily News, “New York’s Picture Newspaper.” His regular beat was reporting straight news, but in the Nov. 27, 1953, issue, he covered something uncharacteristically light, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Here’s his report on the flight of a balloon made by Goodyear Tire, one depicting an alien space invader with a disintegrator gun.

Photo by Nick Sorrentino

“As a sign of our times – the Flying Saucer era – the parade featured an inflated Space Man 70 feet tall and 40 feet around. Though held down by a score of men at guy lines, the Space Man almost whipped off into space by a brisk wind a couple of times as the kids screamed their enjoyment.”

UFOs were not his normal beat, but he wrote an epic 4-part article on the topic that we’ll cover later. Stearn wrote for the Daily News for 17 years, then in 1960 became a writer and associate editor at Newsweek magazine for a few years, leaving it to be a full-time career as an author of non-fiction books.

Jess Stearn, 1964 -& 1973

The Door to the Future

Back in 1952, by chance Stearn had met Maya Perez, a “sensitive,” who gave him a reading of his future. It meant nothing at the time but turned out to be the first step in his long transformation from skeptic into believer. As years passed, Stearn felt her predictions had come to pass. Researching soothsayers, he came to believe that some like Jeanne Dixon had genuine psychic powers. It resulted in his 1963 book, The Door to the Future. Even greater success came in 1967 with his best-selling biography, Edgar Cayce: The Sleeping Prophet. Afterwards Stearn’s writing focused on New Age and paranormal topics from Yoga to reincarnation, and he was a frequent guest on national television talk shows.

Paranormal books of all sorts were frequently displayed and advertised together, UFOs next to ESP, astrology, witchcraft, and the like.

Right, ad for Bantam Books' Paranormal selections.

Fate magazine ad July 1973

A Few Close Encounters with the UFO Topic

Stearn focused on internal mysteries and didn’t write about flying saucers and aliens, however, there were a few mentions. In Stearn’s 1972 book, The Search for a Soul: Taylor Caldwell's Psychic Lives, Caldwell said that during the Biblical end of days, super intelligent space beings would arrive to destroy the earth.

Stearn lectured on Edgar Cayce at a convention focused on psychics, ESP, and faith healers, PSI ’74, in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Aug. 2, 3 and 4, 1974. Their program included a token UFO guest, billed as “Charles Hickson, UFO witness." For more on the convention, see: PSI ‘74: Psychics and the UFO Witness from Pascagoula.

Sarasota Herald Tribune, July 21, 1974

UFOs surfaced again in Stearn’s 1980 book, The Truth about Elvis (1982 retitle: Elvis: His Spiritual Journey). The back cover said that Elvis Presley, “…believed in reincarnation, astrology, and UFO's…  Here is the largely unknown story of Elvis’ relationship with Larry Geller, his spiritual mentor…” Geller said that Elvis and his father Vernon had a UFO sighting once at Graceland. It reminded Vernon that on the night Elvis was born there had been an unexplained blue glow (that seemed to herald his arrival).

Stearn attended other conferences where UFOs were in the mix, such as the Whole Earth Expo at the Pasadena Convention Center, May 13 -15, 1988. A review from Pursuit magazine:

“…with holistic health, spiritual healing, channeling, UFO contactees and cases, psychic performances, reincarnation and meditation… at least a dozen speakers or shows going on at any one time…talks by Dr. Andrija Puharich, Budd Hopkins, Tom Bearden, Whitley Strieber, Linda Goodman, Ralph Blum, Timothy Leary, Jess Stearn, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Charles Thomas Cayce, Stanton Friedman, Bill Moore, Edith Fiore, Jack Houck, Brad Steiger, etc., etc…”

Stearn kept writing through the years and was interviewed about his latest book in The Jackson Hole Guide, Sept. 12, 1990. By the 90s, many of the psychic topics he’d been written about had been rebranded as “Remote Viewing.” Stearn’s last book was published in 1998, and he died at the age of 87. His obituary appeared in the Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2002. No mention was made of the time Stearn had written a series of articles examining the topic of flying saucers from other worlds.

 

Stearn’s 1959 Story on Saucer Cultists

Back in 1959, Jess Stearn had a lot to say about UFOs. His four-part article series appeared in the New York Daily News from July 13-16, 1959. Curiously, his well-researched, far-ranging examination did not mention two extremes, Contactee George Adamski or Donald E. Keyhoe of NICAP. Filling their roles was George King of the Aetherius Society, leader of an actual flying saucer region, and for contrast, members of Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York, advocating a scientific study of UFOs.

An overview of each article is provided below, including a picture of each page. Unfortunately, the photographs did not scan well, but the series also featured a great collection of pictures of saucer personalities. Readers may find better viewing of the articles collected into a PDF.

Spacenik Gold Mine in the Sky: Saucer Cults Draw Devotees and Dollars

Part one started off with a scathing skeptical tone.

“The impact of the flying saucer cult is not confined to crackpots and Mystics. It affects countless multitudes, living otherwise drab lives, who find a new interest in social status in the folderol of saucer research.”

However, Stearn pointed out there were reasonable people also interested in UFOs, like the representative of Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York who said that the hoaxers and hucksters were hurting serious study. “Their only interest in saucers is what they can get out of them.”

Much of the first article dealt with Contactees who had spoken at George Van Tassel’s Spacecraft Convention at Giant Rock.

Some of the views of the supposedly enlightened Contactees were racist even by 1959 standards. Backwoods Buck Nelson said, “When I was on Mars, the schools were all segregated, Negroes and white, and everybody was happy about it.” He went on to say that Jews, Negroes, and white Christians were grouped in separate areas on their planet. George Hunt Williamson claimed that Jewish leaders had formed a “Hidden Empire” of world rulers who were preventing the truth from being known about the space people.

The following people were interviewed or discussed in part one: Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York, Buck Nelson, George King, George Van Tassel, George Hunt Williamson, Howard Menger, Dan Fry, and Henry J. Taylor.

Blonde Venus in a Saucer: Some Dish

Part two focused heavily on George King of the Aetherius Society, who had been told by a voice from Venus that earth was headed destruction unless we returned to the teachings of “the Master Jesus, the Lord Buddha, Shri Krishna, etcetera" (who were all emissaries from Venus).

There was a bit on Truman Bethurum and his claim of meeting lovely space pilot Captain Aura Rhanes, and even a photo of the woman who claimed to be her. There was also a description of Buck Nelson’s saucer enterprise in the Ozarks.

Bird? Plane? Saucer? Only a Pingpong Ball

Part three had skeptic Jules St. Germain tell how he’d tricked George Van Tassel into “confirming” a hoax. It also delved into Van Tassel’s many outlandish claims -- and the fortunes he collected from donors. The saucer investment schemes of Otis T. Carr were discussed, with some input from Long John Nebel.

Sane & Some Some Still See Saucers

Part four took on a tone sympathetic to witnesses. The story of George Wilson was told, a pilot with 20 years of experience who became a witness and “believer” in UFOs as something beyond earthly technology. Stearn summarized the position of the Air Force. Isabel Davis of Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York thought it was ridiculous for the Air Force to deny saucers when they had so many unexplained reports. Their policy had clashed with the reports of pilots like Peter Kilian of American Airlines, who had witnessed three bright saucers and so had 35 of his passengers.

Long John Nebel speculated that “the so-called spacemen” acted like they were working undercover, perhaps exploiting the gullible, and could be “enemy agents.”  

Stearn noted, “From believing in flying saucers, it sometimes is only a step for some saucer addicts to believe in spacemen -- a belief stemming more from their own insecurities, psychologists say, then from anything in the sky.”

The Second Life of Jess Stearn

After his examination of the flying saucers, Jess Stearn rejected the topic, concluding it was full of phonies and fakes, and insecure people who needed something to believe in. Yet somehow, he came to strongly believe in something perhaps more intangible, psychic powers. As an advocate of reincarnation, Stearn wanted no funeral; he believed he would live again. If so, he was given another chance to evaluate the case for UFOs in his next life.

Criswell Predicts Flying Saucers

The Amazing Criswell's UFO involvement goes much deeper than just hosting the flying saucer invasion movie, Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Criswell aka Jeron King Criswell (originally Jeron Criswell Konig) was an astrologer and psychic to Hollywood stars. He became a minor celebrity himself, with his own television show, newspaper column, and was a frequent guest on talk shows.  

Fate magazine brought us news of flying saucers and the paranormal and early issues also featured the column, Criswell Predicts.

Criswell's column from Oct. 2, 1950 included a UFO book review:

"On your book shelf, there is one book that is building to a best seller by word of mouth, and that is Richard S. Shaver's exciting 'I Remember Lemuria,' which gives evident proof that the ancient races still live, the Atlans, the Titans and many others who return to this earth in 'flying saucers' after 200 centuries of living beyond the blue. This startling information is backed by some of our most prosaic scientists of 1950!" 

His Criswell Predicts column from November 9, 1950, contained one of his few accurate predictions:

"The next trend in fiction will be the brutal interplanetary invasions and wars, which Fate Magazine has pioneered for some time." Another hit was at the end of 1952. Criswell had many predictions for the coming year and said that the US would “undergo an epidemic of flying saucers.”

Criswell and the World's First Flying Saucer Convention

In the early 1950s, Criswell was a member of a flying saucer club in Los Angeles., and in 1953 they put together a convention. Orfeo Angelucci described its origins in his 1955 book, The Secret of the Saucers.

“… as the crowds increased, the Club House was no longer large enough to accommodate everyone. It was then that Max Miller... and [Jeron] Criswell, the well-known columnist and television Man of Prophecy, suggested that we rent the music room in the famous old Hollywood Hotel for our weekly meetings. …[Later] Miller conceived the idea of a Flying Saucer Convention.” 

It was billed as “the World's First Flying Saucer Convention,” and held at the Hollywood Hotel on August 16-18, 1953. Although some scientific and serious UFO researchers were invited, they declined and most of the speakers were more in the Contactee camp. Criswell served as the convention’s principal program moderator and guests included Frank Scully, Silas Newton, Forrest J. Ackerman, George Adamski, Truman Bethurum, Orfeo Angelucci, George Van Tassel, and Max Miller. By some accounts, over 1500 people attended and the facilities were filled beyond capacity.

SAUCERS, Dec. 1953

Based on its success, the next year George Van Tassel launched an annual Spacecraft Convention at Giant Rock, California. Ever since, UFO conferences have been a little corner of show business.

 

Criswell on Captured Flying Saucers and Disclosure

Criswell was associated with the UFO topic strongly enough for that he was described as a “TV prophet and saucer columnist,” in Gray Barker’s The Saucerian magazine. Barker's Saucerian Bulletin: shared a Criswell prediction of imminent UFO Disclosure: 

"On the ABC-TV show, 'You Asked for It,' of several weeks ago, Criswell, the widely syndicated West Coast columnist who makes his living by trying to peer into the future, predicted flatly that an announcement on just what flying saucers are would be made by the government on Dec 10, 1953."

The Roundhouse, October 1953 (newsletter for Maquoketa, Iowa Cup & Saucer Club) reported further details: "Criswell has predicted that the government will make an official announcement on the existence of flying saucers on December 10, 1953. He previously said we would have space travel by 1963 because of the captured flying discs.”

There was at least one skeptical piece by Criswell from a 1954 column. The wife of an alleged Contactee wrote in and Criswell said his nonsense shouldn't be encouraged.

The science fiction magazine Spaceway, June 1955 featured a cover story with Mae West and Criswell as spacemen, “Criswell Predicts: Our First Moon Flight.” He said his friend Mae West would be elected US president in 1960 on a space travel platform, and he’d join her on a flight to the moon. The same year, the singer recorded the song "Criswell Predicts" for her album, The Fabulous Mae West.

The newspaper column Criswell Predicts continued to occasionally mention flying saucers among his other prophecies, and in late 1955, Criswell had a particularly emphatic one:

“I predict that Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker will make a most startling statement of factual evidence concerning flying saucers before March 30, 1956! Remember this prediction!”

In 1956, Criswell was the narrator for Ed Wood’s flying saucer movie, Plan 9 from Outer Space, which was later released in 1958. Criswell opens this possibly prophetic tale by saying, “We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.”

Criswell's opening narration for Plan 9 

Afterwards, we’re faced with the possibility that we’ve already been invaded.
“Can you prove it didn’t happen?… God help us in the future!”

The 1968 book, Criswell Predicts Your Future from Now to the Year 2000, contained a few mentions of the mysteries of space and UFOs:

“In the vision of many men, we have seen the inhabitants of other planets who have visited our earth.  I predict that these visits will increase in frequency over the next 20 years.  By 1988, there will be substantiated records of visits to earth from other planets.

And, from time to time, many earth people will leave this earth to return to alien planets with the visitors from outer space.  And, in the long run, these will be the lucky ones.  For they and their descendants will escape the doomsday that will come on August 18, 1999.”

His 1970 record, The Legendary Criswell Predicts! Your Incredible Future, contained another bold saucer prophecy:

"I predict that flying saucers will officially land on the lawn of the White House to open up a new outer-space, inter-world treaty. Mark this date on your calendar: May the sixth, 1991."

In his Criswell Predicts column for July 24, 1977:

“UFOs Again – I predict that in coming court trial for damages, our government will be forced to admit that unidentified flying objects do exist and damages will be paid for personal injuries to person and property. This will be one of the top cases of the year.”

In October 1977 Criswell spoke at George Van Tassel’s Spacecraft Convention at Giant Rock, California. He said of the location, “The area becomes alive at dusk, when you can actually hear… a funny whirring sound of the space people around Giant Rock.”

Criswell did not live to see Earth’s doomsday he predicted at the end of the century. He died on October 4, 1982.

See the article, “Who was Criswell?” at the Criswell Predicts site for more on his biography beyond his saucer exploits.

Houdini on the Meaning of Flying Saucers

A warning from beyond the grave about UFOs.

Joseph Dunninger had been waiting for decades for a message from his departed friend, magician Harry Houdini. 

Brownwood Bulletin Oct.14, 1952

Psychic Henry C. Roberts was making a name for himself as an expert on Nostradamus and his prophecies. This time, Roberts had a message for the world from another source, and he urged Dunninger broadcast it to the the world. He had been contacted by the spirit of Houdini, who told him that the flying saucers were a warning for mankind. 

Houdini, like the aliens Xeglon, Klaatu and Orthon, carried a message for the Earth:

Stop your wars and atomic bombs or be destroyed.

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (Lubbock, Texas) Aug. 3, 1952

That story seems to have been about the extent of Henry C. Roberts' involvement with UFOs - and Houdini's. Joshua Blu Buhs' blog, From an Oblique Angle, has more on the saga of Roberts' life, see: Henry C. Roberts as a Fortean

John Mittl: from Unsolved UFOs to Astral Encounters

by Claude Falkstrom and Curt Collins

The "Unknowns," the cases Project Blue Book labelled "Unidentified," are the ones that interest UFO researchers the most. These are the cases are highly prized, as they provide the strongest evidence that some UFOs could be something unearthly. One such case is the report of John Mittl. While a few may know about his 1952 UFO report, not many know about his Mittl's UFO lectures, research or subsequent sightings.

John Mittl first became known for taking four photographs of a disc-like object July 9, 1952 from his farm in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He wrote to the Air Force about the sighting, and the story was covered in newspapers and broadcast on radio by the legendary Frank Edwards.

The Morning Call July 31, 1952

Saturday Night Uforia hosts a page collecting the surviving Project Blue Book documents on the case, classified as "Unidentified."

Much More to Mittl

Mittl was only 22 at the time of the sighting, but was a man of many interests and talents, a former prize-winning member of the Future Farmers of America.

The_Morning Call Sept. 29. 1947

He was also a rock hound and gemstone cutter, and this is as good a place as any to mention that he was a vegetarian, and that his favorite dish was fried hot peppers.

The Morning Call Dec. 6, 1956, The Morning Call Jun. 16, 1960

Besides UFOs, photography, agriculture, herpetology and nature conservation, Mittl was interested in the occult. In 1960 he published a paper, "Astral Projection (Modus Operandi) by John Mittl PS.D, MS.D, D.D."

Astral projection is the term from Theosophy for the act of sending one's spiritual self or soul on an out-of-body trip. Mittl described what he provided the reader:

A simple method of instruction whereby the sincere student of the occult may readily learn to project his astral body and learn some of the deep secrets of the spiritual phase of exsistence, as well gain deeper insight into the realms of eternal life, knowing that death of the present physical body is not the end, but the beginning of our absolute ubiquity.

It's not known where Mittl studied to master the discipline, but one institution advertised in Popular Mechanics magazine offering three of the exact degrees he stated:

Within Astral Projection," he discussed the potential benefits of it as a means of exploration. "You may also desire a solution to Life's Mysteries as well as problems in your own personal life. The mystery of flying saucers may be revealed to you while on an Astral Flight."

Paranormal radio pioneer Long John Nebel in his 1961 book, Way Out World, compared Mittl to George Adamski and the Contactees:

Somewhat less dramatic, somewhat less physical, than his West Coast competitors is John Mittl of Pennsylvania. A vegetarian and recluse who petitioned long and hard to be on the all-night session, he told an interesting tale, but hardly soared to the heights of imagination attained by (Howard) Menger and (Orfeo) Angelucci. Mittl described many “contacts” achieved under dreamlike astral conditions. He spoke freely of etheric type saucers and other such things. However, it appeared that he was not really in his proper field because I recently got a brochure from him announcing that he was available for lectures on special theories of diet and nutrition.

Nebel was unaware of what all he was missing, like Mittl's expertise in snakes. There was no talent for that in the other Contactees. Mittl was also a attuned to the world around us, sensitive to animals and nature itself.

Standard Speaker Nov. 23, 1964

Despite his other interests, he still made time for flying saucers.

The Morning Call Nov. 9, 1964

Fourteen Years Later

Many witnesses become famous for a single UFO encounter or photograph, but Mittl's 1952 pictures were lost amidst the big flap of 1952. His time arrived in 1966.

“Our Space Age” was a daily syndicated illustrated feature written by Otto Binder and illustrated by Carl Pfeufer. Its main thrust was covering NASA's space exploration, but also covered Binder's other big interests, science-fiction and UFOs. In January 1966, it presented a six-part story on the otherworldly adventures of John Mittl. 

The Daily Journal Jan. 10-11-12 1966

The Daily Journal Jan. 13-14-15, 1966

The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania, Oct. 10, 1966 featured a lengthy illustrated article detailing Mittl's experiences and outlook.

Mittl was interviewed around the same time for The National Tattler, discussing his psychic experiences with UFOs, and making some predictions, such as the impeachment of President Johnson.

Mittl was still lecturing in 1979. From The Morning Call, Feb. 12, 1979, "Allentonian aims to prove flying saucers are spiritual."

Mittl said everybody can see the saucers when they materialize, but they are "still not physical. No one ever found one that crashed," he said. He explained that many continuous "sightings" by various people over the years was not an indication of "game playing" by UFOs. but simply showed some people were prepared to see them.

After that, Mittl doesn't seem to have gotten much press, at least for his UFO interest, but legendary psychic Harold Sherman mentioned him favorably in his 1986 book, The Dead Are Alive: They Can and Do Communicate With You. Sherman told how he'd recommended Mittl's classes,  and they helped a desperate friend reconnect with his departed wife via astral projection.

Forty Years Later

We're always interested to see what became of the participants in UFO stories through the march of time. John Mittl was interviewed by The Morning Call again in 1992, about his investigations and his thoughts on the physical nature of UFOs.

"I was always looking for one that would crash. I was like everybody else until I began to think about it... I found out after I did astral projection that there is no `physical' ship'."

Mittl made the papers again in 1996, based on one of his more earthly hobbies.

John Mittl briefly had a blog, Peppers & Projection in December 2009, which published some mementos from his UFO days. Sadly, his memories of those incredible experiences were later lost due to the onset of dementia. As of 2014,  he was living in Sandpoint, Idaho at the Valley Vista nursing facilities.

Despite his many other UFO experiences, Project Blue Book has only information about John Mittl's historic photograph case from 1952. As we've seen here, there was a lot more to his story.