Einstein, the Evangelist and UFOs

There’s always more to the story than we hear. The article below has pieced together new information, but there’s undoubtedly much that was never published in newspapers or public documents. 

Einstein, the Evangelist and UFOs

Decades before flying saucers, Albert Einstein believed there was something out there. The London Daily Mail, January 31, 1920, printed his thoughts about the possibility of radio signals coming from the planet Mars.

“There is every reason to believe that Mars and other planets are inhabited,” answered the professor. “Why should the earth be the only planet supporting human life? It is not singular in any other respect. But if intelligent creatures do exist, as we may assume they do elsewhere in the universe, I should not expect them to try to communicate with the earth by wireless [radio]. Light rays, the direction of which can be controlled much more easily, would more probably be the first method attempted.”

Albert Einstein 1878-1955

In early July 1947, the press reached Albert Einstein in Princeton, New Jersey, to ask for his thoughts about the flying saucer controversy. He hadn’t heard about it, and Einstein had nothing to say on the topic.

The Democrat and Leader, July 8, 1947

The professor had other problems on his mind.

,, 

Alliance Times-Herald, July 4, 1947

There were some goofy tales circulating in 2021 that Einstein’s “no comment” was a cover-up. Instead, Einstein and a teenaged female student supposedly traveled to Roswell, NM to examine aliens from a crashed UFO. Enough of that. Let’s talk about some Einstein UFO-related business that actually happened. 

Dec. 27, 1949 – Newspaper front pages carried headlines about Einstein and flying saucers, but not together in the same story. Einstein had announced his “generalized theory of gravitation,” and in True magazine, Maj. Donald Keyhoe had sensationally stated that “The Flying Saucers are Real.”

The exchange didn't receive media coverage, but in late November, a boy asked Einstein about UFOs, according to The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, edited by Alice Caprice:

Speaking of science fiction...

Einstein was also busy promoting peace and advocating a one-world government. In 1950 he appeared on television warning against the dangers of poisoning from atomic war, saying, “…there beckons more and more and more general annihilation.”

The danger of atomic war annihilation was at the heart of the classic 1951 film Day the Earth Stood Still, where a flying saucer landed with a warning from space. Klaatu sought the help of “the smartest man on earth,” physicist Dr. Jacob Barnhardt, played by Sam Jaffe, whom reviewers noted was “obviously based on Prof.  Albert Einstein.” Months later, someone consulted the real-life Einstein about flying saucers. 

UFOs and the Gardner Evangelist Crusade

Louis Albert Gardner was from Eugene, Oregon, and worked as a weaver before serving in World War II, “under the command of General Douglas MacArthur.” His 1940 documents show his employment as a ship fitter, but after the war he found a new career. The 1950 Census shows he was living in San Francisco at the time, age 38, unmarried, employment: Evangelist.

The South Gate Press, Aug. 23, 1951

Gardner said he was with the Baptist Evangelist Church in Portland, Oregon, but most of his preaching was in California. He called his one-man traveling ministry the Gardner Evangelist Crusade. Gardner’s advertising said he “puts America’s news in sermon,” and one of the topics he chose to exploit was flying saucers, which was peaking in 1952.

At this point, we’ll let Gardner tell the story himself. He was among the many speakers at “the World' s First Flying Saucer Convention” held by Flying Saucers International on August 16-18, 1953, at the Hollywood Hotel in California, and his lecture was printed in Max Miller’s, Saucers, Dec. 1953:

My Opinions on Flying Saucers by Rev. Louis A. Gardner

WE HAVE OFTEN HEARD WORLD leaders, statesmen, politicians, writers, journalists and television and radio commentators refer to Joseph Stalin, of the Soviet Union, as an "enigma inside a riddle wrapped up in a mystery" because of his mysterious nature and past finding out. This description is certainly applicable to the mystery surrounding the "Flying Saucers" that have been seen by scores of competent observers in mass flight in the skies over Mexico and the length and breadth of the U.S.A. since 1947.

While in the United States Navy stationed in Japan, under the command of General MacArthur, I saw first hand what the Model 'T' A-bomb did to the city of Naggasaki, Japan. I made up my mind then and there that anything the human brain was capable of thinking up is possible.

I now believe flying saucers are more than a remote possibility and could conceivably come from outer space, that is, other worlds such as Mars or Venus, which along with the Sun, Moon and other planets, comprise our solar system.

If these sightings had been made only during the War with Japan, when Japan was sending their deadly balloons across the Pacific to our West Coast, we could lay the flying saucer dilemma to war phobia, optical illusion, or general fear. But when these objects 1n the sky have been in mass formation and flight almost three years after cessation of hostilities - no wonder the major newspapers, periodicals and magazines have devoted millions of dollars worth of space trying to arrive at a satisfactory explanation of the flying discs.

JULY OF 1952 I WAS preparing a talk dealing with the controversial flying saucers. I was seeking the best scientific knowledge. I thought of Dr. Einstein, but again thought it futile to write such a prominent scientist.

At long last, I have learned that the only sure way to get needed information and material is to go to the very top authority. I could never understand telling some secretary my problem, only to have the secretary answer with a silly grin: "Well he is busy for the day " or "Will be back next week" when you know full well that he is sitting just inside the door.

So I went to the top. I wrote to Prof. Einstein, Advanced Study of Higher Mathematics, Princeton University. July 23rd, '52, I received an air mall letter, on Dr. Einstein's own letter head, and signature, verifying that those people saw something. Of course I regarded it quite an honor and privilege to receive any kind of answer from such a renowned and eminent scientist as Dr. Einstein.

Here are the exact excerpts or the questionnaire I sent Dr. Einstein:

“Do they originate in outer space?"

"Do they come from other worlds, such as Mars or Venus?"

“Do they come from our military rivals?"

“Are they the product of our own Air Force experiment?”

HERE IS DR. EINSTEIN'S letter to me, a letter that was printed perhaps in the newspapers of every civilized city and town in the world. Columbia Broadcasting System's television show, It's News To Me, thought the Einstein letter of such interest that they used it on their entire television hookup, including Los Angeles, California, which was viewed by millions of TV fans.

Here is the Professor's thoughts on the subject of flying saucers:

"July 23, 1952

"Dear Sir:

Those people have seen something. What they saw I do not know and I am not curious to know.

Sincerely yours, Albert Einstein

Mr. Louis A. Gardner

911 West 7th Place

Los Angeles 14, Cal."

AUGUST 1ST, 1952, I WAS walking along Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, with an associate of mine, Miss Frances Coyne, who is associated in the Gardner Evangelistic Crusade. I was telling her about the Einstein letter, and the publicity that the television, radio and newspapers were giving the subject, when I happened to look up at the moon, and near it I saw what appeared to be a huge red ball. I called it to the attention of those on the street. It seemed to linger near the moon and then just move back in the depths of space. I was reluctant to call the press, because of the publicity I got earlier that week, when I asked but didn't get an explanation on the flying saucers from Dr. Einstein.

However what I saw was so real, that in about five minutes I called the newspapers to report what I had seen. And sure enough five minutes before my report a young amateur astronomer, Frank Acuna, saw the same object as he was studying the moon through his telescope at the same place at the same time 8:15 p.m.

. . .

What became of Einstein and the Evangelist Afterwards?

The story of Gardner’s letter from Einstein made a big splash in the news, just as he said.

The press characterized Einstein’s reply as him being unconcerned or uninterested in flying saucers. Perhaps the professor just didn’t want to get involved in the controversy.

Einstein couldn’t be bothered by saucers and continued to work on a unified field theory up until his death in 1955.

Editorial from The Herald (Rock Hill, SC) March 18, 1953

As for Rev. Gardner, his claim of seeing a UFO in California skies on Aug. 1, 1952, was reported in the media at the time. Reports of UFOs in the area were made by other witnesses and were filed to Project Blue Book.

Los Angeles Mirror, Aug. 2, 1952

Gardener spoke for four nights in Spokane, Washington, on topics including, “The Truth to Date About Flying Saucers” and on the danger of the H-bomb, “America Wake Up or Blow Up.”

The Spokesman-Review, Aug. 30, 1952

Rev. Gardner had achieved some minor fame due to his reply from Einstein. He’d also became a UFO witness, included saucers in his sermons, and was a lecturer at the big Hollywood convention in 1953. Gardner could have easily developed a lucrative career as a UFO lecturer and author. Instead, he was busy with distractions that earned him a rap sheet with the FBI. 

Hitting the Skids

Gardner continued his Evangelism and had written and copyrighted at least two publications. He was married around this time, and had he ambitions to take the Gardner Evangelist Crusade. In 1954, when Gardner was arrested for stealing donations for the blind, and the police search uncovered dozens of items he’d shoplifted from drugstores.

From The Daily News, April 27, 1954:

Evangelist Arrested on Theft Count

The Rev. Louis A Gardner, 42, an evangelist who conducts church revival meetings hereabouts on the theme, “Strike It Rich,” yesterday was arrested on a charge of stealing charity donations for the blind. Reverend Gardner was captured by Inglewood police officers William Sidall and Charles Devereaux, and waitress Pauline Alexander after a three-block chase from King's Restaurant, 200 N. Market Street. During the Sprint the Reverend Gardner threw away a box containing the donations for the blind which he had allegedly taken from the cashier's desk of the restaurant after having a cup of coffee there. At the police station the Reverend Gardener's pockets were found to contain $242 along with 25 ballpoint pens, 14 packages of razor blades and numerous newspaper clippings telling of revival meetings he had conducted in Los Angeles churches. He lives at 911 7th Pl., Los Angeles.

Another paper's coverage: 

 Los Angeles Daily Times, April 27, 1954

There was no record of a court date or conviction, so Gardner may have only paid a fine at the worst. To avoid the bad publicity, he preached for a while as Rev. L. Albert Gardner and moved away from Los Angeles, relocating to an apartment in Berkley, CA. Not much else is documented on him until he was arrested for theft in Oakland. 

“The minister’s downfall came when he ordered a milkshake in a restaurant at 5492 College Ave. then allegedly snitched a March of Dimes can as he left. Mrs. Bee Stair, the restaurant proprietor called the police. Before a police car caught him two blocks away, the Rev. Mr. Gardner had stolen a second polio fund can from the Chimes Market [down the street].”

The San Francisco Examiner, Feb. 9, 1956

The strange thing was that Gardner had $2,041 in money orders and cash in his wallet from lectures and Bible sales. Gardner pleaded for mercy saying he needed the money to buy a tent for his ministry. “I never did anything like this before. Absolutely never. I don't know why I did it. I walked in there. The can was there. I just took it.”

There were other crimes that did not make the papers: “…a check with FBI officials revealed Gardner’s partial record includes burglaries and mail theft as well as minor offenses.” This time, Gardner went to jail. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and carried in many papers throughout California.

Oakland Tribune, Feb. 10, 1956

Gardner "told police at the time that he stole because he lost $14,000 in the uranium market." Some other UFO-related folks that took big financial hits in the uranium market were Richard Shaver and Kenneth Arnold. There is no record of them turning to criminal behavior, however.

After Rev. Gardner was punished in California, he left the state. From then on, either he stopped stealing, didn’t get caught, or his crimes didn’t make the newspapers. He lived for a short while in Chicago, Illinois, then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Besides his evangelistic preaching, he kept busy with soliciting donations, distributing Bibles, and the occasional publicity stunt.

Chicago Tribune, May 20, 1960

Star Tribune, Sept. 14, 1963

The Minneapolis Star, Jan. 25, 1964

The Minneapolis Star, March 7, 1964

Minneapolis Tribune, March 8, 1964

Minneapolis Tribune, April 16, 1964

We were unable to find any further trace of Rev. Gardner, but if he was still alive and preaching in 1966, he would have almost certainly included flying saucers in his sermons during the public’s outrage over the “swamp gas” fiasco. Nevertheless, Gardner’s name still comes up frequently in UFO literature for Einstein’s reply to his 1952 letter. 

Einstein and Beyond

Albert Einstein was never closely associated with flying saucers, but in the 1977 film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the aliens return people they’ve abducted over the decades, all as young as when they were taken. A scientist notes, “They haven't even aged. Einstein was right.” The team leader replies, “Einstein was probably one of them.”

NASA honored the professor in a 2003 publication relating to space science and exploration. From Einstein and Beyond: “A century ago, Albert Einstein began creating his theory of relativity -- the ideas we use to understand space, time and gravity.”

Getting back to UFOs. It is documented that the professor was asked twice about flying saucers but chose not to be drawn into the controversy. This perhaps proves that Albert Einstein was indeed the smartest man on Earth.

We’ll close with an imaginative painting from Hajime Sorayama.

Albert Einstein & UFO, 1975

Dr. Drake and the Visitors

Eugene Harry Drake was a pioneer, publisher of some of the first literature on UFOs, leader of an early organization, discussed alien abductions, and was possibly the first person claiming to have met extraterrestrials and taken a ride in one of their spaceships.

In 1986, Loren Gross’ UFOs: A History, 1952: November–December discussed “George Adamski and the ‘Contactee’ Phenomenon.” Page 40 discussed Adamski’s various influences:

“Certainly a much lesser known source of inspiration but still a valid one, was the writings of Eugene H. Drake, Director of the "Fellowship of Golden Illumination" headquartered on Lake Street in Los Angeles, who penned, in 1950, the booklet: Life on the Planets - A Visit to Venus. Drake claimed a visitation from two Venusian-saucer pilots named ‘[Aramia] and Estralon’ who: ‘... impressed me to go to a certain desert location to be picked up.’"

Drake has been the subject of two previous articles by ufologists, and we are indebted to both of these authors for their work to prevent Drake from being another one of the Ufologists That Time Forgot. 

“Eugene H. Drake: The Precursor”

by Luis Ruiz Noguez, 2016

“The UFO Contactee No One Investigated”

by Håkan Blomqvist, with biographical data from Joshua Blu Buhs, 2017

Eugene Harry Drake, Sept. 22, 1889 - Feb. 21, 1973

It Began in California 

Drake was born on Sept. 22, 1889, in his early 30s in 1920s, employed as a cashier for the New England Life Insurance company in Los Angeles, California. He had big dreams and started a motion picture company, Eugene H. Drake Productions, incorporated in June 1921. Grace and Carl Moon were authors and illustrators of children's books about Native Americans. Their Lost Indian Magic was being adapted by Drake into a movie, but the project ran into financial problems. Drake’s film business was struggling for cash, and as a result of his short-term solution, he was arrested for a forgery charge of embezzling $6500 from the insurance company. There’s no indication how the case was resolved, but apparently the experience led Drake to pursue other employment.

Stockton Independent, April 21, 1922, Picture circa 1924

Drake’s occupation as shown in the US Census by decade: 1920 - Film exchange manager, 1930 - Building materials salesman, 1940 - Restaurant cook. Drake was not drafted for service In World War II, but his 1942 draft registration card seems to indicate that whatever his profession, he was self-employed. Jumping ahead to 1952, Drake wrote a letter of praise to a spiritualist magazine, The Open Way, giving his occupation as, “Writer, Teacher, Spiritual healer.”  

By 1948, Drake had founded the religious organization, “The Fellowship of Golden Illumination,” based in Los Angeles. He was lecturing in churches about “The Impending Golden Age,” listing himself as a reverend, “Dr. Eugene H. Drake.”

 

Drake and the Visitors from Space

Drake published the 38-page UFO booklet, Visitors From Space, in 1950. He seems to have “Dr.” seems to have been dropped, and he referred to himself as “Eugene H. Drake, Director.” In the introduction, Drake drew from Theosophical lore, saying: “The Elder Brothers from space, the forces of the White Brotherhood are here in greater array than any time since man walked the earth. They have the answers.” The title page illustration was of several spacecraft of different shapes, one of them, a bell-shaped flying saucer with three balls on the bottom, very much like the one George Adamski would later claim to see and photograph. 

Drake’s booklet is remarkable on several fronts. While lacking the exposure of the others, his publication appeared as early as the first UFO books, Donald Keyhoe’s The Flying Saucers are Real and Frank Scully’s Behind the Flying Saucers. Drake was first into print with a Contactee story; he presented the fully-formed lore of alien contact that served as a foundation for beliefs still held today.

Drake said the earth has long been under observation by spacecraft, and that he personally had “been in contact with them since 1930,” first in a field in Santa Monica.  Drake said the ships  “are powered by a form of magnetic force… heavily armed with powerful ray weapons.” Their technology allows them to fly in any direction, suddenly reverse, hover, become invisible, change to a fluid state, and beam it to “wherever they want.” 

Drake didn’t use the term “downloads,” but stated that the Elder Brothers were behind all our best ideas:

“Many of our scientists, musicians, poets, etc., have received much of their understanding from higher minds both carnate and discarnate who have been drawn close and impressed upon their consciousness ideas which they claim as their own. This intelligence originated in the higher spheres of consciousness and was given to them that humanity be benefited and civilizations lifted to more wonderful expression.”

Describing the various sizes and shapes of spaceships, Drake said they range from giant cigars down to unmanned surveillance discs to 2-feet across, which had been mistaken for “fire-balls or foo-balls.” He said,” The mission of these craft is a helpful and peaceful one... the unfolding of the New Age Plan... the building of a better civilization.” 

Ancient Aliens – Drake said they’ve always been here: “Many visitations... since (earth’s) formation and cooling by these Elder Brothers of Space, and during periods of wars and great tribulations.” He didn’t reference Charles Fort by name but seemed to acknowledge his work by referencing spaceship sightings seen in the past, including “mysterious cigar-shaped airships” in the 1800s. 

The visitors were building broadcasting stations which would send out beams of thought waves of “peace, love, joy, harmony and justice” to break up our native destructive thought patterns. Drake described the commander and crew of one of the ships: 

“...Aramia, is 5 feet 10 inches tall. Very dignified. Solidly built, fairly broad through the shoulders. His hair is long and golden. The cheeks are pink, eyes large and blue, his chin strong. He has a very pleasing expression. He wears a tight fitting tunic of pearl shade pink, with gold and blue trim... His command ship is from the planet Venus... The crew is composed of the Venusians from 36 to 42 inches tall. They are well proportioned. Their skin is a light cream color, covered with fuzz like hair, like the down of a peach. Their eyes are large and blue, with hair blonde to golden, brows fairly heavy, arched but little. …Venusians appear to be highly advanced spiritually, mentally and physically. Being so pure in their thought they seem almost angelic.” 

That’s what we call a “Nordic” today. Other alien races vary, Drake explained, from the little men of Venus to the giants of Uranus and Neptune. Life was plentiful on other planets, and some of the beings resemble earth people closely, but... “Some beings are part human and part animal... in the lower phases of evolvement. They too fell from grace or a higher status by mating with lower animalistic forms, even as some of the first beings on earth, called the sons of Light, who married or mated with sub-human people.” 

Venus: Pretty men and prettier women. Aramia and Estralon

Women were part of the crew, and he was introduced to the second in command:

“This is Estralon, our second flight Commander. She has a ship of her own.” Drake described her as being very beautiful and trim, standing 5 ft. 4 inches tall. Unlike Aramia, she did not speak English, and communicated with Drake by telepathy to give him a tour of the ship. Estralon said they had a device that “demagnetizes whatever the beam is directed on,” which allowed it to be used “to disintegrate any foreign objects that might interfere with our flight,” but it could also be used as a weapon against a hostile force. Another machine harnessed energy for propulsion and navigation, which Drake said picks up “the white substance, vryil, which they claim is more explosive than uranium... concentrated to some odd shaped highly polished crystals.”

Estralon told him the secret of their spaceships’ construction could not be shared with earth while we were so “destructively minded.” She said, “Space craft have been making landings on the earth for many hundreds of years. There are many references to them in your ancient writings.” She cited the lost cities of Mu and Atlantis as places they were used. She told him there were secret civilizations, survivors of Mu living under the south pole, “the Rainbow People,” another colony living on the dark side of the moon, and yet another living underground not far from Mexico City. 

The saucers had appeared due to our atomic explosions which, “disturbed the etheric atmosphere... penetrated lines of magnetic force and spiraled up to the other planets in our solar system.” The Etherians (Elder Brothers) would not allow “civilization to be destroyed as it almost was during the struggle between the Titans and the Atlans, LaMurians prior to the sinking of Lemuria and Atlantis.” The booklet concluded with Estralon and Aramia telling Drake:

“We Space Beings, your elder Brothers, shall if necessary, use powers beyond your knowledge to preserve the earth... Mark it well, you leaders of destruction... we shall move swiftly to purify the earth of your kind when the Supreme Commander gives us the command.”

If that seems familiar, in 1951, Klaatu said much the same thing in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

"(We) patrol the planets -- in space ships like this one -- and preserve the peace... if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder... live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration.”

The first booklet was vague about just how Drake met Aramia and boarded his ship, but the implication is that it a physical, not a psychic experience. Drake mentioned Aramia spoke verbally, but Estralon only spoke to him telepathically, and that would seem to indicate he was describing physical sensations and events.

 

Second Contact: Touring Another Planet

Drake’s story continued in the 34-page Life On the Planets - A Visit to Venus in 1950. In the acknowledgments, Drake thanked his alien friends, including Sunat Kumara among them.

 Life On the Planets: A Visit to Venus in 1950. In the second booklet, Drake emphasized that experience related within was “a journey in the etheric body, not a physical, or a third dimensional trip.” (Apparently the trip was taken in an astral body, not his flesh.) He was reclining on his couch when Estralon entered and led him outside the huge spaceship she commanded. He told of his visit to the planet Venus and interactions with the people, all of whom are kind and beautiful. The cities and the homes contained furniture material made from a wood light as plastic, with knobs made out of gold. They drive aero-cars, and Drake visited their government, the Council of Elders. In the Temple of Music, he met the etheric forms of long-dead musicians such as Liszt, Bach and Beethoven, some of whom would return to earth to help the younger generation channel music. 

It was in their Temple of Wisdom where Drake came to understand his role. The Instructor told him about their mission to set earth people on the right path. “Being here on the planet you can be given information that will correct some of this misunderstanding... As John was selected for preparing the way for your Teacher Jesus…” Drake doesn’t explicitly state it, but by telling the story it shows he has taken on the job to prepare earth for the arrival of the Elder Brothers from space.

 

Of Alien Abductions and Atlantean Free Energy

Drake published a newsletter, Golden Light, for his Fellowship of Golden Illumination, and there he published a sequel of sorts to his booklets, a statement from Aramia himself that Venusians and their friends were not abducting earthlings. It was reprinted on page 21 of Interplanetary News Digest no. 2, 1954 as: 

Aramia, the Venusian Commander of a Space Fleet 

"Greetings, O people of earth from the Planet Venus. 

We of outer space wish to correct some of the statements being made by earth men. No earth people are being picked up by our craft in their physical bodies, nor using your terms 'being kidnaped.' We are only picking up our own people whom we have landed in certain areas. We operate from a higher dimension. In that density our bodies are more solid than yours, but they vibrate at a considerably higher frequency. 

“We have taken earth people in their more refined bodies, the etheric, that they might be acquainted with our mission, but none in their physical bodies. Such would have to be placed in a state of deep trance or suspended animation in order to withstand the terrific light and power which our craft generate. We are masters of the elements and use our minds and telepathic powers in a manner which earth people cannot comprehend. 

"During the coming months a great deal of mischievous activity shall effect the psyche of earth people, emanating from dark magicians, former Atlantians and Murians, who went underground during the struggle between those two races during the last atomic age. As stated before these are the ones who surround themselves with such noxious odors, who would confuse and deceive man into thinking they come from outer space. They are very cunning, they have considerable scientific knowledge, and are able to use free energy to construct ships of this substance. 

"We caution you to be on your guard. Protect yourself by thoroughly checking all statements, all disc activity, in the Light of your Creator. 

"Keep up your prayers for Peace and impress your leaders that only through peace can you survive." 

Here’s another taste of Golden Light from 1958 with an article on the underground UFO base in Antarctica.

 

Influence and Imitators

It’s hard to determine how much impact Drake had in 1950, but he was connected with the occult network of Southern California New Age cults and organizations, which had a heavy overlap with saucer circles. Drake lived in Los Angeles, and Dan Fry, founder of Understanding Inc., was based in El Monte.

Did the legendary George Adamski try to top Drake? The “Professor” created a bigger and better story of contact with a beautiful angelic Venusian, but his was supported by witnesses, physical evidence, and later, photographs. It was too good to be true. In the fall of 1953, Truman Bethurum entered the Contactee scene and developed a significant following within the saucer world, second only to George Adamski. Adamski’s Orthon was based on Aramia, and Bethurum stole his female counterpart, Estralon for the star of his story, rechristened as Aura Rhanes, the beautiful female saucer captain from planet Clarion. In 1954, Bethurum’s book, Aboard A Flying Saucer was released, and he sold it and other pamphlets at lectures and conventions. 

By the mid-50s Drake’s booklets were carried across the USA by many saucer clubs and magazines such as Gray Barker’s Saucerian Bulletin, the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America, and Dan Fry’s Understanding, Inc. Drake’s Visitors From Space and A Visit to Venus were listed as the top two in the “Best Sellers in the New York Area” from the Sept. 1955 Flying Saucer News, which said, “Let me tell you that his two books sell GOOD... A few good distributors is all you need plus a good story and have a picture or two in the book.”

 

Further Illumination

Jan. 1956, as reported in Flying Saucer News, “According to Eugene H. Drake [the Fellowship] took pictures on Mount Shasta and also the desert last month, which show several space craft.”

Believed to be one of Drake’s UFO-related photographs, date unknown.

Drake was mentioned in The Saturday Evening Post, March 10, 1956, article, “He Runs Flying-Saucer Headquarters” by John Kobler:

“In Los Angeles, Eugene H. Drake, director of the Fellowship of Golden Illumination, photographs space creatures by infrared light and tape-records their conversations. Drake claims to have toured Venus on a ‘gravitonic sled.’” 

In the July 1956 Golden Light, Drake said that a building of worship “has already been erected on the Upper Joshua Desert.  ...We have had several contacts with beings from space here. …One room will be devoted to the healing arts... light, music, water therapies, rejuvenation methods such as used on the Planet Venus.” He called it the Star Temple of Healing.

Illustration from the May 1962 Golden Light

The Pomona Progress Bulletin, September 11, 1956, advertised his lecture, “The Great World Drama and Advent of Spacecraft” for the local chapter of Dan Fry’s Understanding Inc. group. Drake was a frequent speaker for them and a guest for at least one UFO convention.
“The first Spacecraft Picnic sponsored by Understanding in Alhambra on September 8th (1957) has been acclaimed a success... about 300 friends and members in attendance... Among the guests were Dana Howard, Calvin Girvin, Eugene Drake and Eloise Mellor and many other leaders in the New Age Movement.” (Understanding, Sept. 1957.)

Drake was quoted in Secret of the Andes by George Hunt Williamson (as Brother Philip), 1961:

“In March 1957 the Fellowship of Golden Illumination in Los Angeles, California, said: ‘The call is going out continually to all on the Path of Light to come out from them... the dark forces... and unite for the establishment of the Kingdom of Love and Peace.’”

In July 1959 Drake spoke at Gabriel Green’s the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America “First National Convention,” giving the lecture, "The Pending Golden Age." The 1960 book Faiths, Cults, and Sects of America, by Richard R. Mathison mentions Drake’s organization:

 “…some two thousand saucer fans gathered to hear the talks by ‘contactees.’ There were tape recordings of messages from outer space. The religious flavor of the clubs represented is obvious by their names — Celestial Vehicle Investigation Committee, Christ Brotherhood, Inc., Cosmic Circle of Friendship, First Christian Spiritualist Church, Fellowship of Golden Illumination…”

Drake was mentioned in the story co-written by Cleve Twitchell (Dan Fry’s Understanding Inc.), “Mt. Shasta’s Mystic Quality” from the March 3, 1963, Medford, Oregon, Mail Tribune:

“Still another Mt. Shasta legend concerns the ‘Little People.’ An article by Eugene H. Drake of Los Angeles, for instance, reports that the writer encountered during 1951 and 1952 large numbers of tiny beings who had the ability to appear and disappear at will.”

Like many occultists, Drake subscribed to the belief that the space people were made from ghostlike etheric matter but could become physical if they wished. Håkan Blomqvist published the translation of a portion of Drake’s Sept.19, 1961, letter to Karl and Amy Veit, published in Besucher aus dem Weltraum:  

"There are very few people who have had real physical contact with space ships or space people, like ourselves. I have on various occasions experienced how space people appear in condensed form and I could shake their hands. After the contact they disappeared into a higher frequency."

Golden Light May 1962

We were unable to find what became of the Fellowship of Golden Illumination. The last known issue of the Golden Light "was published in May 1962. Eugene Harry Drake died February 21, 1973, in Los Angeles at the age of 82. Few people remember his name, but almost everyone knows an imitation of his story. 

. . .

 

 

Some Notes on Drake’s Influences

Theosophy and the Vril

Drake said the Vensuians’ otherworldly technology was powered by “vryil.” Vril was the magical energy source from the 1871 novel, The Coming Race, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a huge influence on science fiction and Theosophy. In 1947, Ole J. Sneide claimed contact with a celestial being who gave him information on flying saucers and their ancient and mystic extraterrestrial origins.

Drake cited the White Brotherhood and described the Venusians’ benevolence and guidance of earth, all concepts of Theosophy lore, not to mention Atlantis. While he didn’t use the term, “ascended,” the more highly evolved beings were of a higher spiritual nature. He describes the mating of Elders with creatures on earth in similar terms to that of William Pelley and his disciple, George Hunt Williamson. 

Frank Scully

Behind the Flying Saucers was published Sept. 1950. Drake was apparently familiar with Frank Scully’s book and imitated much from it. Drake’s saucers with magnetic propulsion from Venus and the exact measurements of the little men inside must have been derived from the Silas Newton hoax packaged by Scully. According to Scully, the government scientist Dr. Gee said, “we were able to count sixteen bodies, that ranged in height from about 36 to 42 inches.” Drake mimicked nothing about Scully’s notions of a cover-up or government suppression, he just harped on the need to avoid war and the A-bomb. Incidentally, Scully lived in California and was a Holly wood gossip columnist. He was interested in the wild side of flying saucers and read Meade Layne’s publications from the Borderland Sciences Research Associates Foundation. He also and rubbed shoulders with George Adamski.

Richard Shaver/Ray Palmer

Drake talked about core concepts of the Shaver Mystery, the underground beings and ancient Atlan and Mu. Aramia warned about “mischievous activity shall effect the psyche of earth people, emanating from dark magicians, former Atlantians and Murians, who went underground during the struggle between those two races during the last atomic age.” That sounds a lot like Shaver’s Deros. 

 

For Further Study

For more on the influence of Theosophy and the Occult on ufology, see these articles by Curt Collins: 

The UFO Prophecy of Frederick G. Hehr

Ole J. Sneide: A 1947 Pioneer of the UFO Extraterrestrial Hypothesis

UFO History: The Saucers from Atlantis

1946, Before Saucers, Kareeta: UFO Contact in California