UFOs: Going to the Next Level

In the early 1970s, the Human Individual Metamorphosis (HIM) movement was launched by Marshall Herff Applewhite, an ex-music teacher, and Bonnie Lu Nettles, an ex-psychiatric nurse from Texas. Presenting themselves as incarnate aliens, they gathered students to teach the way to extraterrestrial salvation. By 1975, former followers were predicting a tragic end. On March 26, 1997, in Rancho Santa Fe, California, Applewhite and 38 of his followers were found dead from a mass suicide. The Heaven’s Gate story is well known, but so we won’t repeat it all, just focus on how the group interacted with UFOs culture and how they exploited it to influence their followers.

In the 1950s, Theosophical concepts of ancient godlike beings from other planets guiding mankind were redressed for a new audience. George Adamski claimed he’d met a savior in a flying saucer from Venus, becoming the first major Contactee. Many imitators followed with inspirational contact stories of their own, planting the seeds for de facto UFO religions. What happened with Applewhite, Nettles, and their students is a byproduct of the Contactee teachings.

 

First Contact

In 1973, Applewhite and Nettles took to the road traveling around the country, where they came up with the concepts for their teachings. As the son of a Presbyterian minister, Applewhite had set out to follow his father’s religious profession before focusing on music. Nettles was interested in astrology, Theosophy and UFOs. In 1974, mixing concepts from Christianity, Theosophy, and UFO Contactee lore, they reinvented themselves as celestial saviors. The asexual couple cultivated an air of mystery about themselves. They shed their names and became known as “the Two,” individually as “Bo” and “Peep,” later as “Ti” and “Do.” The Two began taking their ministry public by contacting UFO organizations.

On July 13, 1974, Applewhite and Nettles arrived in Oklahoma City at the office of Hayden Hewes of the International UFO Bureau where he interviewed them for 90 minutes. Hewes asked about whether UFOs were physically real and Applewhite said: 

“…they are real at a vibratory control rate… for example a spaceship can change its vibration rate. An individual who is a member of the next kingdom can change his vibration rate. He can appear and disappear in front of your eyes, because he has developed to that capacity.”

Applewhite also explained how our earthly lives must be shed to reach the heavenly next level: 

“…if you were willing to flake off all your humanity to make this graduation, you would move into an entirely different consciousness, you would change your body over just as the chrysalis in the caterpillar to butterfly.”

The Aerial Phenomena Research Organization was their next known stop. The APRO Bulletin Oct. 1975, described their visit.  

“In July of 1974 a middle-aged couple walked into APRO’s office and held a conversation… The gist of it was that they were some sort of emissaries and that within a year and a half they would be assassinated and would be taken up by a UFO, rejuvenated and returned to earth for some sort of revivalist movement.”

Before their recruiting campaign was properly launched, some trouble with the law resulted in Applewhite spending six months in jail.

Valley Morning Star TX, Aug. 29, 1974

Afterwards, they recruited “students” for HIM by putting up posters for their meetings which featured a UFO headline. Many of the people who were attracted by the group’s posters had a prior interest in UFOs.

In Messengers of Deception, the 1979 book by Jacques Vallée, he wrote about attending the HIM meeting on August 13, 1975, at the Stanford campus. A panel of eight members talked about how they had abandoned everything to follow The Two, and encouraged the audience to join them, saying it was free. When a woman challenged them on this, the speaker replied, "It only costs your life, you know. . ."

Two recruits were students from the University of Oregon, who’d become excited by news about the claims of crashed UFO at Hangar 18 by Robert Spencer Carr. In his final interview, the member said:

“One day in Oregon in 1975 an article showed up in the campus paper… [about] a Florida professor's presentation about the Aztec, New Mexico, crash and the bodies found inside. Autopsies showed the beings had brains capable of superhuman intelligence... I showed the article to [my friend]. This was before we joined the class, and we thought, ‘Wow this is going to be a big story.’ … some months later… we saw a poster that said. ‘UFOs: Why they are here…’”

They and many others left with the cult and were said to have “vanished.”

HIM poster, Calgary Herald, Oct. 17, 1975

To reach the Next Level involved some sacrifice, and their students were required to forsake most worldly pleasures like drugs and sex. Further, they were to sever contact with their families and devote themselves completely to the mission. The press on HIM focused on families that were torn apart by the cult.

The Courier Journal, Nov. 4, 1975

Joan Culpepper, a California psychic was a follower of HIM, but she dropped out and started speaking publicly to expose them.

Tucson Daily Citizen, Nov 29, 1975

The cult continued to recruit, sometimes drawing an audience of several hundred prospects.

 

Billings Gazette, Dec. 23, 1975

The fame of The Two was growing. In 1976, William Shatner, ex-Captain Kirk of Star Trek, was working on a paranormal documentary, Mysteries of the Gods, based on an Erich von Daniken book. Ufologist Dennis William Hauck was interviewed by Shatner in the film, and wrote in his 1995 book, Captain Quirk, that Shatner believed in alien visitors. He'd heard something about The Two and was curious.

Dennis William Hauck and William Shatner

Hauck told him about attending one of the HIM meetings and hearing about their message. “There must be over 150 members by now. Both Jackie Gleason and musician Steve Halpern came close to joining the group.” Shatner asked, “And why didn't you go with them?” When Hauck told him about The Two’s criminal record, Shatner lost any interest he had in them.

Hayden Hewes met The Two again in 1976 along with Brad Steiger. The interviews formed the basis for the 1976 book, UFO Missionaries Extraordinary. The Two had hoped their message would be spread to the world, but they were unhappy with the book, since it left out their alleged connection to Revelations and their predicted resurrections.

This edition was from the Heaven’s Gate book collection.

Excessive publicity caused Applewhite to become paranoid about being pursued by the law. The Two took their class underground.

The Next Generation

The late 1970s saw a boom in science fiction movies with aliens and other worlds, and this helped the class visualize the next level. Trouble came in 1985, when Bonnie Lu Nettles died from cancer, something not accounted for in their philosophy. It shook the faith, but when prophecy fails, change the prophecy. Physical entry into the spaceship to Heaven was no longer necessary. In 1993 the cult publicly remerged and started recruiting again, eventually renamed Heaven’s Gate. Applewhite had a new plan and taught his followers, “The Shedding of Our Human Bodies May Be Required To Take Up New Bodies in the Next World.”

The group was founded around the principles of UFOs and alien beings, and that was reflected in their allowed entertainment choices. Members were kept from watching TV programs featuring explicit sex but permitted to see shows more aligned to their values such as the Star Trek series, Voyager and Deep Space 9, and The X-Files and Millennium.

Applewhite and students take a trip.

In late 1996, remote viewer Courtney Brown was the guest on Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell, claiming a UFO “four times the size of Earth” following the comet Hale-Bopp. A photo alleging to show the was promoted on the websites of Whitley Strieber and Art Bell in mid-January 1997. Applewhite and his followers believed it pictured their ride, and they started preparing for their departure. We know how their story ends, but one of their first stops along the way was at a major UFO convention.

A large contingent from Heaven’s Gate attended the fringy 6th Annual International UFO Congress in Laughlin, Nevada, January 18-24, 1997. Perhaps they were drawn to it since at least two of the lecturers were speaking about the Hale-Bopp UFO, Whitley Strieber and Lee Shargel.

The scope of the IUFOC convention was described in a report from Pete Creelman in the March MUFON-Arizona newsletter. Newsweek reported the Heaven’s Gate students were good customers. “While there, they shell out $740.86 on hotels, books, tapes and UFO magazines." Applewhite’s group already had a collection of UFO books, but some of the new items may have been mentioned in The Los Angeles Times, Nov. 21, 1999, when their belongings went up for auction and, “the cult's book collection for $340.” It included:

The Star Trek Encyclopedia, 1994.

Disneyland of the Gods by John Keel, 1995. 

Aliens from Outer Space by David Jackson, a 1991 children's picture book. 

Additionally, news video of the auction showed six boxes of books with at least three other UFO volumes from the collection:

UFO: The Complete Sightings by Peter Brookesmith, 1995.

An Alien Harvest by Linda Moulton Howe, 1989.

UFO... Contact from the Pleiades, by Wendelle C. Stevens, 1979.

There were apparently at least two lots of books auctioned, and a Reddit post pictured some of the volumes said to be part of the Heaven’s Gate collection, books from the 1950s to the 1990s.

 Also, among their possessions were a T-shirt with the picture of an alien and the logo "FARFROMHOME," and two "Star Wars" hats with the logo, "May the Force Be With You."

Astronomers identified the alleged UFO following the comet as an ordinary star, but Applewhite and his class were committed to leaving earth. The Heaven’s Gate site said, “Whether Hale-Bopp has a ‘companion’ or not is irrelevant from our perspective.” 

 

Out of Their Vulcan Minds

Gene Rodenberry created Star Trek incorporating ideas form classic science fiction, which by that time had folded in quite a bit of UFO and alien lore. Heaven’s Gate was fond of Star Trek and its spin offs, and it was reported that their demeanor was asexual and emotionally aloof, resembling the cool detachment of Vulcans from the series.

One of the members on their voyage to the final frontier was Thomas Alva Nichols, brother of Nichelle Nichols who played Lt. Uhura. For their mission, Heaven’s Gate members wore a patch inspired by the series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, which called the landing party transported to other planets an “away team.” 

In the videotape made in late 1996, “Planet About To Be Recycled - Your Only Chance To Survive,” in late 1996, Marshall Applewhite said:

“In the eyes of the Kingdom of Heaven, there's no such thing as race or color or religious background... If the extent of your religious background was Star Trek - that in itself could be the best background you could have, if you could accept this as Truth, if you could accept this as reality.”

In the members’ farewell videotape, one trekker used a science fiction analogy to try to explain their choices:

"…to us, this step of laying down... these human bodies [is] simple, like we watch a lot of ‘Star Trek,’ a lot of 'Star Wars’… "We've been on a holodeck, we've been into training... The game's over. It's time to put into practice what we've learned."

They poisoned themselves and died for their beliefs, a twisted religion based on UFOs and aliens. “Going From This World to a New Life” by James Phelan in the Lakeland Ledger, Feb 29, 1976, closed with a quote from Marshall Applewhite:

"Some people are like lemmings, who rush in a pack into the sea and drown themselves. Many migrate to the West Coast. They join any movement – self-discipline, this kind of meditation, that kind of meditation… Some people,” says the former opera singer who claims he will rise from the dead and take his followers to heaven on a UFO, “will try anything.”

. . . 

 

UFO Religion: The Cosmic Circle of Fellowship

 

William R. Ferguson (born July 23, 1900) was the author of a 1937 self-self-help book teaching that before you could achieve your goals, one must learn to Relax First. Most of the advice was pragmatic, but there was a taste of the metaphysical:

“There was a soul that wandered out in the cosmic space... Everyone who has been born on this terrestrial sphere, was once a soul that wandered before its advent here.”

Ferguson worked as postman, then a Chicago taxi driver but quit that in 1946 to promote the invention he called the Zerret Applicator, a device infused with atomic energy that produced healing X-rays. 

From the FDA Consumer, February 1977:

“The Zerret Applicator exploited popular interest in medical uses of atomic energy following World War II. Inside were tubes of ‘Zerret Water,’ claimed to produce the ‘Z-Ray, a force unknown to science.’ This was said to ‘expand the atoms of the body’" thereby curing all diseases. Users were directed, to hold one end of the device in each hand but not to cross the legs, which would cause a ‘short circuit.’ More than 5,000 were sold at $50 each. Prosecuted by FDA, the promoter was sentenced to two years in Federal prison.”

Reborn

After prison, Ferguson found a new calling. He went into the flying saucer region business. In 1954 Ferguson founded the Cosmic Circle of Fellowship, the first publication of which was his 13-page booklet, My Trip To Mars.

Ferguson rewrote his history, retconning everything into a cosmic plan. He claimed to have had some mind-expanding experiences since 1938, but on January 12, 1947, his consciousness was taken to Mars to meet a “Celestial Being,” Khauga.

"The Martians taught me so many things in the two hours that I was there, but in particular, the one who guided me about; his name was, and is, Khauga... is the one who engineered my teleportation... This great being who had engineered everything. I found out he was the one who had… been guiding my hands and consciousness in my work. …What a revelation to know that you have been working under the guidance of one of the greatest Uniphysicists in our Solar System.”

He found out that the Martians have been observing our progress on consciousness, spiritual and scientific development for 2,000 years. Ferguson was selected by Khauga to a share a message:

“To all fellow Earthmen, I can assure you we are now in a wonderful development period… and as a result, all things will become new and finer for the enjoyment and happiness for each and every being.”

Ferguson's teachings were a stew of New Age religion, flying saucer concepts and Christianity, preparing his followers for the Second Coming of Jesus.  In 1955, Ferguson published a 38-page booklet by "Khauga the Comforter, A Message from Outer Space." It was described as, "A Decoding of the Book of Revelation (the Apocalypse) of the Bible; This Book Was a Revelation of Jesus Christ Given to His Angel to Give It to John His Servant Who Was on the Isle of Patmos When the Revelation Was Given." 

The Cosmic Circle of Fellowship became part of the flying saucer Contactee community which helped spread the word about the group, their publications, and products. Ferguson also traveled to other cities to five  lectures, but one such trip to Wisconsin resulted in a scrap with the law. As reported in Time magazine, Nov. 29, 1954, "Miscellany: Wild Blue Yonder.”

"In Milwaukee, police looked for William Ferguson, lecturer (at $1 a head) on the wonders of Mars, after he 1) tried to sell Policewoman Mary Smeaton a brain-relaxing helmet and other souvenirs he said he brought back from his trip to the planet in 1947; 2) told her she would return to her home planet Saturn after 14,000 more years; 3) rhapsodized about Martian food, which the body absorbs without the need for elimination, and Martian water, which can be swum in without getting wet."

As reprinted in The Sun-Herald (Sydney, Australia)  Dec. 5, 1954 

Flying saucer magazines generally received Ferguson more warmly. Flying Saucer News, Sept 1955:

"The Cosmic Circle of Fellowship presents William Ferguson every Friday evening at 8: P.M. in Parlor E of the LaSalle Hotel, Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Ferguson gives Flying Saucer reports and messages from outer space, and subject matter of related phenomena.”

Ad from Flying Saucer News, Aug. 1955

Coral and Jim Lorenzen found Ferguson and his kind to be a nuisance. The APRO Bulletin, Sept. 1956: 

“Wonder when the [press] will do a feature on the oddballs in Chicago who call themselves the ‘Cosmic Circle of Fellowship.’ Passing around plastic cups, which they call the Cosmic Carriers, they list on their program ‘Cosmic Music,’ etc., and are generally fouling up UFO research… part of the job… [is to look] into these things, no matter how odd.”

The press had come close. The March 10, 1956, issue of The Saturday Evening Post had run an article on a flying saucer book store, “He Runs Flying Saucer Headquarters.” It focused on the kooks and Contactees, noting the Cosmic Circle of Fellowship in Chicago “receives messages from space every Friday night in Parlor E of the La Salle Hotel.”

UFO Conventions

Ferguson spoke at flying saucer conventions, and his group held their own “Annual Interplanetary Space Conference.” The Ufologer, Sept. 1957:

“On September 13, 14, 15 The Cosmic Circle of Fellowship held their annual space-craft conference here in Washington [DC] at the New Colonial Hotel… Among the speakers were, Major Wayne Aho, who gave a very interesting talk entitled, ‘Cosmic Ambassadors.’”

Anna Keppy was a UFO activist from Davenport, Michigan, who was active in the Cosmic Circle of Fellowship. She helped arrange lectures for Reinhold Schmitt, Otis T. Carr, and Wayne Aho, pictured below.

The Quad City Times, Feb. 18, 1958

During Ferguson’s travels, he set up “Circles” in other cities, including Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco. Back at home, Ferguson and his Cosmic Circle of Fellowship received some unfavorable press in the Chicago Tribune, June 14, 1959, “Quackery: $500,000 Racket.”

Illustration by George Sottung

Fortunately for him, the Circle was only described, not named. Business went on as usual.

AFSCA World Report, July-Aug. 1959

“The Cosmic Circle of Fellowship, Inc., present their 4th Annual Interplanetary Space Conference, September 11, 12, 13, 1959. Features include: The Pageant of the Planets, The Cosmic Dance, William Ferguson, Live Celestial Music, The Key to the Next Evolutionary Step of Man. This event will be held at the LaSalle Hotel, Chicago, Illinois.”

The organization continued to publish booklets about their religious teachings. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library files from 1961 contain “material from the Cosmic Circle of Fellowship, Inc.”

Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

The last activity we found from Ferguson was a notice of his lecture October 19, 1966, lecture in Sioux City, Iowa, “A Story of Creation.” William R. Ferguson died June 20, 1967.

The Circle(s) carried on without him. The Presidential Library for Ronald Reagan contains a letter to the President and his Cabinet from March 18, 1981, from Cloe Diroll of the “Cosmic Study Center.” She called for “Government recognition of UFOs and acceptance of Space Beings,” based on the “unique experiences and revelations of William Ferguson.” She included a channeled message and a copy of her newsletter.

The last reference we found to the Cosmic Circle of Fellowship as a functioning entity was in the Tampa Tribune, July 25, 1992, which said the group had “about 20 members nationwide who communicate through newsletters.”

If we believe William Ferguson, since his 1947 contact, Khauga of Mars had “been guiding my hands and consciousness in my work.” Such work included the manufacture and sale of the Zerret Applicator. That crime led to a conviction, so we are granting Ferguson honorary status in an exclusive circle, the Saucer Swindlers.

. . .

For Further Reading

William Ferguson and the Cosmic Circle of Fellowship by Kook Science.

William Ferguson, The First Man on Mars by Adam Gorightly.

Supernatural Flying Objects

Thanks to STTF reader Richard Garrard for the tip on this story.

When flying saucers fever hit in the summer of 1947, one of the early notions was that the UFOs were signs of the end times as prophesied in the New Testament of the Bible. Our earlier article Signs: Ezekiel, the Bible and UFOs examined some of the first discussions of the religious connection, and how some people thought the saucers were a warning from the Lord. 

During the 1952 flap the Air Force told us not to worry. According to General John Samford, saucers were not a threat to national security and, “reports of this kind go back to Biblical times.” As time went on without a solid answer, some people thought UFOs might indeed be a sign, but instead have an ungodly origin.

The Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement convention, 1916

The Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement was formed in the early 1900s, an offshoot of the Jehovah's Witnesses. In 1954 they issued a four-page tract, “Flying Saucers,” that suggested UFOs were not secret weapons or extraterrestrial spaceships, but part of the demonic manifestations of the "great signs and wonders" proceeding The Second Coming. 

The first page of it is reproduced below from the Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts.

The edited text of the tract (along with another) ran in The Oregon Statesman, April 22, 1954, on page 5, an advertisement by Gerhard Smith. 

An excerpt follows, then a reproduction of the complete article.

"FLYING SAUCERS"

“DO YOU KNOW: 

That the general conclusion in these unexplained cases is that they are either (1) some sort of secret weapon of some nation on earth, or (2) ‘space ships’ from another planet, or (3) supernatural?  …the thought (1) of their being secret weapons has largely been abandoned? …the idea (2) of their being ‘space ships’ from another planet is untenable?

DO YOU KNOW: That this leaves for our consideration only the third (3) explanation that the so-called ‘flying saucers’ are supernatural?

…[Satan’s league of fallen angels] … these lying, seducing spirits… under ‘the prince of the power of the air’ have played many tricks on mankind, such as palming themselves off as a dead human still alive… appear in seances… obsess and possess humans, driving many insane… they operate through spirit mediums… give visions, work miracles, haunt houses, slam doors etc.?

…evil spirit beings are given greater liberty… here in the end of the Gospel Age… this greater liberty now granted to the fallen angels could easily account for their greater boldness and startling manifestations on a larger scale, such as the reported balls of fire, green monsters, ‘flying saucers,’ etc., recently seen world-wide in the heavens and on earth?”

The Oregon Statesman, April 22, 1954

This Demon-Haunted World

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli, 1781 

In the absence of conclusive evidence, Robert Bigelow and company have expanded the search for UFO answers to other mysterious things including the psychic realm, the paranormal, and life after death. The Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement beat them to it way back in 1954. Ufology has a rich past. It's history should be studied, not recycled. 

. . .

For more on the intersection of UFOs and religion see:

1950s UFO Abductions with Dr. O.L. Jaggers

Enid Brady, Bob Ewing, and the Voices from Space

The Seventh-day Adventist Church's UFO Investigation

An unlikely source for UFO history that time forgot... a six-part series from 1961 in a religious magazine, the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Review and Herald. It was written by the editor, Francis David Nichol, in his attempt to find answers for his readers. 

In addition to the motley array of saucer club enthusiasts, mystics, and spiritists, there are other people, genuinely good people, sincere, hard-working citizens, some of them religious folks—a few even in the circle of our church—who are greatly impressed by the reports of UFO's and who think that they may be manifestations of evil spiritistic power, a proof of the nearness of the end of the world. For such people we have a sympathetic concern, and wish to make explicit that we consider them in an entirely different category from the run-of-the-mill flying saucer enthusiast. In fact, it is because of the letters of inquiry from some of our subscribers that I have made this investigation and here publish the report of my findings. 

Nichol's quest to get to the bottom of the flying saucer mystery caused him to to travel to interesting places and meet memorable people from UFO history. Nichol examined the Contactee tales, travelled to NICAP headquarters, the Pentagon, and in Ohio, dug through the filing cabinets of Project Blue Book. 

Bellow is a listing of the articles and links to PDFs of the Review and Herald issues where they are found. 

March 23, 1961 Part 1 
"What About Flying Saucers?"

March 30, 1961 Part 2 
"An Interview With a Flying Saucer 'Traveler'" 
Nichol interviewed Contactee, Dan Fry, and also discussed the "weird claims" of George Adamski. 

April 6, 1961 Part 3
"The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena"
Nichol traveled to the NICAP HQ and met Richard Hall. "I can frankly say, after visiting them in their office, that they seem like very normal people who are honestly seeking to do a job they think needs to be done. Unfortunately... very fine people can honestly proceed on mistaken premises, and this I think is the case with NICAP. "

April 13, 1961 Part 4 
"Air Force Intelligence and Flying Saucers"
Nichol visited the Pentagon, then Wright-Patterson AFB to meet with Major Robert Friend and examine Project Blue Book case files.

April 20, 1961 Part 5
"Air Force Explanations of Flying Saucers"

April 27, 1961 Part 6
"Some Flying Saucer Cases Examined" 
In the final installment, Nichol discusses some cases and end with his The present series of articles has sought to answer the one prime question:
"Are the UFO's supernatural, interplanetary entities? The answer I must give, in the light of present
knowledge, is that..." For the rest of that thought, you'll have to read the article.

Epilogue: 1966

May 26, 1966 
"From the Editor's Mailbag" 
Nichol returned to the UFO topic in reply to a reader's question about recent sightings.

Francis D. Nichol died in June 1966. 

There were no further Review and Herald articles on UFOs until 1969.

Epilogue: 1969

February 27, 1969
"UFO's - P.S." 
In an editorial following the conclusion of the UFO study led by Dr. Edward Condon, Review and Herald returned to Nichol's UFO study. Editor Kenneth H. Wood examined what relation UFOs have to Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy writings, but left us wondering saying, 

"Soon enough the mysteries that here perplex us shall be made plain." 

1950s UFO Abductions with Dr. O.L. Jaggers

The coming of the flying saucers in 1947 were seen by some as the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy of the end times, “fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven...  in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars”  - Luke 21, King James Version. The thought was reflected in a song,  (When You See) Those Flying Saucers performed by The Buchanan Brothers, Oct. 27, 1947:

...those flying saucers may be just a sign...

So repent today, you’re running out of time

When you see a saucer fly like a comet through the sky

You should realize the price you’ll have to pay

You’d better pray to the Lord when you see those flying saucers

It may be the coming of the Judgment Day"

The previous STTF article, Signs: Ezekiel, the Bible and UFOs, recounted some early examples of the intersection of religion and saucers. This piece will examine how UFOs became a core part of the World Church led by Reverend Orval L. Jaggers

The Los Angeles Times April 19, 1952

Reverend O. L. Jaggers

Reverend Orval Lee Jaggers (1916 - 2004) was a contemporary of Billy Graham of Oral Roberts, and began his ministry as a successful traveling revival evangelist, complete with tent shows and healing the sick. In 1952 he opened the World Church in Los Angeles, which by 1956 boasted a membership over 10,000, and reached an even wider audience by via radio, television and occasional speaking tours. Jaggers also wrote over 300 short books on a number of modern concerns, from the threat of Communism to the Atomic bomb, immortality and flying saucers.

Rev. Jaggers was an associate editor to The Voice of Healing, the monthly inter-evangelical magazine of the Last-Day Sign-Gift Ministries. Their July 1950 issue featured an article “Prophetic Significance of The Flying Saucer” by editor Gordon Lindsay, and it’s very much in line with the message Jaggers incorporated into his ministry.

"God is determined to punish a race that has rejected Him and given themselves over so completely to evil and depravity. It would appear that the matter of the Flying Saucers is one more warning to the sinner to repent and get right with God before the horror of irremediable judgment strikes the earth."

It's valuable snapshot of how the public viewed the UFO phenomenon at the time, as a pervasive mystery seen by many people, the origin unknown. Lindsay and Jaggers leveraged that and turned the belief of the seen, saucers, into a tool for managing belief of the unseen, God and Heavenly matters.

UFOs became part of Rev. Jaggers’ sermons, as seen in the clipping above from the Los Angeles Times, May 3, 1952, on his sermon, “Flying Saucers.”

PDF of book at http://www.universalworldchurch.org/w/images/6/68/Flying_saucers.pdf

In 1952, Rev. Jaggers expanded the sermon into a 48-page book,  Flying Saucers!   In the book, Jaggers said:

Documentary evidence both from government sources and otherwise; prove beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the so-called FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL.” He goes on to say that UFOs were described in several passages in the Bible, and that Ezekiel’s Wheel was a description of flying saucers.

There are two types of angelic beings one is the CHERUBIM or the “LIVING CREATURES” and the other is the SERAPHIM.

Jaggers explained that their appearance is a warning to the USA due to the moral decay of the nation:

BECAUSE OF AMERICA’S SINS… FLYING SAUCERS… THE CHERUBIM OR WHEEL IN THE MIDDLE OF A WHEEL, WITH SUPERSONIC AND SUPERNATURAL SPEED AND POWER, ARE FLYING OVER AMERICA AS A WARNING THAT THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD ARE ABOUT TO FALL ON THIS UNRIGHTEOUS NATION!

Later in 1952, Jaggers' sermon answers the question:

“Who Are the Little Men in the Flying Saucers?”

The Los Angeles Times Aug. 16, 1952

There was nothing in Rev. Jaggers'  book about abductions, but kidnappings by flying saucers became an important topic in his sermons in 1953.

Los Angeles Times Dec. 12, 1953

The article by Tony Breeden at the site Christian Exotheology, “The Preacher Who Believed That Flying Saucers Were Kidnapping Human Beings – in 1953,” suggests that Jaggers was inspired by reading the article by Leroy Thorpe, “Are the Flying Saucers Kidnapping Humans?” in the October 1953 issue of Man to Man magazine. The article was not based on contemporary accounts, just an undated recycling of a mysterious disappearance taken from one of Charles Fort’s books.

Winnipeg Free Press, June 12 1954

Flying saucers kidnapping humans didn’t fit well with Jaggers’ angel explanation, so he eventually revised his point of view to say that some saucers had little men - or even giants - inside.

Odessa American Sept. 9, 1955

"Irrefutable proof that flying saucers and little men in flying saucers do exist!"

Press-Courier (Oxnard, CA) Aug. 31, 1957

Flying Saucers were an integral part of Rev. Jaggers' teachings an in 1974, he reissued his 1952 book under a new title, revised to include modern UFO news clippings, U.F.O.s and the Creatures That Fly Them! Those teachings along with some other extreme departures from Biblical teachings caused a divide between the World Church and more conventional evangelists. 

Somewhere along the line, Rev. Jaggers picked up an impressive collection of degrees, Doctor of Science, Doctor of Biology and Divine Physics, Doctor of Literature, Doctor of Divinity, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Nuclear Biology, Ph.D. Professor of Human Genetics - all  apparently granted by his University of the World Church.

1957, Miss Velma and Beyond

At the top: The Los Angeles Times June 30, 1956

The San Bernardino County July 22, 1957

In an epic ceremony in 1957, Jaggers married his cousin, known as “Miss Velma,” and the church performances became more theatrical and often featured her "soaring above the congregation" on horseback, in a chariot, spaceship, or dressed as an angel. Rev. Jaggers’ teachings were controversial and he had an adversarial relationship with the Pentecostal church and it was said that “his imagination went wild.” They couldn’t accept his claims that miracle healing oil flowed from his hands - or that his believers could attain physical immortality.

According to the biography of Jaggers at the site Healing and Revival, things took a turn for the worse in 1957. Miss Velma joined the ministry and “participated in all of his increasingly weird teachings and found her niche in odd theatrical productions.” ... (A financial fiasco) caused the church to decline and it never recovered. Jaggers was no longer a daily news item and his teachings became increasingly unbiblical and weird. He taught that God was created by space aliens.” 

The Universal World Church hosts a site devoted to the memory of  Rev. Dr. O. L. Jaggers, Dr. Miss Velma Jaggers, and it includes much valuable information from articles to videos of the Jaggers in lectures and television performances.

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Other Sources and Further Reading

All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America

by David Edwin Harrell, Jr, 1979 (At Google Books)

Biography of O.L. Jaggers: "Healing As A Means To An End"

http://healingandrevival.com/BioOLJaggers.htm

“O. L. Jaggers: January 8, 1916 - January 10, 2004,” The Voice of Healing

http://www.voiceofhealing.info/05otherministries/jaggers.html

“Prophetic Significance of The Flying Saucer” by Gordon Lindsay, The Voice of Healing, July 1950

http://endtime.is/TVH/1950_JULY.pdf

“What is the Mystery of the Flying Saucers?” by Gordon Lindsay The Voice of Healing, Oct. 1952

http://endtime.is/TVH/1952_OCTOBER.pdf

“The Mystery of the Flying Saucers” by Gordon Lindsay The Voice of Healing, April 1954

http://endtime.is/TVH/1954_APRIL.pdf

“Further Developments On the Flying Saucers” by Gordon Lindsay The Voice of Healing, June 1954

http://endtime.is/TVH/1954_JUNE.pdf