Flying saucers are real and they come from outer space.That was the message repeated
frequently in 1950, thanks to Donald Keyhoe in his True magazine article and bestselling paperback
book. From then on, space and saucers became inseparable in the public mind.
Dimension X was the science
fiction anthology show broadcast on NBC radio from April 1950 to September 1951.
The series is most memorable for it featuring dramatizations of stories by top
science fiction authors such as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Robert A.
Heinlein.
The twelfth episode of Dimension
Xwas
broadcast on June 24, 1950, entitled Destination Moon, and it was based
on the movie of the same name, specifically, Robert A. Heinlein's final draft
of the film's shooting script. In Destination Moon, producer George Pal
set out to present a realistic drama about a rocket to the moon. To do this,
Pal hired Heinlein as technical advisor and coauthor of the script.
There were no UFOs or aliens in the story;
it was a straightforward space movie looking towards the future of space
exploration. The trailer for the movie featured the
picture shown below to demonstrate the film’s media coverage, which was part of
its multifaceted publicity campaign.
One of the most notable features of the
film was the color-coded spacesuits worn by the ship’s crew, and they provided
an advertising angle for the promotion of the film. From the movies’ press
book:
The Invasion
On, July
9, 1950, newspapers carried the story: “Flying Saucer Lands: New
York’s Westchester County Gets Big Laugh Out of Spacemen”
Big Spring Herald, July 9, 1950
The Park City Daily News, July 9, 1950
To the press, spacemen
= saucers and Martians, of course. According to the report, the space invasion
hoax was merely a publicity stunt for the movie Destination Moon and the science fiction radio show, Dimension X. This was no War of the Worlds, but it did generate some publicity and ticket sales.
George Pal staged another the spacemen invasion
in other countries. According to The George Pal Puppetoon site, “This still [on the right] is from a
publicity stunt in Europe to promote the release of Destination Moon.”
The distinctive space suits used in
Destination Moon were recycled and also widely imitated for many other science fiction films. Spacemen wearing that type of
suit were set loose on the pubic again before the close of the 1950s.
Baseball and the Space Invaders of 1959
Eddie Gaedel stood 43 inches tall, and he
was hired by baseball team owner Bill Veeck in 1951 for gimmicks and publicity
stunts. On May 26, 1959, a helicopter carrying Gaedel and three other little
men dressed in spacesuits landed in the outfield of Comiskey Park, marched to the
White Sox dugout and presented ray guns to their two shortest players, Nellie
Fox and Luis Aparicio. The story was carried in the Chicago Tribune.
Chicago Tribune, May 27, 1959
“Spacemen ‘invade’ Chicago White Sox and Comiskey Park on May 26, 1959.” (Sporting News Archives)
These publicity stunts exploited the public’s
interest in space and extraterrestrials by introducing men in spacesuits into our
everyday milieu. Curiously, in UFO reports it is only the minority of encounters
that involve alien entities wearing some kind of helmeted space gear.
Unfortunately, these reports are often among the most unbelievable.
Before flying saucers, space ships
were made famous in science fiction books, magazines, comics, and movies. Toys based
on space adventures were popular as a result. Sometimes spaceships were used to
sell breakfast cereal.
The website for Kix states, “Since
we made our first batch of crispy corn puffs in 1937, KIX® has been dedicated
to helping kids get a bright start to their day.” Like a lot of products
marketed to kids, they often used advertising gimmicks, in this case, toy
spaceships.
Advertisements for the Kix Jet Atomic
model Space Ships appeared in the Sunday color alongside famous newspaper
comics, “Jet Atomic model Space Ships.”
There were eight models: Astral
Ace, Cosmic Cruiser, Interplanetary Interceptor, Jeto Jeep, Lunar Schooner, Phantom
Planeteer, Radar Raycraft, and Solar Streak.
The toy spaceships were printed
on the back of Kix cereal boxes, which required they be cut out and assembled.
They were intended to resemble the spaceships from Buck Rogers, but the
execution was hampered by the limitations of the cardboard medium, so what we
got was colorful paper airplanes. The boxes also had ideas for games, and some
educational content about atomic power, spacecraft, and technology.
The first version of the ad ran
in May. "Flash Gordon" comic strip by Mac Raboy, dated May 25, 1947, had the Kix cereal ad placed below it.
The next month, an even more exciting
version of the ad appeared on Sunday, June 22, 1947.
While there was no mention of Martians or other aliens, it talked about Air Pirates, landing on the moon, and Space Rays, with “Fantastic facts for future pilots inside every box.” “Gripping stuff about future planes
changing shape after taking off… how jet planes fly… how radar sees the unseen!
Man, it’s dynamite!”
The Coming of the Saucers
Two days after the Kix "Strato Pilot" ad, Kenneth Arnold had his famous sighting that launched the flying saucer craze. He spotted nine
unidentified objects he estimated were travelling at 1200 miles per hour, but initially
he was reluctant to speculate on their origin and make up. The next month in Pendleton,
Oregon, the UFO pioneer lectured on his experience and the newspaper headline for the story was, “Kenneth Arnold Suggests ‘Flying Discs’ May Make Use Of
Atomic Power.” The East Oregonian, July 17, 1947 reported he said,
“Any object
traveling at that speed (1382.40 mph) would run into wall of air molecules
which would make flight impossible. That wall of atmosphere would have to be
destroyed to clear path for the plane.”
The Oregonian reported, “A
cyclotronic device mounted in the nose of disc could destroy the atoms in its
path and perhaps use their energy as fuel, [Arnold] theorized.”
We just have to wonder. On that fateful day in June 1947, what
did Kenneth Arnold have for breakfast?
Edna Sophia Spencer (June 5, 1915 - February
18, 2005) was a UFO activist, organizer, and lecturer active in Detroit, Michigan, but also reached a national audience. It was 1959 when Edna's flying saucer interest became more focused in 1959 when she encountered the Aetherius Society. From Mysteries of the Unknown: The
UFO Phenomenon, Time-Life Books, 1985:
“[The Aetherius Society was] founded in 1956 by George
King, a former taxi driver, in London. King, who had an interest in Eastern
mysticism… sitting in a trancelike state one day when he allegedly received
messages from extraterrestrial beings. Through them he learned, he said, that
Jesus and several saints were alive and living on Venus. …the members of his
society believe in ‘thought power’ and ‘prayer power.’”
George King’s message was derived from Theosophy and the
Contactee belief system, and he taught that flying saucers were the vessels of peaceful
spiritually advanced Cosmic Masters who could save us from destroying ourselves. King was the vessel for their message, and on May 21, 1959, King demonstrated contact by channeling an extraterrestrial
voice on the BBC TV program Lifeline.
Lifeline: "Mars and Venus Speak to Earth"
Enter Edna Spencer
Shortly thereafter, King sailed to the USA to spread
the word, lecturing across the country on his way to a flying saucer conference.
In June, King lectured in Detroit, Michigan, where he caught the attention of
Edna Spencer, 44, who was employed as an executive secretary. She’d left the
Episcopal church several years earlier after developing an interest in psychics
and spiritualism, and had “dabbled for some time in metaphysics and flying
saucer groups.”
Afterwards, Edna ordered King’s booklet, The Twelve
Blessings, and studied King’s teachings. “I had already satisfied myself
that flying saucers were real, and that they were trying to be of help to Mankind
– but I never realized that they were tied to the Master [Jesus]. I was just
astounded.” Edna was persuaded to join the cause, and in February 1960
organized the Aetherius Society branch in Detroit. Initially, the group met at
the YWCA, led by Edna, who was aided by her sister, Mrs. Vivian Ramesbottom.
Together they built up a small core group, and with visitors, there were usually
about forty people attending meetings.
After King’s stop in Detroit in 1959, he continued
west across the US, and spoke in July at Los Angeles, California. The event was
organized by Gabriel Green, the first Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of
America Convention in July, where King lectured alongside most of the major Contactee
figures. King set up house there, and by the next year, he was able to incorporate
the Aetherius Society as a non-profit spiritual organization, which helped
establish credibility for him and the enterprise.
Operation Starlight
In her day job, Edna Spencer was seldom in the
spotlight, but as the leader of the Detroit branch of TAS, she was a local celebrity
and even was featured in nationally syndicated newspaper stories. She said, “I wouldn't
have believed 10 years ago that I’d be on radio and TV or making lectures.”
While
not previously a climber, in 1960, she was among a select group of believers
making annual pilgrimages to “holy mountains” charged with spiritual energy by
the cosmic masters from space. King called the venture, “Operation Starlight.”
Operation Starlight on Castle Peak, May 2, 1960
Edna organized events and press coverage for King’s
appearances in Detroit, and she played a big role in the publicity the Aetherius
Society received in the USA and Canada. The photo below is from King’s
appearance on a Detroit radio show during the promotion of You Are
Responsible!, his book published in late 1961.
As King’s fame grew, so did his status and titles. By 1962 King was being described as “reverend,” and shortly afterwards he began billing himself as “Dr. George King.”
A sampling of Edna's 1962 media appearances.
Edna regularly traveled to participate in King’s
special events and she also spent her Christmas vacations every year at the Los
Angeles headquarters of the Aetherius Society. During some of her trips, she
also spoke to the press about the organization and its work.
Fish Invaders and the Moon Landing
In 1964 Edna travelled to lecture in Pennsylvania,
sharing the word of TAS via tapes of Dr. King channeling messages from Venus. She
explained how our planetary brothers provided protection for our planet. “Earth
was saved from destruction March 5, 1962, when friendly forces from Mars and
Venus staved off an attack by fishlike creatures from another galaxy which coveted
our vast water supplies.”
Edna’s incredible story came from a reputable source,
chapter 5 of King’s book, You Are Responsible!, where he described
water-dwellers from planet “Garouche” and their sinister plan saying, "The
idea of these monsters was to kill all humanoid life on Earth and then inhabit
the seas which cover a greater part of the surface." How King was able to
write about the events before they happened is a mystery, but then he had sources
in high places.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 3, 1964
Edna was spreading the message across the USA, but Not
everyone appreciated the effort. The National Investigations Committee on
Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) was down on Contactees, seeing them as crackpots harmful
to the credibility of the UFO topic. NICAP's Affiliate / Subcommittee
Newsletter, May 28, 1965 featured Richard Hall’s top “Five Most Wanted List”
of people to watch out for.
Hall later cautioned that out of libel concerns,
the list was “…intended to be private background information… not to be quoted
verbatim.” The NICAP article stated that
George King was a probable psychotic and that the Detroit TAS chapter was
headed by Mrs. Edna Spencer. Hall was mistaken; Edna was unmarried.
For Edna’s lecture for high school students in Belle
River, Ontario, Canada, she apparently toned down the religious aspects,
instead focusing on the message that flying saucers are real, they appear worldwide,
and they are harbingers of peace.
Edna’s TAS branch was frequently featured in the Detroit
Free Press, and theirSunday Detroit magazine, April 2,
1967, carried the 3-page article on them from Booby Mather, “How to Keep an Earthly Eye Cocked on the Cosmic
Masters.” The author’s take was that Edna was interested in forming a tight
unit of Aetherians and explaining their mission to the public, not in campaigning
for new members.
Later the same year, Edna was interviewed for another
Detroit publication, Fifth Estate # 39, magazine, Oct. 1-15, 1967, “‘Master
Jesus on Venus’ Claims Detroit Group.” She told them that the Cosmic Masters in
flying saucers “are not allowed to interfere with our free will in anyway nor
force anything upon us which is one of the reasons why they cannot land openly
until our governments or the majority of people have invited them or, at least,
we have become aware of these things.”
NASA’s manned landing on the moon prompted reporters
to ask Edna about her thoughts on the events, and stories were carried
nationwide by the New York Times News Service and the Newspaper Enterprise
Association (NEA). Edna explained that insisted that primitive man was not
allowed to go beyond the earth, but our small steps toward enlightenment had
earned us permission to go to the moon. However, we’d be allowed to go no
further until mankind ended war, materialism, and accepted the Master of Aetherius.
The Detroit Free Press,
July 21, 1969 (Excerpt)
Operation Prayer Power
George King created a "Spiritual Energy
Battery" that contained ground crystal that he said would allow the power of
prayer to be stored until needed to deal with times of crisis in the world. In 1973
King launched “Operation Prayer Power,” where he led pilgrims in chanting the holy
mantra, “Om mani padme hum,” while a team leader redirected their collective energy
of love into the battery.
Edna and her group joined King at a meeting in Utah to add their prayer power to charge his battery.
Story of a Battery collection, and of the claim of a successful discharge.
In 1974 Edna Spencer delivered a lecture that would
inspire the future leader of the branch. Gary Blaze wrote at the Facebook page
of The Aetherius Society - Royal Oak (Michigan), saying,
“My first TAS activity
was in 1974, Edna giving a lecture about the Holy Mountains of the World..... her
absolute [certainty], conviction, sincerity, and joy in her Work was enough for
me to stay and find out more.”
Gary Blaze joined the group and was also featured in the
article, “Detroit’s Aetherians: Waiting for wisdom from the Cosmic Masters” in the
Detroit Free Press, Sunday magazine on July 25, 1976. Alan Mass’s
article profiled the organization and featured biographical details on Edna,
and it documents that at that time, the Michigan branch did not have their own prayer
battery. They just had a mock-up to practice on. Without King’s crystals, it
was just a box on a tripod.
What drew Edna Spencer and others to George King’s religion? Almost
anyone who spends much time looking at the sky will see a distant UFO, but only
a relatively few people experience closer encounters. King allowed a closer
connection. He presented himself as a person who had traveled beyond our planet
and a vessel for the higher beings in the universe; their voice on Earth to
teach a message of peace and love. But it was more than that. Most religions involve
some sort of audience participation through prayers, song, or rituals. King took
that further, incorporating technology like the prayer battery, allowing followers
to take an active part by contributing their energies for the sake of the world. Edna was dedicated, proud to serve the cause, and proud of the devout
members of her branch, saying, “We have no deadwood.”
Edna’s Detroit branch’s faith was rewarded when they finally
received their own prayer battery. On the Facebook page of The Aetherius Society - Royal Oak (Michigan), March 6, 2010, Gary Blaze posted a photo of
George King “Presenting a spiritual power battery to the Detroit Branch Organizer,
Edna Spencer.”
Around this time, King was expanding the franchise, introducing
new operations, concepts and products, such as King’s book,You
Too Can Heal, 1976.
Throughout the rest of the 70s, Edna continued her
work in representing the Aetherius Society, lecturing in the area and appearing
on television to spread the word.
Clippings from the Detroit Free Press and the Windsor Star, 1977 – 1979.
In 1980, Edna Spencer turned 65, and after retirement,
she permanently moved to California to join worship at their Los Angeles
headquarters. While she remained active in TAS, her role in Los Angeles was far
quieter than her days in Detroit as the public face of the organization.
George King died on July 12, 1997. Edna S. Spencer
died in Franklin, California, on February 18, 2005 at the age of 89. Her sister
Vivian Jean Ramesbottom died on March 27, 2009, and her memorial service was
held at the Aetherius Church in Royal Oak, Michigan.
The last mention we found of Edna Spencer in UFO literature
was in Douglas Curran’s 1985 book, In Advance of the Landing, where he
spoke to her in California at the US headquarters of TAS.She reflected on
meeting George King in 1959:
“It was amazing, it was like a fever! ... back at
that time flying saucers were brand new and there weren't all these movies on
flying saucers around. It amazes me to realize that there's a generation who
grew up with that — they don't know anything different.”
From Douglas Curran’s 1985 book, In Advance of the Landing. “Members of the Aetherius Society charge a Spiritual Battery. Hollywood, California."
Inour previous article on Our Space Age by Otto Binder, we covered the basic history of the 1960s flying saucer newspaper series. Thanks to Louis Taylor, we now have more episodes from the feature, and insight to Binder's plan for a UFO book based on the series.
On June 29, 1966, Otto O. Binder wrote a proposal to
publisher Joe Simon about a non-fiction book on UFOs. Binder was a science
fiction writer who also had a distinguished career in comic books scripting the
Captain Marvel characters. Joe Simon, along with Jack Kirby created Captain America
and characters in the 1940s, but in 1966 was editing a line of comics for
Harvey, a group of adventure and super hero comics branded as “Harvey Thriller.”
Louis Taylor, host of Information
Dispersal, recently obtained a rare item, Binder’s
proposal for the UFO book, along with photostats of the pages that were intended to
make up its content. Binder’s plan was for a 64-page collection reprinting the UFO episodes
of his syndicated comic strip feature illustrated by Carl Pfeufer, Our Space Age.
Binder had over 200 panels of UFO illustrations with more in production. He planned
to supplement the 43 pages of UFO reprints with new material, an essay on UFO
history, a science fiction short story, a directory of saucer books and
magazines, a list of “personalities,” and a page on the very latest UFO sightings
and news.
Binder’s plan was for Simon to print it as a black
and white comic book, but he hoped that it could be displayed with magazines and
seen by adults, not racked next to Batman, Archie and Richie Rich.
His letter enclosed the below note with a sample of
the strips, with hos suggestions about how they could be grouped into themed
chapters:
Contactees, History of UFOs, All About UFOs, Theories
About UFOs, one on Sightings, and a chapter on witness reports sent in by
readers.
Here’s a sampling chosen by Louis Taylor of some of
the more interesting of Binder’s submissions from Our Space Age.
These pages appear to be copies of what was sent out by the Bell-McClure Syndicate to newspapers that subscribed to their service. The panels would bet cut and printed Monday - Saturday.
The book was never published. Our Space Age continued
producing UFO episodes into 1969, so there was an additional three years of
material beyond what Otto Binder was proposing to collect in 1966. Luckily for us,
we have archivists like Louis Taylor striving to rescue and share lost UFO
history.
