Disclosure and the Alien Cover-Up of 2001

 

The notion of UFO “Disclosure” may have been born with Donald E. Keyhoe’s article in TRUE Magazine, January 1950, “The Flying Saucers are Real.” Keyhoe presented the passage below, supposedly quoting an anonymous aircraft designer described as one of the “top engineers” for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (N.A.C.A.), who shared the view that “the disks are interplanetary.” 

“I think that the American public is being gradually conditioned to think in terms of space travel.  I think we are being prepared for what [the Air Force] probably already knows: that the Earth is under surveillance by interplanetary travelers. 

“Remember the New Jersey panic over the Orson Welles 'Men From Mars’ broadcast?" he said.  “I think the government may believe that disclosure of the disks’ probable origin would set off a nationwide hysteria. Personally, I doubt it would. I think Americans could take it.”

 “Disclosure” with a capital D, became an obsession by some UFO and alien fans, who fervently believe that the US government has knowledge and proof of extraterrestrial visitation, but chooses to withhold it from the public. A closely related Disclosure belief is that the government has a plan to reveal aliens, but only after a program of acclimation to avoid panic in the public. 

While it was overshadowed by other aspects, the concept of an alien cover-up and its inevitable disclosure was central to the story in a 1968 major motion picture. Let’s take a close look at how two master storytellers confronted the topic.

The 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey was written by director Stanley Kubrick and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke. In Arthur C. Clarke and the Magic of UFOs, we briefly examined his negative view of flying saucers as proof of aliens. In 1963 he wrote, “I have little doubt that Unidentified Aerial Objects do exist – and equally little doubt that they are not spaceships! The evidence against the latter hypothesis is, in my opinion, quite overwhelming...” 

Clarke was open to the possibility of intelligent life on other planets and wrote much plausible science fiction about it. For this reason, Kubrick approached him to create a realistic movie about extraterrestrial contact. Their story began with the birth of the human race, then jumped forward in time to 2001, when Earth had begun to colonize the moon.

We’re introduced to Dr. Heywood Floyd, of the National Council of Astronautics, on his flight to the moon. We gradually learn he’s been sent to oversee the investigation of a structured object of extraterrestrial origin discovered in a scientific excavation at the base at Clavius. Authorities have cut off communications, and as cover story, spread rumors of an epidemic there (and the base is under quarantine).   

The screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey by Kubrick and Clarke was originally written with narration to guide us thorough the story, but Kubrick chose to eliminate the narrator, opting for a more mysterious audiovisual experience for the audience. For Clarke’s version of the story in the novel, he included the explanatory material from the script’s narration, presenting the story in a more linear manner. 

While there’s much of interest in the film, we’re focusing solely on the two scenes involving the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence, and the U.S. government’s choice to keep it secret. There were differences in how the scenes were presented between the screenplay, finished film, then in Clarke's novel.

 

Scene One: Dr. Floyd’s Talk on the Moon Base

 The Screenplay:

“FLOYD: First of all, I bring a personal message from Dr. Howell, who has asked me to convey his deepest appreciation to all of you for the personal sacrifices you have made, and of course his congratulations on your discovery which may well prove to be among the most significant in the history of science.

POLITE APPLAUSE.

FLOYD (cont'd): Mr. Halvorsen has made known to me some of the conflicting views held by many of you regarding the need for complete security in this matter, and more specifically your strong opposition to the cover story created to give the impression there is an epidemic at the Base. I understand that beyond it being a matter of principle, many of you are troubled by the concern and anxiety this story of an epidemic might cause your relatives and friends on Earth.

I can understand and sympathize with your negative views. I have been personally embarrassed by this cover story. But I fully accept the need for absolute secrecy and I hope you will.

It should not be difficult for all of you to realise the potential for cultural shock and social disorientation contained in the present situation if the facts were prematurely and suddenly made public without adequate preparation and conditioning.

FLOYD: This is the view of the Council and the purpose of my visit here is to gather additional facts and opinions on the situation and to prepare a report to the Council recommending when and how the news should eventually be announced. Are there any questions?

MICHAELS: Dr. Floyd, how long do you think this can be kept under wraps?

FLOYD (pleasantly): I'm afraid it can and it will be kept under wraps as long as it is deemed to be necessary by the Council. And of course you know that the Council has requested that formal security oaths are to be obtained in writing from everyone who had any knowledge of this event. There must be adequate time for a full study to be made of the situation before any consideration can be given to making a public announcement.”

The Film:

The filmed version had revisions to the dialogue but was faithful to the scene in the script.

The Novel:

Dr. Floyd’s briefing in the book was shorter and barely touches on the “Disclosure” aspect. Beforehand, he discussed the rumor of a “moon-plague” with the administrator. “I'm sorry about that but no one could think of a better cover story, and so far it's worked.” When he addresses the staff, he says:

“I'm quite aware that some of you - perhaps most of you - are anxious that the present veil of secrecy be withdrawn; you would not be scientists if you thought otherwise. But I would remind you that this is a quite extraordinary situation. We must be absolutely sure of our own facts; if we make errors now, there may be no second chance - so please be patient a little longer. Those are also the wishes of the President.”

The next scene is the monolith being examined. As its exposed to the rays of the sun it emits a signal.

Scene Two: Disclosure of the True Mission

The story jumps to Dave Bowman, a member of the crew of the spaceship Discovery One, on a mission to Saturn (changed to Jupiter for the film). An intelligent computer, HAL 9000, operates the ship, but due to being programmed to lie to the crew to preserve the secret of the alien relic, it developed “neurotic symptoms,” which led to Hal killing the crew.

The Screenplay:

After disabling HAL 9000, Dave Bowman, the lone surviving astronaut, establishes communication with earth. Mission Control explains what went wrong with HAL 9000, then the truth of the mission is revealed by a taped message from Dr. Floyd.

“Good day, gentlemen… Thirteen months before the launch date of your Saturn mission, on April 12th, 2001, the first evidence for intelligent life outside the Earth was discovered. It was found buried at a depth of fifteen meters in the crater Tycho. No news of this was ever announced, and the event had been kept secret since then, for reasons which I will later explain. 

Soon after it was uncovered, it emitted a powerful blast of radiation in the radio spectrum which seems to have triggered by the Lunar sunrise. Luckily for those at the site, it proved harmless. Perhaps you can imagine our astonishment when we later found it was aimed precisely at Saturn. …We finally concluded that the only reason you might bury a sun-powered device would be to keep it inactive until it would be uncovered, at which time it would absorb sunlight and trigger itself. 

What is its purpose? I wish we knew. The object was buried on the moon about four million years ago, when our ancestors were primitive man-apes. We've examined dozens of theories, but the one that has the most currency at the moment is that the object serves as an alarm. 

What the purpose of the alarm is, why they wish to have the alarm, whether the alarm represents any danger to us? These are questions no one can answer. The intentions of an alien world, at least four million years older than we are, cannot be reliably predicted. 

In view of this, the intelligence and scientific communities felt that any public announcement might lead to significant cultural shock and disorientation. Discussion took place at the highest levels between governments, and it was decided that the only wise and precautionary course to follow was to assume that the intentions of this alien world are potentially dangerous to us, until we have evidence to the contrary. This is, of course, why security has been maintained and why this information has been kept on a need-to-know basis.” 

The Film:

The taped message is much shorter in the film and cuts off after Floyd describes the discovery of the monolith and the signal it emitted. “Its origin and purpose still a total mystery.” 

The Novel:

Instead of a taped message, in the book, Bowman establishes contact with Earth and speaks to Dr. Floyd, who explains to him at length what is known and thought about the object. In part: 

“And now I must tell you its real purpose, which we have managed, with great difficulty, to keep secret from the general public… Everything I am about to tell you has the highest security classification. Two years ago, we discovered the first evidence for intelligent life outside the Earth. [The monolith was a] Sun-triggered, signaling device... that it emitted its pulse… when it was exposed to daylight for the first time in three million years… the monolith may be some kind of alarm. And we have triggered it. 

Whether the civilization which set it up still exists, we do not know. We must assume [they do and] that they may be hostile. …primitive races have often failed to survive the encounter with higher civilizations. Anthropologists talk of 'cultural shock'; we may have to prepare the entire human race for such a shock. But until we know something about the creatures… we cannot even begin to make any preparations. Your mission…is a scouting trip… So now you know your real objective, and can appreciate the vital importance of this mission. We are all praying that you can still provide us with some facts for a preliminary announcement; the secret cannot be kept indefinitely.”

Bowman finds a giant-sized monolith and takes a pod to investigate. He makes the contact with the object and finds the experience overwhelming.

The ending of the story is a bit different in the script, film, and novel, but all reflect a transformation. The extraterrestrial intelligence had placed the monolith on earth to spark the development of mankind. By following their signal into space to another monolith, we showed that our species was ready for the next step in our evolution. 

While spectacular finale of the film leaves the issue of alien cover-up and disclosure in the dust, it’s worth remembering how central it was to the plot. Also, how the secrecy and cover-up resulted in suspicion, distrust, and in the case of HAL 9000, rather severe “neurotic symptoms.” 

Something Spectacular

In the 1980 TV series, Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, episode 10 was “U.F.O.s.” In the opening, Clarke said:

“I think I can claim to be a reluctant expert on UFOs. I've been interested in them for almost fifty years, long before the phrase ‘flying saucers’ was invented. UFOs are very common. If you've never seen one, you're either unobservant, or you live in a cloudy area. I've seen half a dozen good ones, and now I have some very definite opinions on the subject.”

His views were mostly skeptical. However, closing the episode, Clarke offered some more optimistic thoughts.

“Personally, I'm convinced that there must be many, many higher civilizations in this enormous and incredibly ancient universe of ours. And since we are preparing to go out into space ourselves, other older races may have been doing this for millions of years. So it's quite reasonable to think that they may have come here in the remote past, perhaps many times as indeed suggested in 2001. [He went on to say that we should look for fossilized evidence. Modern radar and space equipment can detect objects the size of a pencil.]

Is it conceivable that we've been having visitors over the last decades trying to sneak up on us, landing in obscure places, being seen by a few people, and not by these enormous tracking networks? I feel that when there really is a visitation from space, it'll be something spectacular, rather like the climax of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We'll be certain of it in about five minutes.” 

Clarke made no mention of any UFO secrecy or cover-up in the show, but the closing scenario gave a clue as to his position. Disclosure will come from the extraterrestrials themselves, not the government.

. . .

Flying Saucer Fun Gone Bad

The U.S. Air Force stated in 1949 that flying saucers “are not a joke.”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 27, 1949

Donald Keyhoe became famous for saying, “The Flying Saucers Are Real.” But even when they’re not real, playing around with flying saucers can be dangerous. From our files, five documented examples from the forties and fifties, one of them fatal.

Dateline: Cottage Grove, Oregon, July 1947

As reported in our examination, Flying Saucers & the Regatta Queen Contest: Two Case Studies from 1947, the competition for the title of Cottage Grove Regatta Queen was fierce. Barbara Anderson took the lead in the race and her sponsors dropped tried to cement her win by dropping campaign advertising from a plane.  The ads were in the form of hundreds of silver discs with the message to vote for Barbara. Unfortunately, chasing one of the silver saucers led to the serious injury of a 12-year-old boy.

The Eugene Guard, July 19, 1947

Dateline: Near Lake Charles, Louisiana, July 1947

19-year-old ex-Marine John Blackburn was out with some other young friends when as a prank he sent a saucer flying across a nightclub dining room. The manager, James Monsur, didn’t find it funny, and he clubbed Blackburn over the head with a .38 pistol. Tragically, the gun accidently discharged on impact, killing the prankster. Monsur was found guilty of negligent homicide and sentenced to prison, however, he was pardoned after serving only 10 months. This incident is the first documented fatality related to the flying saucer topic.

El Paso Herald Post and Lubbock Morning Avalanche July 18, 1947

Pardon: The Town Talk (Alexandria LA) Dec. 27, 1948

Dateline: New Orleans, Louisiana, Feb. 1952

The injury was heartbreak, but professional dancer Evelyn West was hurt by a man who’d led her on romantically. Steven Vitko bilked her into giving him $5,000, supposedly to secure a government contract to build a flying saucer.

Vitko took the money and ran, resulting in what may have been The First UFO Lawsuit?

 

Dateline: Oregon, Illinois, Sept. 1952

On Sept. 29, 1952, Jay Zee's  "Hypnotic High-Jinks" act had him hypnotizing members of his audience to do funny things. He compelled a young man in the audience into seeing and reporting flying saucers, and Robert Cross was so agitated when he spoke to the police, they subdued him as a madman and gave him a beating.

Flying Saucers, Flying Fists and Hypnotic High-Jinks

Playing with Saucers

Perhaps the first flying saucer toy was manufactured in 1948, by Walter Frederick Morrison and his partner Warren Franscioni, who marketed a plastic throwing disc called the “Flyin-Saucer.” 

The same year, F. K. Formis invented and marketed the Atomic Jet Flying Saucer.   

Another “helicopter toy” with a metal propeller blade entered the market closer to 1950, the Mars Flying Saucer from Mars Novelty Company. 

We don’t know if one of these was the culprit, but a flying saucer toy was involved in our final incident.

 

Dateline: Syracuse, New York, Dec. 1953

While Christmas shipping in Woolworth’s department store, Mrs. Florence Cohen was struck in the head by a flying saucer. It was a toy being demonstrated by a store employee. Cohen filed a lawsuit against the company, $1000 for negligence. Ultimately, she was awarded $200 instead.

Sacramento Bee, March 12, 1954

The News Tribune, March 13, 1954

The moral? Take care out there. While most flying saucer antics do not result in pain and suffering, remember, there’s always some risk.

Topps' "Mars Attacks" trading card #12, 1962

 

Flying Saucers: The Small Sporty Models

 

Human beings have always been fascinated with flight, but in 1947, flying saucers gave us something new to think about. UFOs have inspired us to imagine and invent.

Who was the first inventor to attempt to build and fly their own saucer? The Weekly Town Talk, July 19, 1947, featured a photo of Jimmy Webb of Little Rock, Arkansas, and the homemade “Flying Saucer,” he entered in a local model airplane competition.

In 1950, Charles Hoberg of Chicago built a small “jet-powered” saucer “after studying reports of the space ships.”

Sunday News, March 26, 1950

In Sept. 1950, a warning was issued that Detroit, the Plymouth Motor Corporation’s International Model Plane Contest would feature flying saucers, and that they might cause alarm and be reported to authorities by the public.

Mansfield Advertiser Sept. 6, 1950

Plymouth Press release

“Pilot your own Flying Saucer” was the title of an article in Boy’s Life Jan. 1953, that instructed readers how to construct an unpowered flying saucer out of balsa wood.

Boy’s Life Jan. 1953

Boy Scout Ray White built such a saucer and demonstrated it on television for NBC’s Today Show.

Boy’s Life Nov. 1953

The above are just a few examples of the early attempts to copy flying saucers on a small scale, but in the 1960s, a company set out to mass produce them.

 

Cox’s Sky Saucer

The Star-News, (Chula Vista, CA) June 23, 1966

“Would you believe saucer for $9.98? Better yet, would you BUY a flying saucer for $9.98?  That's the million-dollar question as far as C. R. Stuard is concerned… Stuard is the co-owner and marketer of the "X-1 Sky Saucer," a flying saucer toy invented recently by a Solar engineer, [currently in] a test-market] in the Chula Vista Penney store. …

“Idea for the toy came from [Leonard] Mueller’s invention of a flying saucer-type crop duster. | “But it would have cost us $250,000 to produce our first duster,” says Stuard, “so we put our heads together and decided to come out with a model of the crop duster and sell it as a toy ‘flying saucer. We attached a gasoline engine to the saucer… and our model and it took off and flew…’

Does Stuard believe in real-life flying saucers? Like from Mars? “Yes, frankly, I do,” he says. “I have a very good friend who says he saw one. I believe him. He’s not the sort of person who’d make something like this up. Also, too many of the saucer sightings are unexplained. You know, expert scientists have told us that the obvious ‘best design’ for space vehicles of the future is the saucer. It’s shaped perfectly for space travel. If this is true, then maybe it figures that men from other planets would use saucers to investigate things on and about earth.”

 

The saucer’s package stated:

"Your X-1 sky saucer is practically indestructible and made of rugged polyethylene plastic to withstand the shock of Earth reentry...it can take it and fly again immediately!"

“Our X-1 Sky Saucer is powered by world famous special 18,000 RPM Cox .049 engine. Over 16" in diameter. Reaches heights of 300 feet & more.”

The X-1 was marketed in the 1970s as the “Star Cruiser UFO,” but a version was still on sale into the 1990s, and a similar “Nomad” saucer was produced in 1998.

 

Back to the Garage

Mass produced copies like the Cox Sky Saucer have their place, but there’s nothing like the efforts of the early saucer inventors. They took inspiration from flying saucers, thought for themselves, and got to work. Ufology might benefit from getting back to basics, and that’s a good model to follow.

Ray Bradbury and George Adamski: Worlds Apart

In 1952, an imaginative author ran into a flying saucer lecturer at a science fiction convention. In a different time and place, perhaps they could have been the best of friends. here's what happened instead.

The Man for Mars

Ray Bradbury grew up reading about spacemen like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, loving fantasy and science fiction. In 1937 at the age of 17 he met Forrest J. Ackerman, joined a club and became involved in fandom writing for (and publishing) fanzines until making his first professional sale in 1941. By the late 1940s, he was a family man and an established author. A snapshot of Bradbury’s career highlights from Current Biography Yearbook, 1953:

“He has had 170 short stories published and twenty-three radio dramas and five television plays produced…with imaginative themes which combine advanced technology with subtle fantasy and have what has become known as ‘the Bradbury twist.’ His stories were first published in science fiction and fantasy magazines… [then the mainstream] Collier's, Saturday Evening Post and the New Yorker. … His most recent work, The Golden Apples of the Sun, is the fourth of his published books, the others being Dark Carnival (1947), The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951). … He has also done much writing for the moving pictures… Of Bradbury's prolific output Punch (August 1952) has written: ‘"It is hard to speak with restraint of these extraordinary tales which raise Ray Bradbury to a secure place among the imaginative writers of today.’"

 

A Friendship with a Flying Saucer Author

In the summer of 1950, Ray Douglas Bradbury (1920-2012) was thirty years old. That was when he met Gerald Heard (1889-1971), a science fiction author twice his age, who was interested in the paranormal, UFOs, and many other unconventional subjects. In the 2011 book, Becoming Ray Bradbury, Jonathan R. Eller described how they became good friends:

“In spite of Heard’s growing eccentricities… he offered Bradbury more than his passion for Eastern philosophies. Bradbury was not drawn to Heard’s beliefs, but he was drawn to his [talent, intellect, and personality].”

From the slightly re-titled US edition.

Heard’s book The Riddle of the Flying Saucers: Is Another World Watching? was published in the UK later that year.  In 1951, Heard was a founding member of the group Civilian Saucer Investigation of Los Angeles (CSI), the first UFO organization with a board of scientific and aeronautical experts. Riddle also lectured on saucers and revised his book for the 1953 Bantam paperback edition, adding two new chapters on recent sightings. This all goes to show that Bradbury had a trusted friend who was knowledgeable on the UFO topic, but Ray had no desire to be any part of it.

However, in the Imagination April 1951 science fiction magazine, Bradbury’s "In This Sign..." appeared, a UFO story of sorts about anomalous aerial spheres of blue light, later revealed to be sentient beings. The story was later retitled "The Fire Balloons." For a closer look at this from a historical UFO perspective, see: Ray Bradbury's Orbs from Mars at Blue Blurry Lines. 

 

The Man for Venus

In 1952, two rising stars crossed paths, a young science fiction author and an aging flying saucer lecturer. Although they had much in common, the two were sharply divided about their opinions on the reality of alien visitors. It happened at the fifth annual West Coast Science Fantasy Conference, which was held June 28-29, 1952, at the U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego.

Ad from Science Fiction Advertiser, July 1952

"Sou-Westercon" was a major convention sponsored by the San Diego Science-Fantasy Society. Their guest of honor was author Ray Bradbury. It was considered a curiosity or quirk, but Bradbury chose not to drive a car or fly on an airplane. That’s why he travelled from his home in Venice, California, to the San Diego convention by train.

Anthony More’s report on the convention in Shangri-LA (newsletter of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society) #32, Fall 1952, said Sou-Westercon was, “the largest fan group ever assembled, and included the largest professional collection ever brought together at one time at a fan affair.” He noted that Ray Bradbury was supposed to give the opening remarks, but didn’t arrive on time (possibly his train was delayed). The convention started without him, the first of their schedule problems.

The 4-page program for Sou-Westercon was chiefly their directory of the events, but there was also a page featuring an ad for the booklet “Ray Bradbury Review.” Another unconnected ad below it was for “Cosmag S-F Digest,” which included an illustration of two flying saucers zipping through space.

Most of the speakers covered topics related to science fiction, but one talk was a bit different. The lecture for Saturday at 1:30 pm was “a discussion of The Flying Saucers” given by “Dr. Adamski.” 

FATE Magazine, July, 1951.

That was George Adamski (1891-1965), before his greatest claim to fame and bestselling book. (See: The Professor's Message from Space.) At that time, Adamski was an obscure figure, lecturing on flying saucer and selling the photographs he claimed to have taken of them. The convention report wryly mentioned Adamski’s presentation in passing:

“The ubiquitous flying saucer then wheeled into view, and a scattering of fans listened to a ‘Dr.' Adamski, who competes from the foot of the hill with Palomar Observatory, tell about that unusual form of iron known as carbon.”

It’s not documented how long it lasted or exactly what he talked about, but the lecture was scheduled to last 30 minutes. In other appearances around the same time, Adamski spoke about saucers as coming from our neighboring inhabited planets and displayed (and sold) his photos. Adamski sometimes talked two hours longer than planned, so he’d likely have run past his half-hour given the chance.

Ray Bradbury arrived from the train station while Adamski was lecturing, and on the way into the hotel he encountered some people who’d walked out on the talk. (We’ll hear his recollection of that later.) We don’t know how much of the lecture Bradbury saw or if he spoke to Adamski, but he was left with an unfavorable impression. After the convention, both Adamski and Bradbury both went on to greater successes, and both were the subject of much media coverage. As far as we know, they never crossed paths again.

 

It Came from Outer Space

Universal-International hired Ray Bradbury to come up with the story for a 1953 science fiction movie to be filmed in 3-D. One of their working titles was “The Atomic Monster,” but Bradbury resisted the idea of writing about monstrous flying saucer invaders from outer space. 

The 1953 United Press interview promoting It Came from Outer Space mentioned that the author was opposed to riding in a plane, then discussed his taste in films.

“Bradbury also is anti those science fiction movies in which the visitors in the flying saucers are usually villains. He approves of ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still,’ which featured a robot who was a hero. But in ‘The Thing,’ he complained, the man from another world started out believable but wound up as a monster.” Giving away the plot, in his film, an alien who landed here would just seek “to get away safely before somebody got panicky and killed him.”

Instead of space invaders, Bradbury’s aliens were not hostile, just visually repugnant to humans.. Their motive was only to repair their damaged ship and resume their voyage. Still, the studio sold the movie as being about a spaceship that “carried terrifying beings from outer space [who] planned to conquer the world…”

Trailer: It Came from Outer Space

Meanwhile, George Adamski had also been busy. It's possible that when the skeptical audience bailed on his 1952 convention lecture, he decided that talk and photographs were not enough. On November 20, 1952, Adamski claimed to have encountered a flying saucer and spoke to a man from Venus, and it was backed by photos, physical evidence, and multiple witnesses. The fantastic story gained traction in the press, and became the subject of a best-selling 1953 book, Flying Saucers Have Landed (coauthored with Desmond Leslie).

The Los Angeles Daily News, Oct. 19, 1953, carried two side by side ads featuring authors Bradbury and Adamski.

The 1960s

The UFO controversy had a resurgence in the 1960s, but Bradbury seems to have avoided taking part in public conversation on the topic. Bradbury wrote an article for his friend Forrest J. Ackerman in the Warren magazine Spacemen # 8, June 1964, discussing his favorite science fiction films, among them: “The Day the Earth Stood Still strikes me as a fine attempt to speak to mankind today about its problems on Earth.” Bradbury didn’t mind flying saucers as fiction, he was more concerned with a good story.

In 1967, the paperback collection, Man Faces Extra-Terrestrial Life In Contact edited by Noel Keyes listed Bradbury’s name first and reprinted his 1951, story, "The Fire Balloons."

Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1963. Contact, 1967.

George Adamski went on to write two more books about his series of interplanetary adventures. Despite being exposed as a fraud, he still had devoted followers when he died in 1965 at the age of 74.

1970s: Close Encounters

Bradbury was quoted in “’Saucer Cults’ Reread Bible in Light of UFOs” by Russell Chandler in the Los Angeles Times, Sept. 8, 1974:

“Religion and science are always circling each other,” he said. “It's like flesh and skin. There is a continuum between the two… The deep gap between them is just talk. But Bradbury, who believes “humanoid creatures like us” could exist on other planets, added that both science and religion “deal in ignorances,” and that theory is, in fact, faith. “We need to hang loose on this,’ he concluded. ‘There is always the danger of a new quack religion forming, but we need to allow this to proliferate in a free society.”

The 1976 reprint of Ralph and Judy Blum’s 1974 Bantam paperback book, “Beyond Earth: Man’s Contact with UFOs,” carried a cover blurb from Ray Bradbury stating: “We have needed a new, comprehensive UFO survey for many years now. … This is that book.”

Bradbury didn’t care for flying saucers, but he was deeply moved by Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. His loving review, “Opening the Beautiful Door of True Immortality,” was published in The Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1977 (Reprinted in the UK magazine Starburst, March 1978). He had nothing to say about the UFO lore in the film, just focused on what he felt was the true message:

“The great truth it teaches is that human beings, no matter what their shape, size, color, or far star-country of origin, are on their way to Becoming, Deciding to Be, deciding to travel in order to stay, deciding to live rather than dooming themselves to graveyard pits on separate worlds.”

Interviewed for the Jan. 12, Merv Griffin show, Bradbury talked about his love of Close Encounters: “I've seen it twice and cried both times…it's a very emotional experience, a very beautiful one...it's probably the most important film of the last 20 years.”

When Bradbury was a guest on the Tonight Show on March 1, 1978, host Johnny Carson asked him about UFOs and alien contact:

“The fascination lately of course with... Star Wars, Close Encounters… where people become involved again in reported flying saucers, what's your personal observation?"

Bradbury evaded the question, saying, “I'm very open. I think we you have to keep your mind totally open…” He later hinted at his true position by saying we had begun exploring space and “that we're going to be the Martians from here on in...” Carson persisted, “Do you feel personally that we are being observed? A lot of people believe that… if that's so, why don’t [aliens] contact us?” Bradbury mentioned the possible bacterial or cultural concerns, then gave his real answer. 

“I don't really think they're that close to us at this point, but I think that we'll make the contact… We can't travel fast enough right now… it will be possible, let's say 200 years from now, to make it to Alpha Centauri at almost the speed of light.”

1980s: A Saucer from a Martian Hoaxer

To promote the 1983 movie adaptation of Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, a version was produced for radio. It was narrated by Orson Welles, notorious for The War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938. Bradbury was unhappy with the script changes, but rewarded afterwards with a nice memento when Welles, “handed Bradbury the reading script with a hand-drawn flying saucer inscribed, ‘For Ray from his admiring friend, Orson.’” From Bradbury Beyond Apollo by Jonathan R. Eller, 2020

 

The Turn of the Century

The debate about aliens and UFOs got a boost in 1996 when scientists reported possible evidence of cellular life in an ancient meteorite thought to originate on Mars. The Los Angeles Times, Aug. 8, 1996, article stated there was a prominent non-believer:

“It’s ridiculous,” said author Ray Bradbury, whose Martian Chronicles painted a far more vibrant picture of Martian life. “They don’t have any proof. They’re not even sure [the rock] came from Mars. It’s a theory.” Bradbury compared the announcement to claims about UFOs and mysterious crop circles. He doesn’t believe it for a minute. “It’s stupid,” he said.

Ray Bradbury suffered a stroke in 1999 that left him with many physical problems. While his memory was dimmed by age and illness, he was still sharp and continued to work. During his final years, Bradbury spoke about UFOS and aliens several more times. Jim Cherry interviewed Bradbury for Arizona Republic August 31, 2000 (reprinted in Conversations with Ray Bradbury, Steven L. Aggelis, editor, 2004).

Cherry: “What do you think of alien visitors and UFOs?”

Bradbury: “No such, no way. It's ridiculous; there's absolutely no proof anywhere, at any time.”

Ray Bradbury wrote the foreword for the 2001 book, The Complete War of the Worlds: Mars' Invasion of Earth from H.G. Wells to Orson Welles. Entitled, “H.G. Wells, Master of Paranoia,” and it included a passage to the UFO topic:

“Wells and Welles prepared us for the delusional madness of the past fifty years. In fact, the entire history of the United States and the last half of the twentieth century is exemplified beautifully in Well's work. Starting with the so-called arrival of flying saucers in the 1950s, we've had a continuation of a mild panic at being invaded by creatures from some other part of the universe. It started with that alien professor who sold hot dogs with saucers of Invaders at the foot of Mt. Palomar. It then ravened up the years with half-baked sightings to end in Roswell and while true believers who claimed they never met a bug-eyed monster they didn't love.

Dr. Hynek disagreed, and he was the expert on flying saucers hitting the fan, having started the Center for UFO Studies. People said yes to his truths but snuck off the next day to Bide-a-Wee Martian Shoals in California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

The myths proliferated, all the way from the friendly beasts that invaded Meteor Crater in my It Came from Outer Space to the incredible mothership landing in firework illuminations in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. God reaching down to judge Adam's upstretched hand.

So the invasions will never cease. Or, not until we landfall Mars, build towns, and become friendly invaders to the universe. We will arrive in peace, and hopefully go with God.”

Ray Bradbury only mentioned Roswell in passing, but he recognized the story as something that had been manufactured by UFO mythmakers. In 2003, Bradbury had a heated exchange with Paul Davids, the producer of the 1994 Roswell TV movie. Bradbury was “an arch skeptic,” according to Davids, who said the disagreement happened at a Hollywood luncheon: 

“When he heard that I had made Roswell he started yelling at me! He started attacking me! Saying ‘what are you doing making a piece of fiction like that and trying to pass it off as something that’s true?’”

The last documented comments by Ray Bradbury on UFOs take us full circle. In 2009, Jeff Krulik filmed an interview of Bradbury, whom he found “still gracious and full of life and big ideas.” Almost as an afterthought, Krulik asked him, “Do you believe in UFOs?” In a hyperbolic reply, Bradbury said that George Adamski “invented” UFOs, blaming him for the popularity of the belief in them as alien spaceships. Bradbury described arriving at the 1952 Sou-Westercon:

“I went down [by] train to go to the science fiction convention in San Diego… in the U.S. Grant Hotel… people were rushing out… ‘We're leaving… [a] man that has a hot dog stand at the base of Mount Palomar, he's talking about some flying saucers… He's a nut, stupid nut.’ So I found out that... it was a complete lie that he made up… and people believed him. I talked on various radio shows and TV shows and told people not to listen… they asked me about that, I said, ‘Go talk to that hot dog salesman, it's a complete lie.’”

Ray Bradbury died on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91. The Los Angeles Times obituary for Bradbury quoted his view on his writing:

“I’m not a science fiction writer. I’ve written only one book of science fiction [Fahrenheit 451]. All the others are fantasy. Fantasies are things that can’t happen, and science fiction is about things that can happen.”

Bradbury viewed flying saucers from outer space not as science fiction, but as fantasy.

. . .

 

This article is an offshoot of a project that began years ago, “Science Fiction vs. Flying Saucers,” examining the opposition of many of the field’s authors to beliefs about UFOs. If you’re interested in seeing more on this topic, please let us know in an email or comment.

 

CE3K Trivia: George Adamski’s Revenge?

Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind presented a story based on a potpourri of events, concepts, and legends from UFO lore. Spielberg had scared moviegoers with Jaws, and all the advertising for CE3K was dark and menacing, telling us to “Watch the Skies,” and that “We are not Alone.” For most of the movie, the mystery of the UFOs is treated as menacing, but in the final act, the Mothership lands we learn that these ancient and technologically advanced aliens were peaceful and benevolent. Except in appearance, just like George Adamski’s space brothers.