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Aboard a Flying Saucer
NO DJ
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1954
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May 12, 2024
ONE OF THE EARLY 1950’s ‘CONTACTEE’ STORIES
Truman Bethurum (1898-1969) wrote in the Prologue to this 1954 book, “A great many people have stated and some under oath, that they have seen flying saucers… Some of you are convinced that flying saucers do exist. Others scoff and deny their existence… Sightings have not decreased. The government has clamped down on releasing data on most of its own reports… This book, I hope, will add much to your knowledge of flying saucers and the space people who bring them here… It can be possible---and I claim it is---that there is a kind of matter which science knows nothing about which, guided by intelligent beings of other worlds, is able to overcome the difficulties so insuperable as yet to us, and travel through space as easily and directly as you can travel in your ‘horseless carriage’…” (Pg. 11-14)
He adds, “[On] October 15, 1982… I had, I suppose, one of the most startling and unbelievable experiences that any human being has ever been confronted with. My many friends and acquaintances have looked upon my story of the flying saucer and crew from Clarion with various reactions. My close friends, knowing that truths are the only statements which I would make. Others have been concerned whether I might not need some form of mental treatment.” (Pg. 17-18)
He continues, “I shall go on tell you some of the conclusions which have been reached, and my interpretation of the viewpoints of the various scientists with whom I have freely discussed the visits of the space people with me… First of all, these space people had some difficulty in their first attempts at landing on our earth, and due to this difficulty… returned to their own planet and made the necessary changes … in their scows … [T]hese statements … are my own conclusions, after thinking back on some of the statements made to me by Captain Aura Rhanes [a female alien], and also after discussing these conversations with various men of scientific knowledge.” (Pg. 21-22)
He reports, “The midnight hours … lulled me to sleep…. I was startled away by what I can describe as mumbling,… I raised up, startled to find my truck surrounded by about eight or ten small sized men… they all seemed to be earing some sort of uniform… Their dark olive hued faces were bland and without lines or blemishes… one of these little men … spoke some words in a foreign language, words which I did not understand. I shook my head… [He] seemed to comprehend, and came back immediately with the words in English, ‘You name it.’ I blurted, ‘My God! You can speak English too.’ He said, ‘We have no difficulty with any language.’ … I finally managed to recover myself enough to ask him if they had a captain and, if so, could I please speak to him… Little did I suspect that their captain would turn out to be a woman---and what a woman!” (Pg. 34-37)
He goes on, “The spokesman… grasped my right arm with his left hand… With me in tow, he headed directly for the saucer… I blurted, ‘Where do you call home?’ … ‘Our homes are out castles in a far away land.’ … My heart leaped at the very idea of going aboard this saucer… I saw that it really was not resting on the ground, but was floating about three or four feet off the ground… I saw what I would call a movable landing step with a single hand rail…After getting on this saucer… I was led about fifteen paces … Then we turned into a beautifully furnished office or captain’s cabin… my eyes bulged again. I stood before their captain, a beautiful woman.” (Pg. 38-39) “She was a trifle shorter than any of the man… Her smooth skin was a beautiful olive and roses… I am sure she wore no makeup, but she certainly needed none… Her black hair was short and brushed into an upward curl at the ends.” (Pg. 40)
He states, “‘I asked, ‘How far did you come and how long did it take you to get here?’ … She said, ‘Time and distance are of no concern to us, and what you call time and distance is inconsequential in our lives.’ … she told me, ‘We worship a Supreme Deity who sees, knows and controls all.’ Immediately, I got the idea that these people are very religious, understanding, kind and friendly and almost certainly trusting. But the time came when she let me know that they… took no chances of being fired upon, captured and detained by our warlike earth peoples.” (Pg. 42-43) Finally, “I turned to the woman and inquired, ‘Are you coming back sometime?’ She nodded and said, ‘We’ll be back.’ ‘Thanks very much for inviting my aboard,’ I said… ‘We’ll have another visit,’ she promised. ‘You just think of the place and the day.’” (Pg. 46)
During the second visit, “I mentioned world conditions and delinquency in our youth, and she shook her head and murmured, ‘These things are sad. I’m glad we’re troubled with neither on Clarion… You’ve asked of our greatest problem… It was, of course, learning how to control magnetic force… I stayed aboard the saucer for about half an hour, and then my hostess signified that my visit was over, and I left. No sooner had I stepped on the ground than the ship was gone.” (Pg. 59-60)
In the third visit, “She told me her name then. It is Aura Rhanes. I had her write it down for me and spell it out loud… [She] told me to feel of her am and shoulder and convince myself that she was a real woman… She … said that she was a grandmother and had two grandchildren at home… she added [this] amazing statement… ‘Other planets are much too bush improving the welfare of their
inhabitants to have time for even minor controversies… Many planets are inhabited, and their atmosphere is similar to what we encounter here.’” (Pg. 68-72)
In a later visit, Capt. Rhanes said, “Mars is a beautiful place to see… Yes, there are people there, just like you and me… Mars is a great manufacturing planet. Every home has a beautiful lawn where flowers and shrubs abound… But as to where we live, Clarion, I think man may visit there soon and see our beautiful planet on the other side of the moon…” (Pg. 85)
And so on. He recounts a meeting with George Adamski, who “made us more than welcome.” (Pg. 187) “Finally, and to my great joy, my wife was convinced of my veracity, after a mano whose integrity as a scientist was known even to her told her definitely that my story was true. He added: “You must believe it, Mrs. Bethurum. Your husband could not possibly know the things he knows unless he had given years of scientific study to the subject.’ … I was invited to speak a few words at a meeting of Saucers, International… This was the first intimation I had that there were such things as saucer club… Now, since I saw that writers thought I had something which could be called a literary property if written into a book, I set out getting a book of my own written from it… my wife and I are going back together to the desert, to try again to meet with the scow from Clarion… if I send out my thoughts of welcome by mental telepathy, as Aura so many times advised me to…. Now, it is up to you, the public, to decide for yourselves the meaning of it all…” (Pg. 189-192)
Obviously, the Moon and Mars are not as Bethurum described them. This is one of the least interesting of 1950s ‘contactee’ stories.
Truman Bethurum (1898-1969) wrote in the Prologue to this 1954 book, “A great many people have stated and some under oath, that they have seen flying saucers… Some of you are convinced that flying saucers do exist. Others scoff and deny their existence… Sightings have not decreased. The government has clamped down on releasing data on most of its own reports… This book, I hope, will add much to your knowledge of flying saucers and the space people who bring them here… It can be possible---and I claim it is---that there is a kind of matter which science knows nothing about which, guided by intelligent beings of other worlds, is able to overcome the difficulties so insuperable as yet to us, and travel through space as easily and directly as you can travel in your ‘horseless carriage’…” (Pg. 11-14)
He adds, “[On] October 15, 1982… I had, I suppose, one of the most startling and unbelievable experiences that any human being has ever been confronted with. My many friends and acquaintances have looked upon my story of the flying saucer and crew from Clarion with various reactions. My close friends, knowing that truths are the only statements which I would make. Others have been concerned whether I might not need some form of mental treatment.” (Pg. 17-18)
He continues, “I shall go on tell you some of the conclusions which have been reached, and my interpretation of the viewpoints of the various scientists with whom I have freely discussed the visits of the space people with me… First of all, these space people had some difficulty in their first attempts at landing on our earth, and due to this difficulty… returned to their own planet and made the necessary changes … in their scows … [T]hese statements … are my own conclusions, after thinking back on some of the statements made to me by Captain Aura Rhanes [a female alien], and also after discussing these conversations with various men of scientific knowledge.” (Pg. 21-22)
He reports, “The midnight hours … lulled me to sleep…. I was startled away by what I can describe as mumbling,… I raised up, startled to find my truck surrounded by about eight or ten small sized men… they all seemed to be earing some sort of uniform… Their dark olive hued faces were bland and without lines or blemishes… one of these little men … spoke some words in a foreign language, words which I did not understand. I shook my head… [He] seemed to comprehend, and came back immediately with the words in English, ‘You name it.’ I blurted, ‘My God! You can speak English too.’ He said, ‘We have no difficulty with any language.’ … I finally managed to recover myself enough to ask him if they had a captain and, if so, could I please speak to him… Little did I suspect that their captain would turn out to be a woman---and what a woman!” (Pg. 34-37)
He goes on, “The spokesman… grasped my right arm with his left hand… With me in tow, he headed directly for the saucer… I blurted, ‘Where do you call home?’ … ‘Our homes are out castles in a far away land.’ … My heart leaped at the very idea of going aboard this saucer… I saw that it really was not resting on the ground, but was floating about three or four feet off the ground… I saw what I would call a movable landing step with a single hand rail…After getting on this saucer… I was led about fifteen paces … Then we turned into a beautifully furnished office or captain’s cabin… my eyes bulged again. I stood before their captain, a beautiful woman.” (Pg. 38-39) “She was a trifle shorter than any of the man… Her smooth skin was a beautiful olive and roses… I am sure she wore no makeup, but she certainly needed none… Her black hair was short and brushed into an upward curl at the ends.” (Pg. 40)
He states, “‘I asked, ‘How far did you come and how long did it take you to get here?’ … She said, ‘Time and distance are of no concern to us, and what you call time and distance is inconsequential in our lives.’ … she told me, ‘We worship a Supreme Deity who sees, knows and controls all.’ Immediately, I got the idea that these people are very religious, understanding, kind and friendly and almost certainly trusting. But the time came when she let me know that they… took no chances of being fired upon, captured and detained by our warlike earth peoples.” (Pg. 42-43) Finally, “I turned to the woman and inquired, ‘Are you coming back sometime?’ She nodded and said, ‘We’ll be back.’ ‘Thanks very much for inviting my aboard,’ I said… ‘We’ll have another visit,’ she promised. ‘You just think of the place and the day.’” (Pg. 46)
During the second visit, “I mentioned world conditions and delinquency in our youth, and she shook her head and murmured, ‘These things are sad. I’m glad we’re troubled with neither on Clarion… You’ve asked of our greatest problem… It was, of course, learning how to control magnetic force… I stayed aboard the saucer for about half an hour, and then my hostess signified that my visit was over, and I left. No sooner had I stepped on the ground than the ship was gone.” (Pg. 59-60)
In the third visit, “She told me her name then. It is Aura Rhanes. I had her write it down for me and spell it out loud… [She] told me to feel of her am and shoulder and convince myself that she was a real woman… She … said that she was a grandmother and had two grandchildren at home… she added [this] amazing statement… ‘Other planets are much too bush improving the welfare of their
inhabitants to have time for even minor controversies… Many planets are inhabited, and their atmosphere is similar to what we encounter here.’” (Pg. 68-72)
In a later visit, Capt. Rhanes said, “Mars is a beautiful place to see… Yes, there are people there, just like you and me… Mars is a great manufacturing planet. Every home has a beautiful lawn where flowers and shrubs abound… But as to where we live, Clarion, I think man may visit there soon and see our beautiful planet on the other side of the moon…” (Pg. 85)
And so on. He recounts a meeting with George Adamski, who “made us more than welcome.” (Pg. 187) “Finally, and to my great joy, my wife was convinced of my veracity, after a mano whose integrity as a scientist was known even to her told her definitely that my story was true. He added: “You must believe it, Mrs. Bethurum. Your husband could not possibly know the things he knows unless he had given years of scientific study to the subject.’ … I was invited to speak a few words at a meeting of Saucers, International… This was the first intimation I had that there were such things as saucer club… Now, since I saw that writers thought I had something which could be called a literary property if written into a book, I set out getting a book of my own written from it… my wife and I are going back together to the desert, to try again to meet with the scow from Clarion… if I send out my thoughts of welcome by mental telepathy, as Aura so many times advised me to…. Now, it is up to you, the public, to decide for yourselves the meaning of it all…” (Pg. 189-192)
Obviously, the Moon and Mars are not as Bethurum described them. This is one of the least interesting of 1950s ‘contactee’ stories.
January 29, 2024
I got a copy after listening to the Astonishing Legends episodes. What a strange and fascinating little book.
July 24, 2022
Aboard a Flying Saucer is yet another entry in the 1950s contactee literature that today reads as both dated and ludicrous. Bethurum was a worker on road and dam projects in Nevada and on the Colorado River. He tells us he sighted a flying saucer late at night and was taken on board by Aura Raines, its ravishing beauty of a captain. Aura railed as usual against nuclear weapons, humankind's many problems, etc. etc. Bethurum listened, entranced, however, more by her looks than her discourse, it seems. As one of his colleagues, told of his encounters, remarked, "Leave it to old Tru to find a good lookin' dame in the middle of the desert!"
Good old Tru's subsequent life didn't go so well. His wife was outraged at his tales of his gorgeous Space Sister--even though she herself warned Truman, when he asked to touch her to make sure she was real, not to think something that wasn't true. (They divorced soon thereafter.) He made the usual rounds, showing up at George Van Tassel's UFO extravagances at Giant Rock, California, along with other luminaries like Dana Howard and Orfeo Angelucci and George Adamski. He continued to insist on the actuality of his adventures to the end of his life, it seems.
Aboard a Flying Saucer is perhaps the most poorly written of the 1950s contactee literature (which isn't to say the standard's very high). Nor is there any doubt that it's pure fiction as far as Aura and her "scow," as Bethurum calls the ship. To my mind it, like the rest of the contactee literature, deserves attention only as an element in the study of a certain 1950s sensibility, connected with the religious swirl of Los Angeles at the time. (Like many other contactees, Bethurum lived in LA.)
Why Bethurum confected his UFO tale and insisted on its truth long after even the slimmest probability evaporated is, I suppose, a question for a psychoanalysis no longer possible to perform, although many commentators have offered views. That he garnered considerable attention for a while from his claims is undeniable; maybe that was the point. At the same time he suffered ridicule, a common reaction to contactee claims which is discussed at considerable length by his contemporary Angelucci. Angelucci felt he'd been denied his calling; he thought he should have been a scientist, but lacked both the education and the opportunity. Bethurum's ambitions seem not so high flying. Maybe the attention, then, was enough?
Good old Tru's subsequent life didn't go so well. His wife was outraged at his tales of his gorgeous Space Sister--even though she herself warned Truman, when he asked to touch her to make sure she was real, not to think something that wasn't true. (They divorced soon thereafter.) He made the usual rounds, showing up at George Van Tassel's UFO extravagances at Giant Rock, California, along with other luminaries like Dana Howard and Orfeo Angelucci and George Adamski. He continued to insist on the actuality of his adventures to the end of his life, it seems.
Aboard a Flying Saucer is perhaps the most poorly written of the 1950s contactee literature (which isn't to say the standard's very high). Nor is there any doubt that it's pure fiction as far as Aura and her "scow," as Bethurum calls the ship. To my mind it, like the rest of the contactee literature, deserves attention only as an element in the study of a certain 1950s sensibility, connected with the religious swirl of Los Angeles at the time. (Like many other contactees, Bethurum lived in LA.)
Why Bethurum confected his UFO tale and insisted on its truth long after even the slimmest probability evaporated is, I suppose, a question for a psychoanalysis no longer possible to perform, although many commentators have offered views. That he garnered considerable attention for a while from his claims is undeniable; maybe that was the point. At the same time he suffered ridicule, a common reaction to contactee claims which is discussed at considerable length by his contemporary Angelucci. Angelucci felt he'd been denied his calling; he thought he should have been a scientist, but lacked both the education and the opportunity. Bethurum's ambitions seem not so high flying. Maybe the attention, then, was enough?
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June 24, 2011what a piece of inspiration
March 27, 2012
This may be my favorite contactee book ever. Just plain fun goofiness.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews