A Flying Saucer Contactee's Poetic Phase

 

A recent blog article mentions some of the paranormal case studies where an individual experienced unprecedented creativity or 'automatic writing' involving poetry or proverbs, including Pearl Lenore Curran, whose psychic experiences began with Ouija Board communication; Chico Xavier, a famous author of books via automatic writing; Lynn Russell, who was a regular participant in Direct Voice Communication seances; Elizabeth Fuller, who was the colleague (and later became the wife) of author John G. Fuller (The Interrupted Journey, Arigo); and Truman Bethurum (1898-1969).  The latter is known to be one of the first documented 1950s flying saucer 'contactees.'  A blog article about 'automatic writing' mediumship is "The 'Automatic Mirror Writing' of Mrs. Georgia".  Recent blog articles have also considered links between 'contactee' and psychic/medium case studies involving paranormal encounters with tiny people and transcendental requests.

A unique facet of the Truman Bethurum case (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) is the two letters (shown below with English translations) given to him aboard a flying saucer, thus presenting physical proof of his paranormal experiences.  The letters were in response to a family question posed in a letter written in French from a young lady who was a friend of Truman.  He had asked the captain of the flying saucer, Aura, that the answer be written in the same language with also a comparable answer in Chinese or Yiddish.

 

 

An English translation of Aura's French letter reads:

Dear Maria:

On this Planet, exactly as on the earth, human beings are of the same nature and have to confront the same problems as you and I.  It seems however, that civilization, such as we find it on Earth, has brought many misfortunes to men.  We are Christians here and on this point we have not retrogressed as I see from here the dreadful paganism which is gnawing at modern countries.  You come from a country where customs and manners are stricter and, on the other hand, there are, in America more liberties and greater licentiousness to which one must adapt oneself.  If, on the contrary, either your husband or you do not place yourself on guard against the lures and mirages of attitudes based on negligence and selfishness in your marital relations, it is often difficult to keep the love of a husband who has strayed from the straight path without any apparent cause on your part.  Try then to convince him by your unlimited fidelity and your complete devotion, refusing to permit your heart to revolt or to reproach past weaknesses.  But, above all, learn to place your faith in God, and, by Christian effort which will be an example to him, try to lead him back to a sincere faith or to increase in him the practice of religion.  Here, God has saved us from inclemencies and has spared us many social misfortunes.  We are not acquainted with divorce, adultery and infidelity to the dangerous degree that it exists on the Planet Earth.  Learn from us about the power such as we have already displayed it; some day Earth will no longer be what it is if men do not change; they are destroying themselves by inches.

From your Friend without equal to those on Earth.

Madame Aura

These events are chronicled in Aboard a Flying Saucer (1954) by Truman Bethurum.  A follow-up book is The Voice of the Planet Clarion (circa 1957) that describes his own experiences in poetic verses.

 

 

 

Truman explained in the Foreword of The Voice of the Planet Clarion:

At the close of the first visit, the lady Space Captain Aura Rhanes told Truman to make the visit "known to the people of your world."  As Truman was a construction engineer, welder, machine operator and mechanic, and not a writer or poet, he was at a loss as how to best place his wonderful experiences before the general public.

Captain Aura told him to write down the visits and what was said, in the manner in which she spoke.  Upon his return home, after the second visit, he took his pen and started to concentrate.  To his surprise, the words flowed from the pen, as if Aura, herself, had hold of it.  The following pages are the result.

The book Aboard a Flying Saucer was written from notes taken at the actual time of the visits and more fully detailed each time, soon after the Scow had departed.

Considering these comments and the stanzas written by Truman, 'automatic writing' doesn't appear to be the appropriate description for this text.  In addition to remarks about his 11 visits aboard a flying saucer in 1952 and the visit of Captain Aura three years later when Truman was in Prescott, Arizona, the book includes 32 poems "given under the inspiration of Aura Rhanes" and five articles.  Among the many curious aspects of the case is that Captain Aura told Truman to prepare himself for a visit to her planet of Clarion.  It may be significant that such an experience is not among those described although there was some planning between Aura and Truman.  He commented in Aboard a Flying Saucer about his first encounter with Captain Aura: ". . . this woman was talking to me in a swinging, rhythmic tone of voice, much like you read Mother Goose verses to your children, and for a moment I wondered about it.  But I put it out of my mind for the time being . . ."

During the second visit to the flying saucer, Truman mentioned Aura's "sing-song high pitched voice."  During one of the later visits, one of the quoted statements of Aura after speaking about "teleportation" is: "There is more to this than meets the eye . . . Remember, I am speaking to you in a tongue quite foreign to me about matters entirely foreign to your comprehension."

The following is an anecdote from the Clarionites' eleventh visit.

Then I asked her again about things on Clarion, and questioned her about her hobbies.

She said, "I love to read and ride and swim and fish in lakes and rivers.  I like to dress up nice and dance.  But housework gives me shivers."

Truman wrote that he reacted by "wondering about her liking to fish."  As Aura had previously said that people from Clarion never kill anything, he "concluded that when she made that remark [about liking to fish] she must have been referring only to people."

Truman commented about his social predicament following his 11 visits to the flying saucer.

. . . my adventures had become common talk around Kingman, and people were taking a distant and disapproving attitude in their contacts with me.  So I decided finally that no one in the whole wide world believed my story or gave a continental whether it was true or not.  They wanted to continue living in the status quo, immersed in their dull little lives, not even curious about the greatest adventure ever made known to mankind.

A posthumous book featuring "information recorded by Truman Bethurum" was published in 1970: The People of the Planet Clarion edited and compiled by Timothy Green Buckley (republished as Messages from the People of the Planet Clarion in 1995).  Autobiographical chapters include commentary about Truman's poetic phase in reference to "my first notes of our [initial] meeting on July 27, 1952" —

I was told by the Captain that I should write down the highlights of our discussion and make it known to the people of our world.  My answer to her was:

"I am not a writer and I can hardly read my own writing!"

She promised, "You will have no trouble writing about our visits with you."

During the second visit aboard the flying saucer, Truman was asked about the writing request and he "responded in the negative."  He was then told: "When you are off work, write down in your own way what was discussed on our first visit with you, and then write down all that we are discussing now."  What happened following the visit is reported —

When I was back at the Desert Inn in Overton, I took papers and pencil and sat down to write as they had instructed me to do.  The results were surprising to me!  It seemed as though someone was holding the pencil and actually forming the words!

Here are some of the stanzas about Truman's experienced visits from The Voice of the Planet Clarion.

You will certainly marvel at her [Aura's] answers,
        But you'll know they're from a Master's mind.
She said, "The things that trouble and worry you,
        In OUR homes, you'll never find!"


She escorted me to the edge of the Saucer,
        It was as big as all get out!
Now, contrary to general opinion,
        I am sure it never did whirl!
It just disappeared in the sunlight,
        Just like a vaporized pearl!


I said, "Have you ever seen our Navy,
        Army and Marine Corps, too?"
She said, "Every time they assembled,
        It was just like for me to review!"


I spoke of politics and taxes,
        And asked if they had these, too.
She said, "No!" and added directly:
        "That's what cleft your old world through!"


[Aura:] "You asked of our great problem.
        It was to control magnetical force.
You know that we have solved it,
        Both pro and anti, of course!"


Her flesh was real and plenty firm.
        Her shape was like an expensive urn,
She was just over four feet tall,
        And certainly entrancing, all in all!


[Aura:] "Your deserts and plains could be transformed overnight,
        To a place, that from heaven, would look plenty bright!
The money you spend every year for a War,
        Would bring water in, if need be, from afar."

My mind was a blank, I guess,
        I must have been thinking of home.
I picked up my tools and got in my car,
        And just then was startled by a slight little jar!

Then her sweet voice rang out,
        "You know, here we are!"
I recognized it as from Aura Rhanes,
        My friend from another planet or star.


"Now, as to where we live, man may visit there soon!
        It's a beautiful place, the other side of the moon!
The government is directed by others and me,

        And we never have troubles, as some day you'll see!"

"Now, education with us, is tops, you see,

        And every language we learn.

Science, culture and history, too,

        As around every planet we turn."

"I am sure some people would like to know,

        How we chose any certain man.

We looked around this great big Earth

        For a place to safely land.

"You happened to be close when we came down,

        Thanks to Wells Cargo Clan.

The interest you showed was enough for us to see

        You were a straightforward man."

I told Aura I had a question for her.

        Marilyn Mills had written in French.

I don't know a word it said,

        But Aura typed the answer, too.

In a language I've never read!

And just in fun, I snickered a bit,

        With a very little wheeze.

I said, "The joke would be on her,

        If you answered in Chinese!"

She called for some paper and wrote it down.

        It looked like scribbling to me!

She said, "When this gets around, it will be the

                talk of the town,

        And I do it without a fee!"

I was getting so tired I could hardly see.

        She said, "You better get home!"

She also said, "With the notes I give,

        You should write this down like a poem!"

[Aura:] "If we opened our Scows to all that would come,

         Soon Clarion would be of small worth!

'For Sale' signs would mar all our beauty,

        And Foreclosures, the same as on Earth!"

"We have a machine we know is not on Earth,

        But we have had it for time untold!

And any time we want any events reviewed,

        It is there on a screen to behold!"

[Aura:] "Now, I know my description of this lovely affair

         Really sounds like a poem,

But it's really true in detail, too,

        Then we belatedly left for home."