Earth (3 page)

The boys revisited the landing site the following day at dawn, hoping for another encounter, but nothing happened. They went home, returning to the site in the early afternoon. Again, nothing. But following a hunch, Leo told Mike that they should wait for a while. “After we spent only a short time on the hilltop, our ship approached,” said Leo. “We could not understand how, but we felt they had some way they could land the ship and depart again without being seen. We had experienced this before. When we watched them take off, the minute they got a few feet above the ground, we lost sight of them. They were just gone. The feeling was growing in us that they were instantly moving so fast that they were just invisible to us [and] if they could move out that quickly, they could certainly slow their ship just as quickly.”

As the boys tried to approach the ship, they were blocked as usual by the force-field—but this time while they were still very near the hilltop. Mike worried that the men might have lost some confidence because of the way he'd acted the previous night. “They did not want us any closer,” said Leo, “but again we finally managed to draw their attention. They raised their hands and then mostly ignored us. As we stood watching and speculating about them, we could feel them looking us over, examining us in some way I could not quite define. We felt they were definitely interested in us
in a friendly way….

“Whatever it was they were doing, they were very busy about it, coming and going from the ship with small parcels and odd gadgets we couldn't quite see. There could have been dozens of them inside, but we never saw more than six of them outside at one time. As before, they all wore similar clothing, the coveralls I admired. There were no visible buttons or even a seam in front that might be hiding the buttons….

“After a time, the activity near the ship died down until only one of them remained outside, wandering here and there with no pattern. He came quite close to us, maybe ten or twelve feet away. Whatever was holding us seemed to have no effect upon him. He looked directly at us and smiled in a peaceful and friendly way, raising his hand with the palm open toward us. Then he turned and walked directly back to the ramp and entered the ship. Although the ramp retracted into the ship and the strange door closed, nothing else happened.”

After the door closed, the boys were released from the force-field. Though tempted to approach the ship, they decided it would be unwise.

On arriving back at the farm—this time late for supper—so engrossed were the boys with the day's encounter that they were unable to eat. “There was no thought of mentioning what happened to us that night,” explained Leo. “Our parents still thought we were imagining all these things and Mom was unhappy and worried because we did not eat….

“When I think back now, I know their huge ship was the key to our interest in them. As individuals, they were not all that much different from ordinary people. If you dressed them in ordinary clothing, you would pass one of them in a strange town without blinking an eye. We were quite convinced that if they could build and fly this amazing airship, they could do many other exciting things we could only imagine. By now, we had begun to suspect they could somehow control the weather,
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because the conditions were always calm and clear each time they landed … I knew that one day we would come into closer contact with them, but did not know if we would ever be allowed to enter that spaceship.”

One day, worried about becoming involved in some kind of serious situation with the men in the airship, the brothers felt compelled once more to tell their parents. “I am sure they noticed how we had developed knowledge
they could not account for,” said Leo. “They listened to our excited words, but watching them, I don't think they quite believed us.”

First Contact

Early one evening, following numerous unsuccessful trips to the site, the boys had another close encounter with the mysterious men and their flying machine. “As we started down the hill,” said Leo, “we found ourselves in quite a different situation than before. The magnetic force they used to keep us at a distance was behind us and we were free to walk cautiously up toward the landing site….

“As we approached the ship, these people were outside with smiles on their faces. They were very calm [and] just went about their exercises and made us feel welcome, like we weren't in the way. We stopped our approach at maybe eight or ten feet from the nearest of them, and just stood there watching…. We could hear no sounds in the strange stillness so near the tremendous ship.
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This close, we were nearly overwhelmed by its huge dimensions….

“These men were so ordinary looking in one way and so exotic in another. I noticed that they had light brown hair that was cut much the same as Mom cut ours. Their complexion was very light beige, resembling a good tan. Their eyes were blue with a dark pupil. I would guess their weight to be about 140 pounds, since they were a little taller and more heavily built than my father…. All of them looked to me to weigh about the same and be about the same size and build. Their hands and feet were shaped like ours, but their shoes were totally unlike our own, without laces or soles.

“The fabric of their clothing was very unusual, with a subtle pattern visible only when the light was just right. The color and cut of the uniform was the same from a distance, but that subtle pattern was different from one to another of them. Their otherwise identical uniforms looked like they were neatly pressed, but did not have badges or any other insignia that might show rank, like our soldiers did. These men were as alike as peas in a pod.

“Now that we were up close to it, we found the color of the ship to be a light blue that blended smoothly into the color of the sky. When viewed against the sky, the ship was strangely difficult to detect, either close up or from a distance. There was sort of a haze to it. We just stood there and
looked back and forth from the ship to the men. They occasionally looked at us and smiled, then continued with their exercises. I was able to talk German probably better than English at that time, although our tongues were tied and we just couldn't speak.

“There were three of them, and they stood there and looked at us. They appeared to be very relaxed with that unusual smile on their faces. Their smile was like ours [and] maybe more gentle than any smile I have ever seen.”

When Mike tried talking (in a mixture of English and German) to the closest man, they all merely continued with their “exercises.” Two of the men walked back into the ship and another came out, walked over to the boys and said, in German, “I can speak your language,” and then, in English, “We speak all languages of all people on your planet.”

“We asked them some questions, not very deep questions, because we felt curiously tongue-tied,” explained Leo. “We had meant to ask a million questions, but in the end we asked very few. The conversation with him lasted for only a few minutes.”

Leo now noticed that the men were wearing thin, light-colored gloves. No women were on board. I asked Leo why this was so.

“There are women,” he responded, “but I never met them.”
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The brothers were hoping to be invited on board. But it was not to be. Finally, one of the men approached the boys and addressed them, in perfect German:

“You have had quite an experience with us [and] shown great determination in coming to visit us again and again. You have seen much, you have learned much, and you know more about us than most people in your world. No one will believe you when you tell them about us,” and, addressing Leo, “not until you are an old man…. In your own minds, you will always know the truth about what you have experienced and felt.” The man repeated this in English, then continued in German:

“We are very real and we are from another galaxy. We have traveled to your planet for over five thousand years. We are from a place far beyond your world by millions of years in time. We continue traveling to your planet because it is part of our responsibility. We are showing you a small part of what you can expect in the future. You cannot learn everything at one
time without rest. You will see us again before long….”

“Leo used the term ‘galaxy' very loosely,” Barry advised me. “I got the impression that, in his mind, the term would apply to the planetary system of another star or perhaps to a different dimension or time as easily as to another star cluster beyond the Milky Way. He often called the visitors ‘time-travelers.'”
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“I did not ask them any more questions and we did not get into the spaceship,” Leo continued. “When we wanted to know something, it was clear we had to be able to ask the right questions before we could get any answers. He stood before us for a few seconds more with that gentle smile on his face, then turned and joined the others….

“I was now certain that they were far older than anyone we had ever met before,” explained Leo. “They had very old, wise eyes in bodies that appeared to be young and fit. I decided that they must have far better methods to protect their health and must live in a much better environment than we do. They glowed with perfect health. I also knew they deeply respected our Earth…. This was why they didn't leave rubbish about, why their area was always clean.

“I was now firmly convinced that these travelers from the spaceship could definitely read our minds. They responded to the questions, thoughts, and desires in our minds, and in turn were able to place their own thoughts, intentions and beliefs in our minds without using words….”

When viewed close up, the craft appeared to be constructed of one single piece of material without individual component parts. The ramp and supports beneath the ship appeared to join to the main body of the ship with no visible seams.

Another encounter occurred in the same valley, late in the day on September 19. Again, the boys were not prevented from approaching the craft. “I do not know why, but I had the impression that the force-field was still there, but they ‘tuned' it somehow to allow us to pass through,” Leo asserts.

The craft did not reflect light like ordinary objects; rather, it seemed to absorb the light around it and produce its own subtle light of any color or pattern of shades. “Sounds did not echo off it like the wall of a barn or the face of a cliff. You could stand right next to it and not even notice it was there…. It was more like a living thing that watched and reacted to
its surroundings, than a machine or building. Maybe they were putting on a show for us, because the appearance of the ship began doing the most amazing things.

“One moment it would blend into the sunset, matching every color and pattern. Then it would go like oily water and abruptly change to a polished mirror or a dark, non-reflective surface like a hillside. It took many minutes for us to work our way to the clearing near the ship….”

At first, the boys did not notice anyone near the ship as they walked up to it, nor the silent lowering of the ramp. But they became aware of a man standing next to one of the huge legs that supported the ship. The man made eye contact with the boys and had started to speak before they suddenly realized there were two men.

“The one who had started to speak to us continued, turning to the other as he spoke [in flawless German]. ‘These boys would like to touch our ship. Make sure it is well grounded, for we probably have developed some [electrostatic charge] in our travels.' There was no greeting. I think he simply picked the top item off the jumbled pile of our thoughts and responded to it. Then we were given the opportunity to touch something from another galaxy for the first time. The feeling of touching the ship, which definitely sent a chill up my spine, is also very difficult to explain.

“I expected it to be hard and metallic, but to this day, I find it hard to believe the feeling I had touching something that was so smooth and exchanged no heat with my hand. It was neither warm nor cold, and was definitely smoother than glass or polished metal, which will stick to your hand. It was like trying to press one magnet against the same pole of another, like I was not really touching anything at all….

“The colors were somehow projected from inside it, or emanated from it, instead of reflecting as from a painted surface or a mirror. At that particular moment, the colors seemed to match the sky and even the clouds…. The ship was made in such a way, or of such a material, that once it rose several hundred feet in the air, it looked just like the sky….

“We accomplished our next goal in short order when we found ourselves shaking the hand of one of the visitors. It was his actual hand, not through a glove like I had often seen them wear…. The hand was soft and warm, the grip firm. Although I was right in the middle of what was probably
the biggest thrill I ever had, I found myself thinking, ‘Sure would like to get into that ship.' …

“I think that can be arranged,” came the reply to Leo's unspoken thought. “But first, you will have to go through a ‘process' to enter the ship. There is nothing to be afraid of [and] you will have to go through the process again to leave the ship.”

The man explained that this process was controlled by what today might be termed an invisible energy beam or field of radiation, comparing it with the energy field that prevented approaching the ship. “I understood that it was a modified form of the invisible shield,” said Leo.

“I finally began to recognize that they were giving us information in some way other than by just what they had told us [and that] they were communicating with us, not so much by what they were saying and we were hearing, but more by what we were feeling.” As Leo explained to me: “They can open up areas of the brain that we don't use. And they made it clear that we have twelve senses, not five.
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“They seemed to realize that our world was in trouble, and understood about the depression and the drought as we talked about failed crops and the grasshoppers that were invading our country. They [also] gave us the indication that Man would soon bring terrible wars and suffering upon himself….”