The Andreasson Affair (5 page)

“What are you doing here?” Betty asked.

“We have come to help,” the entities replied. “Will you help us?”

“How can I help?”

“Would you follow us?” the entities asked.

“Are you of God?” she demanded. “You keep saying you have come to help the world. Why?”

“Because the world is trying to destroy itself,” they answered her. “How can I help the world?” she sighed.

“Would you follow us?”

“If you are of God,” Betty sighed again. “If you are here to help and are of God, I would follow, but do not deceive me.”

“Would you follow us?” they repeated.

Betty's power to resist lessened as the entities stared hypnotically into her eyes. Their slow, repetitive invitation, “Would you follow us?” echoed within the deepest recesses of her mind. But again, her own powerful instincts surfaced: “What about my children? My parents?”

“They are all right,” Quazgaa answered. “Would you follow us?”

Jules:
What was the rest of your family doing?

Betty:
They promised me they wouldn't hurt them—that they would be all right. They said, “See, they're just resting there.” There was no fear on their faces. It was as if they were unaware.… They said, “They are all right. Would you follow us?” He keeps on repeating that—“Would you follow us?”

“Oh, Lord,” Betty said softly, “show me what I'm supposed to do.”

“We will not harm you.” The entities repeated, “Would you follow us?”

“All right,” Betty replied, very softly.

Betty:
He said, “Stand directly in back of me.” And so I stood in back of him, and I swooped in somehow, like suction. And immediately, when I did, he was starting out the door, and I was going
through
the same thing, the wood, that they were.

Joseph:
Nobody opened any door?

Betty:
No. I was right in their line. I was following the leader, and I guess they must have—ah, their line must have a passage through.

Betty was no longer walking. She found herself floating several inches above the ground with a swooping motion that matched the movements of her abductors as they moved along together in single file.

Betty:
I'm just swooping along, step by step as he moves. I'm moving the exact distance from him. The others evidently are following.

Peculiar foreign sensations pulsed through Betty's body.

Betty:
My legs feel very strange. My whole body does. It feels like it's weightless…very funny. And we are outside, and he stopped.

Betty stared in disbelief. In her backyard, resting on its own struts, was an oval object with a raised central portion. This concerned the investigators. How could such a remarkable object remain undetected by the neighbors? We interrupted Betty to ask pertinent questions.

Ray:
How about the other houses? Could you see the neighborhood?

Betty:
No. I saw haze, all haze.

Ray:
When you went out, how do you know that you were actually in the neighborhood?

Betty:
I didn't know except for the corner of the house and the ship. The rest of the part seemed very vague and hazy—like a mist was all around.

During the course of our investigation, the present owner of the house confirmed that the low area in the backyard is especially conducive to dense pockets of fog. Weather records for the night of January 25, 1967, indicated heavy mist in the area.

Debbie:
(Jules's wife) How about the garage?

Betty:
I couldn't see that, and I couldn't see the opposite side of the house on this side.… I could just see on this left-hand side, the house, the corner of the house, the stone wall, and the tree. Even past that, it seemed misty. It seemed as if the ship took up most of the area, too much for me to see past it.

Betty stood awestruck at the silent presence of the strange craft in the yard. Her initial shock quickly gave way to fear and apprehension. Quazgaa seemed to have sensed this and, to reassure Betty, did a remarkable thing.

Betty:
He says, “See, you can trust me. Look over at the ship.” And he made the bottom like glass. I could see through it!

When the bottom of the craft suddenly became transparent, Betty recognized some of the things inside, which she had seen illustrated in the blue book.

Betty:
I see the—part of those things I saw in the book. There are glass balls on the bottom, cut glass like, and there are arms that come down and grasp on to it, and they go up.… And there's that thing on the side. And they can rotate on an inner tube—with that gray matter and that water, I guess, or something. [See
Figure 8
.]

Betty sought in vain to find a comparative reference point to describe what she was observing. “What is it?” she breathed. “What is it, Quazgaa?

Figure 8:
Apparatus in the bottom of the craft. May 5
.

“I have other things to show you,” he replied. “Come along, come along.”

Betty:
And the ship turned back so that it was not glass but like a… silver-gold. And I see the legs, and they are parked, sort of, on the hill.

In other words, the length of the vehicle's legs on struts were adjusted to the incline of the hill adjoining the backyard. (See
Figure 9
on
page 46
.) Quazgaa faced the alien vehicle and raised his left hand. Instantaneously an opening appeared in the craft.

Betty:
And, ah, that door is opening—automatically, I guess, or else he's making it. He raised his hand. And we are getting all lined up. And he swoops right up! There are three stairs. Soon as he goes up, I'm swooped up, and the others are following.

Figure 9:
The craft's exterior. May 7
.

Betty found herself floating into a small room with curved walls. The door closed automatically behind them.

Betty:
We're in like a half-bubble, or quarter of a bubble, room. And he [Quazgaa] has withdrawn himself with the others, and they are standing over there talking.… [See
Figure 10
.] I'm just looking at this room. Something goes down on the sides of the bubble.… Where the steps come up, it goes down.… I feel very weightless and icky. My hands and my legs feel like they are asleep or something. And they are still talking over there, and they glance over at me once in a while.… Oh, hurry up! And I'm crossing my arms now. I'm tired of just standing there.… I feel weightless. Oh, my feet are pins and needles or something—even my arms and my hands. He's still talking, and…about two or three of them are leaving. That door whooshed open, and they are going in—and it's closing.

Figure 10:
The entrance hall. May 7
.

Then Quazgaa came over to Betty. Two entities still remained in the room and stood watching her.

Betty:
…He brought me over to where they were, and…he is saying something to them about going and making himself ready. [
Sigh
.] Would they please bring me to the upper room?

Betty and the entities left; Quazgaa stayed behind.

Betty:
And so, the two—one went in front of me and one in back of me, and we went over to the furthest right-hand end of the quarter bubble. And whoosh! Another door opened. And you can't even see those doors. They just go up when they open. And there are stairs there—going around, somehow going around. They seem like they are floating up, but…my waist feels so heavy there. And we are going up those stairs. Looks like I can see something down there. We're all going around the stairs and…we are going up around, and this door goes down. [See
Figure 11
on
page 48
.]

At this point, the hypnotist turned over the recording tape.

Harold:
Betty, I now want you—to just remember where you are. You said, “This door leads down.”

When she was asked to continue her account, Betty quickly corrected him:

Betty:
The door
goes
down. It doesn't
lead
down. It disappears down somehow. And now they are going into that room.

Figure 11:
Interior of the craft. May 25
.

Betty, still positioned between the two silent beings, was perplexed at what she saw as she moved into a circular room.

Betty:
I see that—ah, box, or that desk and, ah, see something else. It's, ah, red and black. It's black, outlined with red. And it's some kind of mirrors, I think. [
Softly
] I don't know. Seems like there are, ah, in that circular room, big ripples like windows. [See
Figure 12.
] They are leading me still [
sigh
] and they are bringing me over to that further edge—are bringing me further over there. And now they're stopping and I'm standing there.… And the two are withdrawing. They are saying that I'll be all right here for a time.

“How come I have to stay here?” she asked them. An unseen force held Betty firmly in place. Paralyzed except for head movement, she felt
deserted and helpless. As she relived the episode, we saw the terror reflected on her face before us. Her pulse quickened, and the hypnotist quickly reacted.

Harold:
Betty? This is Dr. Edelstein. Just relax. Are you getting apprehensive right now?

Betty:
They are leaving me alone in there!