URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog

April

April 1 -- Samuel Eaton Thompson, Centralian, tells story of strange sight of huge plastle saucer, completre to inhabitants, which he saw in eastern Lewis county.

The Coming of the Venusians

By Jerome Clark

The single most bizarre story in early UFO history is practically unknown. At the time it supposedly occurred, it attracted little attention even in the local press, which published one brief item on it and let the matter drop, apparently embarrassed by its wildly outlandish character.

And the story is outlandish. But Samuel Eaton Thompson, the man who told it, seemed sincerely to believe that he had spent 40 hours aboard a spaceship with 10 Venusian families. Kenneth Arnold (well known to UFO enthusiasts as the private pilot whose June 24, 1947, sighting of "flying saucers" over the Cascade Mountains first brought UFOs to wide public attention), who interviewed Thompson one day after the alleged encounter and again a month and a half later, says the man was so unimaginative that "he couldn't have imagined a ham sandwich if you held it up right in front of him."

Thompson, a poorly educated man in his 70's who lived in Centralia, Washington, claimed that he had gone to visit friends and family in the western part of the state. On March 28, 1950, Thompson left Markham, WA, to head back home. On the way he drove through a forested area and decided to stop. As an amateur explorer, he couldn't resist the temptation to follow an old logging trail to see where it led. He backed his car along the trail, got out and proceeded on foot. A few minutes later he came upon a sight that he would later describe as "something unheard-of."

The something unheard-of was not the big globe-shaped craft that hovered just above a clearing in the trees. After all, that was a classic flying saucer - especially with the rim that surrounded the object's midsection - and plenty of people had reported those. Thompson was naturally surprised to see it but he was more startled to see the people - the naked people.

They were playing on the steps that led from a door in the side of the ship to the ground. They were "about the size of the average child, only they had finer features. They were just beautiful." They had dark tans and lovely dark blond hair that came all the way to their waists.

Thompson wasn't frightened, just "so excited I didn't know what to do." He approached the ship and when he got to within 50 feet he began to feel heat emanating from it. Thompson would learn later that this heat not only was used in the propulsion of the craft but also kept its occupants alive. The heat felt like rays from the sun, which accounted for the children's tanned skins, Thompson thought.

When he got to the bottom of the steps, adults - unclothed, tanned, beautiful men and women - came to the door and stood on the steps watching him as if they were frightened. When he assured them he meant no harm, they invited him into the ship, where Thompson would spend most of the next 40 hours. They told him to take off his shoes and socks before walking up the steps.

The people were from Venus. They spoke an "uneducated" kind of English. They were oddly ignorant; yet they "seemed the happiest and cheerfullest people you ever met." Even the children were gentle in their play - "no roughness or tumbling and stuff like that" - and did not have to be told how to behave or think.

The Venusians were totally benevolent. "Their idea's not to destroy people," Thompson told Ken and Doris Arnold. "It's to make good will among people." Yet Earth people frightened them because on several occasions earthly aircraft had shot down their spaceships. The Earth people's problems stem from the fact that they are born under different planet signs, whereas all the Venusians are born under the sign of Venus; the peace-loving people who live on the other worlds in the solar system are also born under the sign of the planet they inhabit. Mars, however, is a bad sign under which to be born; the Martians are even meaner than Earth people. The Venusians are "more afraid to land there than any planet."

Thompson himself was born under the sign of Venus, a fact the Venusians recognized "the minute I walked up to that ship." If he lived a good enough life he would be reincarnated as a Venusian. All persons who fulfill their "mission" return to the planet of their sign when they die.

The Venusians, Thompson observed, live long lives because they eat right, eschewing meat for grits, herbs, artichokes, apples and nuts such as "grow in Minnesota and them places," although the food is from Venus itself.

Apparently the plants on Venus are much like those on Earth. While aboard the spaceship he ate with his space friends and the food tasted "just great." None of the food was cooked - the Venusians do not eat cooked food,just raw vegetables and fruits "in the nature way." Because of their exemplary dietary habits they are never sick. When they die, it is of old age.

Thompson thought the Venusians are something like "animals," at least in the sense that everything they do is instinctual. They know remarkably little, even about themselves. They do not know who built their ships (which serve as their dwelling places even when they are home on Venus) and have only a vague idea of how they are powered. As Thompson understood it, the propulsion has something to do with streams of hot air shooting through jets; the heat cast off by this poorly-defined process also heats the interior of the ship, which is at 80 degrees temperature. Each ship has four sets of controls, which consist of little more than levers to make the craft ascend, descend, accelerate or decelerate. They are so simple that anybody can operate them.

Devoid of curiosity, the Venusians are never tempted to do anything wrong. The idea of committing a "forbidden" act does not occur to them. They have no sense of time; in fact, the whole concept of time is foreign. Yet, according to Thompson, "They're really smarter than we think they are. They've got a gift that is so much greater than ours that there is no comparison."

They have been coming to the earth for many years but they had never contacted anyone before. Thompson was the first Earthman with whom they had ever spoken. Long ago they and the people of our planet had been the same, sharing "the first religion ever known" and speaking the same language. But corruption destroyed the moral fiber of the Earthmen and eventually a curse was cast on the world. It became a place where Venusians and other inhabitants of the peaceful planets were sent on missions to do good. They are not physically sent here; they are reincarnated. Apparently aJl of us lived lives on other planets before our exile here. The space people do not walk among us physically because our impure environment would make them sick or perhaps even kill them.

The Venusians told Thompson that they hoped to contact other Earth people one at a time. Through this slow process they eventually will establish peace on this planet. Their efforts will culminate in Christ's return in A.D. 10,000.

Thompson said the spaceship (and "spaceship" was the word the Venusians calJed their craft) had only one door - the one that led to the outside - although there were a number of rooms inside. These rooms, most of them brightly illuminated as if by sunlight, were square in shape. Those in the lower part of the craft were transparent all around the ship, enabling the viewer to see out in any direction.

One room served as a place to shower. As Thompson put it, "You just walk into this room and it rains in there just the same as it rains outdoors ... They draw in the moisture from the air ... and that's where you'll get your bath ... And then in the room where they keep the fruit and stuff like that - it's a cool room, a certain temperature. [In another] room where they sleep, it's rather dark but not totally dark. You just go in there and you can lay down on the seats or on the floor or anywhere ... and go to sleep."

Asked if the spaceship had a bathroom, Thompson said he didn't know. Whenever he had to relieve himself, he went outside. He had no idea how the Venusians deal with this physical function because the subject had not come up in conversation. But he said that if it had, the Venusians, who never get embarrassed about anything, would have discussed the subject forthrightly.

Thompson slept overnight on one of the seats in the spaceship's "bedroom." The next morning, he claimed, "I asked them if I could go home and get my camera and they didn't know what I meant. I said I'd be back and they asked me if I was bringing anybody else along with me. I said, 'Do you care?', and they didn't want me to bring anybody. They were afraid somebody would breathe on them or something and try to destroy them."

Thompson went home and returned alone with his camera.

Unfortunately, in fact, trying to photograph the Venusians and their ship was "just like trying to take a picture of the sun." There is a glow. This film was just blank. I wanted to put some of them directly on the ground for taking pictures of them, but they did wouldn't go out."

Thompson and the Venusians parted company on March 30, a Thursday, two days after he had come upon their ship in the clearing. The Venusians told him he could contact them any time he wanted, but he had to keep certain information to himself. "If I'd tell everything I knew," he remarked to the Arnolds, "I never could get to see the ship again. I'd be watched every minute." The Venusians promised Thompson he could ride in their ship but "I couldn't take my clothes ... I'd have to get myself all tanned up ... before I could go in that ship and stand it ... any length of time."

We know very little about Samuel Eaton Thompson.

Arnold did not investigate his claim beyond the two interviews he conducted with the man and the newspaper coverage of the story was perfunctory. Yet listening to the tapes of the interviews one understands why Arnold believes Thompson was perfectly sincere. Unlike the professional contactees who were to follow him, Thompson made no attempt either to publicize or to profit from the alleged experience. Moreover, as an unsophisticated man apparently without a sense of humor, he did not appreciate how absurd, even hilarious, his tale sounded to those who heard it. The Arnolds, for example, struggled (not always successfully) to keep from laughing aloud as Thompson straight-facedly recounted the increasingly bizarre and unlikely details of the episode.

It is hardly surprising that Thompson found no evidence of a spaceship near-landing when he returned to the site four days later, on April 3, with his son. Thompson wanted to prove to friends that he had not, as they were speculating, "joined up with some nudist colony ... and got a fantastic idea." But there was nothing in the clearing to suggest that a flying saucer had been there recently.

We will probably never know the precise nature of Thompson's "experience." It is possible that the man was a pathological liar who could tell a factless tale while giving every appearance of sincerity. That explanation is less likely, in my opinion, than another one - that Thompson's was a visionary experience, a waking dream so vivid that it seemed like a real event to him.

Certain elements in the story support this interpretation.

It may be significant that the Venusians, who are themselves much like children, eat the plants with which Thompson was familiar as a child growing up in Minnesota and Iowa. They speak an "uneducated" backwoods kind of English, just as Thompson did. These details suggest that Thompson, perhaps on an unconscious level, created "Venusians" who in some ways mirrored himself.

At the same time it is true that in his account Thompson describes occult concepts such as astrology and reincarnation with which he apparently was only vaguely familiar. In fact at no time in his conversations with the Arnolds did he use the words "astrology" and "reincarnation" or any other phrases indicative of interest in the esoteric. He does mention, however, that he had seen astrological columns in various almanacs although "I never give it any thought." Still, such information could have registered in his unconscious mind and it may have re-emerged to play a role in an elaborate, dreamlike experience.

Thompson's story sounds not at all like those reports ufologists call "close encounters of the third kind." In the typical CEIII the witness briefly observes gnomelike, uncommunicative entities, the sight of which scares the daylights out of him. Even in those cases where communication is alleged (primarily in the abduction cases) the messages are nothing like those Thompson reported - nor for that matter are the UFO occupants.

[... Other cases...]

Perhaps the earliest alleged physical on-board adventure was that of Simon Estes Thompson (which appeared, perhaps significantly, in the 1 April issue of the Centralia Daily Chronicle, though Kenneth Arnold subsequently interviewed Thompson and felt he was sincere). His story was that driving down a back-road, he saw an object hovering above the ground and was invited on board by curiously naive, naked beings who said they came from Venus. Though they didn't seem to know how their craft worked, they could talk about reincarnation, vegetarianism and similar New Age topics.

The Arrival

On 28 March 1950, a group of naked "Venusians," including ten men, ten women, and twenty-five children, staged an event for Samuel Eaton Thompson of Centralia, Washington, a man in his seventies. In a wooded area near Mineral, Washington, Thompson noticed a landed flying saucer with naked children playing on its steps. As he approached the craft, he was greeted by naked adults. He remained with them three days and even bunked in their ship. They recounted to him that earth people and Venusians were once united, even sharing the same religion, until sin separated them. The objective of the Venusians was to slowly establish peace by contacting earth people one at a time. This will result in the return of Jesus Christ.

Can you imagine taking a stroll through the woods and stumbling across a huge spacecraft with forty-five naked men, women, and children in and around it, who tell you they are from the planet Venus? (Next stop ... the Twilight Zone?) Did Samuel Thompson believe he met a commune of outer space descendants of Adam and Eve? Was this peculiar spot in the woods a simulated modern day Garden of Eden?

This story may seem totally preposterous to you, yet the UFO phenomenon is interspersed with ridiculous circumstances. This fact tends to cast the phenomenon in a negative light to the "educated" public. Is this an intentional UFO smoke screen?

In 1950 the possibility of life on Venus existed in our scientific mind. Interestingly, however, today scientists affirm that there is no life on Venus. Why, then, are these beings lying to us? Where do they really come from? They evidently wanted Samuel Thompson to think that they were from Venus.

United States

"March 1947" Centralia, Washington

Perhaps significantly, in the 1 April issue of the Centralia Daily Chronicle appeared the earliest alleged physical onboard adventure. It was that of Simon Estes Thompson. His story was that driving down a back-road, he saw an object hovering above the ground and was invited on board by curiously naive, naked beings who said they came from Venus. Though they didn't seem to know how their craft worked, they could talk about reincarnation, vegetarianism and similar New Age topics. Kenneth Arnold subsequently interviewed Thompson and felt he was sincere

Sources:

• Peter Rogerson, "Notes Towards a Revisionist History of Abductions (Part One)", MAGONIA #46, June 1993, p. 4?
• Jerome Clark, "The coming of the Venusians", Fate, January 1981.

1947/03/xx CENTRALIA, WA: In the April Fools Day 1947 issue of the Centralia Daily Chronicle, we read of one Simon Estes Thompson who was invited aboard a saucer by naked beings from Venus. Apparently not knowing how their craft worked, they instead discussed reincarnation, the benefits of vegetarianism and similar new age topics with the contactee. Kenneth Arnold interviewed Thompson, so at least his name is not a fiction. Credit: Luis R. Gonzales Manso (Spain).

1947, end March

USA, Centralia, Washington

Samuel Estes Thompson testified that he saw an object hovering low while driving in an isolated road; he was invited aboard by naked and ingenuous beings from Venus. In addition, these beings did not seem to know how their saucer functioned, but they could talk about reincarnation, naturism and other New Age topical subjects. This witness was interviewed by Kenneth Arnold, who considered him honest. (Sources: Peter Rogerson, "Notes Towards a Revisionist History of Abductions (Part One)", MAGONIA 46, Junio 1993, 4 - Jerome Clark, "The coming of the Venusians", Fate, Enero [January] 1981 - Fundación Anomalía - Catálogo of the primeros casos de humanoides clasificados por países (FIRSTHUMCAT) Luis R. González Manso - España [Spain]

IN REALITY: Larry Catch [sic, Larry Hatch] says in December 2003 that the case is a hoax, published in the press on April 1, Innocent's Day in the US - April Fool's Day here.

Venusians and Flying Saucers

In a little-noticed story published in a Washington newspaper, Centralia Daily Chronicle, on April 1, 1950, an elderly man related his recent meeting just days before with the crew of a Venusian spacecraft. Whatever immediate appearances may have suggested to the contrary, it was not an April Fool's Day joke. Soon afterwards, Kenneth Arnold (whose 1947 sighting over Mount Rainier brought flying saucers into public consciousness) and his wife, Doris, interviewed the claimant, an elderly retired railroad worker named Samuel Eaton Thompson, and taped his account.

Thompson, a poorly educated, unsophisticated man, was returning from a visit to relatives when he pulled over to take a break in a wooded area between Morton and Mineral, Washington. As he walked into the trees, he came upon a clearing in which a large globe-shaped structure hovered just above the ground. He noticed several strikingly beautiful children playing on steps that led from a door on the side of the craft. They had a deeply tanned appearance, and long blond hair that came all the way to their waists. They were naked. Soon similar-appearing adults came to the door and watched him, apparently uneasy about his intentions. Thompson managed to persuade them that he meant no harm.

He ended up, he said, spending some 40 hours (including one overnight) in their company over the next two days, interrupted only by a quick trip home for a camera (which recorded nothing except a bright glow as if from overexposure). The Venusians were innocents who seemed to have stepped out of an interplanetary Garden of Eden, without sin, shame, or even technological knowledge; all they knew about their ship was that its four buttons took one up or down or to Earth from Venus or the reverse. The Venusians had come to spread peace and good will, though they had not received it from Earthlings, whose aircraft had shot at their ship. All planets of the solar system are inhabited, the Venusians told him, but only Martians are more warlike than the people of our world. Thompson's companions consumed only nuts, vegetables, and fruits, and their exemplary dietary habits kept them from ever suffering illness; they died only of old age. They lived not by intellect but by instinct, yet "they're really smarter than we think they are. They've got a gift that is so much greater than ours that there is no comparison." According to them, Jesus Christ will return in 1o,ooo A.D.

The Arnolds did not believe Thompson had a literal physical encounter. Kenneth Arnold, who considered much of the story absurd to the point of comedy, thought it was something like a vivid dream or hallucination. They did not doubt, however, that Thompson believed every word he was saying. Anyone who hears the tape-recorded interview is likely to agree. It is hard to overstate Thompson's naivete, evinced for example in his struggle to describe concepts (vegetarianism, reincarnation, and sun signs) for which he lacked a vocabulary.

(Continued from page 111)

After the newspaper article and the Arnolds' interview (the contents of which were not released until three decades later), Thompson disappeared from history, his vision - arguably literal as much as metaphorical- of Venusian visitors casting no shadow on the saucer tall tales that would surface in the next few years. Unlike Thompson's, the Venusians of the contactee movement would be technologically sophisticated and scientifically advanced.

No evidence indicates that George Adamski (1891-1965) ever heard of Thompson, [...]

A Sensational Saucer Saga!

Nick Redfern
January 19, 2012

Just recently, I was giving some thought to which UFO-related stories could be considered the most outrageous, controversial and sensational in nature and content. Well, I know one thing for sure: there's certainly no shortage! But for one that really stands out, we have to turn to a long-forgotten saga and a man named Samuel Eaton Thompson, who claimed an encounter in March 1950 that certainly set the scene for a whole range of similar Contactee-like tales that would soon follow in its bizarre wake. The respected UFO authority Jerome Clark justifiably described Thompson's story in his classic title, The UFO Encyclopedia, as "surely the most outlandish story in early UFO history (and) also one of the most obscure." And, with that said, read on...

That Thompson's tale surfaced on April-Fool's Day in 1950, has led some commentators to suspect that his claims were merely borne out of a good-natured prank; others, meanwhile, are not quite so certain that fakery was a dominating factor. As Thompson told the story, on the night of March 28, 1950, he was driving between the towns of Morton and Mineral, Washington State: he had been visiting relatives in Markham and was headed towards his Centralia home. Tired, and needing a break, Thompson pulled his vehicle over to the side of the road in a heavily-wooded area, and took a walk along a nearby logging-trail. He was shocked to the core by the scene upon which he stumbled.

As he reached a clearing in the trees, Thompson maintained that sat before him was a large object, "shaped liked two saucers fused together," that was around eighty-feet in width, thirty-feet in height, and hovering very slightly above the forest-floor. Two naked and heavily sun-tanned, human-like children were blissfully playing near the entrance to the craft, which could be accessed via a small ramp.

Thompson added that as he got to within about 50-feet of the craft, he felt extremely hot; at which point several adults - humanoid, "attractive," and also naked - appeared in the doorway of the strange object. When Thompson succeeded in convincing them that he meant no harm, they invited him aboard what he quickly deduced was an alien spacecraft; but not before being made to remove his shoes and socks.

Thompson learned from the crew - who spoke in a stilted form of English - that there were twenty adults and twenty-five children aboard the craft, who originated on the planet Venus, and that this was not merely a space-vessel: it was their home, too, as they adventurously explored the solar-system. Strangely, as Jerome Clark noted when commenting on Thompson's recollections, the entities seemed to operate "more by instinct than by intellect.

As Thompson watched the aliens' actions, he noted that although they understood which levers to pull and which buttons to press to operate their craft, it was all done parrot-fashion, and without any actual understanding of their actions.

Evidently, this didn't bother Thompson: he claimed to have spent forty hours romping around the ship - during which timehe learned a great deal, such as the revelation that several of their craft had been shot-down by military forces on Earth; and that everyone of humankind's problems stemmed from astrology, and specifically because human-beings were born under a variety of star-signs (which always led to conflict), whereas Venusians were all born under the sign of - what else? - Venus.

And Thompson seemed to accept, quite matter-of-factly, the startling assertions of the aliens that he, Thompson, was nothing less than a fully-fledged, reincarnated Venusian! Thompson was also told that the aliens were vegetarian, enjoyed excellent health, and desired to help us by ushering in a new era of humanity that would culminate in a return to our planet by Jesus Christ in 10,000 A.D.

According to Thompson, he remained on the spaceship until March 30. He did admit, however, that at one point he quickly returned home to get his camera, so that he might capture the moment on film for posterity. The photographs came out as either "just blank" or as mere blobs of light. Before he finally left for good, Thompson was given a friendly warning by his cosmic friends that he should keep "certain information" strictly confidential.

Whether or not the aliens were impressed by Thompson's decision to spill the interplanetary beans to the Centralia Daily Chronicle on April 1 is unknown. However, since Thompson was not blessed with a return visit from the Venusians, we might correctly assume they were hardly cheered by his decision to blow the whistle on their actions.

There is an interesting sequel to this odd affair: after Thompson's story hit the headlines, none other than Kenneth Arnold interviewed Thompson. He concluded that Thompson was not a purveyor of fakery. Rather, he believed the man had undergone some form of psychic experience - "whatever that actually means," as Jerome Clark wryly commented.

Many people would simply relegate Thompson's odd, and frankly unbelievable, tale to the garbage-can, and maybe their actions would be justified. Yet, such similar tales literally abound within the domain of the Contactees. Sensational, controversial and outrageous? Yes! Truth? Fiction? Hallucination? Wishful-Thinking? We'll probably never know...

As soon as his country became passionate about his testimony, Kenneth Arnold found himself overwhelmed by countless calls from others who had seen such apparitions. He thus found himself in fact as the first private investigator of a ufology that did not even exist yet. Thus he was largely involved in the dark story of Maury Island in July 1947, a hoax that ended in the accidental death of two investigators of the Air Force with whom Arnold had rather friendly relationship.

Subsequently, very scalded, Kenneth Arnold continued to investigate in the years that followed with witnesses in the range of his plane. Thus he dealt with a story of contact earlier than that of George Adamski, that of the alleged encounter of Samuel Easton Thompson with beautiful blond "Venusians" on March 28, 1950 in Centralia, Washington. Arnold supposed that the witness had some sort of "psychic" experience and not a real contact with aliens.

Samuel Eaton Thompson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samuel Eaton Thompson (1875? - 1960?) was an American contactee who claimed to have been in contact with extraterrestrials. Although his claims earned him little publicity during his lifetime, Thompson might have been the first North American contactee. Researcher Jerome Clark describes the account as "surely the most outlandish story in early UFO history [and] also one of the most obscure".[1] The story earned a brief, 11 paragraph, mention in a local newspaper in 1950 (on April 1, leading some to suspect the entire story was a hoax or prank), and the full story was not publicized until more than three decades afterwards.(2)

Contents

1. Thompson's story
2. Publicity
3. Similarities to other UFO cases
4. References

Thompson's story

A retired railroad worker in his 70s, Thompson claimed that on the evening of March 28, 1950, while driving to his home in Centralia, Washington, he came across a large flying saucer in the woods. The saucer, he claimed, was about 80 feet (24 m) across and 30 feet (9 m) tall. Two naked, deeply tanned children, human in form but very attractive, were playing near the craft's entrance ramp.

Thompson claimed to have approached to within about 50 feet (15 m) of the saucer, which emitted a strong sun-like heat. Several naked adults — humanoid, attractive, and also deeply tanned — then appeared at the craft's door. After realizing Thompson meant them no harm, they beckoned him closer. The crew consisted of 20 adults and 25 children, the latter from about 5 to 15 years of age.

Thompson claimed to have spent the next 40 hours with the humanoids. They were from Venus, he learned, and had stopped at Earth despite the fact that other Venusian saucers had been shot at by Earth-based military forces. The Venusians said that all of Earth's problems stemmed from astrology: humans were born under different star signs, while Venusians were all born under the sign of Venus, as was Thompson.

The Venusians further claimed, said Thompson, that they were vegetarian, and that they never grew ill. Thompson also claimed the Venusians were naïve and childlike: they did not know who had built their flying saucers, and seemed to possess little to no curiosity.

Thompson claimed that he was the first of many Earthlings who would meet the Venusians, and that after humanity had seen the wisdom of Venusian ways, Jesus Christ would return in 10,000 AD.

Thompson claimed to have stayed on the spaceship until March 30, 1950. He tried to photograph the spaceship, he claimed, but the object was too bright to appear on film as more than a blob of light. He could see the Venusians any time he wanted, but could not tell all the information he had learned from them.

Publicity

Afterwards, pilot Kenneth Arnold - whose 1947 sighting had sparked widespread public interest in UFOs — interviewed Thompson. Arnold did not believe the story was literally true, but neither could he accept that the poorly-educated, seemingly sincere Thompson was a blatant liar or prankster. Arnold speculated that Thompson might have had a psychic experience.

In 1980, Arnold donated a copy of his 1950 Thompson interview tape to Fate magazine. Clark's article "The Coming of the Venusians" was published in the January 1981 issue of Fate. Clark speculated that Thompson had had a visionary experience, which was inspired by, and which drew from, UFO folklore and Biblical stories.

Similarities to other UFO cases

Clark noted similarities between the Thompson case and an 1897 claim during the mystery airship reports. There are also some similarities between Thompson's story and the latter, as well as the far better known account of George Adamski; but Clark argues that it is unlikely that Adamski knew of Thompson.

References

1. Clark, Jerome, The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning, Volume 2, L-Z, Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1998 (2nd edition, 2005), ISBN 0-7808-0097-4
2. "Centralian Tells Strange Tale of Visiting Venus Space Ship in Eastern Lewis County" from the Centralia Daily Chronicle, April 1, 1950
3. Lewis, James R., editor, UFOs and Popular Culture, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2000. ISBN 1-57607-265-7