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MYS411: In 1952, George Adamski became the first UFO contactee — not merely a witness to flying saucers, but a man who claimed to meet one of their occupants face to face. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli trace the full arc of his extraordinary story, from a Polish immigrant’s arrival in California to a desert encounter that would make him one of the most discussed and disputed figures in UFO history.

Adamski had been watching the skies from Palomar Mountain since at least 1946, when a massive cigar-shaped craft hovered silently over the ridge toward San Diego. By 1949 he was cooperating with personnel from the Point Loma Navy Electronics Laboratory, photographing strange objects through his six-inch telescope. By 1952 he had hundreds of photographs and a burning desire to meet one of the space brothers in person.

That meeting happened on November 20, 1952, in the California desert near Desert Center — with six witnesses watching from half a mile away. A small scout ship arrived, and from it stepped a young man with long blond hair, a chocolate-brown uniform, and a calm, radiant presence. The visitor Adamski would call Orthon communicated through gestures and telepathy, identified himself as a Venusian, and delivered an urgent warning: Earth’s atomic bomb tests were sending dangerous radiation into space, and the space brothers were gravely concerned. “Too many booms,” Orthon indicated, “would destroy all of this.”

Orthon’s message went further. He told Adamski that all the planets of the solar system are inhabited by human-like beings, that the human form is universal throughout the cosmos, and that the Venusians believe in God and live in closer accord with his will than Earthmen do. Before departing, he pressed his boots into the desert floor, leaving deep symbolic impressions that researchers would spend years attempting to decode. Three weeks later, a scout ship returned to Adamski’s home and a hand extended from a porthole to drop a photographic plate bearing more mysterious symbols.

The episode also examines the fierce opposition Adamski faced — from serious ufologists who viewed contactees as damaging to the field’s credibility, to a 17-page investigative attack in Saucer News, to apparent government surveillance, to a public humiliation on a world speaking tour. Adamski attributed much of this to what he called the Silence Group — powerful interests working to suppress the space brothers’ message. Over the following years he reported additional contacts with beings from Mars and Saturn, a trip aboard a spaceship, and a private meeting with Pope John XXIII.

Whether George Adamski genuinely encountered beings from another world remains one of the most debated questions in UFO history on this special episode releasing at the beginning of April.

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Links for this episode:

• Jerome Clark’s The UFO Encyclopedia (3rd ed.)
• George Adamski’s book Flying Saucers Have Landed
• George Adamski’s book Inside the Flying Saucers
• Adam Gorightly’s book A Is For Adamski
• George Adamski (Wikipedia)
• Dean Radin et al. article on pupil contraction

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• Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
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• Send your feedback or comments to [email protected] or send a tweet to @mys_world
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Chapters:

• 0:00 – MYS411
• 0:23 – Intro
• 1:55 – Who was George Adamski?
• 4:37 – First UFO sightings
• 13:15 – Desert encounter in 1952
• 19:03 – Meeting the space man
• 21:27 – Thank you to Patrons
• 22:00 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
• 22:26 – Orthon
• 28:55 – Venusians and the atomic bomb
• 31:44 – Venusian beliefs
• 40:56 – Orthon returns
• 43:46 – Reaction from the Silence Group
• 46:36 – George’s books and growing fame
• 50:27 – Moseley, Maxfield, and Bloom critiques
• 1:05:51 – The Straith letter
• 1:10:43 – UFO pickup from a train
• 1:13:04 – World tour and papal audience
• 1:20:05 – A final UFO visit
• 1:23:51 – A programming note on this episode
• 1:24:36 – Bottom Line
• 1:25:17 – Further Resources
• 1:25:47 – Mysterious Feedback: #400 Mysterious Experiences
• 1:32:43 – Your mysterious feedback
• 1:33:19 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
• 1:33:25 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
• 1:34:02 – Next Time: The Earling Exorcism
• 1:34:16 – Share the show
• 1:34:25 – Show notes
• 1:34:32 – Become a Patron
• 1:34:40 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
• 1:35:00 – Outro

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