Farewell, Good Brothers - Classic contactee documentary.

A wonderful documentary from 1992 featuring many of the legendary contactees. Farewell, Good Brothers has Howard Menger and Frank Stranges (known for introducing us to Valiant Thor and describing how he took a crap in a space toilet onboard a flying saucer!). Robert Short tells how he vectors flying saucers using a flashlight and channels a message from outer space. George King - diplomat to the space people - reveals how his life has been threatened many times. A tired Daniel Fry speaks from his porch. Stock footage of Truman Bethurum, George Adamski, Orfeo Angelucci and others.

Most, if not all, are now deceased but much of their methods are mimicked by contemporary contactees like David Sereda and Steven Greer.

This is one of my favorites. A lot of folks would rather forget about the Contactees, but there is no doubt they helped spread the word about UFOs. Unfortunately, they also provided much fodder for ridicule.

Like it or not, part of the UFO mystery deals with belief, sometimes bordering on the religious. The Contactees need to be examined, if for no other reason to establish some kind of a baseline for fabricated encounters. the line is blurry, some hoaxed for attention, and others may have just tried to give life to their hopes and dreams.

Originally posted by CardDown
This is one of my favorites. A lot of folks would rather forget about the Contactees, but there is no doubt they helped spread the word about UFOs. Unfortunately, they also provided much fodder for ridicule.

True, and it's obvious why, but the contactees are a crucial part of UFO history and lore. I find it incredible that they stuck to their stories throughout their lives. I wonder if over time they came to believe the episodes were true and really happened. (Menger certainly speaks as though he really did go to the moon in a flying saucer!) Or perhaps so many people took an interest and became followers that they didn't want to dishearten them by confessing to a hoax. There's also the possibility that something strange really did occur.

Whatever, the stories and characters are great and they've left their indelible mark on contemporary UFO culture.

George King's Aetherius Society still exists and his signature mark is on a mountain close to where I live. The members occasionally gather there to pray to the space brothers and "recharge" the holy hill!

Excellent. Can't wait to dig in. Bumpity for now.

I just remembered something- don't Contactees (sort of) predate UFOs? I seem to remember instances of some spiritualist-types channelling alien language and tales. I seem to remember someone meeting a Martian on a train, also.

Interesting, watching it now while eating some of my 4th of July dinner. The title alone is what drew me in the information presented is kind of *waves hand a bit* eeh, but I'm still only on the first one so will have to see how this all develops.

[Edit]
"Or maybe there is a flying saucer with milk [pause] Meow" Haha


[Edit 2]

Upon finishing it I'm not sure what to really think of it. Out of the whole documentary I have to say that I really only believed the couple to be honest and perhaps one other person out of the whole. The couple seemed to hold the most weight versus the others, it seems like everyone else kind of brought it down a bit at least in my view of things. It was a nice documentary of sorts but /sigh/ seems it may do more harm than good perhaps at least in this day and age.

Originally posted by CardDown
I just remembered something- don't Contactees (sort of) predate UFOs? I seem to remember instances of some spiritualist-types channelling alien language and tales. I seem to remember someone meeting a Martian on a train, also.

Answering myself, the material was half remembered from:

As the possibility of extraterrestrial life began to be widely popularized -
especially around the turn of the last century by Percival Lowell with his
Martian canals - people began to report contactwith aliens, mainlyMartians.
The psychologist Theodore Flournoy's 1901 book, From India to the Planet
Mars, describes a French-speaking medium who in a trance state drew
pictures of theMartians (they look just like us) and presented their alphabet
and language (remarkably like French). The psychiatrist Carl Jung in his
1902 doctoral dissertation described a young Swiss woman who was agitated
to discover, sitting across from her on the train, a 'star-dweller' from Mars.
Martians are innocent of science, philosophy and souls, she was told, but
have advanced technology.

- The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Originally posted by MystiqueAgent

Upon finishing it I'm not sure what to really think of it. Out of the whole documentary I have to say that I really only believed the couple to be honest and perhaps one other person out of the whole. The couple seemed to hold the most weight versus the others,

They were a nice couple. They also seemed sincere. I can't help but wonder that they come to believe the story to be true after repeating it so often over the decades. With age memory begins to fail and Menger had written a book in the 50s which he could refer to to remind and reaffirm his alleged experience.



Perhaps the contactees deceive themselves in the end.

It was a nice documentary of sorts but /sigh/ seems it may do more harm than good perhaps at least in this day and age.

It can't do any harm, only good. Hopefully it will alert people to the shenanigans of the current contactees - Sereda, Greer, Bashar et al.

Let's look at some comparisons.
Menger wanted to construct a flying saucer. So does David Sereda today. George King claimed to have met Jesus and charged batteries with prayer power. Sereda claims to have met Jesus and sells pendants charged with prayer power. King was an ambassador to the ETs, Steven Greer claims the same. King was subject to assassination threats, Greer makes a big issue of himself being targetted for death.

Menger wanted funds to build a free energy device.
So does Greer today.

Menger marketed an album Authentic Music From Another Planet.
Greer markets "authentic" crop circle noise and ET tones.

Evidence of contact was made by way of dubious easy-to-fake photographs.
Need we mention Mothra?

Contacteeism didn't die with the contactees. It became an industry.

Originally posted by CardDown

Originally posted by CardDown
I just remembered something- don't Contactees (sort of) predate UFOs? I seem to remember instances of some spiritualist-types channelling alien language and tales. I seem to remember someone meeting a Martian on a train, also.

Answering myself, the material was half remembered from:

As the possibility of extraterrestrial life began to be widely popularized -
especially around the turn of the last century by Percival Lowell with his
Martian canals - people began to report contactwith aliens, mainlyMartians.
The psychologist Theodore Flournoy's 1901 book, From India to the Planet
Mars, describes a French-speaking medium who in a trance state drew
pictures of theMartians (they look just like us) and presented their alphabet
and language (remarkably like French). The psychiatrist Carl Jung in his
1902 doctoral dissertation described a young Swiss woman who was agitated
to discover, sitting across from her on the train, a 'star-dweller' from Mars.
Martians are innocent of science, philosophy and souls, she was told, but
have advanced technology.

- The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Good recall CardDown. I vaguely remembered early spiritualists claiming to make contact with Martians but couldn't think of the source. I've not read Sagan's book so must have read it elsewhere. I guess it stemmed from popular culture brought about by the buzz of H G Well War of the Worlds. Martians were in whether they be tentacled horrors or just like us. Easier to fake a photo if they're just like us, though!

reply to post by torsion


Well in the way you presented your information it certainly does showcase how this has become more of a troupe of actors rather than people who are 'down-to-earth ( )' and generally believe what they may or may not have experienced. I'll be honest and say I'm not too familiar with some of the "bigger" names like Greer and such but have seen their names thrown around on ATS as people to avoid listening to. All I can say is I'm not too sure any sort of reversal will work on this industry now unless we see the UFO pick up the person in broad daylight and bring them back down. Only then I think would we perhaps take some accounts more serious.