By Dr. Raymond A. Keller, author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising trilogy of books, available on amazon.com while supplies last
Gladys Fusaro of Huntington, Long Island, New York, was one of the many correspondents for the premier ufologist Gray Barker and his noteworthy Saucerian Bulletin, which he published out of his office located in the back of a drive-in movie theater in Clarksburg, West Virginia, from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s. Later in the early 1970s, Fusaro would serve as an associate editor for Barker’s Saucer News, a journal of scientific ufology. Fusaro had always been a big fan of science fiction since her high school days, so she was always open to the possibilities inherent in the proposition that intelligent life exists on other planets in our own solar system and beyond.
Engagement with the UFO Phenomenon
It wasn’t until the retired Marine Corps Major Donald E. Keyhoe, Director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) of Washington, D.C., was not allowed to make public on the 22 January 1958 Armstrong Circle Theater special UFO television program, the existence of four detailed United States Air Force documents authenticating the reality of the flying saucers as extraterrestrial spaceships, that she not only became interested in the UFO phenomenon but actually joined the ranks of scientific ufologists as a crusader for full government disclosure on the subject.
Fusaro was watching the UFO program when all of the sudden her television screen displayed an announcement indicating the transmission was temporarily suspended due to “technical difficulties.” Pressure from Air Force brass forced the television network to censor any mention by Major Keyhoe of the following four documents from interview:
- A 23 September 1947 secret conclusion by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) in Dayton, Ohio, that the flying saucers were real.
- A 1948 top secret ATIC document concluding that UFOs were interplanetary spaceships.
- A secret ATIC analysis of UFO maneuvers that also concluded that the UFOs were of interplanetary origin.
- A secret report by a panel of top scientists in the United States convened at the Pentagon in January 1953 which urged that the Air Force quadruple its UFO investigative efforts and they provide the American people with all UFO information, including secret Air Force conclusions, unsolved sightings and photo analyses. The recommendations of this scientific panel were officially rejected.
Fusaro recalled a public statement made in November 1957 by Air Force Major General Joe W. Kelly to the effect that UFOs did not involve the security of the country. But now Major Keyhoe’s censored interview provided the evidence that the Air Force did possess UFO information that it was purposely withholding from the public; so the big question was “Why?,” especially since the UFOs did not represent any kind of “national security threat,” so-called. If the UFOs were harmless enough, as Major General Kelly said they were, then why the cover-up? Fusaro wondered what the Air Force was afraid of. After all of the thousands of UFO sightings investigated by Project BLUEBOOK up to the time of the Keyhoe interview, had there ever been any signs of panic exhibited on anyone’s part?
From Dr. Raymond A. Keller’s “Venus Files”: This series of photographs was taken by New York City attorney Jules St. Germain of popular science fiction writer Evelyn L. Smith, a.k.a. “Space Commander Aura Rhanes,” at the Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention, Landers, California, while she was visiting the booth of fellow contactee Dana Howard, on 12 November 1957. See also Dr. Keller’s article, “Dominick Lucchesi Meets the Space Girl.”
A Unique Friend
Fusaro was a close friend of the popular female science fiction writer, Evelyn L. Smith of Indianapolis, Indiana, and her 12 year-old daughter Rita. Smith had attended a few flying saucer conventions out at Giant Rock in Landers, California, in various capacities. Both Smith and her daughter had many unique experiences with the phenomenon. One of these went back to May 1956, when the mother and daughter were at home listening to some music on their radio set. Suddenly the music stopped and a mysterious voice blurted out, “You are the masters of the Earth!” Immediately after that, the music program continued as before. Both the mother and daughter ran outside the house to see if a UFO was in the area. They were not disappointed; for two of them were passing over their home. The objects were described as being like the “typical flying saucers.” They circled the neighborhood twice and then disappeared to the southeast. A friend and next-door neighbor of the Smiths also heard a strange voice and even a “code” come over the speakers of both her radio and television sets throughout 1956.
Around Christmas in that same year, Evelyn’s father and mother, who lived out in the country in the outskirts of Indianapolis, observed an enormous domed object hovering above their residence and tilted on its side. This flying saucer seemed to have a metaphysical quality. Allegedly, it simply “dissolved” and reappeared in the opposite direction. According to the father, “It was as big as the house and the dome seemed to be as big as a court-house dome.” Evelyn’s sister also observed this UFO and became so startled that she just ran into the house along with her mother.
Prominent UFO investigator, archaeologist Dr. George Hunt Williamson of nearby Noblesville, Indiana, interviewed Evelyn L. Smith’s neighbor and family members about these incidents and many others and concluded that not only was Evelyn the focus of these unusual events, but that she was some kind of “visitant” to Earth that was attracting and drawing extraterrestrial phenomena around her, wherever she went. Wrote Williamson about Evelyn and others similar to her, “that Webster informs us that a visitant is one who, or that which, visits one as if from without one’s own sphere.” He added that, “A visitant is a visitor, but specifically a migratory bird which appears at intervals for a limited period. The occupants of the UFOs can certainly be called visitants, for they are definitely ‘from without our sphere’ and they ‘appear at intervals for a limited period.’ Therefore, we are going to discuss a few of those appearances and periods as they have been reported….” (G. H. Williamson, Road in the Sky (London, United Kingdom: Neville Spearman, Ltd., 1959), 145, 151-152. For additional information about the extraterrestrial connections of Evelyn L. Smith, please see my series of articles, “Dominick Lucchesi Meets the Space Girl,” on this and other paranormal websites.
Being of big fan of Evelyn Smith’s science fiction writing and knowing of her interest active participation in the flying saucer movement, Fusaro had high confidence in any of opinions that her Indiana friend may have with regard to the Keyhoe television censorship and suppression. Said Smith to Fusaro: “We’re not dealing with a bunch of monsters as most science fiction movies and magazines would have us believe; the intelligences in control of the UFOs have had ample opportunity in the last eleven years- and much longer, as the evidence suggests- to have either leveled our planet or made slaves of us all, if that had been their intention. Panic just isn’t a very logical answer.”
“What then?” inquired Fusaro.
“I suspect loss of face might be the reason,” replied Smith. “After all,” she added, “no inferior fighting force ever wants to admit they are obsolete and outdated, or more to the point, loss of power.
“Just imagine,” Smith continued, “what would happen to the Air Force? All over the world, the armed forces of every nation would have to begin the process of complete disbandment. Then the governments of the Earth could get together and openly invited these visitors to land and help us. There would be no need for the Air Force or any armed services, here or anywhere.”
Fusaro opined, “That would certainly be a shocking situation for all of the ‘let’s have a war’ boys! No wonder the women of this nation make up such a big percentage of our flying saucer clubs.”
To that Smith added, “Oh, Gladys, God speed the day when these stiff-necked men realize that we mothers, wives and sweethearts want homes, not bomb shelters!”
Local Connections
In her own “neck of the woods,” so to speak, Gladys Fusaro sought out others with an abiding interest in the UFO phenomenon. On a visit to her local library in the first week of February 1958, Fusaro took note of a pamphlet on the information desk announcing the formation of the New York Saucer Information Bureau (NYSIB). Conveniently, at the bottom of the pamphlet, the organization’s director, Douglas Deane, had stamped his home telephone number.
The pamphlet was dated 1 January 1958, so the group was in existence for only a little more than one month. Nevertheless, Deane described the rationale for the organization’s formation as follows: “At this significant time, when mankind is on the threshold of stepping out into space- the greatest adventure ever contemplated- there is a tremendous need for scientific, social and spiritual enlightenment…. There is little or no doubt that we are being visited by extraterrestrial intelligence. It is up to us to see that our red carpets are spotlessly clean and ready to be rolled out with love and understanding. We cannot hope for contact when hate, fear and greed are apparent in our minds. To this end we dedicate this organization, forgetting personal conflicts and ambitions and striving for the elevation of mankind to its rightful heritage.”
When Fusaro got home to her Long Island home, she immediately called Director Deane to ask him a plethora of questions about the New York Saucer Information Bureau. Deane explained that the group had about 40 members and that while they were currently meeting on a bi-weekly basis in members’ homes scattered throughout the greater metropolitan New York City area, collections had been taken up to rent halls for special UFO presentations by UFO contactees Arthur Aho, Dan Martin and George Van Tassel. Also, prominent scientific ufologists Frank Edwards and George Hunt Williamson signed on to give presentations about the Air Force cover-up and the ancient aliens connections, respectively. Deane said that the NYSIB was in the process of composing the first edition of a monthly newsletter and that they were also exchanging information with Gray Barker of the Saucerian Press and Gene Duplantier, editor of Saucers, Space and Science in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Fusaro was delighted to find out about the NYSIB and its local activities. She was in attendance at the group’s first sponsored presentation on Thursday, 6 March 1958, held at the Palm Garden Ballroom at 306 West 52nd Street in New York City. The meeting convened at 8 p.m. There was a one dollar donation collected at the door to help defray expenses incurred by the club in renting the hall and bringing the speaker Wayne S. Aho (1916-2006) in from California, where he was then residing.
Aho, a native of Washington State, was a distinguished military pilot during World War II and became a civilian charter pilot afterwards. Sometime after flying his small private airplane into the Giant Rock Airport at Landers, California, on 12 November 1957 to attend George Van Tassel’s Fourth Annual Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention, Aho claims that he began to receive telepathic messages from the “space brothers” directing him to proceed to a remote site in the Mojave Desert where he met up with his new friends from the stars who had landed nearby in a golden-glowing, egg-shaped reconnaissance craft. In the desert, the visitors from space imparted revelations of a spiritual nature to Aho and further instructed him to return to Washington State and preach the galactic gospel of the “New Dawn” to anyone who would listen, sharing valuable information about life on other planets in our own solar system and beyond.
Aho followed through and established the Church of the New Age in Seattle, Washington, as well as a flying saucer spaceport to welcome the arrival of the space people on land he purchased at the foot of Mt. Rainier, also in Washington State. This is what he discussed at the New York meeting attended by Fusaro, in addition to elaborating on the “Science of the Saucers,” which was the title of his discourse. It lasted for about an hour and a half and was followed by thirty minutes of a questions and answers discussion period. Evelyn L. Smith had assured Fusaro that Aho was legitimate, so despite his astounding claims, she gave the contactee her rapt attention and the benefit of the doubt.
Fusaro asked Director Deane why Aho was chosen as the first speaker for the NYSIB. “The Earth is surely facing many ordeals that lie ahead,” said Deane, adding that, “From the contactees like Aho, we can learn to arm ourselves. I’m not talking about guns, atomic missiles and other life-destroying properties, but with clear heads, incorruptible knowledge and the ability to love and forgive. This is the message of Aho and the other contactees. This is the truth that must be the spearhead of our exploration into outer space.”
“That is so profound, Douglas. It’s a great pleasure to be affiliated with the New York Saucer Information Bureau.”
“If only more shared in your insight, dear Gladys, this world would be a far better place. Of course, without the truth of the contactee message, we cannot hope to keep in step with the immutable laws of the Universe. Each and every one of us on Earth has the right, and even the duty, to help in the vital search for the truth that is out there. This is the purpose of the New York Saucer Information Bureau.”
“Oh, yes,” interjected Fusaro, “We have to do what we can to break the chains of ignorance, to stimulate the thinking and reasoning powers of an underestimated citizenry. I see the NYSIB in this role of encouraging the desire in each individual to know themselves better and come to the cosmic realization of the unity and oneness of all creation.”
The NYSIB, of course, was tacking divergently from NICAP’s more “nuts and bolts” position with respect to UFO research. It seemed strange to Fusaro and other NYSIB members that while Keyhoe acknowledged the existence of advanced forms of extraterrestrial life as being behind the appearance of flying saucers in our skies, that none of these alien beings would bother to step out of their space vehicles and communicate directly with any Earthlings, especially after travelling millions or billions of miles through the trackless void of the cosmos to arrive here. To highlight their more open position, the NYSIB unanimously adopted a drawn depiction of Adamski’s Venusian scout ship as its official logo to appear on all letters, promotions and publications.
Cooperative Ventures
Gladys Fusaro took on the position of liaison for the NYSIB with other flying saucer organizations and researchers spanning the globe. She struck up an especially friendly and productive relationship with Gray Barker and his Saucerian Bulletin. Of Barker and others associated with the Saucerian Press, Fusaro was impressed with Barker’s editorial policy, stated as follows: “Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, nor do the editors vouch for the authenticity of such material. We keep an open mind and consider all theories and all sides of every question.” This was quite a refreshing change from the stodgy, closed mindedness of the NICAP team. Fusaro correctly reasoned that in attempting to research the UFO phenomenon, why preclude any possibilities?
Endless Chain of Life
Thanks to her new position as a liaison for the NYSIB with sundry saucer groups, as well as being a correspondent for Barker’s Saucerian Bulletin, Fusaro was receiving news reports from all around the world with respect to all things of an extraterrestrial or UFO nature. Fusaro was different from other correspondents for UFO groups and periodicals in that she would actually follow up on news clippings sent her way.
Ufologist Peter Baker of Andover, Massachusetts, sent Fusaro a report from the 4 January 1960 issue of Time magazine simply titled, “Life Without End.” Apart from the genres of science fiction and ufology, no one was taking the subject of extraterrestrial life seriously. Most astronomers and theologians in 1960 were of the opinion that life existed solely on Earth; and either God put it here or it evolved here under fluke conditions, emerging from the muck and mire millions of years ago. The Time article was important because it dealt with a scientific paper recently presented by the renowned Cornell University astronomer Thomas Gold at a Los Angeles, California, meeting of space scientists sponsored by the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Fusaro was surprised that this article would appear in such a prestigious publication as Time, but then the government space organization was established just two years ago, so protocols had not yet been thoroughly set in place regarding the release of information pertinent to the discovery of extraterrestrial life.
The gist of Dr. Gold’s discourse gave credence to the claims asserted by Major Donald E. Keyhoe regarding the existence of advanced civilizations on other planets, not just the more primitive forms of life. Dr. Gold suggested that life most likely has existed elsewhere in the universe for “uncounted billions of years,” long before it ever took root here on Earth. Dr. Gold seriously opined that, “Perhaps life reached the Earth and began its long climb toward human consciousness being brought here by spaceships.”
According to Dr. Gold, “Life has existed on Earth for about one billion years. It began with very simple forms of microscopic size, having developed slowly until only now it is reaching a level of physical development and technological competence that will allow descendents of these microbes to travel outside their own solar system. Certainly within the next few hundred years, man will be visiting planets of other solar systems.
“Most of these planets will have unsuitable conditions for us to live there freely; but if they have no life on them, it is still possible that they can be contaminated with some form of microbiology brought along by the space travelers. Low forms of life are adaptable to a great variety of conditions, and so it is likely that they will stay on the planets while the space travelers will not.”
As Fusaro interpreted Dr. Gold’s hypothesis, after billions of years, the seeded planets may have evolved creatures intelligent enough to travel deeper into outer space, visiting fertile but virgin planets and seeding them, in turn, with adaptable microbes. Fusaro reasoned that, “This contamination by life is probably the normal beginning of life on any planet, including the Earth.”
The Cornell astronomer Dr. Gold said as much in the Time article: “Space travelers may have visited the Earth a billion years ago; and from their abandoned garbage, forms of life have proliferated so that microbes will soon have another agent (space-traveling humans) cable of spreading them farther afield.”
Fusaro took it upon herself to make an appointment with Dr. Gold and discuss these matters further with him at his office in the Astronomy Department at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Fusaro: “What about the other galaxies floating in space far beyond the limits of the Milky Way? Could life have evolved there, too?”
Dr. Gold: “I certainly think so. I am one of the proponents of the steady-state universe theory, which holds that as old galaxies move apart, new galaxies form between them out of freshly created matter. Planets in new galaxies may be lifeless for a while, but eventually the contamination will reach them, too. All they need is a single visit from an inter-galactic, germ-spreading spaceship.”
Fusaro: “Well, then, when did life begin?”
Dr. Gold: “The steady-state theory holds that space has no boundaries, and time has no beginning or end. If life spreads from old to new galaxies with the flow of time, its history may extend backward forever. It may life forever, too, renewing itself at intervals of many billion years by planting its seeds on planets in galaxies not yet created.”
After the interview with Dr. Gold, Fusaro began to understand the overarching significance of the UFO phenomenon for the people of Earth. The human species is on the verge of moving from the category of the seeded to that of the seeders. Almost everything we know about history, philosophy, religion and science is about to become obsolete. Once we jump down this rabbit hole, there’s no turning back.
Fusaro recalled some of the deeper conversations with her friend and associate in UFO research, Evelyn Smith, who often incorporated such esoteric themes in her science fiction writing. Smith once declared that, “When acquainting oneself with esoteric knowledge, whether from Eckankar, Theosophy, some other religion or school of higher consciousness, the student will eventually come to the realization that not all of the teachers of these exalted truths are masters. There are evolutions of teachers who eventually become masters. The masters will evolve to saints and after this become angels or heavenly spirits and ultimately merge into the body of an even higher plane deity, or perhaps remain in His or Her presence. Eventually, if they so desire, they return to the spiritual stream of life as the highest form of consciousness which is taken into the consciousness of a being somewhere else, be it on a planet other than the Earth.”
“That’s the high message of the contactees. I’ve heard George Adamski talk in a similar vein,” replied Fusaro.
“Yes, Gladys, that is the message of the contactees with respect to the hierarchy of light on other planets,” continued Smith, adding that, “For your knowledge, the graduated masters, if you wish to use this term, for identification, often go to places like the Moon base Clarion, on the far-side, or the nearby planet Venus, or other orbs where higher evolved souls are living. At these locations, remote from the constant turmoil found on the Earth, they help carry out the work of illumination throughout the universe. Hence, we can think and believe in the flying saucers or other phenomena from the other worlds.”