Alien Base: The Evidence for Extraterrestrial Colonization of Earth: RECANTATION AND RECONSIDERATION
In 1961, following a period of seclusion, Howard Menger returned to the public eye on The Long John Nebel Television Show,. Paris Flammonde, producer of the show and later the author of two scholarly books on the UFO phenomenon, wrote that Menger, ‘to the astonishment of supporters and opponents alike, recanted the vast majority of his personal legend, suggesting that all of his experiences may well have been “psychic” . . .’
As author John Keel quotes Flammonde: ‘Vaguely, aimlessly, rather embarrassingly, he avoided and vacillated . . . Howard Menger, Saturnian husband to a Venusian traveler in space [he believed at one time that he and his wife were reincarnated from those planets], friend of extraterrestrials, annotator of ‘authentic music from another planet’, master of teleportation, and saucerological sage extraordinaire — recanted! . . . His saucers might have been psychic, his space people visions, his and Marla’s other planethood, metaphoric.
Later, in letters to investigators Jim Moseley and Gray Barker (publisher of From Outer Space to You), Menger described his book as ‘fiction-fact’ and implied that the Pentagon had given him the films of saucers and requested that he participate in an experiment to test the public’s reaction to extraterrestrial contact. ‘He has helped us, therefore, to dismiss his entire story as not only a hoax, but a hoax perpetrated by the US government,’ wrote Keel.
It is not that simple. For one thing, Menger has not recanted to the extent implied here. In 1967, for instance, during a rare appearance at a convention in New York, he confirmed at least one of his purported encounters with extraterrestrials, in High Bridge in August of 1956: The craft came down from the west. It looked like a huge fireball. I was frightened. Gradually, as it came closer, it slowed down. The pulsations subsided . . . it turned into what looked like a man-made craft, reflecting the sun as it came close to the ground. It was a beautiful sight . . . It stopped about a foot and a half from the ground. An opening appeared in the side of the craft. There was a small incline or platform. Two men stepped out, very nicely dressed in shiny space suits . . . One man stepped to the left, and the other stepped to the right, and then another man stepped out, a man I will never forget as long as I live. He was approximately six feet one, maybe six feet two. He had long blond hair over his shoulders — yes, long blond hair.
He stepped toward me, and the message he gave, of course, was what most people don’t want to hear, a message of love and understanding. He said he had come from outer space, which is what most people really don’t believe in.
Someday they will.
Menger went on to stress the hardships faced by contactees following public disclosure of their claims. ‘If you realize what people go through when this happens to them. If you really think you have guts enough to come out and tell people. Of course, nowadays it might be a little easier, but in the early Fifties it was very, very rough, especially when you are in business and you are trying to act like a reputable citizen.’
So what really happened to Howard Menger? For several days in 1978 I interviewed Howard at his home in Vero Beach, Florida, in the presence of his wife, Connie, and my friend and co-investigator Lou Zinsstag. I found Howard, as always, to be a gentleman. ‘Howard, when I first met you in 1969,’ I began, ‘you told me that you stood by the story in your book, but that you no longer knew where the space people came from nor what they were doing here. You also said to me that you’d swear on the Bible, to God, or whatever, that that book was true — that it happened to you.’
‘Of course it was true,’ he replied.
What I wrote in there and what I photographed and everything is absolutely true. However, at that time, I think I made some mistakes. In one case, they said, ‘We have just come from the planet you call Venus.’ I believe it’s a possibility that I might have distorted that. It doesn’t mean that they’re Venusians. That means they might have a base there. There’s evidence they’ve had bases on the Moon, and they could have bases anywhere. In a craft, I saw [on a viewing screen] something which I thought was the surface of Venus — they led me to believe it . . .
Menger gives serious consideration to the possibility that the visitors he encountered might have originated from Earth, rather than on other planets.
There are so many theories — this thing is so complex. One theory is that the Earth is the only one in this solar system which was given the gift of life, and this life developed a long time ago on this planet, and reached a civilization far beyond ours, in technology and spiritual ideas, thousands, maybe millions of years ago, and they have left, perhaps because of a cataclysm . . . those that survived probably would go underground, or under the ocean.
Let’s call them ‘Atlanteans’. Most of this is myth, but suppose Atlantis was real? The people might have gone under the ocean and have cities there. It’s very possible. UFOs have been seen going into the ocean, and coming out . . . It’s possible they don’t want us to know that they live here on this planet, that they would probably throw us off the track by telling us, you know, ‘Venus’ or ‘Mars’. ‘Are you sure that you actually went to the Moon?’ I asked, incredulously. ‘Well, over the years I’ve given it much thought,’ he replied. ‘I believed at the time that it was the Moon.
They said it was one of our satellites. I don’t know what they meant by that — we have only one! I think it was the Moon, yes. I took a picture from a porthole: that was the Moon I took a picture of!’ ‘But how did you manage to survive in the airless atmosphere, when they opened that door in the “train” and you were struck by a blast of hot air?’ ‘I don’t know. But I was under their control, which would make a lot of difference. Their technology is so advanced . . :
AN ALIEN BASE?
In her section of The High Bridge Incident (much of which she published originally in a quasi-fictional book in 1958) Connie Menger claims that Howard told her about an alien base, located about 150 miles from High Bridge, in the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania, where supposedly Howard had made ‘periodic trips’. It was there, he said, that he saw Connie’s ‘psychological chart’ — ‘a flat square, about a quarter of an inch thick, made of a plastic-like material . . . Across the face of this chart, a series of colored globes of light appear when it is connected to the machines, and this indicates the emotional and mental state of an individual.’
Howard made no such claim during our interviews, but he did talk about having seen the alleged base. In the Blue Mountains, when I was out there one night, I see this huge slit in the mountain. I’m watching this slit, and the light coming out of it— it started to light up the whole area. It’s getting bigger and bigger . . . There was a section in the mountain — I would say 100 feet of mountain — with trees on it and everything, opening up like a garage door, only opening out. It’s blinding me because I hadn’t been used to the light: I’d been there for an hour, with my camera, waiting for a UFO to come down. I couldn’t even take a picture, it’s so bright. When I finally got used to it, I dropped the camera!
And I see spaceships — at least three of them — in this cotton-picking mountain garage! And men walking around in shiny silver suits — they’ve got these tight-fitting suits — walking around, doing maintenance and work and everything. And a couple of guys came out in some kind of a vehicle, like a motorcycle without wheels. He’s sitting on it and he’s coming toward me!
That’s one time I didn’t stay — I got in my station wagon and took off. ‘I think that one of the main reasons they’re here is mining,’ Howard continued. ‘I think they’re mining some stuff. We don’t even know what the stuff is, and if we did we’d probably be way ahead in our technology. It’s something that they use — maybe for energy!’
Menger’s hypothesis is not entirely uncorroborated. In her book, Silent Invasion, researcher Ellen Crystall claims that two US government agents told her that aliens were mining beryllium, titanium and zirconium in the area of her investigations around Pine Bush, New York. Both Crystall’s and independent research has discovered that such ores are found in that region (and elsewhere).
All three ores are used in nuclear engineering projects.
Of particular interest here is that zircon is found in Berks County, Pennsylvania, among several other locations. While this area is only about 60 air miles southwest of High Bridge, New Jersey, it is also just to the south of the northeastern end of the great Blue Mountain ridge in central eastern Pennsylvania.
FACT, FANTASY OR FRAUD?
In talking with Howard Menger, I found him convincing when discussing some of his original claims. At other times I had the impression that he was fantasizing. This impression was reinforced when he began regaling us with incredible tales of having been involved in building and flying a saucer, together with scientists and military personnel who had hired him to help them out, utilizing the knowledge gained from his extraterrestrial friends. He also professes to have put ‘thousands of dollars’ of his own money into the top-secret project. ‘We built a huge craft,’ he stated. ‘My part in this thing was the design of the skin of the craft — the power system. And I did design the manual control, and from the manual schematics the other guy computerized it . . . I took it up with the four other fellows, I’d guess about 1,000 miles in five minutes. Of course, we didn’t take any trips out of the atmosphere . . .’
If this is pure fantasy — as I believe to be the case — why do I not reject all of Howard Menger’s claims? Because, as with George Adamski, some of the evidence suggests that he did indeed have encounters with apparent extraterrestrials, some of which were observed by credible witnesses. And regarding the photographic and cine film evidence (he took both 16mm and 8mm movies), my feeling is that some of it is genuine.
As to allegations of fraud, Richard Thompson suspects that elements of ‘untruth’ may have been woven into Menger’s story to promulgate a more widespread belief in extraterrestrial life. ‘But [Thompson] does not believe, based on his own experience,’ stated Peter Jordan, ‘that deception was as pervasive an ingredient in Menger’s story as his detractors were later to maintain.’
Perhaps the last word in this chapter on Howard Menger’s claims should go to Berthold E. Schwarz, MD, a distinguished psychiatrist and investigator of the paranormal, with whom I have discussed the case, and who also lives in the Mengers’ home town. In his introduction to The High Bridge Incident, he writes that, for Menger: ‘There have been no rewards except the ivory chisels of ridicule, harassment, sometimes persecution, and even an alleged attempt at assassination. Throughout the years Howard has remained an honorable, outstanding citizen of his community . . . He has (by choice) avoided the spotlight for decades and never sought to profit from his extraordinary experiences . . .
‘How influential, specific and relevant to his UFO adventures were the horrors and traumas of his son’s, his brother’s and his mother’s deaths — all within a short period of time [in the mid-1950s]? Did these tragedies carve and prepare him for the UFO events and kindred dissociative paranormal happenings?’ Dr Schwarz continues: Both Howard and I have lived in northern New Jersey . . . my own professional studies of [him] have involved interviews [with] the Princeton physics student and his friend who were witnesses to the discs [and] several of the New Jersey State Police who, when they realized that my purposes were confidential and scientific, recalled the furor and unexplained mysteries at that time . . .
Although the Howard Menger story is sometimes seemingly bizarre, even by Fortean standards, Howard never deviates from his original, fundamental assertions which are voiced again and again like a hymn, a gesture of communion: contact with the unknown has occurred . . .