George Adamski was born in Poland on April 17, 1891. His parents emigrated to the United States when he was two years old, settling in Dunkirk, New York, where Adamski grew up. He was a child of great sensitivity, enthralled by the wonders of nature. His parents were devoutly religious but not in traditional churchly ways. They placed great emphasis on God's creation rather than on conventional Christian doctrines and churchly affiliation. This unusual religious background did much to prepare Adamski for his later experiences. He was open to cosmic views.
 

Adamski had little formal schooling, apparently only a few years of grade school. His family was poor and he was forced at an early age to help contribute to their livelihood. This was not uncommon for a family in the early part of this century, but it did prevent Adamski from becoming more disciplined academically. Although this seriously modified Adamski's earthly career it gave him the advantage of not framing his mind to conventional attitudes. The combination of unusual religious background and lack of formal schooling left him with qualifications for personal contact which seem contrary to our usual notions. He became a candidate for contact not because of his earthly social or educational status but because he did not identify with traditional institutions or conventional views.
 

In 1913, at the age of 22, he enlisted in the United States Army. He served in the 13th Cavalry on the Mexican border during the intrusions of Poncho Villa. On Christmas day in 1917 he married Mary A. Shimbersky. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 1919 after the cessation of hostilities in Europe.
 

During the next ten years he wandered around the country, doing odd jobs here and there, with no fixed purpose, struggling to accommodate life with his perspectives on God and universal brotherhood. Although he felt impelled to teach others concerning these matters his lack of education restrained him through fear of social rejection.
 

down the mountain. Adamski bought a fifteen-inch telescope and constructed a small observatory to permit him to study the skies for hours on end, protected from the weather. He reports that during a heavy meteoric shower in 1946 he and a group of friends observed a large cigar-shaped object hanging motionless in the sky at relatively close range. The following year he, his wife, and a few associates also observed a formation of strange objects move across the sky from east to west.
 

These experiences supposedly motivated Adamski to write a 'fictional' account of space travel. In 1949 the Leonard-Freefield Co in Los Angeles published "Pioneers of Space." In that fictional story Adamski described large cigar-shaped craft piloted by humanlike beings from other worlds. In the story he accompanies these beings on visits to the Moon, to Venus, and to Mars. He describes areas of vegetation and inhabitants of the Moon who used it as a base for their large interplanetary craft. In the story Venus and Mars also are inhabited; he visits and banquets with the inhabitants of those worlds.
 

But Adamski's efforts did not end with "Pioneers of Space." Four years later he became more daring; he then claimed direct contact.
 

In October, 1953 a book entitled "Flying Saucers Have Landed" was published by the British Book Centre, Inc, New York. A British man named Desmond Leslie teamed with Adamski to describe a contact Adamski had with a Venusian space man on Thursday November 20, 1952. According to Adamski the contact was limited to conversation and did not include visits aboard craft.
 

In 1955 Abelard-Schumann published "Inside the Space Ships." In that book Adamski describes visits on board both disk and cigar-shaped craft, events which he claimed first took place on February 18, 1953. He describes a subsequent visit on April 12, 1953. He claimed a further a visit in September of that year with space men who talked with him at some length in a small restaurant in Los Angeles. Some time later, (he does not specify the date), he again is taken on board craft. On August 23, 1954 he was taken on board for the fourth time for a farewell banquet to commemorate the activity of the space visitors with him, thus terminating further contact. However, he claimed that he was granted one last request on April 24, 1955 to attempt photographs of both the small disk craft and the large cigar-shaped craft. This attempt failed because of the high force fields within and around the craft, and because of the crudeness of his camera. Beyond that he reports no other contact.
 

Abelard-Schuman published one other book for Adamski, "Flying Saucers Farewell," in 1961. In that book he attempted to provide answers to numerous questions raised by his previous accounts, to expand upon his philosophy, and to defend himself against critics.
 

His fame spread during the latter part of the 1950's to an extent that a worldwide tour was arranged for him. This offered Adamski an opportunity to talk to many different people and gave him audience with leading social figures and rulers, including Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
 

For several years prior to his death he claimed further contact by space visitors and trips to Mars and Saturn. At that point very few people any longer believed his claims. He brought severe condemnation upon himself as a fraud.
 

Adamski presents extraordinary difficulties. He was a person of unusual non-conformist tendencies, with severe contradictions in events and in chronology , and outright fraud in some of his reports.
 

In spite of this he served as a vehicle of revelation. He was chosen because of his difficulties, not because he was a man of social recognition. The unfolding of revelation demanded that he be discredited by the world at large. I shall explain.
 

Adamski's contrast with Swift is profound. Swift was highly educated; Adamski was not. Swift was a man of the world; Adamski shunned the world. Swift was especially concerned with his reputation; Adamski scorned the opinions of the world. Swift had an immense contemporary reputation; Adamski's reputation was sad. Hardly anyone familiar with Adamski's background gave him credence. Except for a limited following he was generally held in contempt. He was regarded as a fake, a pretender, and a charlatan by most of the world.
 

In order to understand Adamski's problem we must acquire a better appreciation of the difficulties attendant upon the experiences of both he and Swift. In our culture today it is simply incredible that men would be contacted by intelligent creatures from other places in the universe. We have a natural but intense reaction to that possibility.
 

The reaction is composed of fascination, intellectual incredulity, emotional fears, psychic concerns and religious disbelief. These elements exist in all of us, to greater or less degree. Some individuals demonstrate fascination without discriminating judgment; they come from many of the psychic and occult groups who popularized the UFO phenomena so avidly. Other individuals vehemently deny the possibility. Often they come from academic and scholarly circles where the phenomenon is outside the boundaries of social cognizance. Many have shied away from positive examination because of the inner disturbance they feel; the implications are too far beyond the familiar habits of this world.
 

The wide spectrum of public reactions prevents rigorous classification into definitive categories. Except for "Encounters" of various kinds, we have made little progress in analytical examinaiton. We take to celestial visitations the way we take to God, each with a private interpretation. As the reporters have difficulty describing their experience, casting about for words and phrases that would adequately portray their visits, so we have difficulty classifying our feelings and reactions. There is no accepted vocabulary beyond "flying saucers" or "UFOs." How do we converse about beings who seem to know our inner thoughts, our feelings, and our concerns, yet who operate strange craft and who appear so nearly human?
 

Many persons today avoid relating personal experiences because they know the reports will be received with doubt, with disdain, and even with contempt. They will be thought fools. If scientists and scholars, our normal references of authority, deny the possibility what can an average person do? He cannot go to the government; the government has denied the phenomenon. He cannot go to pastors or priests; they will think he is psychologically disturbed. Furthermore, pastors, priests, scientists and academicians are not authorities on events which are far beyond their cognizance. No human authorities exist.
 

Could Swift consult anyone? Within his own mind, did his experience not turn him into the authority, the only human mortal with such an experience, and hence beyond the pale of human institutions? Was Adamski in a better position? If his experience took place in the 1920s, long before there was a context in which to place an account of his experience, what would it do to his life conduct? The experience turned Swift into a social satirist and moralist. It motivated his devotion to religious institutions, the most plausible mode for his life. The experience turned Adamski into a cultist, his personal expression of the same motivating influence. Swift had a personal problem; Adamski had a personal problem. Each expressed it in their unique manner according to personality and background.
 

We can follow a pattern of conduct in Adamski's life, sufficient to help us understand why he would appear as a charlatan, and why his reports were rejected by most informed individuals. There is a definite problem in chronology.
 

His interest in cosmic matters is striking from early in the decade of the thirties. He settles down in Laguna Beach after ten years of wandering. He forms a cult to teach cosmic principles of brotherhood and God. He names this cult the "Royal Order of Tibet," in typical fashion of the day, somehow believing, as many did, that Tibetan monks had secrets of the universe locked away in their monasteries through long ages. He publishes a book entitled "Wisdom of the Masters of the Far East" to expound his views.
 

He also demonstrates a high degree of interest in the sky, and phenomena that might be on display in the heavens. This interest is so great a student presents him with a telescope in order that he might pursue his curiosity more aggressively. Later he establishes himself on the slopes of Mount Palomar, in an effort to view the skies more clearly, and coincidently the proposed site of the largest telescope in the world. Was Adamski's move motivated by proximity to the proposed telescope? Will this bring him closer to a deep-rooted quest? We do not know.
 

He took innumerable photographs through his six-inch telescope. Again, we do not know what those pictures may have revealed to him. We do know that on one occasion he believes he has something of interest and asks astronomers to examine the photograph. They are unable to distinguish the details; Adamski is obviously disappointed. What did he expect to find? Did he believe he had something other than an ordinary heavenly body in his picture? Why would he display this interest unless he were expecting strange flying objects?
 

We must consider his publication of "Pioneers of Space." His descriptions in that 1949 book were very similar to experiences he claimed took place four years later. Were those descriptions strictly intuitive, from some subconscious level, and amazingly predictive of an experience he claimed occurred later? Or was there a fundamental deception in his chronology? Note the following parallels between "Pioneers of Space," and "Inside the Space Ships," 1955.
 

1) Visitors from other planets in the solar system.

2) Cigar-shaped craft.

3) A belt of green vegetation on the Moon.

4) Unusual materials of construction for the space ships.

5) Long life ages for the space people.

6) Angelic appearance of the inhabitants of Venus.

7) No acceleration discernible inside the craft.

8) They were alerted to us by radar signals bounced off the moon.
 

Other parallels exist. Obviously, Adamski was not being honest.
 

This problem of character and deception is again illustrated in the circumstances surrounding his reported first contact in 1952. Apparently he had been espousing the cause of celestial visitors and the possibility of contact for some time.
 

It was late in August 1952 that Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Bailey, of Winslow, Arizona, first came to Palomar Gardens and asked to talk with me privately. I had never met them prior to that time. During the conversation they told me about Dr. and Mrs. George H. Williamson, of Prescott, Arizona. These four people were as interested in the flying saucers as I...

The Baileys and the Williamsons had, prior to their meeting with Adamski, avidly pursued celestial craft. George Hunt Williamson had a doctors degree in anthropology, having attended Cornell, the University of Denver, and the University of Arizona. Although quite young at the time he had done serious scholarly work in the folk customs of the American Indians. He claimed to have made contact with celestial visitors through radio telegraphy but his experiments did not receive publication in any scientific journal. Together he and his friend Alfred Bailey co-authored a book entitled "The Saucers Speak."
 

Apparently they believed Adamski could make contact. Whether this belief came out of knowledge of his 1949 book "Pioneers of Space," through word of mouth among flying saucers enthusiasts, or by some other means is also not known.
 

Later the Baileys and Williamsons came up together. After spending several days at Palomar Gardens as our guests, they asked me to telephone them before my next attempt to establish a contact. During their stay we had met a great deal and had become better acquainted and they wanted to be with me if things could be so arranged.

Adamski promised to call them, warning them that he could not give advance notice. On the evening of November 18, 1952 he called Williamson to inform him he was leaving about midnight the next day for a destination near Blythe, California. He asked Williamson to meet him there early on the morning of the 20th.
 

According to Adamski's report they were all scanning the sky in hopeful expectation when suddenly they saw a gigantic cigar-shaped silvery ship, without wings or appendages of any kind. Slowly, almost as if drifting, it came in their direction; then seemed to stop, hovering motionless. They exclaimed excitedly to one another, wondering what it was. In Adamski's words:
 

A never-to-be-forgotten sight... In spite of all the excitement I knew this was not the place; maybe not even the ship with which contact was to be made, if that was the plan. But I did feel this ship had a definite "something" to do with it all.  Fully aware of the curiosity created by our party here in the desert where no one would normally picnic, I did not want to be more conspicuous by setting up my telescope and camera in such an open spot. Above all else, I didn't want to make the slightest mistake that might prevent a landing and personal contact being made, if such a possibility existed.

Up to this point the remarks by Adamski probably are perfectly accurate. He knew contact would not be made, but he did not want to jeopardize any possibility. Then he acts dramatically:
 

I said, "Someone take me down the road - quick! That ship has come looking for me and I don't want to keep them waiting! Maybe the saucer is already up there somewhere - afraid to come down here where too many people would see them."

Already we have a problem. Why did he say, "I knew this was not the place" but quickly acted to be taken down the road? And then invent a reason why he should move from that spot?

Lucy McGinnis quickly got into her car while Al Bailey jumped into the front seat beside her. Adamski climbed into the back seat and directed her to a point about a half mile down the road. Meanwhile, according to his account, the space ship followed the path of the car, stopping directly over it when they stopped. In haste and with obvious excitement Adamski instructed Al and Lucy to return to the rest of the group.
 

Now again, why would he do that? Did he know that the "space people" would not want to invite any other mortal on board? If they remained, would they jeopardize contact?
 

Alone with my telescope and my thoughts, I busied myself attaching the camera to the telescope and making adjustments with the eyepiece. This adjustment had become slightly distorted in the moving and setting up. All the time thoughts kept racing through my mind, possibilities of what could take place; fears that nothing would...

Again the words of Adamski probably reflect an actual situation. Indeed, he may very well have considered the possibilities that might take place, and feared that nothing would. Especially if this was not his original contact, but a display intended in some way to establish his authenticity.
 

The rest of the group could serve as witnesses to the presence of the object. They could also serve as witnesses that the "space people" recognized Adamski as an important individual, to bring their presence to someone special.

Adamski's account of the incident from this point probably is false. He states that he looked up to see a human figure about a quarter mile away at the entrance to a ravine between two small hills. The figure motioned him to approach. He then goes on to relate his conversation with this space being.

Other problems afflict this account.

Adamski does not say how he knew to be in Blythe at that time. Did he go by mere feeling, as he often stated? Did he depend upon other forms of communications? We do not know. The witnesses later corroborated Adamski's account. They said they saw the human figure talking with Adamski; Williamson made plaster casts of footprints allegedly made by the space man.
 

The difficulty is this: Adamski's maneuver may have been to deceive his companions into believing the contact actually occurred. The distance he chose was sufficient to prevent positive visual verification by the group. If the figure was standing in a ravine between two small hills, did they imagine they saw the figure, or did they merely see Adamski talking and gesturing, and thus believed he was talking with someone out of their sight?
 

Is it possible he also fabricated footprints in the sand? Photographs of the plaster casts look like they were fabricated. Why was plaster of paris so conveniently available? Do people normally carry it around with them? How were firm footprints made in dry sandy desert terrain? Why would a "space man" have strange symbols on the soles of his footgear, as Adamski later showed through the plaster casts. I just doesn't make sense.
 

In my opinion Adamski acted to deceive. Several of his contact experiences were real, but his later actions and chronology were not. He felt impelled to convince others of contact. The episode with the Baileys and the Williamsons came when other people had already claimed contact. If Adamski had contact much earlier in his life he may have felt cheated. He had been forced to keep a secret, perhaps waiting for a time of revelation. But he cannot hold his experience; he wrote the "Pioneers of Space" when numerous reports of strange objects were circulating widely. But still he feared reporting direct contact. He did not feel he could do so in spite of the international excitement. Not until others claimed contact did he feel free to relate his experiences. But then he faced a real dilemma. Now he was not original. He would appear guilty of imitation or borrowing. Even worse, if he related his actual experiences he would be accused of trying to preempt others. What should he do?
 

Did the gigantic cigar-shaped craft visit that brilliant Thursday morning? Perhaps. It may have been a way of establishing Adamski's authenticity, even with the problems in his chronology. The witnesses attested to the event. On the other hand they were avid and keen advocates of alien craft. Their lively expectations could have been used by Adamski to dupe them into believing they observed craft which were not actually present. In the bright desert air Adamski might have said, "See! See!," and they thought they saw.
 

They also probably believed they saw a man talking with Adamski, especially if Adamski stood at a distance gesturing with his hands. And they may have believed the footprints in the sand of the desert, even if Adamski put them there. They were doing their human thing, under the influence of a most extraordinary time.
 

When did Adamski actually have contacts? Probably sometime in the twenties, prior to his settling in Laguna Beech. A period pior to 1930 would explain his actions, his pursuits, and his interests after that time. He would have had a keen interest in establishing a different philosophy. His perspectives had been elevated beyond the confines of one small world. He would have had a keen interest in the heavens, hoping he might once again see objects he had witnessed before.
 

If we were to summarize Adamski's character we might list the following points:
 

1) He was nonconformist. He belonged to no formal church; he joined no clubs; he was not active in any social endeavor beyond his small group of followers.
 

2) He was uneducated. He was not conditioned by habits of thought and mental process instilled through formal education.
 

3) He was intelligent. He published five books, an interesting record for a man with only a few years of grade school. His books display ability to analyze, synthesize, and deduce. He was not a mental slouch.
 

4) He was a keen observer. Minute details did not escape his eyes. In the description of persons, artifacts and craft he shows unusual ability to remember.
 

5) He was trusting. He accepted what he was told without doubt and without question. He also overlooked problems in individuals that would normally bother other people.
 

6) He was cosmic in attitude. His view of the world carried far beyond the small confines of this planet. He recognized a flow of history and a potential of destiny that spanned many human generations.
 

We can perceive Adamski's personality through his maze of uncertainty. He was being manipulated, completely unknown to himself, in full expectation of how he would respond. He acted according to his best insights and understanding, knowing he had an errand to perform, but not knowing how to execute it. It was a duty he felt impelled to fulfill. He was successful in his own peculiar way.
 

The evidence of his personality, and the manipulation of his character for the accomplishment of some higher objective can be seen in the display of his acceptance of information which would have been rejected by most other individuals. He firmly believed his space visitors came from Venus, Mars, and Saturn. Whether they stated so to him outright, or left him to his own conclusions we cannot say.