A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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<strong>in</strong>ch telescope, that were featured <strong>in</strong> 1950 by Fate magaz<strong>in</strong>e, a magaz<strong>in</strong>e central to <strong>the</strong><br />
propagation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> saucer myth.<br />
In ensu<strong>in</strong>g years Adamski claimed to have had a series <strong>of</strong> encounters with a beautiful<br />
long-blond-haired Venusian, “Orthon,” an archetypical Nordic type alien, <strong>the</strong> first <strong>of</strong> which he<br />
discussed <strong>in</strong> Fly<strong>in</strong>g Saucers Have Landed. Like <strong>the</strong> spiritual entities encountered by spiritualists<br />
and later by Pelley and <strong>the</strong> Ballards, Orthon seems very much human, only somehow more<br />
perfect, more advanced.<br />
I fully realized I was <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> presence <strong>of</strong> a man from space - A HUMAN BEING FROM<br />
ANOTHER WORLD! The flesh <strong>of</strong> his hands to <strong>the</strong> touch <strong>of</strong> m<strong>in</strong>e was like a baby’s very<br />
delicate <strong>in</strong> texture, but firm and warm. His hands were slender, with long taper<strong>in</strong>g<br />
f<strong>in</strong>gers like <strong>the</strong> beautiful hands <strong>of</strong> an artistic woman. In fact <strong>in</strong> different cloth<strong>in</strong>g he<br />
could easily have passed for an unusually beautiful woman, yet he was def<strong>in</strong>itely a man.<br />
He was round faced with an extremely high forehead; large, but calm, grey-green<br />
eyes, slightly aslant at <strong>the</strong> outer corners; with slightly higher cheek bones than an<br />
Occidental, but not so high as an Indian or an Oriental; a f<strong>in</strong>ely chiseled nose, not<br />
conspicuously large; and an average size mouth with beautiful white teeth that shone<br />
when he smiled or spoke.<br />
As nearly as I can describe his sk<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> colour<strong>in</strong>g would be an even, mediumcoloured<br />
Suntan. And it did not look to me as though he had ever had to shave, for <strong>the</strong>re<br />
was no more hair on his face than on a child’s.<br />
His hair was sandy <strong>in</strong> colour and hung <strong>in</strong> beautiful waves to his shoulders,<br />
glisten<strong>in</strong>g more beautifully than any woman’s I have ever seen. And I remember a<br />
pass<strong>in</strong>g thought <strong>of</strong> how Earth women would enjoy hav<strong>in</strong>g such beautiful hair as this man<br />
had. 237<br />
Adamski’s description <strong>of</strong> Orthon (a name which, for clarity’s sake, Adamski<br />
manufactures at a later time—Adamski’s space bro<strong>the</strong>rs did not follow <strong>the</strong> terrestrial convention<br />
<strong>of</strong> nam<strong>in</strong>g) was notable for a number <strong>of</strong> reasons. The first <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se is that while <strong>the</strong><br />
extraterrestrials that contacted Adamski condemned racially based divisions and <strong>in</strong>equalities,<br />
<strong>the</strong>y were all more or less white. While <strong>the</strong>re were some differences <strong>in</strong> complexion and hair<br />
color, <strong>the</strong>re were no bro<strong>the</strong>rs among <strong>the</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>rs. This was consistent with <strong>the</strong> racialism<br />
that <strong>in</strong>formed Theosophy and Pelley’s Christian Economics—<strong>the</strong> occult bedrock <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> space<br />
237 237 Desmond Leslie and George Adamski, Fly<strong>in</strong>g Saucers have Landed (London: W. Laurie, 1953) 195.<br />
153