Truman Bethurum: The Flying Saucer Celebrity

In the early-morning hours of July 28, 1952, Bethurum was napping between shifts as a heavy equipment operator in the Nevada desert. He was allegedly awakened by eight small men who took him to a nearby flying saucer, where he met the captain, a beautiful woman who appeared to be in her forties. They were from the planet Clarion, which is in our solar system but is never seen because it is always on the other side of the moon. The Clarionites were a peaceful people who were visiting the earth out of concern that human beings might destroy earth and its inhabitants in a nuclear war.

Bethurum began a new career as a flying saucer celebrity when his first published account of his alleged encounter with space people appeared in Saucers magazine in 1953. Thereafter he received an income from writing and lecturing. In August 1953 at a convention sponsored by Flying Saucers International, Bethurum told his story in public for the first time.His book, Aboard a Flying Saucer, was published in 1954.

Bethurum had numerous supporters in contactee circles, but few mainstream ufologists believed his claims were authentic. Most UFO researchers dismissed him as a charlatan.Bethurum refused to surrender a letter allegedly written by the captain of the flying saucer and typed on Clarion paper for analysis to authenticate it.He also refused to take a polygraph test concerning his claims.

In November 1955 Bethurum claimed the captain of the saucer visited him in astral form and instructed him to solicit contributions to buy a large section of land and establish a commune. The commune was established in Prescott, Arizona. Bethurum died on May 21, 1969, in Landers, California.