Speaker 1: Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClain Smith, where
Speaker 1: for the weeks in between episodes we look at stories
Speaker 1: and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make
Speaker 1: it into the previous show. In the last episode, Valleys
Speaker 1: of the Uncanny, we followed the story of Alan Godfrey
Speaker 1: from his involvement in the bizarre case of Sigmund Dadamski
Speaker 1: to his later peculiar experiences around the town of Todmorden
Speaker 1: in Yorkshire, England. At the time, Sigmund Dadamski's death raised
Speaker 1: eyebrows in uthology circles, not so much because of the
Speaker 1: strange circumstances of it, but because he also happened to
Speaker 1: share a name with one of the most controversial figures
Speaker 1: in the history of UFO culture. George Adamski, was born
Speaker 1: in Germany eighteen ninety one, but moved with his parents
Speaker 1: to the United Dates when he was two years old.
Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty two, but then sixty year old Adamski,
Speaker 1: who had long had a fascination with esoteric ideas, hit
Speaker 1: the headlines when he claimed to have met and communicated
Speaker 1: with an alien entity known as Orthon from the planet
Speaker 1: Venus whilst walking in the Colorado Desert. Adamski later claimed
Speaker 1: that the people of Venus merely wanted to send a
Speaker 1: message of peace to the people of Earth, and that
Speaker 1: many Venutians were already living here on Earth. Despite being
Speaker 1: ridiculed by most of the UFO community, which at the
Speaker 1: time very much prided itself on scientific rigor and a
Speaker 1: strictly academic approach to the fledgling UFO phenomena, something in
Speaker 1: Adamski's story resonated with people. Without realizing, Georgia Damski had
Speaker 1: inadvertently created the contact team movement, an entirely new facet
Speaker 1: in the culture of UFOs. Following on from Adamski's startling revelation,
Speaker 1: numerous others began claiming that they too had been contacted
Speaker 1: by alien entities, most with similar messages of peace and love,
Speaker 1: with which they wanted to enlighten the ever fractious human race.
Speaker 1: The story of two contactees in particular make for interesting listening,
Speaker 1: with one even proving the inspiration for one of the
Speaker 1: most widely discussed psychological phenomenons of recent times. It has
Speaker 1: been suggested that those who become involved in the contact
Speaker 1: hem movement are drawn to it as an alternative to
Speaker 1: traditional religions. Like many people, despite being left unconvinced by
Speaker 1: the message of such religions, they remain hungry for a
Speaker 1: sense of spiritual purpose and meaning in life in many ways.
Speaker 1: Gloria Lee was a prime candidate. Born in nineteen twenty six,
Speaker 1: Lee worked for a while as an actor before becoming
Speaker 1: a flight attendant. At some point, Lee turned away from
Speaker 1: her Christian upbringing and became interested in the teachings of Owaspy,
Speaker 1: a new religion centered around the book Oaspe, a new
Speaker 1: Bible written in eighteen eighty two by John Balunubroh. According
Speaker 1: to Lee, it all started in nineteen fifty three when
Speaker 1: she heard a voice in her head while walking through
Speaker 1: Los Angeles International Airport. As the voice persisted over the
Speaker 1: next few months, Lee ignored it until one morning, while
Speaker 1: hanging up washing outside her home in Westchester, New York,
Speaker 1: the voice told her to look up. When she did,
Speaker 1: she was startled to see a large UFO flying in
Speaker 1: a northwesterly direction away from the house. After hearing that
Speaker 1: people in nearby Redondo Beach had also apparently seen a
Speaker 1: UFO that day, she decided to engage with the voice.
Speaker 1: As Lee would later publish in her nineteen fifty nine
Speaker 1: book titled JW. Why We Are Here? By JW A
Speaker 1: being from Jupiter through the instrumentation of Gloria Lee. The
Speaker 1: voice supposedly belonged to an alien entity from the planet Jupiter,
Speaker 1: which she named simply JW, as the title suggests, After
Speaker 1: years of apparent communication, in September nineteen sixty two, Lee
Speaker 1: traveled to Washington, DC to deliver a stark message to
Speaker 1: the United Nations from JW and his people, warning them
Speaker 1: that if the people of Earth didn't do more to
Speaker 1: bring about world peace, the Jupiterians would be forced to
Speaker 1: invade and establish a peace program of their own. Armed
Speaker 1: with a series of notes apparently dictated to her by
Speaker 1: j W, which included the blueprints for a space station
Speaker 1: to help open up relations with the people from Jupiter,
Speaker 1: leaded her best to convince the when to listen. When
Speaker 1: Lee's efforts proved unsuccessful, she and her associate checked into
Speaker 1: a nearby hotel to plot their next move, with Lee's
Speaker 1: husband and two young children at home waiting for her
Speaker 1: to return. While in the hotel, on September twenty third,
Speaker 1: Lee received the order from JW that she should go
Speaker 1: on hunger strike until the officials at the u N
Speaker 1: took her seriously. If they didn't, they would continue with
Speaker 1: their plans to invade Earth in due course, while also
Speaker 1: promising to take Lee back to Jupiter with them in
Speaker 1: a device that she called a light elevator. Lee fasted
Speaker 1: from September twenty third until November twenty eighth, when she
Speaker 1: became so weak and frail that her husband was forced
Speaker 1: to have her admitted into hospital. Unfortunately, the light elevator
Speaker 1: never arrived, and four days later, the thirty two year
Speaker 1: old Georgia died from starvation. Is there something interfering with
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Speaker 1: In December nineteen fifty four, at the modest home of
Speaker 1: fifty four year old Dorothee Martin on the outskirts of Chicago,
Speaker 1: a small group of people are sat in the living room,
Speaker 1: staring and wrapped as Dorothy takes another message from the
Speaker 1: beings of planet Clarion. It would begin with a tingling
Speaker 1: in her arm, followed by a sudden flash of warmth
Speaker 1: moving from her chest into her shoulder and down to
Speaker 1: her hand. Before she knew it, the pen in her
Speaker 1: hand would already be moving, scribbling words onto the paper,
Speaker 1: the handwriting looking just like her own, but the words
Speaker 1: coming from somewhere much further away. The group gasped at
Speaker 1: what the words spelt out. A terrible disaster was coming,
Speaker 1: said the Clarions, a mix of tidal waves and volcanoes
Speaker 1: that would destroy much of the American continent, and that
Speaker 1: would be only the beginning. Like Gloria Lee, Dorothee Martin
Speaker 1: had also been brought up a Christian before finding a
Speaker 1: purpose as one of the early figures of the Contact
Speaker 1: He movement. At some point in her fifties, she began
Speaker 1: claiming that she was in telepathic communication with an alien
Speaker 1: species from a supposed planet named Clarion, who were committed
Speaker 1: to bringing peace and enlightenment to the human race. Charles Lothhead,
Speaker 1: who worked as a staff doctor at Michigan State University,
Speaker 1: was so convinced by Dorothy's claims he invited her to
Speaker 1: form a religious group with him to better spread the
Speaker 1: wisdom of the alien beings. The group became known as
Speaker 1: the Seekers. That December in nineteen fifty four, after being
Speaker 1: informed of the impending destruction of the planet, the Seekers
Speaker 1: were also told that they at least would not have
Speaker 1: to worry because they would be rescued by a team
Speaker 1: from the planet Clarion, who would send a spaceship to
Speaker 1: pick them up in due course. And so it was
Speaker 1: that on December seventeenth, the seekers gathered again at Dorothy's
Speaker 1: home on South Coyler Avenue in Oak Park, in excited
Speaker 1: anticipation of the cosmic rescue that was due to take
Speaker 1: place at four pm that afternoon. According to Dorothy, at
Speaker 1: ten to four, Dorothee instructed them all to follow her
Speaker 1: into her garden, making sure to remove orbits of metal
Speaker 1: from themselves before they did, since this would be essential
Speaker 1: for the teleportation process. A short time later, the group
Speaker 1: were gathered outside together, some holding hands while others sung soft,
Speaker 1: uplifting songs, all smiling warmly and staring up at the
Speaker 1: sky as they waited for their big moment to arrive.
Speaker 1: Then four pm turned to one minute passed, then another
Speaker 1: minute passed. At ten minutes passed four, Dorothee hung her
Speaker 1: head in disappointment and traped back into the house. By
Speaker 1: five thirty pm, the last of the group joined her
Speaker 1: back in the living room, hurt and confused about what
Speaker 1: had just taken place. At midnight, however, Dorothy finally received
Speaker 1: word from the Clarions there had been some confusion they
Speaker 1: would in fact be coming right that moment. Instead, once again,
Speaker 1: the seekers flooded out into the garden in gleeful anticipation,
Speaker 1: some too nervous to ask if having metal fillings would
Speaker 1: be a problem for the transportation device. In the end,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't matter, however, but once again the group would
Speaker 1: be left disappointed. That night, the seekers waited in the
Speaker 1: freezing dark until two a m. Before accepting defeat. Later,
Speaker 1: they tried desperately to make sense of the situation. Had
Speaker 1: it all just been some kind of test of their devotion?
Speaker 1: They wandered. Then the following day, Dorothee received another message
Speaker 1: and a new date for the group's extraction from Earth.
Speaker 1: It would now be taking place on December twenty first.
Speaker 1: But that day too came and went, and still the
Speaker 1: group remained very much earth bound. Then came a fourth
Speaker 1: and final instruction for the rescue. The mission would now
Speaker 1: take place at six pm on December twenty fourth. The
Speaker 1: group was so convinced this time they even went as
Speaker 1: far as to hold a press conference to alert the
Speaker 1: rest of the world about what was about to happen.
Speaker 1: By five thirty pm on the evening of December twenty fourth,
Speaker 1: with the Seekers gathered once again at Dorothy's home, a
Speaker 1: crowd of about two hundred others, keen to witness the
Speaker 1: event for themselves, had joined them. Once again, the Seekers
Speaker 1: joined hands and sung joyous carols as the moment drew near,
Speaker 1: but yet again the moment passed without any sign of
Speaker 1: their alien saviors. By six twenty pm, the group grew despondent,
Speaker 1: realizing they'd been stood up once more, and together they
Speaker 1: returned disappointed to Dorothy's living room. In the end, neither
Speaker 1: the aliens or the predicted natural disasters arrived, which proved
Speaker 1: a trying time for Dorothy and her followers, left unsure
Speaker 1: how to balance their faith in the Clarion's promises and
Speaker 1: their failure to come to fruition. Many of the seekers
Speaker 1: had even left their jobs and in some cases even
Speaker 1: families to follow Dorothee and the aliens. However, not all
Speaker 1: of the seekers were quite so disappointed with the way
Speaker 1: things turned out, since, as it transpired, not all of
Speaker 1: the seekers were actually seekers at all. A handful of
Speaker 1: them were, in fact psychologists from the University of Minnesota
Speaker 1: who'd infiltrated the group in order to conduct research for
Speaker 1: a study they were carrying out on religious groups and
Speaker 1: how they respond when their beliefs failed to match up
Speaker 1: with reality. In nineteen fifty six, three of the researchers,
Speaker 1: Stanley Shacter, Henry Rieken, and Leon Festinger, published a book
Speaker 1: about their findings titled When Prophecy Fails, A Social and
Speaker 1: Psychological Study of a modern group that predicted the destruction
Speaker 1: of the world. Though fascinating in its own right, the
Speaker 1: book is perhaps best known for providing the foundation for
Speaker 1: a much more famous work that was released the following
Speaker 1: year by one of its authors, Leon Festinger. Published in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty seven, festingers a theory of cognitive dissonance gave
Speaker 1: us one of the most influential ideas in psychology, as
Speaker 1: well as one of the most widely used phrases in
Speaker 1: public discourse today. In essence, festing A's theory of cognitive
Speaker 1: dissonance attempts to understand how we respond when actual evidence
Speaker 1: contradicts our firmly held beliefs. Astonishingly, what Festinger discovered was,
Speaker 1: rather than face up to the reality, people will either
Speaker 1: lean into their beliefs more or, as he says, actively
Speaker 1: avoid situations and information which would likely increase the dissonance.
Speaker 1: In other words, do absolutely anything other than admit to
Speaker 1: themselves to what they believe is actually wrong. What is
Speaker 1: perhaps most fascinating is the possibility that this is a
Speaker 1: very natural process, potentially hard wired into us. As Festinger
Speaker 1: also said, evidence that directly contradicts our beliefs makes us uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: and it is a natural instinct to try and make
Speaker 1: it go away. In a sense, therefore, people are predisposed
Speaker 1: to comfort themselves by trying to rationalize the irrational in
Speaker 1: order to sustain the erroneous belief, rather than face the
Speaker 1: discomfort of accepting it as wrong. Rather than face up
Speaker 1: to the truth that the Clarions and Martin's apparent powers
Speaker 1: of telepathy most likely didn't actually exist, the Seekers needed
Speaker 1: a better explanation for have failed prophecies. Much to their relief,
Speaker 1: they soon got it. It came in another message from
Speaker 1: the Clarions only a few hours after they failed to
Speaker 1: show on the evening of December twenty fourth, As they
Speaker 1: said according to Dorothy, in the end, they had not
Speaker 1: needed to rescue the Seekers because the group had spread
Speaker 1: so much light in their devotion that God had decided
Speaker 1: the world would not be destroyed. After all. If you
Speaker 1: enjoy Unexplained and would like to help supporters, you can
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Speaker 1: featuring ten stories that have never before been covered on
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Speaker 1: All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced
Speaker 1: by me Richard McClane smith. Please subscribe and rate the
Speaker 1: show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel free to
Speaker 1: get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the
Speaker 1: stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an
Speaker 1: explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can
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