George Adamski facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
George Adamski
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| Born | 17 April 1891 |
| Died | 23 April 1965 (aged 74) Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.
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| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Occupation | Self-described "wandering teacher", ufologist |
| Organization | Royal Order of Tibet George Adamski Foundation |
| Known for | Contactee |
| Spouse(s) |
Mary Shimbersky
(m. 1917; |
| Children | none |
George Adamski (born April 17, 1891 – died April 23, 1965) was a Polish-American author. He became very well-known in the world of Ufology (the study of UFOs). This happened after he showed many photos in the 1940s and 1950s that he said were of alien spacecraft. He also claimed to have met friendly aliens, sometimes called "Space Brothers," and even said he flew with them to the Moon and other planets.
Adamski was the first and most famous of several people known as UFO contactees. These are people who claim to have met and communicated with aliens. Adamski called himself a "philosopher, teacher, student, and saucer researcher." However, most people who investigated his claims believed they were a big hoax, and that Adamski was a con artist.
Adamski wrote three books about his meetings with aliens and his travels in their spaceships. These included Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953) and Inside the Space Ships (1955). His first two books were very popular and sold many copies. His work also became popular in Japan and inspired many alien and UFO stories in Japanese culture.
Contents
Early Life
George Adamski was born in Bromberg, which was part of the German Empire at the time. His family was Polish, and he was one of five children.
When he was two years old, his family moved to the United States and settled in New York City. From 1913 to 1916, he was a soldier in the U.S. Cavalry, fighting near the Mexican border.
In 1917, he married Mary Shimbersky. They had no children, and she passed away in 1954. After getting married, Adamski moved west. He worked in places like Yellowstone National Park and factories in Oregon and California. In the 1920s, Adamski became interested in a spiritual belief system called Theosophy. By 1930, he was a minor figure in California's spiritual scene, teaching his own mix of Christianity and Eastern religions. He called his teachings "Universal Progressive Christianity."
In the early 1930s, Adamski started a group called the "Royal Order of Tibet" in Laguna Beach, California. This group held meetings in a place called the "Temple of Scientific Philosophy." Adamski was a teacher there.
In 1940, Adamski, his wife, and some friends moved to a ranch near Palomar Mountain in California. They spent their time studying religion and farming. In 1944, they bought land at the base of the mountain. There, they built a home, a campground called Palomar Gardens, and a small diner called Palomar Gardens Cafe.
At the campground and diner, Adamski often gave talks about philosophy and religion to visitors. He also built a small wooden observatory for his telescope. Many visitors thought he was an astronomer connected to the famous Palomar Observatory at the top of the mountain. Adamski usually did not correct this idea, even though he had only a third-grade education and no college degrees.
Claims of UFO Sightings
On October 9, 1946, Adamski and some friends claimed they saw a large, cigar-shaped "mother ship" during a meteor shower at Palomar Gardens. In early 1947, Adamski took a photograph of what he said was this "mother ship" flying in front of the Moon. In the summer of 1947, after many UFO sightings were reported in the U.S., Adamski claimed he saw 184 UFOs fly over Palomar Gardens in one evening.
In 1949, Adamski began giving lectures about UFOs to groups in Southern California. He charged money for these talks. In his lectures, he made amazing claims. For example, he said that the government and scientists already knew about UFOs and had tracked 700-foot-long spacecraft on the other side of the Moon. He also claimed that all planets in our solar system were inhabited. He said photos of Mars showed canals built by intelligent beings.
However, scientists and most UFO investigators did not agree with Adamski. They said his ideas about conditions on Venus, Mars, and other planets were wrong. Many serious UFO researchers thought Adamski's stories were fake and made them look silly.
On May 29, 1950, Adamski took a photo of what he said were six UFOs flying together. This photo was even used on a stamp issued by the island nation of Grenada in 1978.
Meeting Orthon, the Venusian
On November 20, 1952, Adamski and friends were in the California desert. They claimed to see a large, submarine-shaped object in the sky. Adamski said he left his friends, and a smaller scout ship landed nearby. He claimed its pilot, a Venusian named Orthon, stepped out to meet him. Adamski's friends later said they saw him meeting someone in the desert from a distance.
Adamski described Orthon as a medium-height human-like being with long blond hair and tanned skin. He said Orthon communicated with him using telepathy (mind-to-mind communication) and hand signals.
During their talk, Orthon supposedly warned about the dangers of nuclear war. Adamski said Orthon felt very loving and wise. Orthon did not let Adamski take his picture. Instead, he asked Adamski for a blank photo plate. Adamski claimed he gave it to Orthon. Another contactee, George Hunt Williamson, claimed he took plaster casts of Orthon's shoe prints, which had mysterious symbols.
Adamski said Orthon returned the photo plate on December 13, 1952. When developed, it showed strange new symbols. During this meeting, Adamski claimed he took a famous photo of Orthon's Venusian scout ship. However, people who doubted him said the object in the photo looked like the top of a "chicken brooder," a device used to warm baby chicks.
An Irish writer named Desmond Leslie started writing to Adamski. Leslie was working on a book about aliens visiting Earth. Adamski sent Leslie his story about meeting Orthon and his photos. Leslie combined their works into the 1953 book Flying Saucers Have Landed. The book became a bestseller and made both Adamski and Leslie famous. It also became an important book for the New Age movement.
The book claimed that human-like aliens from Venus and other planets in our solar system often visited Earth. It said Orthon and other aliens were worried that nuclear bomb tests on Earth would harm all life and spread radiation into space. Adamski claimed these aliens worshipped a "Creator of All."
In his 1955 book Inside the Space Ships, Adamski claimed Orthon arranged for him to travel through the Solar System. He said he visited Venus, where Orthon told him his late wife had been reincarnated. He also claimed to meet a 1,000-year-old "elder philosopher of the space people," called "the Master." Adamski said they discussed philosophy and Earth's place in the universe. He claimed he was chosen by these aliens to share their message of peace with Earth people. He also said that other important figures in history, like Jesus Christ, had also been their messengers. Adamski even claimed that aliens were living peacefully on Earth and that he had met them in restaurants in Southern California.
Adamski's stories inspired other people to come forward with their own claims of meeting "Space Brothers." These contactees shared a message that other planets in our solar system were full of beautiful, spiritually advanced beings who had solved all their problems. They suggested Earth could become a perfect world if humans behaved well. The contactee movement grew throughout the 1950s, but Adamski remained the most famous.
The Straith Letter Hoax
In 1957, Adamski received a letter signed "R.E. Straith," supposedly from the U.S. State Department. The letter said the U.S. Government knew Adamski had spoken to aliens in 1952. It also said that high-ranking government officials planned to publicly confirm Adamski's story. Adamski was very proud of this letter and used it to support his claims.
However, in 1985, UFO researcher James W. Moseley revealed that the letter was a hoax (a trick). Moseley said he and a friend had gotten official State Department letterheads and created the fake letter as a prank. Moseley said the FBI investigated and found the letter was a hoax. The FBI told Adamski it was fake and asked him to stop using it, but he continued to show it in his lectures.
This wasn't the first time Adamski claimed government support. In 1953, he told a group that his information had been "cleared" by the FBI and Air Force Intelligence. When the FBI found out, agents visited Adamski. He denied saying they supported him and agreed to sign a letter saying the FBI did not endorse his claims. However, a few months later, Adamski told an interviewer he had been "cleared" by the FBI and showed the letter as proof. The FBI then took back their copy of the letter and warned him that legal action would be taken if he kept claiming government support.
Meeting Queen Juliana
In May 1959, Adamski was invited to meet Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. Adamski told a London newspaper about the invitation. This caused some concern in the Dutch government, who asked the queen to cancel the meeting. But the queen went ahead, saying, "A hostess cannot slam the door in the face of her guests." After the meeting, a Dutch aviation official said the queen was very interested in the topic.
However, the Royal Netherlands Air Force Chief of Staff called Adamski "a pathological case." Time magazine reported that a Dutch newspaper said Queen Juliana's interest in strange things had put her in the news again, because she had invited "a crackpot from California" who claimed to be friends with people from Mars and Venus. News agencies around the world reported on the meeting.
Later Life and Death
In 1962, Adamski announced he would attend an interplanetary conference on the planet Saturn. In 1963, Adamski claimed he had a secret meeting with Pope John XXIII and received a "Golden Medal of Honor" from the Pope. However, people who doubted him pointed out that the medal was a common tourist souvenir sold in Italy. Adamski said he met the Pope at the request of the aliens to ask for a "final agreement" and to offer the Pope a special liquid to help with his illness.
On April 23, 1965, George Adamski died of a heart attack at age 74. This happened at a friend's home in Silver Spring, Maryland, shortly after he gave a UFO lecture. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Investigations and Criticism
Over the years, many critics and skeptics have looked into Adamski's claims. The aliens Adamski said he met in the 1950s were described as "human beings from another world," usually with light skin and hair. He claimed these "alien humans" came from Venus, Mars, and other planets in our solar system. However, none of these planets can support human life because of their harsh conditions.
For example, Adamski claimed his first alien friend was from Venus. But Venus has extremely high atmospheric pressure, clouds of toxic sulfuric acid, and an atmosphere mostly of carbon dioxide with very little oxygen. Its average surface temperature is 464°C (867°F), which is far too hot for humans.
In one of his books, Adamski described a trip to the far side of the Moon in a flying saucer. He claimed he saw cities, trees, and snow-capped mountains there. He also said that the first photos of the Moon's far side, taken by a Soviet probe in 1959, were changed to hide what he saw. However, all scientific evidence and later trips by American astronauts clearly show that the entire surface of the Moon is barren, without life or an atmosphere.
Adamski's 1955 book Inside the Space Ships, which describes his claimed travels through our solar system, is thought by some critics to be very similar to a science fiction novel he had published in 1949 called Pioneers of Space. That earlier book described a fictional journey through the solar system.
Adamski's Photos and Investigations
Adamski's photographs of objects he claimed were UFOs have also been closely examined. His famous 1952 photo shows an object that some people said looked like the top of a chicken brooder or a streetlight. Adamski claimed a famous photographer had looked at his UFO photos and found an "spaceman" in them.
However, in 1955, James W. Moseley investigated Adamski's claims. He interviewed the photographer, who said he had never enlarged the photos or found a "spaceman" in them. Moseley also spoke with German rocket scientist Walther Johannes Riedel, who said he had analyzed Adamski's UFO photos and found them to be fake. Riedel said the UFO's "landing struts" were actually 100-watt light bulbs, and he could see the "GE" logo printed on them. In 2012, another researcher identified the main part of Adamski's saucer as looking exactly like the reflector-shade of a common lantern from the 1930s.
Moseley found other problems with Adamski's story. He interviewed people Adamski claimed were with him during his first meeting with Orthon in 1952. These witnesses disagreed with Adamski's claims. One person, Al Bailey, denied seeing a UFO or the alien Adamski described. Another, Jerrold Baker, said he had heard a tape recording of Adamski planning the meeting with Orthon days before it supposedly happened. Baker said Adamski tried to convince him not to expose the hoax, saying he could make money by giving UFO lectures, just like Adamski was doing.
Moseley concluded that Adamski's story had enough problems to make his honesty and truthfulness very doubtful.
Air Force Investigation
In the early 1950s, USAF Captain Edward J. Ruppelt was in charge of Project Blue Book, an Air Force group that investigated UFO reports. In 1953, Captain Ruppelt decided to investigate Adamski's claims. He went to Palomar Mountain in civilian clothes and attended one of Adamski's lectures at his Palomar Gardens Cafe.
Ruppelt believed Adamski was a skilled con artist whose UFO stories were meant to make money from people who believed him easily. He compared Adamski to the famous showman P. T. Barnum. Ruppelt said Adamski spoke softly and seemed honest, making people want to believe him. When Adamski finished his story, many listeners bought copies of his UFO photos that were for sale.
Ruppelt felt that many contactee stories promised a perfect world with no illness, wars, or poverty. He believed this was often a way to get people to donate money, with the promise of learning the "spaceman's secrets."
According to Ruppelt, by 1960, Adamski's lectures and books had made him a wealthy man. He lived in a big house, vacationed in Mexico, and had staff. His first two books had sold 200,000 copies and were translated into many languages. Ruppelt also humorously noted that by 1960, two "beautiful spacewomen" who claimed to be aliens were dating Adamski.
Images for kids
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George Adamski
See also
- Extraterrestrial life
- Nordic aliens
- UFOs
