was great to see families out together, enjoying the occasion. On Sunday I went to the Adelaide botanical gardens and spent several hours walking around this fantastic outdoor venue, taking photographs and looking at some of the exotic flowers.

Contactees:

Now for today's post. You will have seen that my co-blogger, Keith Basterfield, has developed an interest in the subject of "contactees." Contactees were individuals, starting in the 1950's, who said that they were in contact with people from outer space. You may know the names of George Adamski; Truman Bethurum; and Orfeo Angelucci. However, there were hundreds of others, including women such as Dana Howard (click here); and Mollie Thompson (click here.)

Contactees predated abductees by at least ten years and the main group of abductees came twenty years aftermost of the contactees. Today there is still a mix of both abductees and contactees out there in the community.

Fortean Times:

The English magazine Fortean Times number 271, dated March 2011, has an interesting article on pages 51-53. It is titled "Contactee religions", being number 37 in a series called "The Fortean Times Random Dictionary of the Dammed" compiled by the Hierophant's Apprentice.

The article opens by noting that both the "Space Brothers" who interacted with contactees in the 1950's and the grey aliens of the 1990's predicted problems for humanity.

Aspects of Adamski's (click here )accounts, and the Aetherius Society ( click here) are explored in terms of "the religious potential in UFOs." (p.57.)

"One of the Aetherius Society's major projects was charging prayer batteries; which were placed on the tops