PaVenusFlyingSaucers222

George Adamski (1891-1965), a Polish-American, was the most famous of the flying saucer contactees and hoaxed the world for almost 20 years. He claimed he encountered flying saucers and flew in them, supported this with photographs, and authored three books Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953), Inside The Spaceships (1955), and Flying Saucers Farewell (1961).

He claimed Venus and other planets are inhabited with humanoids and that he himself had travelled to Venus in a flying saucer and met them.

Wikipedia provides a thorough refutation of Adamski's claims including the scientific findings that except for Earth all the planets in the Solar System are hostile to life!

Adamski's stories were profitable and made him a celebrity. Other people, perhaps inspired by his success, also began to describe interplanetary trips that they had made, including:

Truman Bethurum (1898-1969), Daniel Fry (1908-1992), George Van Tassell (1910-1978), Orfeo M. Angelucci (1912-1993), Howard Menger (1922-2009, and Tuesday Lobsang Rampa.

The last named was really British plumber Cyril Henry Hoskin (1910-1981).

Hoskin wrote 20 books about his alleged occult, paranormal and supernatural experiences as a Tibetan lama including My Visit to Venus (1957). It was virtually all imaginary but Hoskin and his cohorts testified to the veracity of it all.

Venus fantasies proliferated in the English speaking world. An example is a 1954 report in The News (Adelaide), September 21, p. 1.

Regrets from inhabitants of planet Venus!

LONDON, Monday: Inhabitants of the planet Venus regret that they cannot visit the earth until they are sure human beings will like them.

A group of archaeologists and spiritualists say they have received this message from Venus by mental telepathy.

The group of 70 people came from London yesterday to test their powers of mental telepathy on the site of a Stone Age temple.

They stood in windswept fields and attempted to contact both flying saucers and the Venusians.

They reported no luck with the saucers.

"Want to help"

But they said Mr. George King, one of the spiritualists, had made contact with Venus.

Members of the party described later how "Grey Fox," Mr. King's Indian guide voice, said: "Some of you would be frightened if we came today. There is too much difference of opinion on earth."

Mr. King said later that the Venusians wanted to help Earth because they were frightened of the damage human beings might cause with atomic research.

Mr. J. F. Forbes, 66-year-old archaeologist, led the group which tried to contact the flying saucers.
(1954, September 21, p. 1)