Truman Bethurum

Truman Bethurum (August 21, 1898 - May 21, 1969) was an American contactee who claimed repeated encounters with beings from the planet Clarion, led by Captain Aura Rhanes, beginning with a first encounter in July 1952 at Mormon Mesa, Nevada.

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 * "(The narrative to follow is reportorially accurate. It has, however, been edited to enhance its coherency. Being first in letter-form, its essence was separated by several interjections and placed varyingly throughout. This is certainly not meant as an adverse reflection upon the writer; communications are not written for publication, and several addenda were placed at the end of the missive.) Truman Bethurum: In July, 1952, I was employed in Nevada on Highway 91, about 70 or 80 miles out of Las Vegas toward Salt Lake City. I had been transferred from day to night shift. We worked from 4 p.m. until sometimes 8 a.m., the following morning. My job was to keep four water trucks operating, hauling water from the Muddy river to two reservoirs out in the desert for daytime sprinkling on the highway construction. Soon after going on the job, some fellow workers told me that the entire mesa area had been covered by the ocean time and there were sea shells to prove it. So one night late in July, after I was sure everything was functioning properly, I asked and received permission to visit the mesa area to get some shell souvenirs. I had a flashlight along and used it some, but didn't find what I was after. It was about 3:30 a.m. when I left my job site, driving and walking possibly an hour or so. I headed my four wheel drive Army carryall truck into the northeast and decided to take a short nap, realizing the first gleam of day light would awake me. I had been asleep possibly a half hour or slightly more when I was rudely awakened by what would best be described as mumbling &mdash; low talking in an unintelligible tongue. My first thought was that my boss and someone were playing a trick because of finding me asleep. But as I raised my head I quickly discovered this was not the case. About eight small sized men were in a semi-circle in front and to the right side of my truck, approximately eight to ten feet away, and apparently as curious as I was. My thought was to get away fast, although I would have had to back around. As I raised up to see better, one of the men took a couple of steps forward toward me and said something rather low and still unintelligible to me. I shook my head to indicate that I did not understand. He came quickly back with, “You name it.” 'My God,” I said. “You can speak English too?” “We have no difficulty with any language,” he returned. These fellow's seemed to be of Latin extraction from their appearance. My heart was thumping &mdash; I guess from fear and excitement. At that instant I decided to get out of my truck and shake hands for a friendly gesture. As I turned to get out I saw about 75 yards away a monstrous disc shaped flying saucer. About 300 feet in diameter and roughly 18 feet “deep.” Then I wondered for a split second if it could be a movie prop, but as I had been above looking down only a short time before I realized this could not be the case. As I reached out my hand to shake hands, it seemed like a military maneuver the way they lined up as each seemed anxious to grasp my hand. Only one made any attempt to talk to me or answer my questions. They never asked me a single question and it appeared to me to be a military type outfit they were wearing, and also the way they fell into line to shake my hand. “Do you have a captain?” I asked. “Sure.” “Could I speak to him please?” “Surest thing you know, ' he replied. And he took hold of my right arm above the elbow with his left hand with a terribly hard squeeze. (That did not ease my mind any.) Then I asked if they were from some European country. “No,” he said. “Our homes are in a far away land.” As I had asked about speaking to their captain, I noticed a smile on some faces that made me think, “Well, this is it. And no one will ever know what happened to me!” <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>He said, “You may speak to our captain in our scow.” <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>“What a name, for a thing like that,” I thought. <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>This man almost spun me around and started for the saucer, which seemed to be floating about four feet off the ground. As we neared it, it settled to just a few inches off the ground and tilted down on the near side at the same time. There was just one step and a single hand rail on the right side of the opening. He almost bounced me to the rim of the saucer. He had released the extreme pressure on my arm, but still had a firm grip. I was at least a foot taller than he, and I weighed approximately 180. <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>We went downhill inside about 50 feet and he again swung me around to the left, through a door-like opening to room about 10 by 12 feet and fitted like a combined office and lounge. I think my eyes fairly popped when I saw that their captain was a gorgeous woman, shorter than any of the men, neatly attired, and also having a Latin appearance: coal black hair and olive complexion. She appeared to be about 42 years old. <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>She stood up and smiled. The man released my arm immediately. I turned to say some thing to him, but he had disappeared instantly. As I again faced this lady, I could not for the life of me think of a single thing to say. After a couple of seconds, she again smiled and said, “Speak up, friend. You're not hexed.” <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>After talking and asking questions for about a half hour, I realized they were definitely not Europeans. She did not tell me her name or the name of their planet at that time, just leaving me with a knowledge that they traveled interplanetary and were wise to everything going on all over our world, and other planets also. She seemed friendly, anxious to talk, etc. About the only questions asked of me was what I called the area which was Mormon Mesa, Nevada. (She later told me her name was Aura Rhanes and their home planet was Clarion. She said Clarion was definitely not a planet known by some other name, and gave me her reasons.) <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>I had decided not to tell anyone regard ing this episode as I knew I would be called a liar. But upon returning to my job shortly after sunrise, my boss said, “Did Joe's plane come down out there where you were, out of gas?” <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>“No,” I told him. <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>“Did a commercial airliner land out there near you?” he asked. <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>Another “no” answer. <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>Finally, in desperation, he said: “I could see something come down out there and there was no noise. Now if it wasn't Joe's plane, what was it?” <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>When I finally broke down and told him, I just got the wicked eye treatment, and as the news spread around, I was walked around, etc. <p style='text-indent: 2.3em;'>Before they left she escorted me to the outside and told me they would come again. She said you just think of the place and day. I have seen them eleven times altogether, the last on November 2, 1952. At that time she said we will see you again, possibly next month. I was in the general area until March of 1953 and have not seen anything of them or any signs that might indicate even a falling star in the skies."