Wallace C. Halsey

Wallace C. Halsey
Born	25 September 1918(1918-09-25) Viola, Sedgwick, Kansas
Died	27 March 1963 (44) St. George, Utah — plane crash
Nationality	American
Affiliations	Christ Brotherhood, Inc.

Wallace Carey Halsey (September 25, 1918 - March 27, 1963) was an American engineer, minister, and saucerian, the founder of Christ Brotherhood, Inc. and manufacturer of Mineralife Capsules. Halsey was noted for his sleeping trance mediumship of Space Brothers and prophesies of global catastrophe, and was actively making preparations for survival of himself and his followers in underground shelters located in the mountains east of Smithfield, Utah prior to his death in a plane crash.

Background

Halsey was born on 25 September 1918 in Viola, Kansas to Burgess Josiah Halsey and Mary Susan Clarkson Halsey. He married Juanita Bess Thornburg on 5 June 1938 in Los Angeles, California. At the time of his marriage, Halsey reported working on PBX telephone systems in the hotel industry.

During World War II, Halsey served in the U.S. Navy. According to one report, he underwent engineering training at the "Naval School of Engineering, San Pedro," California and served in both the Atlantic and Pacific during the war. Press coverage of Christ Brotherhood activities often referred to him as "Dr. Halsey," and it was reported he held "doctor of divinity and doctor of law degrees from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, the Lighthouse International Fundamental Evangelism College, Los Angeles, and Christ Brotherhood College of Knowledge," the latter organization apparently being a facet of Halsey's own Christ Brotherhood, Inc. It is unclear whether Halsey held degrees of any kind from an accredited educational institution.

In the late 1940s, Halsey married Evelyn L. Meeks (1925-2007), also known as Tarna; she would later remarry after Halsey was declared dead in 1976, becoming Tarna L. Niver. As Tarna Halsey, she contributed articles that she said had been channeled from Space People to a magazine called The Father's House Quarterly, a publication of the Universal Link Heart Center in Los Angeles, California.

Halsey claimed that during his sleep, he channeled messages from extraterrestrials who warned of the impending destruction of the world and the gathering of a remnant of humanity to be saved. He founded Christ Brotherhood, Inc. in 1956 in California. The group was founded with the goal of "bringing greater understanding to all mankind."

Halsey relocated at least some members of the group to Cache Valley, Utah, where they began construction of underground shelters in the mountains east of Smithfield, Utah in the summer of 1961. The location was selected due to the identification of the Rocky Mountains as a place of safety by Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Latter Day Saint movement churches.

Disappearance

Though Christ Brotherhood, Inc. constructed several homes and a small church at its canyon complex, the nuclear shelter was not completed and the organization eventually disintegrated following Halsey's disappearance as a passenger on a small aircraft flight on 27 March 1963 from Utah to California with an overnight stay scheduled for Las Vegas. Halsey was facing federal charges at the time and it was speculated by some that he had fled the country.

The plane took off on a stormy day from Logan, Utah, refueled in Milford, Utah, but then failed to arrive for the next refueling stop in Las Vegas and an extensive air search was undertaken. Some of Halsey's UFO coreligionists also attempted to locate him with the assistance of extraterrestrial beings. For example, one seeker claimed extraterrestrials informed him the "[Egyptian] pyramids and the number 14 will solve the Halsey mystery."

Despite these efforts, the plane remained unfound for 13 years, until two lost deer hunters stumbled across the wreckage on a rugged mountainside on 30 October 1976. The fuselage was crumpled but unburned, and contained the bodies of Halsey and Harry Cleveland Ross, Jr. Ross, a former mayor of Seal Beach, California and business associate of Halsey's. The wallets of both men were also recovered. Ross, who had piloted the plane, was the operator of Meadowlark Airport in Huntington Beach, California, and a veteran aviator with an airline transport rating. The wreckage was discovered some 10–15 miles off the filed flight course in a location approximately 30 air miles north of St. George, Utah in a thickly-timbered portion of the Dixie National Forest. The remains were removed from the crash site by pack horses and Halsey was buried on 11 November 1976 in Camas, Washington.

Summary of Search Efforts and Developments

Date & News Source	Summary	Stated Flight Origin	Stated Flight Destination	Interviewed Authority
27 March 1963	Flight refueled at Milford, Utah, then was lost
30 March 1963 Deseret News	Air and ground parties retraced search areas they had already examined during previous phases of the search. Twenty planes searched southwestern Utah, across the border into Arizona as far south as Mormon Mesa.	Ogden, UT	Sunset Beach, a neighborhood of Huntington Beach, California, which included Meadowlark Airport, which Ross managed	Harlon W. Benet, (Utah) State Aeronautics Director
12 April 1963 Deseret News	The [presumably Nevada Wing] Civil Air Patrol (CAP) announced it had no plans to continue the search after examining the area surrounding Wheeler Peak, Nevada, where a pilot flying over the area on 3 April reported two men waving near the wreckage of a crashed airplane. At the time, it was believed the Wheeler Peak men might be Halsey and Ross.		Long Beach, California
19 July 1963 Deseret News	The Utah Wing CAP issued a public call to its pilots who owned their own aircraft to join in a search to take place on Saturday and Sunday July 20–21. Planes owned by the CAP were already scheduled for the search, but CAP officers noted that not all CAP pilots who owned their own aircraft had yet been notified of the need for more materiel support. The report noted the search would be headquartered at Utah's Cedar City airport and would extend into three states [Utah, Nevada, and Arizona], beginning in the Milford-Mormon Mesa-Enterprise area.			Colonel Ott Webb, Director of Emergency Services, Utah Wing Civil Air Patrol
20 July 1963 Deseret News	Ten planes from the Utah Wing CAP were joined by 2 from Nevada flew from the Cedar City airport to execute a search of the Mormon Mesa-Enterprise area. Five planes from the Nevada Wing Civil Air Patrol joined the search, flying out of Overton, Nevada. The search also included five fixed radio stations on the ground, eight mobile Utah CAP units, 2 air-to-ground units, and the Iron County [Utah] Jeep Patrol. The report also noted that periodic searches had been made since the plane's disappearance.	Logan, UT	Los Angeles, CA
3 Nov. 1976 Deseret News	According to this report, the wreckage of the plane was discovered by Larry Hanson, a deer hunter from St. George, Utah. The plane was approximately 25 miles north of that city in the Grass Valley area. Washington County, Utah Sheriff Evan Whitehead noted the wreck was in a rough setting covered by undergrowth, such that a person 50 feet away would be unable to see it. Harry Ross was identified from his wallet and Ross' daughter informed the sheriff that the passenger had been Halsey. Halsey's widow [identified only as "Mrs. Halsey", likely Tarna Halsey] reported she had been unable to collect on a life insurance policy because she had been unable to obtain a death certificate for Halsey, but would now be able to. She also stated the crashed plane was owned by Christ Brotherhood, Inc., and Halsey was taking $800 to California to look for another airplane. The sheriff indicated several hundred dollars were found at the crash site. Mrs. Halsey reported she learned of the discovery via a television broadcast.	Logan, UT	Meadowlark Airport, Huntington Beach, CA	Evan Whitehead, Washington County, Utah Sheriff "Mrs. Wallace Halsey," widow of Wallace Halsey
3 Nov. 1976 Salt Lake Tribune	This report indicated that identification had been made on 2 November of the second set of skeletal remains discovered in the remains of the single-engine plane crash. Further details included that the crash was at the 9000 foot level of a mountain above Bear Valley some 29 miles north of St. George, Utah. In addition to naming deer hunter Larry Hanson as the discoverer of the crash, the article indicates Hanson was with an unnamed companion at the time. The article [in disagreement with all other sources] gives Halsey's middle name as "Terry" rather than "Carey".	Logan, UT	Los Angeles, CA	Evan Whitehead, Washington County, Utah Sheriff
3 Nov. 1976 Salt Lake Tribune	Halsey's widow reported she had not slept since learning of the discovery of the crashed plane via a television broadcast. The article notes she will now be able to collect on a life insurance policy. The article contradicts the adjacent story covering the discovery of the crashed plane [and all other sources] by stating the wreckage was found on Sunday, 31 October rather than Saturday, 30 October.			"Mrjs. [sic] Wallace Halsey", widow of Wallace Halsey
3 Nov. 1976 Los Angeles Times	This article notes Ross was the onetime mayor of Seal Beach, California, and that the wreckage was discovered by a deer hunter who had "temporarily lost his way." Sheriff Whitehead notes the plane crashed into heavy timber on the north slope of the mountain at approximately 9000 feet in elevation, roughly 300 feet below the summit. The plane was 10-15 miles off course in an area 30 air miles north of St. George in the Bear Valley of Dixie National Forest. The rugged, isolated area was heavily wooded, rendering the wreckage invisible from the air and impossible to see on the ground until an observer was within a short distance. The remains of the two men were removed on Sunday 31 October via packhorse.	Logan, UT	Huntington Beach, CA	Evan Whitehead, Washington County, Utah Sheriff

Aftermath

Some of Halsey's teachings to the Brotherhood were documented in Cosmic End-Time Secrets, a volume published posthumously in 1965 that included the messages purportedly channeled from extraterrestrial life forms to Halsey.

In his professional life, Halsey was described as an electrical engineer. He was also involved with the development and sale of a product called Mineralife Capsules as an operator of Nutritional Progress Scientific Company. In this capacity, Halsey and his colleague Owen E. Brosam were charged in Federal court for "misbranding of worthless rock material with false and misleading claims for the treatment of cancer, heart trouble, shortness of breath, and tiredness." Three additional counts alleged the product baselessly claimed it could "cure cancer, constipation, premature aging, inefficient circulation, heart trouble, shortness of breath, arthritis, tumors, ulcers, stomach trouble, nervousness, sleeplessness, anemia, diabetes and tiredness." Brosam and Halsey further claimed the capsules could "restore youthfulness and promote relaxation and calmness." Brosam plead guilty on 21 May 1963 and was sentenced to two years of probation; it was noted Halsey was reported missing in a plane accident at the time.

Selected Bibliography

• Halsey, Wallace C. (1965), Cosmic End-Time Secrets, Los Angeles: Futura Press