King of Outer Space (Part II of II)

OUT OF THIS WORLD (1977)

JON RONSON'S FOR THE LOVE OF FAITH: AETHERIUS SOCIETY (1998)

SHAUN RYDER ON UFOS: WORSHIP AND ABDUCTION (2013)

In OUT OF THIS WORLD, George King is on Prayer Power Battery duty. The self-appointed cosmic guru also shows off his George Adamski-inspired UFO model, the go-to piece for The Aetherius Society. This was also used by "Mr Roberts" in an episode of ONE PAIR OF EYES.

MANKIND'S hard-wired religious instincts, and innate yearning to look to the sky for answers, is addressed in the BBC's OUT OF THIS WORLD, a documentary that nicely sits amongst the pseudo-fortean output of the 1970s. Segments include George King on Holdstone Down recounting his contact with Jesus, former diplomat Gordon Creighton theorising on parallel realities and humanity being the result of "superior engineering," and House of Lords member William Francis Brinsley Le Poer Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty, conveniently mentioning his book Secret of the Ages: UFOs from Inside the Earth. Trench would also state in The Sky People that Adam and Eve, Noah and many others from The Bible originally lived on Mars, and that he knew a former U.S. test pilot who was present at a meeting between President Eisenhower and a group of aliens.

The JON RONSON'S FOR THE LOVE OF FAITH episode on The Aetherius Society features five acolytes waxing lyrical on the Cosmic Masters manifesting as wisdom. Apparently it has been no coincidence that the voices from space started during the Atomic age, and that our extraterrestrial councillors have been fundamental in the safeguarding of the human race at such a dangerous time (their craft have also closely monitored our space travel). Everything exists in spiritual planes, the guests explain, which can conveniently dilute any kind of scientific fact: even though the planets in our solar system are all inhospitable, the Cosmic Masters can simply appear and disappear at whim due to this metaphysical existence. Since his passing in 1997, the members also announce that they don't actually know where King is, but that he has certainly become an "Avatar," a suitably abstract labelling.

Shaun Ryder has been obsessed with UFOs since he saw a zig-zagging ball of light at a bus stop aged fifteen. In SHAUN RYDER ON UFOS, he states that he "wouldn't mind having a go at being abducted by aliens." This traumatic notion is scoffed at by The Aetherius Society, a phenomenon that is a clear inversion of their constructive, vision-driven teachings.

In this Channel 4 discussion, Ronson does not need to drive the conversation, rather reclines and prompts were necessary; he is respectful and asks what the guests constantly refer to as "good questions." The underlying theme of humanity needing to "wake up" is illustrated by notions that "famine is a crime" and unstable weather patterns are what "our Karma deserves." Despite the goofiness, a need for a balance between nature and humanity is a prophetic one, a cause which is more evident with every passing year. However, it does not seem that the teachings from "Mars Sector Six" and the visiting "Third Satellite" - an orbiting craft which injects humanity with enhanced spirituality - are really working.

Shown on the History Channel, SHAUN RYDER ON UFOS is a four-part investigation fronted by the always entertaining Happy Mondays and Black Grape kingpin. Shaun’s quest for the truth leads through the USA, Mayan ruins, and the aboriginal cave paintings of Australia. In the third episode - WORSHIP AND ABDUCTION - the presenter interviews Nick Pope in a tearoom, and attends an underwhelming meeting of The UFO Academy in Watford. Ryder's visit to the London offices of The Aetherius Society sees him greeted by Richard Lawrence, an executive secretary of the European division. Lawrence is much more congenial compared to the Mr Roberts encountered by Patrick Moore in CAN YOU TALK VENUSIAN?, inviting Shaun to witness a red-robed prayer session conveniently featuring a stunningly beautiful young woman. Although clearly still processing this more spiritual approach to Ufology, Shaun sees little difference in what is happening in Church congregations throughout the land.

King of Outer Space (Part I of II)

LIFELINE: MARS AND VENUS SPEAK TO EARTH (1959)

ONE PAIR OF EYES: CAN YOU SPEAK VENUSIAN? (1969)

"Service is the jewel in the rock of attainment;" George King is possessed by a Venusian Cosmic God on LIFELINE. According to his Aetherius Society, Mother Earth is a living Goddess who is sacrificing her own evolution to provide for humankind, "a backward and often barbaric race." By using Karma Yoga and Dynamic Prayer, followers bring positive change through the development of intuition and psychic ability. 

NOT to be confused with the celebrity-based appeal, LIFELINE was also a BBC discussion show. In a May 1959 edition, former fireman and taxi driver George King claims that in 1954 he was spoken to by Saturn's Interplanetary Parliament one Saturday morning, while doing the dishes. Becoming a conduit for aliens from a variety of planets, his new-found friends called him their "Mental Channel Number One." George finishes his contribution to the programme by donning transmission goggles and entering a trance, so that the Venusian Aetherius can give a religious-heavy warning about mankind's future. It's an unintentionally hilarious half-hour, made even more outlandish by the sheer politeness of the participants; even though King introduces the notion of organic metal and that UFOs can travel from Venus to Earth in 2.5 seconds, the resident astronomer and psychiatrists remain constructively dismissive.

The Aetherius Society - which King founded in 1955 - claims that we all have a debt to The Divine Source. As their website claims, "it exists everywhere - and it is everything. In fact, it is more even than that." They explain that science has not detected these civilisations because they exist at higher frequencies of vibration, Cosmic Masters who have in the past been born among us in order to give essential assistance: The Master Jesus, the Lord Buddha, Sri Krishna, Confucius et al. In explaining why these beings don't just come to Earth and sort us out, "due to the wrong thought and action of humankind for millennia, the balance of world karma at present is not good. This prevents more direct intervention from the Cosmic Masters, such as an open landing in a major city."

According to The Aetherius Society spokesman in a broadcast of ONE PAIR OF EYES, although there is no fixed description of Aetherius's appearance, typically Venusian's take on a very tall humanoid visage, with no pupils but with small feet. He adds that Saturn inhabitants have evolved into forty-foot ovoids, the same development that will bestow man.

One of The Society's "Holy Mountains" - a storing of collective positive energy through prayer - is located at Holdstone Down, on the edge of Exmoor near Combe Martin. King's mother once claimed to have been abducted by aliens on the open moorland, thereby enhancing its importance to the cause. In 1958 King claims to have encountered the arrival of a returning Jesus on a spaceship while at the Down. As George stated, "although he didn't tell me, I knew that he was Jesus and that he had come from the planet Venus - I didn't have to be told, I just knew this." A 1963 gathering was particularly important, as the founder had informed his brethren of an impending "large scale disease," and unless enough goodwill has been accumulated in the Holy Mountain the outcome could be catastrophic.

Patrick Moore has a show-stopping visit to The Aetherius Society during an episode of the BBC documentary strand ONE PAIR OF EYES, called CAN YOU SPEAK VENUSIAN? Moore's stance was to look at "independent" thinkers within an increasingly conventional world, though a more realistic label would be "delusional." One interviewee was a vicar who states that the Sun is not hot, while another claims to write and speak three interplanetary languages (which sound like extra-exciting conclusions to a horse racing commentary). When Patrick visits The Society's offices on the Fulham Road he is greeted by "Mr Roberts," who denounces mankind for the "materialistic trap" it built for itself. He explains that through this subscription to "material science" the human race once inhabited a planet which it blew up (which consequently formed the asteroid belt). Mr Roberts also sheds light on when Mars helped us out by destroying an invasion force of Fish-men, eager to take over Earth for its water content.