Tales of High Strangeness
My initial enthusiastic support for CSETI Ôs contact efforts led me to a rather daring action. Some would call it foolish. I decided to set up a CSETI information booth at the American Public Health AssociationÕs annual meeting held in Washington DC in November of 1992. I was accompanied by my medical group partner Dr. Daniel ....He was in our CSETI CE-5 Initiative Working Group. The APHAÕs meeting draws about 10,000 health professionals whose political views are more to the left than mainstream medicines. The APHA has historically championed the health rights of women, ethic minorities and workers. During the first few years of my medical career I had actively participated in the Occupational Health and Safety section of the APHA. In 1979 I was co-founder of the Los Angeles Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, a coalition of health care and legal professionals that endeavored through education and advocacy to make the workplace safer.
At a beautiful new convention center in the nationÕs capital, under a royal blue banner embroidered with the slogan, Ò One Universe, One People!Ó, Daniel and I worked the conference participants. A small TV monitor played dramatic footage of UFOs, while I called out to passersby, ÒWould you like to see a UFO video?Ó Apparently quite a few did, over 250 nurses, doctors and administrators watched the film clips and chatted with us during the 4 day conference. About forty signed up for more information and the bravest shared their personal stories of sightings and other contact experiences.
A Ph.D. professor of nursing gave the most impressive report to me. From her convention badge I identified her a faculty member from a major university. She watched the videos for a few minutes and then allowed me to interview her about her personal contact experience. Some 7 years before she reportedly had a Close Encounter of the Third Kind. After nightfall while camping, her tent was filled with a very bright light. All around the campsite she could hear footsteps. Apparently from prior encounters she immediately realized that she was having a contact experience. The professor reported not being able to move. One humanoid reportedly stuck his head into the tent. My nursing colleague told me that she was happily excited and frightened at the same time. The being quickly retreated but she could see his shadow and those of several others on the walls of her tent. She told me that she sent out the thought, Ò I love you.Ó In a flash she felt a forceful burst of electric type energy. The sensation surged through her body from the top of her head down to the tip of her toes. The beings left her campsite and the encounter was over.
There are on the exhibit floor, under the bright lights with hundreds of booths and thousands of participants around us, she had described the experience simply, matter of fact, with just a touch of amazement. I was a perfect stranger to her and yet she was willing to share her recollections of an intimate contact with what she believed were non-human beings. I described to her the ambitious goals of CSETIÕs CE-5 Initiative. She listened politely but chose not to sign up for more information. After all she was a professor at a major university and the notoriety of being a contactee might cause her considerable harm. She wished me well in my crusade and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.