The following is the short biography of the authors provided in Flying Saucer Pilgrimage.

A WORD ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Bryant Reeve was born in Princeton, Illinois, U.S.A.  He was named Bryant because of a family relationship to the American poet William Cullen Bryant.

He has lived an unusual, exciting and varied life.  When a youth he lived on the English Channel Island of Guernsey for six months, went to school in Dresden, Germany and travelled extensively with his parents in England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany.  Returning to the United States he attended school in Chicago, Illinois and then the Hotchkiss School at Lakeville, Connecticut.  He is a graduate mechanical engineer of both the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He was elected to the Sigma Xi Honorary Society.

Always interested in travel he spent an adventurous summer on the rugged Labrador Coast, and another bicycling around England, Scotland and Wales with a friend.  During World War I he served as a Lieutenant and Captain of Engineers, going overseas with the 311th Engineers, 86th Division.  Since then he has been active in his profession and has held positions of technical and executive responsibility in a number of well known American industries.  He retired in 1954, but is still actively engaged in research work.

He and his wife Helen have for years been interested in metaphysical studies and they have a large acquaintance with many individuals who have attained to advanced heights in proving metaphysical principles.  They have also probed deeply into the powers of the adepts of the Far East.  When the flying-saucer phenomena first came to their attention, it never occurred to them that there might exist a connection between this and certain metaphysical concepts and laws with which they were familiar.  As their investigation continued, however, the relationship became clearer and clearer to them, and forms a major portion of the theme of this book.  The Reeves insist that saucers and outer-space phenomena cannot be understood by three-dimensional thinking, but can be explained and understood as thought is expanded to metaphysical or cosmic levels.  They are actively continuing their research, and they are in constant touch with their many “saucer” friends by correspondence.

While in Mexico we had read George Van Tassel’s book I Rode A Flying Saucer, and we had also heard about the great flying saucer conventions which he held annually at Giant Rock, California. However, we thought of him mostly as the man who in 1952 had relayed an important message he had received from outer space to our pentagon in Washington and had received a return receipt dated July 22, 1952. The message dealt with certain dangers which the earth faces in our usage of atomic energy. A few days later Washington, D.C. was “buzzed” by space ships. We often wondered what kind of a man it would be who had such direct contact with space beings that he could know about such things in advance of their occurrence. Now a great wish of ours was about to be fulfilled. We were about to meet George Van Tassel himself!

Excitements and curiosity mingled as our car rolled along the lonely sandy road and came in sight of a mountain bristling with huge boulders. From the foot of it there extended a large flat land area hemmed in by rugged mountains in the distance all around us.

“That must be the airport,” Helen exclaimed, looking toward the natural flat valley floor.

“And, that must be Giant Rock,” I replied, as an enormous boulder, the biggest we had ever seen came into view with a colorful flag and a wind-sleeve fluttering from its summit. Later we learned it was composed of solid granite all in one piece, that it was sixty feet high and weighed an estimated one hundred thousand tons. The great rock dwarfed our car as we passed by it and pulled up to a small building in the rear. It turned out to be the mess shack.

We opened the door and suddenly found ourselves practically in the midst of George Van Tassel’s family circle. Such friendliness as greeted us is hard to describe. There was Mrs. Van Tassel, whose kindness to us can never be forgotten, his three married daughters and, let us not forget their two lively babies.

“Budding spacemen,” Helen called them, and everybody laughed and agreed.

The wall was covered with photographs of saucers and convention pictures. A truck drove up, the door burst open and soon we found ourselves talking to the male members of the family and shaking hands with the boss himself – George Van Tassel. Bronzed by the sun and desert air he had the unmistakable appearance of the vigorous outdoor “pioneer” type. As I gripped his hand, I experienced an unmistakable feeling of liking, of kinship with this man I had never seen before. Despising formality he soon was calling us “Bryant and Helen” and we found ourselves calling him “Van”.

The conversation quickly switched to saucers. We soon found out that Van had not published all of his experiences with saucers. This again proved an important point to us – that what has been written regarding saucer experiences often lags far behind the actualities. As we talked we wondered what unseen forces in this world are at work to bring together everywhere those interested in such things. Was it just ordinary phenomenon applying to any community of interest – or did it presage something tremendous ahead – a new age – something “out of this world”?

Because of his annual conventions to which he invites saucer enthusiasts from everywhere and which are attended by many hundreds of people. Van knew all the saucerers (contactees) we knew and others besides. He wanted the latest news on “Ric” Williamson (Dr. George H.), Adamski, Bethurum and the rest. [The authors also visited them on impromptu travels.] Everybody was amused at our accounts of George Adamski’s adventures in Mexico. It would be hard to find anywhere a more friendly atmosphere or a more kindly family circle.

Van has an interesting background. He was an airline mechanic for four years and has a backlog of twenty years’ experience in flying and flight test work for such firms as Douglas, Howard Hughes, and Lockheed Aircraft. One interesting bit of information popped up in our conversation. It seemed originally that he and his wife came to Giant Rock with the intent of running a small airport, a restaurant, and a beer parlor! They wanted to get out into the open away from cities and into the clean air and the freedom and quiet of the desert.

The restaurant and beer parlor never materialized however, because in the process of living with nature Van discovered that he possessed E.S.P. (extrasensory perception) and telepathic gifts to an unexpected degree. He gradually nurtured these rare abilities and developed them until outer space communication (O.S.C.) became a regular part of his daily living. His gifts in this direction run the gamut of methods, and he is a great believer in communication with space beings without the use of any mechanical or electrical equipment of any kind. All during this conversation we were hoping that we would be able to witness this extraordinary process of direct communication with advanced beings dwelling in higher dimensions of life.

We became intrigued with life at “the Rock”. The air seemed so clean, the sunshine so bright, the stars so near at night – that we accepted our host’s invitation to spend a few days there and have returned several times since. As there were no sleeping accommodations for guests, we slept in our car parked in the shadow of the mighty rock which towered above us.

The activities at the Rock were interesting. People were coming and going all the time. Many made it a weekend excursion. Some flew private planes, landed on the sandy airstrip and taxied near to the Rock. Some came in trailers and set up desert housekeeping for a few days. Others came in cars or station wagons. They came from everywhere, some from European countries. They all wanted to see and talk to Van. Some of them were mere curiosity seekers. Some obviously came to flatter their ego, to be able to go back home and say, “I met George Van Tassel.” Some accepted his hospitality and scoffed at him behind his back. But others came with a deep and abiding interest in the subject of saucers and real confidence in Van. We marveled at the stature and qualities of this man they came to see, his incredible patience with the most flippant and annoying questions, his unfailing courtesy, his amazing self-restraint and unselfish helpfulness toward all who came.

We took time to drive around the property which was much larger than we first suspected. We went over to the ranch several miles distant where there was an attractive ranch house occupied by the family of one of his married daughters. There was even an outdoor swimming pool in this desert location.

Here some interesting practical experiments in desert agriculture were in progress based on O.S.C. Information received from space men. These involved the use of universal energy to stimulate plant growth and to produce other useful effects. We discussed this subject with Van at great length and he suggested that we also investigate an installation at Riverside, California, which utilized universal energy to prevent frost damage to an orange grove. Later he issued an article in his Proceedings of May, 1955, on this interesting subject. He also seemed convinced that a modification of this principle could be used in a practical way to control “smog”, which is getting to be a major problem in some Pacific coast areas.

Another activity interested us, although it is still pretty much in its preliminary stages. Ten acres had been set aside for it, and some architectural work had already been done. It was a proposed building to study the rejuvenation of the human body by means of universal energy, concentrated and directed as per O.S.C. Information received. The possibility of using O.S.C. Information to speed up progress in many fields was discussed with Van. He feels that tremendous opportunities are opening up along this line, limited only by the following two factors:

First, we must become actively willing to make use of O.S.C. Information and vigorously try it out, to prove it experimentally to ourselves. In other words, we must actively cooperate with the space intelligences giving the information and do our part. Van Tassel states that such information is given out one step at a time, and that the space beings wait for each step to be completed before giving the information for the next step.

Second, we must have good, unselfish motives and not use the information either selfishly or destructively. Failure to abide by these requirements, he stated, stops the flow of information almost instantly. He has learned these things from actual experience.

Another interesting activity was the publication and mailing of the monthly bulletin called Proceedings in which, however, only a small percentage of O.S.C. Information received by George Van Tassel is released to the public. The whole family pitches in to help on this project. Van carefully selects the material and develops the copy and the drawings himself. Members of the family assist on the stenographic work. Much of the material received is so advanced and so cosmic in nature that it would only be of interest to advanced or open-minded scientists, astronomers, engineers, experimenters or meta-physicians. Only that deemed of more general interest is published. There is no fixed charge attached to a subscription to these Proceedings. Everything at the Rock is on a voluntary “love-offering” basis. We had the privilege of pitching in and helping the family with the mailing. We noted that one of the names on the mailing list of Proceedings was Uncle Sam’s F.B.I.!

Then came an evening we had hoped for. We were invited to witness an O.S.C. contact – with beings living in outer space. This process at one time was pretty much open to anybody who wished to attend. For good and sufficient reasons it is now by invitation only. We went down a flight of stairs under the Rock, made a right angle turn down more stairs – fourteen steps in all – and found ourselves in a large paved room far beneath the mighty rock. The room contained chairs, davenports, tables and even a piano – also shelves filled with interesting books.

Van took a seat in one corner and asked if I would sit next to him. The family gathered around forming a circle. An assistant rigged up a tape recorder to take down any communication received.

We are trying to report accurately what we observed. We feel we owe it to our readers. Let us here state that the entire proceedings were all completely new and strange to us. This reporting would not be complete, if we did not mention one thing. I am not myself “psychic” at all – no more than a fence post! But I am rather sensitive to mild electric currents, to radiations and currents of energy, and I personally felt an amazing flow of energy in that room. It was something like a galvanic current through my body. I noticed that it manifested itself with particular strength before and during the contacts made by Van. We also wish to report for the sake of those who will be interested that some of the male members of the family circle are rather advanced students of the far eastern teachings of “Yoga”, and one of them had been with Paramhansa Yogananda during his years in the United States.

The family started by singing songs – popular songs – and then some well-known hymns. On one occasion they sang a certain song which Van had obtained directly from one of his space contacts. To us the music was very unusual, and the words were both simple and beautiful. It became a favorite song of one of his daughters.

After a few moments Van succeeded in making the contact desired. It was with a certain communications center in outer space. Now once again let us say that we are not experts in such matters, but we are somewhat familiar with the “sight and sound rays” recognized in certain philosophic and esoteric works as one possible basis of cosmic communication. As near as we could make out, both a “sight ray” and a “sound ray” were being focused on Van from outer space with pinpoint accuracy. Those familiar with Dr. Williamson’s experience will realize that this is far from being impossible. Advanced space beings are masters of energy. Van talks to his space friends in a matter of fact way and helps them to focus these rays and to adjust their intensity so that he can endure the vibrations.

Excerpt from Flying Saucer Pilgrimage

See Part here.