Van Tassel, George W. (1910-1978)
Early flying saucer contactee and author of the pioneering flying saucer volume I Rode in a Flying Saucer (1952). As people responded to his claims of extraterrestrial contact and other contactees emerged, Van Tassel organized the Giant Rock Space Convention, held annually at Giant Rock Airport, near Yucca Valley, California. Van Tassel was proprietor of the airport and had some background in aeronautics.
Van Tassel was born on March 11, 1910, in Jefferson, Ohio. He went into aviation as a young man and worked for both Howard Hughes and Lockheed. He moved to the desert in 1947 where he opened a restaurant, an airport, and a dude ranch. In 1952 he began to receive psychic messages from extraterrestrials, primarily from a group of people who made up what was called the Ashtar Command. The Ashtar Command operated very much like the Masters of theosophical traditions, but were seen as authorities in this solar system.
Over the years Van Tassel claimed to have continued contact with the Ashtar Command telepathically. He often went into a trance in his circle of friends and communicated messages allegedly from UFO entities. Such communications were published in his journal, Proceedings of the College of Universal Wisdom, and became the basis for future books.
He constructed a round domed building called an "Integraton" at Giant Rock, based on instructions from his outer space contacts. The Integraton was designed to assist the development of antigravity and time travel. The Integraton was never finished.
Van Tassel also published Into this World and Out Again; a modern proof of the origin of humanity and its retrogression from the original creation of man. Verified by the Holy Bible. Revelations received through thought communication (1956).
Van Tassel died February 9, 1978, after a sudden heart attack. The work of completing the Integraton was continued by an associate designated as successor by Van Tassel in 1977 and the building was later purchased by the Christology Church, P.O. Box 4648, San Diego, CA 92104. The work of his College of Universal Wisdom was continued by Van Tassel's widow, Doris Van Tassell.
Sources:
Barker, Gray. Gray Barker at Giant Rock. Clarksburg, W.V.: Saucerian Publications, 1976.
Clark, Jerome. The Emergence of a Phenomenon: UFOs from the Beginning through 1959. The UFO Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Van Tassel, George. The Council of Seven Lights. Los Angeles: DeVorss & Company, 1958.
——. I Rode in a Flying Saucer. Los Angeles: New Age Publishing, 1952.
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