Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClain Smith, where for the weeks in between episodes we look at stories and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make it into the previous show. In the last episode, Valleys of the Uncanny, we followed the story of Alan Godfrey from his involvement in the bizarre case of Sigmund Dadamski to his later peculiar experiences around the town of Todmorden
in Yorkshire, England. At the time, Sigmund Dadamski's death raised eyebrows in uthology circles, not so much because of the strange circumstances of it, but because he also happened to share a name with one of the most controversial figures in the history of UFO culture. George Adamski, was born in Germany eighteen ninety one, but moved with his parents to the United Dates when he was two years old.
In nineteen fifty two, but then sixty year old Adamski, who had long had a fascination with esoteric ideas, hit the headlines when he claimed to have met and communicated with an alien entity known as Orthon from the planet Venus whilst walking in the Colorado Desert. Adamski later claimed that the people of Venus merely wanted to send a message of peace to the people of Earth, and that
many Venutians were already living here on Earth. Despite being ridiculed by most of the UFO community, which at the time very much prided itself on scientific rigor and a strictly academic approach to the fledgling UFO phenomena, something in Adamski's story resonated with people. Without realizing, Georgia Damski had inadvertently created the contact team movement, an entirely new facet
in the culture of UFOs. Following on from Adamski's startling revelation, numerous others began claiming that they too had been contacted by alien entities, most with similar messages of peace and love, with which they wanted to enlighten the ever fractious human race. The story of two contactees in particular make for interesting listening, with one even proving the inspiration for one of the
most widely discussed psychological phenomenons of recent times. It has been suggested that those who become involved in the contact hem movement are drawn to it as an alternative to traditional religions. Like many people, despite being left unconvinced by the message of such religions, they remain hungry for a sense of spiritual purpose and meaning in life in many ways. Gloria Lee was a prime candidate. Born in nineteen twenty six, Lee worked for a while as an actor before becoming
a flight attendant. At some point, Lee turned away from her Christian upbringing and became interested in the teachings of Owaspy, a new religion centered around the book Oaspe, a new Bible written in eighteen eighty two by John Balunubroh. According to Lee, it all started in nineteen fifty three when she heard a voice in her head while walking through
Los Angeles International Airport. As the voice persisted over the next few months, Lee ignored it until one morning, while hanging up washing outside her home in Westchester, New York, the voice told her to look up. When she did, she was startled to see a large UFO flying in a northwesterly direction away from the house. After hearing that people in nearby Redondo Beach had also apparently seen a UFO that day, she decided to engage with the voice.
As Lee would later publish in her nineteen fifty nine book titled JW. Why We Are Here? By JW A
being from Jupiter through the instrumentation of Gloria Lee. The voice supposedly belonged to an alien entity from the planet Jupiter, which she named simply JW, as the title suggests, After years of apparent communication, in September nineteen sixty two, Lee traveled to Washington, DC to deliver a stark message to the United Nations from JW and his people, warning them that if the people of Earth didn't do more to bring about world peace, the Jupiterians would be forced to
invade and establish a peace program of their own. Armed with a series of notes apparently dictated to her by j W, which included the blueprints for a space station to help open up relations with the people from Jupiter, leaded her best to convince the when to listen. When Lee's efforts proved unsuccessful, she and her associate checked into a nearby hotel to plot their next move, with Lee's husband and two young children at home waiting for her
to return. While in the hotel, on September twenty third, Lee received the order from JW that she should go on hunger strike until the officials at the u N took her seriously. If they didn't, they would continue with their plans to invade Earth in due course, while also promising to take Lee back to Jupiter with them in a device that she called a light elevator. Lee fasted from September twenty third until November twenty eighth, when she became so weak and frail that her husband was forced
to have her admitted into hospital. Unfortunately, the light elevator never arrived, and four days later, the thirty two year old Georgia died from starvation. Is there something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals? Better Help will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist. Sign up today and start communicating in less than forty eight hours. You'll get timely and
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Forward slash Explained. That's better h elp dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained joined the over one million people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. Better Help wants you to start living a happier life today. In December nineteen fifty four, at the modest home of fifty four year old Dorothee Martin on the outskirts of Chicago, a small group of people are sat in the living room, staring and wrapped as Dorothy takes another message from the
beings of planet Clarion. It would begin with a tingling in her arm, followed by a sudden flash of warmth moving from her chest into her shoulder and down to her hand. Before she knew it, the pen in her hand would already be moving, scribbling words onto the paper, the handwriting looking just like her own, but the words coming from somewhere much further away. The group gasped at
what the words spelt out. A terrible disaster was coming, said the Clarions, a mix of tidal waves and volcanoes that would destroy much of the American continent, and that would be only the beginning. Like Gloria Lee, Dorothee Martin had also been brought up a Christian before finding a purpose as one of the early figures of the Contact
He movement. At some point in her fifties, she began claiming that she was in telepathic communication with an alien species from a supposed planet named Clarion, who were committed to bringing peace and enlightenment to the human race. Charles Lothhead, who worked as a staff doctor at Michigan State University, was so convinced by Dorothy's claims he invited her to form a religious group with him to better spread the wisdom of the alien beings. The group became known as
the Seekers. That December in nineteen fifty four, after being informed of the impending destruction of the planet, the Seekers were also told that they at least would not have to worry because they would be rescued by a team from the planet Clarion, who would send a spaceship to pick them up in due course. And so it was that on December seventeenth, the seekers gathered again at Dorothy's home on South Coyler Avenue in Oak Park, in excited anticipation of the cosmic rescue that was due to take
place at four pm that afternoon. According to Dorothy, at ten to four, Dorothee instructed them all to follow her into her garden, making sure to remove orbits of metal from themselves before they did, since this would be essential for the teleportation process. A short time later, the group were gathered outside together, some holding hands while others sung soft, uplifting songs, all smiling warmly and staring up at the sky as they waited for their big moment to arrive.
Then four pm turned to one minute passed, then another minute passed. At ten minutes passed four, Dorothee hung her head in disappointment and traped back into the house. By five thirty pm, the last of the group joined her back in the living room, hurt and confused about what had just taken place. At midnight, however, Dorothy finally received word from the Clarions there had been some confusion they
would in fact be coming right that moment. Instead, once again, the seekers flooded out into the garden in gleeful anticipation, some too nervous to ask if having metal fillings would be a problem for the transportation device. In the end, it wouldn't matter, however, but once again the group would be left disappointed. That night, the seekers waited in the freezing dark until two a m. Before accepting defeat. Later,
they tried desperately to make sense of the situation. Had it all just been some kind of test of their devotion? They wandered. Then the following day, Dorothee received another message and a new date for the group's extraction from Earth. It would now be taking place on December twenty first. But that day too came and went, and still the group remained very much earth bound. Then came a fourth and final instruction for the rescue. The mission would now
take place at six pm on December twenty fourth. The group was so convinced this time they even went as far as to hold a press conference to alert the rest of the world about what was about to happen. By five thirty pm on the evening of December twenty fourth, with the Seekers gathered once again at Dorothy's home, a crowd of about two hundred others, keen to witness the
event for themselves, had joined them. Once again, the Seekers joined hands and sung joyous carols as the moment drew near, but yet again the moment passed without any sign of their alien saviors. By six twenty pm, the group grew despondent, realizing they'd been stood up once more, and together they
returned disappointed to Dorothy's living room. In the end, neither the aliens or the predicted natural disasters arrived, which proved a trying time for Dorothy and her followers, left unsure how to balance their faith in the Clarion's promises and their failure to come to fruition. Many of the seekers had even left their jobs and in some cases even
families to follow Dorothee and the aliens. However, not all of the seekers were quite so disappointed with the way things turned out, since, as it transpired, not all of the seekers were actually seekers at all. A handful of them were, in fact psychologists from the University of Minnesota who'd infiltrated the group in order to conduct research for a study they were carrying out on religious groups and how they respond when their beliefs failed to match up
with reality. In nineteen fifty six, three of the researchers, Stanley Shacter, Henry Rieken, and Leon Festinger, published a book about their findings titled When Prophecy Fails, A Social and Psychological Study of a modern group that predicted the destruction of the world. Though fascinating in its own right, the book is perhaps best known for providing the foundation for a much more famous work that was released the following
year by one of its authors, Leon Festinger. Published in nineteen fifty seven, festingers a theory of cognitive dissonance gave us one of the most influential ideas in psychology, as well as one of the most widely used phrases in public discourse today. In essence, festing A's theory of cognitive dissonance attempts to understand how we respond when actual evidence
contradicts our firmly held beliefs. Astonishingly, what Festinger discovered was, rather than face up to the reality, people will either lean into their beliefs more or, as he says, actively avoid situations and information which would likely increase the dissonance. In other words, do absolutely anything other than admit to themselves to what they believe is actually wrong. What is perhaps most fascinating is the possibility that this is a
very natural process, potentially hard wired into us. As Festinger also said, evidence that directly contradicts our beliefs makes us uncomfortable, and it is a natural instinct to try and make it go away. In a sense, therefore, people are predisposed to comfort themselves by trying to rationalize the irrational in order to sustain the erroneous belief, rather than face the
discomfort of accepting it as wrong. Rather than face up to the truth that the Clarions and Martin's apparent powers of telepathy most likely didn't actually exist, the Seekers needed a better explanation for have failed prophecies. Much to their relief,
they soon got it. It came in another message from the Clarions only a few hours after they failed to show on the evening of December twenty fourth, As they said according to Dorothy, in the end, they had not needed to rescue the Seekers because the group had spread so much light in their devotion that God had decided the world would not be destroyed. After all. If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help supporters, you can
now do so via Patreon. To receive access to add three episodes, Just go to patron dot com Forward slash Unexplained Pod to sign up. Unexplained, the book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before been covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced
by me Richard McClane smith. Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com, or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast