| Orfeo Angelucci | |
| Birth Date: | 25 June 1912 |
| Birth Place: | Trenton, New Jersey |
| Death Place: | California |
| Occupation: | Ufologist |
Orfeo Matthew Angelucci (Orville Angelucci) (June 25, 1912 – July 24, 1993) was an American author, lecturer, and one of the so-called UFO contactees who rose to prominence in the 1950s. Angelucci claimed that he had experiences with extraterrestrial beings.[1] He lectured extensively on the subject of his extraterrestrial encounters during the 1950s and 1960s.
Angelucci's alleged UFO encounter has drawn significant interest due to the sheer religious symbolism and spiritual imagery contained within. He felt a great responsibility for disseminating information about his purported extraterrestrial visitations, billing himself as an emissary for the Being called Neptune, whom made multiple visitations with him. Angelucci recalled that his insistence upon the absolute truth of his experiences had resulted in alienating him from his friends and family.[2]
While his story was delivered in good faith, some doubted its accuracy. When facing the challenge of providing factual proof to his skeptics, Angelucci responded that "ideas preponderantly spiritual cannot now and have never been capable of proof by material methods. Hence no material proof of the reality of my experiences may be given to satisfy skeptics."[3]
Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung examined Angelucci's account in detail in his book, Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies,[4] [5] providing a comprehensive analysis spanning around ten pages. The analysis of Jung, along with media ridicule of Angelucci’s claims, caused his story to be largely disregarded.
Born in 1912 in New Jersey, Angelucci worked for a flooring company owned by his uncle.
Though he was raised in a comfortable background in Trenton, New Jersey, Angelucci suffered from poor health and extreme nervousness for most of his life.[6] He experienced recurrent episodes of ill health, which often led to a state of total exhaustion and painful nervous prostration, sometimes requiring him to be hospitalised. This health condition was attributed by one physician to the effects of a childhood battle with trichinosis, which caused his formal schooling to end in the ninth grade. Despite this, Angelucci's inquisitive mind was always active, exploring and studying scientific concepts from virology to the nature of infinite entities. One such study, performed in 1946,[7] included the release of weather balloons filled with different varieties of mould into the atmosphere in order to ascertain the effects of altitude, temperature, and air pressure on the samples.[8]
Angelucci married in 1936 and had two sons. Motivated by his fear of thunderstorms and the rumours of their rarity in California, in 1948 the family moved to Los Angeles. Taking up a job on the assembly line at the Lockheed aircraft plant in Burbank, Angelucci worked in the same location as another contactee, George Van Tassel, was also employed for a time at this plant. Here, Angelucci led a largely happy life, albeit with recurring episodes of ill health.
According to Angelucci in his book The Secret of the Saucers (1955), he first encountered flying saucers and their friendly human-appearing pilots during his drive home from the Boeing aircraft plant at Burbank, California, during the summer of 1952.[9] It was shortly after midnight on Friday 23 May 1952 that Angelucci began driving home. As he crossed a bridge over the Los Angeles River, he perceived a blue ball of light following him. The circular light, roughly the size of a beach ball, quickly shifted its trajectory appearing in front of the car. Angelucci reduced his speed while observing the orb, and noted two green balls of light exited the larger one, drifting towards him. Via telepathy, a voice informed Angelucci that he had been monitored since his 1946 mould balloon experiment. The two green balls of light united to form a larger ball of light that became the disembodied images of superhuman extraterrestrial humanoids resembling the faces of a male and female.[10] Angelucci was asked to spread the message of the supposedly benevolent aliens. After stating that they would return, the entities disappeared, leaving Angelucci in shock as he continued his journey home.[11]
Following his first encounter with ETs, Angelucci was taken in an unmanned saucer to Earth orbit, where he saw a giant "mother ship" drift past a porthole. He also described having experienced a "missing time" episode and eventually remembered living for a week in the body of "space brother" called Neptune, in a more evolved society. Whilst living as Neptune, Angelluci reported inhabiting "the largest asteroid" of the remains of a destroyed planet, while his usual body wandered around the aircraft plant in a daze.
Angelucci was convinced that his physical frailty enabled him to have spiritual attunement, permitting extraterrestrial contact and imparting knowledge of Beings of immense benevolence.
Angelucci wrote about his personal involvement with and encounters with extraterrestrials, UFOs, and higher spiritual beings in various written works[12] including published books, interviews and pamphlets.
His published works include "Secret of the Saucers", which recounts his first-hand account of his contact with UFOs and other otherworldly beings. His later works include "Son of the Sun", "UFO Contactees and Reports",[13] "The Nature of Infinite Entities",[14] "Saucers First Contacted Revealed 20th Century Times",[15] "California Soul Rush Days" and "Concrete Evidence".[16] Angelucci's books have been studied and discussed by various UFOlogists and paranormal researchers.
Angelucci wrote the first version of his theories of matter, energy and life, The Nature of Infinite Entities in 1952, based on research done earlier in Trenton, in 1946, including the launching of a giant cluster of weather balloons.
The Secret of the Saucers explores the science and technology of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), with perspectives from physics, biology, and astronomy. It details the characteristics and capabilities of UFOs and the implications of their existence. Within the book, Angelucci studies the numerous documented cases of UFO sightings and describes events that he personally experienced, providing analysis of their technological makeup, propulsion systems, and other physical properties. Ultimately, the book seeks to offer an explanation for the presence of UFOs and to illustrate their scientific possibilities.
Carl Jung featured the report of Orfeo Angelucci in the Epilogue to his essay "Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies". This essay discussed Orfeo's book called The Secret of the Saucers which detailed his experiences of close encounters and alleged extraterrestrial travels. Though Jung may have been uncertain as to the truth of this account, he was clearly immensely intrigued by it.
In his book, The Son of the Sun (1959), Angelucci relayed an account he alleged was told to him by a medical doctor from Seattle, known as Adam. The narrative supposedly addressed the same entities and ships as mentioned in The Secret of the Saucers and was a blend of romanticism and otherworldly themes.
One report of the initial interraction between Angelucci and Adam states that Angelucci was encouraged to partake in psychoactive substances partway through their conversation.
Angelucci also published several pamphlets on space-brotherly themes, such as "Million Year Prophecy" (1959), "Concrete Evidence" (1959) and "Again We Exist" (1960).[17]