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The Frances Swan story is 20th-century legend of a Maine housewife who, in 1954, claims to receive messages from extra-terrestrials via automatic writing. Allegedly instructed by the messages to contact the Navy, the housewife reaches out to her next door neighbor, a retired admiral, who arranges for Naval investigators to interview the woman. Using automatic writing, naval investigators summon a UFO.

The story was publicized in a 1974 film hosted by Rod Serling (of Twilight Zone fame). Later accounts would label the housewife as "Frances Swan" and the Admiral as "Herbert Bain Knowles".

Robert Friend narrative

In the 1974 film UFOs: Past, Present, and Future, retired Lt. Col. Robert Friend, former head of Project Bluebook, relates that "a retired Rear Admiral had information about a woman in upper Maine that purported to have contact with extraterrestrial beings. Two Naval Intelligence officers were sent to investigate. The naval officers met with the woman and she went into a trance, supposedly to establish contact with the purported extraterrestrials, and then they asked her scientific and technical questions that a woman of her education could not possibly know the answers to. Yet as the questions were put to her, she was able to answer easily, with seeming-telepathic help from these extraterrestrials."

Friend reports the supposed-'extraterrestrials' allegedly identified by names such as "Affa of Uranus", "Crill", and "Ponnar"; Affa and Ponnar were names that had been featured in The Saucers Speak (1954) by alleged-contactee George Hunt Williamson.

Friend continued "Then an unexpected turn took place. One of the naval officers was informed by the woman that they, the extraterrestrials, were willing to answer questions directly through him, a Naval Commander and Intelligence officer with no prior experience in telepathic communication. He took over and attempted to write down the answers to questions put to him by his fellow naval officer."

Friend tells of a subsequent incident involving this officer: "The group asked if they could see a spaceship and the Commander, still in a trance, told them to go to the window where they would have proof. The group moved to the window where they supposedly observed a UFO".

Subsequent lore

The story was later featured in a 1979 issue of Second Look magazine. Frances Swan was named in Jerome Clark's 1992 book The Emergence of a Phenomenon--UFOs from the Beginning Through 1959 and other subsequent publications.

In 2003, ufologist Grant Cameron released documents purportedly from the Swan incident. In 2007, ufologist Stanton Friedman reported that Admiral Knowles had attempted to introduce Swan to Betty and Barney Hill, but Swan refused. Betty Hill recalled:

"A few miles from Portsmouth is a woman who claims she is in contact with the occupants of UFOs, through automatic writing. Almost daily she sits and receives messages. Although she and I share some of the same friends, we have never met. She refuses to meet me, for she believes that Barney and I met the wrong ones—the evil ones, the ones of wrong vibrations. Hers are different types, who are kind, loving, concerned for all; who give her messages of brotherhood and the Kingdom of God. Barney and I both agreed that we had never seen those of a different vibration! But, in those days, we had never heard of George Adamski"

The Swan story has been featured in the writings of Nick Redfern, Brent Raynes, and numerous others. The Swan story was the basis for a 2013 episode of the series Wisdom Teachings.

References

1. Clark, Jerome (June 1, 2010). "Hidden Realms, Lost Civilizations, and Beings from Other Worlds". Visible Ink Press – via Google Books.
2. ^ "UFOs: Past, Present, and Future (1974) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
3. Friedman, Stanton T.; Marden, Kathleen (April 1, 2021). "Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience (60th Anniversary Edition): The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction". Red Wheel/Weiser – via Google Books.
4. "A Contactee Album!". web2.ph.utexas.edu.
5. "UFO's (It Has Begun) Past, Present, and Future Documentary" – via www.youtube.com.
6. Collins, Paul D.; Collins, Phillip D. (November 22, 2020). "Invoking the Beyond:: The Kantian Rift, Mythologized Menaces, and the Quest for the New Man". iUniverse – via Google Books.
7. ^ Clark, Jerome (September 1, 1992). "The Emergence of a Phenomenon--UFOs from the Beginning Through 1959". Omnigraphics – via Google Books.
8. Second Look magazine (Vol. 1, No. 12) Randall Fitzgerald
9. Christopher, Paul (September 1, 1998). "Alien Intervention: The Spiritual Mission of UFOs". Huntington House Publishers – via Google Books.
10. Fitzgerald, Randall (September 1, 1998). "Cosmic Test Tube: Extraterrestrial Contact, Theories & Evidence". Moon Lake Media – via Google Books.
11. https://www.turbulence.org/studios/crawford/38_messages.pdf
12. Crawford, David (August 1, 2008). "38 Messages from Space: The Wilbert Smith Archives Remixed". David Crawford – via Google Books.
13. Friedman, Stanton T. (January 28, 2009). "Captured!: The Betty and Barney Hill Ufo Experience: Easyread Large Bold Edition". ReadHowYouWant.com – via Google Books.
14. "Contacting Extraterrestrials by Automatic Writing – Allegedly | Mysterious Universe". mysteriousuniverse.org.
15. Redfern, Nicholas; Redfern, Nick (August 1, 2013). "Final Events and the Secret Government Group on Demonic UFOs and the Afterlife". Anomalist Books – via Google Books.
16. "AP Magazine". www.apmagazine.info.
17. Joyce, Judith (January 1, 2011). "The Weiser Field Guide to the Paranormal: Abductions, Apparitions, ESP, Synchronicity, and More Unexplained Phenomena from Other Realms". Weiser Books – via Google Books.
18. Martinelli, Michel Zirger and Maurizio (February 9, 2016). "The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson: Mystical Journey". Verdechiaro Edizioni – via Google Books.
19. https://books.google.com/books?id=HLuFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA17
20. Gooch, Stan (February 7, 2007). "The Origins of Psychic Phenomena: Poltergeists, Incubi, Succubi, and the Unconscious Mind". Simon and Schuster – via Google Books.
21. ""Wisdom Teachings" The fifth kind (TV Episode 2015) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.