Contact Day #423: Frank Scully Papers

Published September 19, 2024 at 6:00 AM MDT

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Frank Scully’s membership card for the International Flying Saucer Bureau. Box 2, Frank Scully papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Letter from Albert K. Bender to Frank Scully regarding his role on the International Council of the International Flying Saucer Bureau, June 8, 1953. Box 2, Frank Scully papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Announcement to the members of the International Flying Saucer Bureau regarding “Contact Day”, including the message which was to be memorized before being telepathically transmitted to “occupants of interplanetary craft”. Box 2, Frank Scully papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

In 1952, Albert K. Bender of Bridgeport, Connecticut was one of the better organized and more charismatic believers in UFOs. He founded the International Flying Saucer Bureau.

Speculating that flying saucer occupants might be an alien species capable of communicating by mental telepathy, Bender enlisted help from the members of his organization. He proposed an international flying saucer “Contact Day” on March 15^th, 1953.

Club members were instructed to memorize a paragraph long message of welcome to the aliens. Then at 6pm Eastern time, the club’s associates from across the U.S. and as far away as New Zealand and Great Britain were encouraged to lie down in a quiet, secluded spot and silently repeat the welcome message. This simultaneous telepathic communication was meant to alert the extraterrestrial visitors that they would receive a friendly reception, should they come to earth.

Learn more about ufologists of the 1950s and 60s by reading the Frank Scully papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.

For more information, visit the American Heritage Center site.