Sunday, July 26, 2015

Gösta Johansson - pioneer ufologist

Most of the pioneer ufologists of the 1950s and 60s are now gone. That includes my old friend Gösta Johansson (1921-1993). He lived in Stockholm, worked as a contructional engineer and became an active member (secretary) of Ifologiska sällskapet (The Ifological Society), one of the first UFO societies in Sweden. I find his name in the membership list of 1964. Gösta Johansson´s brother, Sture Johansson, is the well known trance medium, visited by famous actors like Shirley Maclaine and Dennis Weaver. Gösta Johansson and I became close friends as he was my pricipal source in my investigation of the controversial contactee Richard Höglund.

Gösta Johansson 1986

I have discussed the Richard Höglund case in several blog entries and a summary of his story is printed in Timothy Good´s latest book Earth: An Alien Enterprise. For those not familiar with the basic facts a short English version can be found on this Norwegian site. Gösta Johansson and I met many times to document and discuss various aspects of the Höglund case. Gösta was not a naive new age ufologist but a down to earth person in spite of his deep involvement with this most complicated contact story. Because of his friendship with Richard Höglund he was entrusted with more data of his experiences than anyone else. In this blog I will present some interview transcripts and the unique insights and theories Gösta related to me. Some of the data was documented in my book on the Höglund case but much of this is new information.

A short while after his first encounter with the aliens on November 9, 1965 Richard Höglund contacted a representative of the Ifological Society and that led to the initial meeting between Gösta Johansson and Richard. They soon became friends as Gösta helped the Höglund couple, Richard and Gunvor, to find an apartement in Ösmo, south of Stockholm. This was after their first trip to the Bahamas in March 1967, when no contact occurred as Richard had forgotten to bring the the metal plate had had received from the aliens.

Richard Höglund

Håkan: Did you see the plate yourself?
Gösta: No, but he made a drawing of it which I received from Sture. It had these Adamski-signs. But he suffered from the plate. He got rashes and it also emitted so much heat he had to have it wrapped up in asbestos. Usually he kept it buried in the soil. I felt like a prophet when I received the plate, he once told me.

The plate given to Richard by the aliens

Håkan: When you phoned Richard did you always here those strange clicks you mentioned?
Gösta: No it was during the last years. Sture confirmed this also. When the clicking started Richard became very nervous and suggested we stop the conversation. Once it continued clicking after I hang up and the phone rang. I answered and a voice said It is wrong. This same voice had entered the conversation several times before. I am convinced his phone was tapped.

Richard told Gösta that he now and then was fetched by one of their craft and they travelled to the alien base in Bahamas and later Mexico. He could be gone for a month at a time. When Gösta met him again he was suntanned. Richard parked his car at a secret place where he was picked up by the aliens. The craft was semitranslucent but not large enough for him to stand up. He was rather secretive about his activities at the base. But on the third trip to the Bahamas, the last time with his wife and the travelled by plane, Richard wrote to Gösta January 11, 1969: "We have a good time here my wife and I. Food, money, cigarettes, liquor all free but we are required to do things also... I hope that one day I can tell you why we are here, but now it is impossible. We have our own car, a large black Cadillac but you must understand we are under a certain form of control." In a later letter January 16, 1969 Richard wrote: "I cannot disclose what we are doing here but I can reveal that it is a sort of school we attend and then you understand that the teachers are interplanetary... I have no idea how long we will remain here. Those who have hurt us will be punished but you can be calm."

Richard Höglund in Nassau, Bahamas

Both Richard and his wife Gunvor met the aliens on the third trip to the Bahamas. It was in a villa outside Nassau. The black Cadillac is interesting as he mentioned this already in 1967, before the men-in-black lore became well known. According to Richard the Cadillac was an old model but looked brand new. He had some trouble driving it at first. It was impossible to collide with this car as it had a sort of "magical eye".

Håkan: How did the aliens look?
Gösta: They were brown, like suntanned, thin, dark eyes, long fingers. Only once did he notice something defective in their bodies. It was a man with a scar in his head. There were no women among them and they didn´t sleep or eat but drank, even liquor, and smoked. They could disappear into thin air. He told me that once he had been sitting chatting with two aliens on a bench in the Bahamas when some people approached them. He felt so ashamed because he was suddenly talking into thin air. The aliens were simply gone.

Håkan: Did he take any pictures in the Bahamas?
Gösta: Yes, I have seen several. When he tried to photograph them only a square light was visible in the picture. There was a black man, Loftin, there at the same school. He showed me a photo of himself and Loftin. They became good friends. Loftin turned out to be a CIA agent and he was later found on Little Exuma with a hole in his head. After this incident Bahamas was swarming with CIA agents and they had to move their base to Mexico. Loftin had obviously revealed the base so he was shot, executed. Richard didn´t regard them as especially intelligent. When he asked something they never answered directly but asked their superiors and came back with the answer next time.

Richard with his friend Loftin in the Bahamas

Richard Höglund is unusual in contactee history as he didn´t trust the aliens but felt forced to work for them as they had cured his kidneys. Richard once told Gösta that they were totally insensitive to humans, had no high morals. We are like domestic animals to them. "My wife believe she has met the angels of God, but I don´t think so".

Gunvor Höglund

Richard Höglund died in 1977. He became convinced that the aliens he worked for were dangerous and warned Gösta to not have anything to do with them. So what really happened to Richard and his wife? In my book Främlingar på vår jord (Aliens On Earth) I propose five theories:
1. Real contact with aliens
2. A cover for espionage
3. Organized crime
4. Fraud to make money
5. Pathological lying

Whatever the truth behind the claims of Richard Höglund he definitely was involved with some secret group and activity and he travelled to Bahamas and other countries. His life is an intriguing mystery.