by Charles Lear
It was recently announced that the radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, the world’s largest until 2016, is beyond repair and will be demolished. It is an icon of modern astronomy on par with the Very Large Array (seen in the movie “Contact”) located in New Mexico, and the news has stirred an emotional response among many. For UFOlogists, the Arecibo telescope holds a special significance. It was from this telescope on November 16, 1974, that the first, scientist approved message intended for extraterrestrial intelligence was sent. It consists of a series of binary numbers that code for a graphic giving basic information about the chemistry of life on earth, human DNA, human form, and the telescope itself. The message was designed by Cornell astronomy professor Dr. Frank Drake, with input from others including Dr. Carl Sagan. If anyone ever responds, there are many out there listening, from radio astronomers to those specifically searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. But, there are those who believe the call has already been returned.
On Aug. 15, 1977, a strong intermittent signal was picked up by the Big Ear telescope in Delaware, Ohio. It lasted for 72 seconds and stood out in sharp contrast to the background noise. The signal was powerful and unusual and prompted astronomer Jerry Ehman to write “Wow!” next to the signal on a printout. The team focused on the area of the signal’s origin, but it never returned. Observatory Director John Krauss wrote to Carl Sagan that the “signal is highly suggestive of extraterrestrial intelligent origin, but little more can be said until it returns for further study.”
It never did return, but there has been a recent discovery in the area of our galaxy that produced it. Kraus and his team had looked for Sun-like stars there and found none. Now, thanks to Gaia, a European Space Agency space observatory, 1.3 billion stars have been mapped, enabling the creation of the most detailed 3D map of our galaxy to date. Amateur astronomer Alberto Cabellero used the map to re-examine the area and found a single potential Sun-like star named 2MASS 19281982-2640123. It sits in the constellation of Sagittarius and is 1800 light years away. The next step is to find an Earth-like planet next to it with a Wow! transmitter.
A few months later, on Nov. 26, 1977, another mysterious transmission got the attention of Southern Englanders. It was Saturday and, at five o’clock, people were sitting down and listening to the day’s headlines read by Andrew Gardner, news anchor for Southern Television. At six minutes past, the picture wobbled and Gardner was drowned out by a strange voice with an ominous message accompanied by a slow, electronic sounding, low tone rhythmic beat.
It began with an introduction: “This is the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you.” Vrillon then told listeners that he and others of the AGC had been seen by Earthlings as lights in the sky “for many years.” The rest of the message, lasting over five minutes, was a warning to take action to avoid a coming disaster. It was explained that as Earth passed into “the New Age of Aquarius,” there would be an opportunity to share in “the great awakening,” but only if we could get rid of our “weapons of evil” and learn to live in peace. Vrillon warned against “false prophets and guides” who would suck energy from us, “energy you call money and will put it to evil ends and give you worthless dross in return.”
At the end of the message, Vrillon thanked the audience for their attention. The last words were:
We are now leaving the plane of your existence. May you be blessed by the supreme love of the cosmos.
Throughout the message, the sound of the regular broadcast could be heard underneath, with commercials and their music in a surreal contrast to the seriousness of Vrillon’s message. Following the message, the rhythmic beat increased in tone and frequency and then stopped. Then, as though signaling the end of a cosmic joke, the Looney Tunes theme introducing a Bugs Bunny cartoon came on as part of the normal broadcast.
While Vrillon was new to the people of Earth, Ashtar was an old acquaintance dating back to July 18, 1952. This was the day contactee George Van Tassel claimed Ashtar had telepathically communicated with him. According to Christopher Helland in his entry, “Ashtar Command” on the website, “World Religions and Spirituality,” Robert Short also claimed contact in 1952 and established Ashtar Command that same year. Ashtar Galactic Command was established in 1977 by Thelma B. Terrill, who called herself, “Tuella.”
Southern Television ran announcements every half-hour after the broadcast to assure listeners that it was a hoax and that Earth was not being invaded. The Independent Broadcasting Authority vowed to prosecute those responsible but no one was ever found or accused. There are those who believe the message actually came from our space brothers and sisters and with no one else to blame, who’s to convince them otherwise?
While no direct link to the message sent from Arecibo has been established in the above incidents, an altered version of the graphic carried in the message appeared as a crop formation in 2001. It appeared in a field next to Chilbolton Observatory, a radio telescope in Southern England. There had been other formations before this in the same field starting with a depiction of a crystal in 1999 and then a complex pattern of interlocked circles in 2000. In 2001, a pixelated alien-looking face appeared on Aug. 13, followed by the “Arecibo Response” on Aug. 19.
The response graphic has differences that seem to relate to the alien makeup of the supposed senders. The original message had a symbol for carbon, as we humans are carbon based, whereas the reply has the symbol for silicon in its place. Where there was a two-stranded double helix representing our DNA molecule, there is a third strand added. A figure representing human form is replaced with a large-headed, small-bodied figure, and an image representing the Arecibo telescope is replaced with an image much like the 2000 crop formation of interlocking circles.
The complexity of the formation and those that preceded it, has caused some to believe it was an actual response by aliens to the Arecibo message. It was certainly elaborate for a hoax. The SETI Institute responded to the believers with reasons why they believed it was a hoax. They asked the obvious question: If the aliens can receive a radio signal, why did they leave a message in a wheat field next to a perfectly good radio telescope?
The Wow! Signal, Vrillon and the Arecibo Response have become a permanent part of the UFO mythos. Whether or not they turn one into a believer, they’re certainly food for thought. It would be amazing if Vrillon was an alien or the crop formation an actual alien message. But, if they’re hoaxes, they’re still almost equally fascinating.