Derivative Images

UFO cults have long been the study of sociologists and psychologists.

One such case was that of a Chicago housewife Marian Keech (pseudonym of Dorothy Martin 1900-1992) during the 1950s. Fictitious names were used by avidly by Keech for protection of her group. Apparently, Keech was medium, channeler and automatic writer who claimed she was receiving messages first by an “elder brother” and then by Sanada of Clarion (an unknown planet) who she claimed was Jesus Christ in an earlier incarnation. She also received messages from Cerus (another unknown planet). The entities that communicated with her were referred to as “Guardians” and of this group. Sanada was the most important.

https://pseudociencia.miraheze.org/wiki/Marian_Keech 

“Flee the flood …”

A newspaper article appeared in the Lake City Herald warning people to “flee the flood” in “Lake City”, Utah.  This caught the attention of three sociologists, Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken and Stanley Schachter who decided to plant observers in the evolving group to observe the members’ reaction to doom speculation via Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance.

According to Henry Gleitman in Basic Psychology:

 ... people try to make sense of the world they encounter. But how? In effect, they do this by looking for some consistency among their own experiences and memories, and turning to other people for comparison and confirmation. If all checks out, then all well and good. But what if there is some inconsistency? The Asch study (Solomon Asch, 1956) showed what happened when there is a serious inconsistency between one’s own experiences (and the beliefs based on them) and those reported by others. But suppose the inconsistency is among the person’s own experiences, beliefs or actions? Many social psychologists believe that this will trigger some general trend to restore cognitive consistency - to reinterpret the situation so as to minimize whatever inconsistency may be there. According to Leon Festinger, this is because any perceived inconsistency among various aspects of knowledge, feelings and behavior sets up an unpleasant internal state - cognitive dissonance - which people try to reduce whenever possible (Festinger, 1957).

Apocalypse now?

The Herald’s prediction read as follows:

Lake City will be destroyed by a flood from Great Lake just before dawn, December 21^st, according to a suburban housewife. Mrs. Marion Keech, of 847 West School Street says the prophecy is not her own. It is the purport of many messages she received by automatic writing. The messages according to Mrs. Keech, are sent to her by superior beings from a planet called ‘Clarion’. These beings have been visiting the Earth, she says, in what we call “Flying Saucers.” During their visits, she says, they have observed fault lines in the Earth’s crust that fortoken the deluge. Mrs. Keech reports she was told the flood will spread to form an inland sea stretching from the Arctic Circle to the Gulf of Mexico.

Mrs. Keech did not seek to publicize her messages and once the group became a hot topic in the media, she and her associates began to be afflicted by problems. Many visitors came to her house particularly when the group was meeting. Always protective of her group, Keech told them that if they did the right thing and were gathered together ever ready at the appointed time, they would not be swept away by the flood, rather, they would be carried away to safety in one or more flying saucers. This could happen at any time, so the group had to be vigilant to decide whether any visitors were in fact extraterrestrial and whether they were good or evil beings.

The group had now fallen into a typical CD pattern: they had a communicator/leader, an explanation for the UFO mystery, a message and prediction of great import and a task – survival. As the day of doom rapidly approached, the member behavior became more irrational. They gave up jobs, relationships and possession. Some took up strange diets – all in preparation for the great day. The Guardians also had requirements. All metal had to be removed from members’ bodies. That meant no jewelry, zippers, snaps or hooks and closures as well as dental fillings.

The last few days before the event was to take place were particularly stressful as messages became more erratic and inaccurate. The largest shock? December 21 came and went with no flood or UFO intervention.

Disillusioned, the group dispersed.

After the failure of the prediction, Keech left Chicago after being threatened with arrest and involuntary commitment. She later founded the Association of Sananda and Sanat Kumara. Under the name Sister Thedra, she continued to practice channeling and to participate in contactee groups until her death in 1992. The Association is active to this day. See: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403800369.html

“Claims that intelligent beings can visit us from the planets of the solar system have been made implausible by space exploration. Alien entities must come from distant star systems, even from other galaxies, of which science presently knows little. Some UFO cults – though not by all means all – have adapted to the growth of knowledge by placing their source of communication in suitably remote places.” – Kevin McClure