Charlotte Blob
Charlotte E Blob (1936-2009), nee Modersohn, sometimes written Blobe (the way it is pronounced), was born February 16, 1936. She became interested in UFOs when allegedly employed as a ground observer for the U.S. Air Force in 1952, during which time she claimed she observed UFOs several times.
As near as I can tell, Blob first came to the media’s attention on April 4, 1964. At the time she lived at 301 South Schaefer Street in Appleton, and was the head of a group of 13 believers. Among other things, they thought aliens had come to earth and were holding positions of authority in the government and industry. According to Blob, she had met George Adamski in Aurora, Illinois the day before and learned that the government was going to release the truth “soon.” Aliens could be recognized because they worked only three hours a day, using the rest of the time for study and rest.
Related Murder & Mayhem Podcast Episode
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Charlotte Blob was in Vista, California in June 1964 where she again met George Adamski and allegedly became his secretary (according to her), replacing Alice Wells. Adamski was a world famous UFO proponent, who claimed that he met a man named Orthon who had come from Venus on November 20, 1952 in the Mojave Desert. Adamski described Orthon as being a medium-height humanoid with long blond hair and tanned skin wearing reddish-brown shoes, though, as Adamski added, “his trousers were not like mine.” Adamski made many dubious claims throughout his life, including the claim that in 1962 he attended an interplanetary convention on Saturn, and had a personal meeting with John F Kennedy and the Pope. Adamski allegedly received Pope John XXIII’s “Golden Medallion of Honor” for his work, but others say the coin he had was merely a souvenir trinket produced in mass quantities.
On September 14, 1964, George Adamski and Ruth Davis went to Appleton on Charlotte Blob’s request and spoke to 250 people at Appleton High School. Among other things, he told the group he saw a UFO out of his motel window in Appleton, hovering over the Outagamie County Airport, and was waiting to develop his photos. He claimed that 60% of the American workforce was currently working on “space projects.” He said textbooks are 35 years out of date, but no one wants to update them because it would cost too much money. He said recent moon photos showed vegetation and water, but NASA wasn’t going to release those. His proof was that astronauts were allegedly getting jungle training, which would be pointless if they weren’t expecting jungles. While most of the audience found him unconvincing, including an unnamed Kaukauna High School teacher, he did offer advice for those who did not believe him: study astronomy and engineering and find out for yourself.
When Adamski died in 1965 Blob continued on her own but keeping close contact with Adamski co-workers. In a letter to Ernst Linder, chairman of the Swedish Ufological Society, December 29, 1966 she wrote, ”I am not affiliated with any groups, clubs, organizations, or so on, but prefer to stay separate from any so called group thereby not limiting myself.”
When Fred Steckling became active in the GA Foundation he continued Adamski’s plan to build a center for cosmic studies 35 miles north of Guadalajara, Mexico in 1968, working together with Charlotte Blob. She also wrote the Introduction to his book Why Are They Here, published in 1969.
Around 1970 Charlotte Blob started lecturing on UFOs, space people and cosmic philosophy together with Thomas H. Heiman. According to their own literature, Heiman was a “Yale graduate” formerly of Alexandria, Virginia. In September 1970 they visited the UFO society FUFOS in Denmark, Charlotte lecturing and Thomas playing guitar and singing songs like Silverships from Heaven.
Around 1970-71 there was a growing dissension among the former Adamski co-workers. Alice Pomeroy, who had given three years of volunteer service to Alice Wells in Vista, wrote in a letter to coworkers September 8, 1970, ”The confusion seems to be centering around the group in Mexico (Fred) the group in Valley Center (Charlotte) the group in Europe (Hans Petersen and Dora Bauer) and Vista (the two Alice´s). All of these groups, Except Vista, seem to differ in their loyalties and each one has certain others he wishes to support, pushing the rest aside… This confusion… grows increasingly wider and broader. First Steve and Alice B., as individuals. Then Fred and Charlotte as part of a group. Then Fred´s group against Charlotte´s group, and now Europe against the USA.”
Alice Pomeroy left Vista in 1970 founded a small magazine the Roundletter and later the International Cosmic Council (ICC): ”A new organization is emerging, borne out of George Adamski´s experiences with our noble Brothers from other planets, and their teachings of Universal Law. Through the study and practice of these teachings, The International Cosmic council will be able to bring new Life to all mankind.” ICC was a short lived effort and the Roundletter was folded in 1974.
The Mexico Project was abandoned in 1971.
Blob also features in the 1971 film Rainbow Bridge, in which, at the very end, she addresses a small group of seekers about the Venusians having secretly contacted the US government and offered a free and non-polluting energy system.
In the beginning of the 1970s Charlotte Blob, joined by Thomas Heiman, founded a new organization UFO Education Center, based at Valley Center, California with a Midwest Headquarters in Appleton, Wisconsin, headed by Miss Catherine Reid (a former New York theater actress), and a branch in Guadalajara, Mexico.
July 14, 1972: Charlotte, 36, married Haruhisa Koyama, 24, in San Diego. She was still legally married to Paul Blob.
On October 17, 1972, Catherine Reid and Sejer Sejersen spoke at the Chamber of Commerce in Rhinelander. “Respected individuals from all walks of life have observed them in the skies the world over. Many people have reported their sightings but even more people have not, fearing ridicule. The majority of these were legitimate sightings,” said Joyce Wheaton, another member of the Blob group. “It is our endeavor to clear the air on this issue,” Wheaton said, “because such things as UFOs and flying saucers have been visiting our planet since biblical times. They do so now and they come in peace.” Reid, Sejersen and Wheaton were all identified as Clintonville natives. Sejersen was said to be a “former president of the largest UFO study group in Denmark and editor of a major Scandinavian UFO magazine.” (APC 11-19-1972) Sejersen was, in fact, affiliated with Danish group FUFOS, but abandoned them following a visit by Blob to Denmark.
A young couple, Thomas and Susan Colb observed, in January 1973, an orange flashing light in Kiel, Wisconsin. They contacted the UFO Education Center in Wisconsin. Thomas Colb wasn’t very impressed by the group but Susan became very enthusiastic and eventually moved into the Wisconsin headquarters. Susan´s father and husband were not happy with this situation. They arranged a rescue party that broke down the front door and carried Susan off. She escaped from them and signed complaints of false imprisonment.
January 1973: Charlotte divorces Paul F. Blob in San Diego.
April 26, 1973: Charlotte, 37, married Haruhisa Koyama, 25, in San Diego. Koyama is a “doctor” (not sure of what) and active in the UFO movement.
Hakan Blomqvist wrote a letter to Charlotte Blob in 1973 and received some of the Cosmic Newsletter, which she edited. On January 31, 1974 Blomqvist received a letter from Thomas Heiman, testifying that Charlotte had met the space people and described their work together.
Both Fred Steckling and Charlotte Blob told of personal meetings with space people living among us on earth. In the Daily Times Advocate, December 23, 1973 Charlotte told of one such contact: ”… she was lecturing on UFOs once in a home in a remote section of Wisconsin and only the scientists and teachers invited were given the address. As it got underway there was a knock on the door, and two young men, with golden suntans that you just don´t get in a Wisconsin Winter, she said, asked to come in. Believing that they were students told about the meeting by one of the professors, she let them in and only after considerable conversation which they carried on in an unusual accent and a singsong tone, and after the intensity with which they followed each speaker and the information he contributed, did she even begin to believe they might be visitors from a ship.”
On December 18, 1974, Blob was in Appleton screening documentary footage in the Outagamie State Bank community room. The newspaper identified her as “formerly of Appleton” and currently from Valley Center, California.
On December 29, 1974, Blob spoke to 150 people at an Appleton motel. She explained that there were between 30,000 and 50,000 aliens on earth, and they had been here for 13,000 years. In fact, her figures were from 1965, so the number of aliens may have increased. She said few Americans get to meet the aliens because they have no faith and are too cynical, while the Indians of Mexico and South America are more open-minded and therefore meet with the aliens regularly.
On January 29, 1975, Blob appeared on “Graffiti,” a public access television program produced by students at UW-Oshkosh and aired in northeast Wisconsin. (Does this tape still exist??)
On July 9, 1975, Blob and Heiman spoke at the McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids. Blob said aliens had contacted humans 83 times, and they were warning us against the use of nuclear power. “These people know the tremendous power we have developed,” Blob said. “Their concern is what we might do when we get into space.” The humanoids from the solar system see earthlings as little brothers and sisters, she said. “There’s not the egotistical arrogance we have here.” “In Wisconsin there have been craft trying to alert us to the danger of our ignorance in the nuclear power fields,” Heiman said. They hover over nuclear plants and proposed nuclear sites, he claimed.
On January 2, 1976, Blob screened films made by George Adamski at the Excel Inn south of Appleton. Admission was $2.50. Assisting her was Cuitlahuac “Raul” Liceaga, identified as a “Mexican ufologist.”
For the January 30, 1976 issue of the Appleton Post-Crescent, Thomas Heiman, Associate Director of the UFO Education Center spoke at length. “We are not alone. We are not gods, but little children. We would never be as far along as we are if not for these beings. How can we be so arrogant as to think we made all the progress of recent years on our own?” Heiman asked. “They obviously have technologically superior civilizations and can have a profound effect on ours. Their presence is bound to release many creative energies. The government has reams and reams of material, and keeps saying, ‘We’ll let you know sometime.’ We can’t wait forever. People are beginning to feel they are being treated like they are in kindergarten.”
During a news conference at the Appleton airport on the morning of March 31, 1976, Thomas Heiman of the UFO Education Center asked presidential candidate Jimmy Carter a question.
Heiman: As President, would you air what’s “behind-closed-doors” today in regards to UFOs?
Carter: I don’t know what to make of it. However, some of the sightings have been witnessed by 20 to 25 people, law enforcement officers, and everyone in the cockpit of a major airplane, and so forth. But I can’t tell you what to make of it. If I knew, I’d be the only one in the world who does. But, yes, I would make these kinds of data available to the public, as President, to help resolve the mystery about it.
Heiman: On a public basis?
Carter: Yes, on a public basis.
Following the news conference, Jimmy Carter spoke with the questioner Thomas H. Heiman, Associate Director of the UFO Education Center in Appleton. Heiman told Carter of the extensive films and evidence held by the Center. In reply, Carter thanked Heiman for the offer to review the evidence. Further he told Heiman that ” a meeting could be arranged sometime after the election” when he could meet with the group and review the material they had.
The UFO Education Center, Inc. incorporated on April 19, 1976. The registered agent on file for this company was Charlotte Blob and was located at 1424 E Coolidge Avenue in Appleton.
The Appleton Post-Crescent spoke with a representative of the Center again on July 11, 1976. “We’re not a bunch of kooks. We’re not like those people who talk about mutilated animals and kidnappings,” Lenore Hildebrandt, lecturer and secretary-treasurer of the center, said. “More instruction, more public education— that’s what we’re dedicated to doing. Neighbors and friends are very thankful. They say, ‘Thank God we’ve got someone who is helping us.’ The only disrespect that we have is from people who in life in general are skeptical,.at odds with life in general. Grade school children are very excited about space.” Hildebrandt said the fuel oil companies are instrumental in covering up information about the electromagnetic energy source the UFOs appear to use, since the knowledge of this energy would put them out of business. She said pilots have been brainwashed when they reported UFOs flying beside their planes. She said the translations of the Tibetan scripts, funded by the Ford Foundation, have been censored because they contain so many stories of visits by beings from other planets.
At 3:00am on October 9, 1976, the Utecht and Kolb families arrived at the UFO Education Center and broke in the door with a pole. They “kidnapped” Susan Kolb, who had been living in the house. Two UFO center officials said they were injured in the melee. Lenore Hildebrandt, 29, said she had back and arm pains and Kathy Ruez, 28, suffered a small cut. Both were checked over at St. Elizabeth Hospital, then released. Others in the center when the breakin occurred were Reid, Heiman, Paul Ruez, Center Director Charlotte Blob and her daughter, Holly, 8.
Susan’s family drove her against her will in brother-in-law Daniel Kolb’s van to a cottage in Little Suamico (north of Green Bay) to be “deprogrammed” by Sally Miller. Susan was soon let go and back in Appleton. “I talked to Sally Miller, a woman who is reported to be a deprogrammer. At that time, I explained to her the work of the UFO Education Center and its directors and lecturers, Charlotte Blob and Catherine Reid,” she said. She quoted Miller as saying that she felt that the UFO center was a legitimate organization and that there was no need for deprogramming. At the end of October, District Attorney Donald Poppy said he would charge any of the kidnappers named with criminal trespass. Those charges were never pursued.
Following Carter’s election in November 1976, the White House staff moved to distance themselves from the UFO Education Center. One meeting, with the members of the UFO Education Center, was held in the Executive Office Building with Richard Reiman, from the Office of Public Liaison. Phone calls and letters were exchanged, but despite the fact that Carter had promised to meet with the group, in the end Fran Voorde, the Director of Scheduling for the President gave the group the kiss-off.”
On November 22, 1976, Blob spoke at Carthage College in Kenosha. She was bolstered by the election of Jimmy Carter and said the UFO Education Center backed Carter’s pledges to abolish the secrecy surrounding UFOs, enforce a halt to nuclear testing and turn away from nuclear power. According to the UFO Education Center, some scientists contend that space satellite evidence now shows nuclear testing severely disturbing the physical balance and rotation of the Earth.
Center representative Ann Schwinn wrote to Brazilian president Ernesto Geisel on December 15, 1976. She explained that the aliens had succeeded where humans had failed because humans were caught up in “the vicious circle of warring against one another” while the men from Venus heard the words of Jesus Christ and had followed that path without error. She informed Geisel that “our future president, Jimmy Carter of the United States, and Lopez Portillo of Mexico, strongly support the Brothers and their efforts to help us of Earth; and also Charlotte Blob, as the True Teacher of this field.” A variety of documents were enclosed, and a Brazilian representative wrote back, thanking her, and calling the UFO issue a “thrilling subject.”
In 1977, Thomas Kolb and Susan´s father contacted the famous deprogrammer Ted Patrick, who specialized in rescuing cultists. On October 31, 1977 Ted Patrick ”kidnapped” Susan from the UFO Education Center – or perhaps somewhere between her First National Bank job and the center – and within a few days succeeded in changing her mind, at a cost of several thousand dollars. At first, no one knew where Susan was this time, and District Attorney David Prosser suggested he would ask for a John Doe investigation to get to the bottom of many questions he had about the center. Kathy Ruez of the center told the media they did not participate in “cult religious activities” and they were concerned about Susan, whose disappearance was a mystery to them.
Susan, now 24, returned from Milwaukee to her home at 1520 Palisades Drive in Appleton on November 10, 1977, where she was staying with Mr. and Mrs. Ned Hughes. Her only words to the press were, “I am glad to be away from the UFO Center and have a free will of my own again.” Through “brainwashing,” the UFO Center was able to get Susan to “hate” her family and pay the Center’s attorney, Emil Drubac, a $4,000 retainer to help her divorce her husband. The family suspected something had gone horribly wrong when they received a letter from “Susan” saying she was in Mexico, but the letter was not in her own handwriting.
Following her release Susan joined Patrick on the lecture circuit where she told that ”It got to the point where we weren’t interested in UFOs anymore. We were completely obsessed with the philosophy of Orthon and with spreading that philosophy.”
1977: “UFOs Today,” a documentary program of slides, color films and first-person accounts of “peaceful, extraterrestrial visitations,” will be presented at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in the Mandeville Auditorium at the University of California, San Diego. Charlotte Blob and Catherine A. Reid of the UFO Education Center (Appleton, Wis., and Valley Center, Calif.) will discuss the research of the late George Adamski, an amateur astronomer who testified before the U. S. Senate and other legislative and investigative bodies about international evidence he had collected of sightings of spacecraft and encounters with visitors from other planets. Blob, who worked with Michigan law enforcement authorities in 1966 during studies of UFO sightings by local citizens, says the UFO Center’s purpose is to educate the public about the “peacefulness of the space travelers, to recognize that they are here among us.”
By May 1978, Susan Kolb was actively lecturing about cults and the UFO Education Center, saying the group took all her money, kept her sleep deprived, and controlled her thoughts with “hypnotism, eye power and mental telepathy.” She said with the help of Ted Patrick, she was able to get four of her friends out of the UFO Center, despite their resistance because they believed Susan had joined the CIA.
Charlotte became involved with the case of the Mexican researcher Dr. Leopoldo Diaz, who claimed to have examined an intriguing alien visitor on November 28, 1976. She eventually (allegedly) married Dr. Diaz and they settled in Mexico. December 15, 1978: Charlotte gives birth to Leopoldo Michael Diaz in San Diego.
As Charlotte Blob and the UFO Education Center announced and sold a lot of George Adamski writings and material the copyright issue finally emerged as a controversy among the various Adamski groups. It ended in a long lawsuit between the George Adamski Foundation and UFO Education Center. It was settled on February 9, 1981 where the GA Foundation ”shall have the sole, exclusive, and unequivocal rights and ownership to all publications and copyrights of the late George Adamski.” (Cosmic Bulletin, June 1981).
Not much information is available of what happened to UFO Education Center after this lawsuit. The UFO Education Center archive seems to be lost forever unless the goddesses of fate intervene.
In January 2017, AFU received a rather unusual email from archivist Cheryl Brown and her assistant Gayle Tinnerman. It was an offer to buy the archive of the UFO Education Center, an organization active in the 1970s headed by former George Adamski co-worker and secretary Charlotte Blob. In an email to Hakan Blomqvist January 29, 2017 Cheryl Brown mentioned that the archive included ”personal correspondence with the public, government, Presidential officials and military personnel; audio cassette tapes & 8 mm video, newspaper articles, lecture files, radio & TV files, many hardback & paperback books, Photos (with their negatives), slides, artwork, crystal wine glasses engraved for G. Adamski & also his personal telescope… the list goes on and on.”
The offer had also been sent to several other people a.o. Glenn Steckling of the George Adamski Foundation. He contacted Cheryl Brown and informed her that she could not sell material that was under copyright protection by the GA Foundation. Steckling visited the archive and succeeded in retrieving documents that legally belonged to the GA Foundation. I later tried several times to contact Cheryl Brown as we were still interested in buying the archive but there was no reply and I still don’t know what happened to this unique collection.
Blob died July 8, 2009, apparently in Valley Center.
Susan J. Kolb, 59, of the town of Wayne, passed away on December 28, 2012, at her home, with her family at her side. She was born on June 5, 1953, in Wausau, the daughter of Donald and Elaine (Heidemann) Utecht, and on September 29, 1973, she was united in marriage to Thomas Kolb at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Kiel. Susan touched the lives of many people as minister, artist, mentor, guide and friend. She lived with uncommon faith in God’s abiding love and confidence in the possibilities of the human spirit. Susan joined Cedar Community as the Retreat and Education manager for Cedar Valley, while seeking and being granted full ordination as a U.C.C minister. She most recently served as the Director of Ministry at Cedar Community.
A woman who wished to be identified only as “Mary R” left a long response on another blog:
Mary R.’s Post
I joined the group during the mid-seventies when many communes were springing up all over the place. I had read George Adamski’s book, “Flying Saucers Have Landed” back in the 50’s when I was a teenager and having then had a personal sighting, it always stuck in my mind as being true. A couple of decades later I attended a lecture series in my city given by Charlotte Blob and Thomas H. at the local high school. The lecture struck a chord when I realized it was about George Adamski and UFO’s. As someone who had had many sightings over the years, I always believed and knew such information was undeniable. After speaking with Charlotte several times, she gave me directions to her Center in Valley Center, California, where she held meetings and discussions on UFO’s.
After about a year of these meetings, I became a part of the Center. In the beginning, it appeared like a nice group of people all living together in the idyllic countryside nearby to Mt. Palomar, where Adamski once had a home and school. We all contributed to keeping things going. Some of us had jobs, some of us worked for the group’s print shop, and we all learned how to take calls about UFO sightings, check them out if we could, and give talks to the public. Initially it seemed pleasant and many of us who were there felt we were doing something good for the world. However, there was much more happening below the surface.
At the time, many of us were innocent of the fact that UEC was basically resembling a cult group. Some of us slowly became more aware, or sensitive to an atmosphere of negativity and feeling of something not quite right being projected. Personally, I began to question things. After being in UEC for several months, I noticed people were becoming more secretive of their behavior, or what they said, or who they became close to. This was usually very apparent after one of Charlotte’s “trained surrogates” visited, or when Charlotte herself made numerous phone calls “checking up on people”. Gradually over time, I learned what was really going on, and from follow up contacts with some of the long-time original Adamski co-workers, I too realized Charlotte’s claims were outright distortions, and things she said, including her behaviors, profoundly went against the very concepts she was supposed to be teaching.
I learned many of my fellow UEC co-workers had suffered abuse of all kinds – physical, verbal, emotional, and even sexual. Another volunteer and friend Ms. C told me that Catherine R. used to dig her fingernails into her arm when she didn’t understand something or even hit her. Charlotte was known for seducing new men who came into her group, one being only 19 years old while she was in her 30’s. Often, she would make the outrageous claim that such a person was “George Adamski reincarnated” and she was supposed to be with him, it was her destiny. She claimed Adamski designated her to carry on his work and that she was chosen to do this work – again a totally false statement – for Adamski’s 1965 legal death testament clearly stated otherwise.
There are so many more instances I could relate, with such being a mere fragment of the many accounts, these are already damning enough. From one gentleman, I learned information that made me wonder if Charlotte was mentally and emotionally unstable. (she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1968) She threatened people, at one time she waved a loaded gun around, she made up her version of the beautiful philosophy that G.A. taught, she forced people to do things, got angry if money wasn’t sent to her wherever she might be, and on and on. I witnessed that the inner circle of people, the ones who were closest and specifically “trained” by her, or should I say, “brainwashed”, were very twisted people. She had a hold on many of the members, exactly as is reported about cult groups and cult leaders. It was odd to me that all of us had read the books and philosophy by George Adamski, yet what we were now living, and being subjected to, was nothing like that. I began to bring up questions and doubts to others. I knew things were wrong. The environment was rapidly changing, and friends I had made from before joining the group and who later became members like me, started showing open hostility toward me because of my questions and concerns. Charlotte and her surrogate Catherine promoted themselves as “all knowing” and hated to be questioned …… a dangerous signal to us all.
Few people ever left the group and when they did, they were slandered in the most horrible way, like they had committed a crime. Right before I left, things came to a head with Charlotte over a financial issue. She was off in Mexico and suddenly demanded that the Valley Center group send her $1000. We didn’t have it. It was the print shop that supported her gallivanting wherever the urge took her. We, at all the centers, worked our butts off making money for her to do as she pleased. Of course, we were told that she was “doing the Brother’s work” and we were required to comply.
Whenever Charlotte came to any of her centers, she emulated being a queen, even claiming to have been one in her past lives demanding such treatment, then sequestered the most comfortable accommodations and supplies, slept half the day and then got up and started lecturing people. Many people had donated their money or bank accounts to the Center or lied to get money from outside family members in order to support Charlotte. But going back to the night of the financial conflict, the head printer argued with her about the money and she told him if he didn’t send her the money, he was out. Well, he decided to leave with me. Several other people were going to leave too, but the next day Tom H. telephoned and hollered everyone out, resulting in some losing their nerve. So, just the two of us initially left. We had the where-with-all to see through the false front that UEC presented to the outside world.
Charlotte was a chameleon with multiple personalities. A different person in front of a camera or in public versus her true self. Today what we would call Bipolar. She was a hypocrite, a fanatic, selfish and cruel; she manipulated people and played with their emotions and made claims about herself that were totally untrue. She exemplified her misguided mindset which resulted in disloyalty to the very subject she claimed she was supporting, and she did George Adamski’s memory and legacy immeasurable damage.
When we departed the group, it was like a breath of fresh air to get away from there and yet sad at the same time. What about George Adamski? What about UFO’s? What about my feelings of the inspiring philosophy? Where do I go from there?
All was not lost. The man I left with knew about some of the other Adamski co-workers and the Foundation, which was in the Vista area, not so far away. We set out to find them and meet with them to learn the truth. We met with the Steckling family and over the course of the next year, and confirmed many unsettling facts about Charlotte and her group, while at the same time encountering the true and unblemished reality of Adamski, his work, and the importance of his message. We learned that G.A. left his materials with Alice Wells and two weeks before his passing, personally presented Fred Steckling with his briefcase and asked he be entrusted to carry on his work. Later, Alice Wells made sure that happened.
We also learned that Charlotte was not around when G.A. passed away and had often failed to carry out directives he had asked of her during the brief time she knew him. She was very irresponsible and flighty. At the time that G.A. passed away in 1965, when all the other co-workers were gathering, Charlotte had run off with another fellow, which became her modus operandi. Later she tried to ingratiate herself with some of the co-workers, but most of them didn’t want her around. Fred and Ingrid Steckling were very kind people, who lived the philosophy and tried to help Charlotte. They gave her a chance. But as with all power-hungry people or ego-damaged individuals, Charlotte wanted to dominate, be in charge and control the situation. After dealing with Charlotte, her problems and distortions, the Stecklings finally had enough and in 1969 parted ways with her, off to establish a school on their ranch in central Mexico. Afterwards, cut off from the rest of the original Adamski coworkers too, Charlotte copied what Fred was doing by starting her own group domestically.
Many debunkers and critics of Adamski relish any opportunity to undermine or exaggerate reports that his co-workers had various points of disagreement, or that there were several split-up groups. According to the article, these groups did not get along, but that was not true. Aside from some personal differences, they all worked hard and collectively together.
When I met the Stecklings and spent time with them alongside Alice Wells and Martha Ulrich, whom had been with Adamski since 1930, I discovered they were in touch and had a working relationship with all the original Adamski co-workers from across the world. They were doing the true work. The one group that stayed apart and didn’t get along with the others was Charlotte’s UFO Education Center. I know. I was there and often heard Charlotte, Catherine, and Tom criticize the other co-workers.
In the very first paragraph of the article is the incorrect information that Charlotte was a consistent Adamski co-worker and his secretary. His actual longtime secretary was Lucy McGuiness, and afterwards it fell to Alice Wells; Geneve Hanson, Ingrid Steckling and Madeline Rodeffer also helped in these matters. Charlotte only knew Adamski very briefly.
The article also mentioned the Adamski 6-inch telescope. Acquired in 1938 by Adamski from his student Mrs. Johnson, it was donated in 1959 by Adamski to his attorney’s young son. Decades later, through an estate distribution from that family, it unfortunately ended up at the UEC, and was recently sold to an unknown collector by the Blob estate. The article also made it seem like Fred and Charlotte were working together in the Mexico center that Fred established. That was never true, and she was never there. They had long split apart by then. Earlier, there were brief times when Charlotte would come begging to Fred to help her, so Fred let her write an introduction to his book, “Why Are They Here?” I was a witness to the generosity and compassion from the Stecklings to her and many others.
When Charlotte created her own group, she also extended her version of Adamski’s Cosmic Bulletin, calling hers the Cosmic Newsletter. It was full of flowery writings and drawings promoting Charlotte and her claims of meeting with space people. From what I learned, she never had any such real contact and had the habit of self-aggrandizement with the support of her followers.
Dr. Diaz arrived at the Valley Center group shortly after I left. Charlotte had met him in Mexico and had stolen him away from his wife and family. She was following her outrageous habit of claiming he was the “new George Adamski”. I never understood how the people in her organization could possibly believe such absurd, ridiculous lies. I don’t know if she ever legally married Dr. Diaz, but they had a son together. From my sources, he eventually left Charlotte and went back to his family in Mexico.
Within a year or so after I left UEC, the local newspapers carried the stories of the “cult affair” with a former member who had been recovered and deprogrammed. A Security detail had raided the Wisconsin Center and removed the young lady from the premises – never to return. Because of my experiences, I had studied and acquired knowledge about cult groups and how they operated, and it was very clear to me and the man who left with me that Charlotte’s group was most certainly a cult. It had all the characteristics of cults and Charlotte fit the description and definition of a cult leader. Several people from the Valley Center group left shortly after our leaving. One woman ran away from UEC and stayed with me for several weeks, telling me of her abusive encounters with the heads of UEC. Because of the newspaper articles, UEC put out a type of documented booklet stating complete denial of UEC being a cult group. I remember reading it. It gave false testimony claiming UEC had helped people understand about cults and had helped people in cults, which was a joke, because that’s exactly what they were.
Also, during this time, the G.A. Foundation had heard our direct witness account of how UEC was using, printing, and illegally selling copyrighted materials of Adamski. The copyright issue was NOT a controversy or topic among the other Adamski groups, as stated in the article. Verification via the U.S. Copyright office is clear. The lawsuit matter of the copyrights was ONLY between the principles of G.A. Foundation and those from the UEC, because UEC had violated the copyrights which were held by the principles at G.A. Foundation. Simple research into the U.S. Copyright Office easily verifies the principles of GAF’s legal ownership.
I, and another person, gave testimony by deposition as witnesses to the violations. The lawsuit lasted over a period of several years before settlement. During the time of the ongoing lawsuit, aware of their legal guilt, Charlotte instructed the remaining members to scatter and in effect, “hide” from further possible court subpoenas and depositions. I know this because another UEC volunteer showed me letters from members who were living and working in northern California. Charlotte was trying to unsuccessfully cover her tracks. Eventually everything died down, they disbanded, and we stopped hearing anything about UEC.
One thing that stood out in my mind after meeting the Stecklings and seeing the incredible wisdom and respect for George Adamski displayed by them was the fact that the lawsuit could have really gone after Charlotte and her group in a way that would have financially ruined her and exposed the kind of person she really was. It could have made her and UEC look like the corrupt cult group it became. But the Stecklings were not vindictive people and were concerned that an off-beat person like Charlotte and her group would only cause an incredible stain on the tremendous work of George Adamski and the truth regarding UFO’s. So, they only kept the lawsuit within the parameters of the copyrights and did not seek to recover any financial compensation for the tens of thousands of dollars spent in legal costs, nor for additional damages, which they were certainly entitled too. I admired them for that.
Since then I remained close friends with the Steckling family and suffered the loss of both Fred and Ingrid over the years. I stay in contact with Glenn Steckling, share and can understand his concerns and frustrations in dealing with all the outlandish UFO folks and organizations that engage in distortions and exploitation within the UFO field. The decades of progressive work done by his family speaks for itself, and Glenn has faithfully executed these tremendous responsibilities since his Directorship. He has his reasons for saying he will instruct the destruction of “some selected” Adamski archives upon his death. As legal inheritor and executor, such is one of his many mandates. Everyone is entitled to some privacy and not everything is for public consumption, idle curiosity or sensationalism. All too often, that which is not supported by personal experience easily becomes misconstrued, misunderstood and is distorted and misused, leaving an unrecoverable trail of damage. This field is already proof positive of this reality and is saturated with those prepared to easily have an opinion on something they have no credible information about.
One of the Adamski Foundation’s many functions is to provide balance against such activities as much as reasonably possible. The George Adamski legacy and its truth is probably the most important information that could ever be given to the world regarding life on other planets. It needs to remain faithful and unwavering in its reality.