The Strange Story Of Valiant Thor, The Man From Venus
Reports of UFO sightings regularly appear in the media around the world, often in the form of actual unidentified flying objects. But UFO sightings are nothing new. Humans throughout history have reported seeing strange objects flying in the sky, but more specific reports of flying saucers and extraterrestrials date to the 1940s and '50s.
One of the strangest accounts of a UFO-related incident occurred in 1957. According to the 2001 book Stranger at the Pentagon by Dr. Frank E. Stranges, on March 16, 1957, a person identifying themselves as "Valiant Thor" came forward claiming to be a visitor from the planet Venus. According to Dr. Stranges's book, Valiant Thor had several meetings with high-level American officials, including President Dwight Eisenhower. In Stranger at the Pentagon, Stranges reveals Valiant Thor's reason for approaching the American president.
This incident is just one example of a UFO sighting researched by Dr. Stranges, a UFO expert and conspiracy theorist who started the "National Investigations Committee on UFOs" in 1964. Here are odd details from the very strange story of Valiant Thor, the man who claimed to be from Venus.
Valiant Thor Was Said To Have Landed In Virginia in 1957 And Was Brought To The Pentagon
In the opening pages of Stranger at the Pentagon, Dr. Stranges shares a report from Harley Andrew Byrd, a man claiming to have worked in a "high-security position" at the Pentagon that was involved with Project Blue Book, the US Air Force's program to investigate UFOs
According to Dr. Stranges, one night in "mid-March," Byrd's department received a police report about an "alien visitor" that had been picked up in Virginia. Dr. Stranges does not provide a firsthand account of what this moment might have been like, but the extraterrestrial was reportedly taken directly to the Pentagon without incident. The alien went by the name "Valiant Thor," and he was described as a "space emissary."
Allegedly, A Secret Meeting Took Place With President Eisenhower And Vice President Nixon
According to Byrd's account, after first meeting with the Undersecretary of Defense at the Pentagon, Valiant Thor, (or "Vai Thor" as Byrd refers to him), is then taken via an underground tunnel to a meeting with President Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon. The meeting allegedly lasted an hour. After the meeting, the extraterrestrial reportedly spent the evening in an Army receptionist's office at the Pentagon.
Around this time, Byrd claims that Dr. Stranges was brought in to meet Valiant Thor. He describes Stranges as a "private investigator," "minister," and "theologian."
Valiant Thor’s Mission Was Reportedly To Warn Earth Against Using Nuclear Weapons
Byrd doesn't provide a detailed account of what was discussed in the meeting between Eisenhower, Nixon, and the extraterrestrial, though he does say the discussion covered "the world's problems" and offered solutions for them. Valiant Thor warned the US leaders that continuing the Cold War and building up the country's nuclear arsenal would create an economic imbalance around the world.
In the book's postscript, Dr. Stranges delivers an apocalyptic warning based on his interpretation of the Book of Joel, claiming that nuclear weapon use is just one type of disaster that signals the coming end times.
Dr. Stranges Claimed He Met Valiant Thor Many Times Over Decades
Byrd's account claims Valiant Thor landed on Earth in 1957 and met both Eisenhower and Nixon. He then reportedly spent the next three years on Earth meeting with various high-level officials around the country.
Dr. Stranges claims to have met Valiant Thor during Christmas week in 1959. At this time, Stranges claims he had just returned from meeting Fidel Castro in Cuba, and he was then delivering scientific lectures and speaking at churches.
Stranges describes meeting Thor at the Pentagon that winter. The meeting began with Thor showing Stranges a shimmering garment that looked like "sunshine," made from extraterrestrial material. Then, he told Stranges his true reason for coming to Earth: to bring humanity closer to God.
Dr. Frank Stranges Had A Unique Evangelical Message
Dr. Frank Stranges wasn't just a self-proclaimed UFO expert and private investigator - he was also an evangelical Christian minister, and the different areas of his life often overlapped. Decades before Stranger in the Pentagon was published, Stranges founded International Evangelism Crusades, a "worldwide ministerial association" in 1959, the same year he would claim to meet Valiant Thor.
In Dr. Stranges's account of the meeting with Valiant Thor, the extraterrestrial messenger offers a message very much in line with Stranges's evangelical beliefs. Valiant Thor assures Stranges that the people of Venus see the Judaeo-Christian God and Jesus Christ as the primary deities in the universe.
Valiant Thor Explained The Supposed Differences Between The Venusians And Humans
During Byrd's account of the Valiant Thor meeting, the alien emissary describes what life is like on Venus. Venusians, according to Valiant Thor, survive the planet's inhospitable climate by living underground.
Valiant Thor claimed other planets in the Solar System were home to similar civilizations and that Earth was the only planet where most people lived above ground. Valiant Thor also promised one day a large group of Venus-dwellers would travel to Earth "to help with the Earth’s seemingly insurmountable problems," and that extraterrestrials from distant star systems would one day do the same.