Buck Nelson
Buck Nelson | |
|---|---|
.png) Nelson in 1961 | |
| Born | April 9, 1895 |
| Died | Before 1997 |
| Citizenship | United States |
Buck Nelson (April 9, 1895 – at some point before 1997) was an American farmer who gained some notoriety as a 1950s UFO contactee. Nelson claims to have had an encounter with an unidentified flying object and its human crew while living in Missouri in 1954. Nelson claimed the friendly occupants of the spacecraft to be humans from the planet Venus. His story is contained in a booklet he authored, My Trip to Mars, the Moon, and Venus, published in 1956.
Early life
[edit]Nelson worked as a farmer in Mountain View, Missouri.[1]
UFO claims
[edit]
Nelson was one of several claimed UFO "contactees".[2][1] Nelson claims to have seen three flying saucers over his farmhouse; he took photographs and attempted to signal the saucers with a flashlight. A beam of light was shined at him. Consequently, he claimed that his chronic lumbago disappeared and his eyesight dramatically improved. He goes on to claim that, after dusk fell, three "friendly human spacemen" accompanied by a large dog, visited him and spent some time talking with him.[3][1]
Nelson further stated that two of the people from Venus had adopted the names "Bucky" and "Bob" and their main message concerned the "Twelve Laws of God", similar to the biblical Ten Commandments. He claimed to have been taken on trips to the Moon, Mars and Venus. He described how space people told him that on earth, past civilizations existed and destroyed themselves "They had learned of a power even greater than our Atomic power".[3] He said the space people warned him that the inappropriate use of nuclear energy was threatening the earth again; "We are here to see which way this world will use Atomic power; for peace or war. We have stood by and seen other planets, one after another, destroy itself. Is this world next? We wonder and watch and wait. Again I say; give up your Atomic weapons and may Peace be on this Earth".[3]
Book and reaction
[edit]In 1956, Nelson published a booklet, My Trip to Mars, the Moon, and Venus, and became something of a celebrity in the Ozarks.[3] He held a successful annual Spacecraft Convention near his farm for about a decade, where he sold his pamphlet, and pay envelopes containing a small amounts of black hair, which he claimed had fallen off the large dog called "Bo".[3]
Nelson likely died at some point before 1997, though his fate was noted as "uncertain" in a newspaper telling.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Well, Come on Down!". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. July 20, 1997. p. 21. Retrieved September 2, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Zeller, Benjamin E., ed. (2021). Handbook of UFO Religions. Boston: Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-43437-0. ISSN 1874-6691.
- ^ a b c d e "The Strange World of an Ozarks "Saucerman."". The Kansas City Times. Kansas City, Missouri. April 8, 1961. p. 38. Retrieved September 2, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
Further reading
[edit]- Lewis, James R., ed. (1995). The Gods Have Landed: New Religions from Other Worlds. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-2329-5.
- Tumminia, Diana G., ed. (2007). Alien Worlds: Social and Religious Dimensions of Extraterrestrial Contact. Religion and Politics. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0858-5.
