When Prophecy Fails. Leon Festinger
away convinced that flying saucers were real, not illusory, that they came from other planets, and that they carried men, or beings, who were visiting the earth on missions of exploration and observation. He also came away with an enlarged copy of the drawing of the Venusian footprints, whose curious interior markings seemed to him symbols of a mysterious sort.
Upon Dr. Armstrong’s return to Collegeville, his wife also became interested and charged herself with the task of interpreting the message carried by these footprints —a task which she had completed to her satisfaction by May 22 of the year they met Marian Keech. Her interpretation of the footprints forecast a rising of the submerged continents of Mu and Atlantis, an event that would be consistent with the flooding of the North American continent. Much later on, in August, when Marian Keech received the prediction of a flood on December 21, Daisy Armstrong emphasized that this prediction was all the more likely to be correct since her own interpretation, arrived at independently, was corroborative evidence.
Sometime during late April or early May the Armstrongs learned of Mrs. Keech from the expert on flying saucers. The Armstrongs wrote to Mrs. Keech shortly thereafter, expressing an interest in her work and telling her something of their own explorations in the occult.
Meanwhile, according to Mrs. Keech, she had received a message from Sananda to “Go to Collegeville. There is a child there to whom I am trying to get through with light.” Since she knew no one in that town, she was extremely puzzled, and uncertain about what to do. She seized upon the Armstrongs’ letter with delight; it was too fitting to be a coincidence, she felt. This contact with people who had only yesterday been strangers in a town populated by strangers must have great significance. She subsequently decided that Daisy Armstrong was the “child” referred to in the instruction, a decision to which Mrs. Armstrong quickly assented since she felt that the Guardians had been trying to “get light through to her” for a long time and she felt that her own blindness and unreceptivity to these attempts had been the root of her “nervous collapse” in Egypt.
From the initial contact, developments proceeded rapidly, and not even the two hundred miles between Lake City and Collegeville inhibited the growth of a close friendship. Letters were exchanged during May and June and, in late June, the Armstrongs drove to Lake City to pay a visit to Mrs. Keech. It was evidently a meeting of like minds, for the Armstrongs not only prolonged their stay but invited Mrs. Keech to return their visit. She spent the Fourth of July weekend in Collegeville. The change in locale did not seem to interrupt the flow of communication from outer space. During July Mrs. Keech’s productivity remained high. She sometimes received as many as ten messages or “lessons” in a single day, and scarcely a day passed without a communique of some kind from outer space.
The contents of these messages were diverse, and they covered a vast range of topics from brief descriptions of the physical environment and diet on other planets to warnings and forebodings of war and destruction soon to plague the earth, intermingled with promises of enlightenment, joy, and unparalleled new experiences in store for those who would “listen and believe.” They varied considerably in length, from one or two sentences to as much as six or seven hundred words, although most were about two hundred fifty words long.
It is difficult to give a clear, simple picture of the entire belief system as it is revealed in these messages. The ideology was not only complex, but also pliant, changing this way and that in response to new influences (perhaps new people whom Mrs. Keech met, or new publications she saw). For the purpose of providing background, we shall set down the general propositions condensed from the messages, and illustrate them by extracts from the writings themselves. Wherever possible, we shall provide the “official” definitions of unfamiliar words or expressions, taken from the glossary provided by Mrs. Keech or from the usage current among believers at the time of our observations.
The first proposition is that there is a universe of planets beyond the solar system of the earth, which universe is at least partially inhabited by beings of superior intelligence, wisdom, and skill, possessing an enormously advanced technology. These beings bear some resemblance to humans but they exist at a higher “vibratory frequency” (i.e., lower density) than humans do, and are able to carry out, through thought or “knowing,” what humans must depend upon action and manipulation of physical forces to accomplish.
Thus, for example, Sananda informed Mrs. Keech on July 8 that “The Guardians are beings of the UN [intelligence of the Creator; mind of the High Self] who have risen to the density seven or eight, who are UN as the Oneness with the Creator, who can and do create by the UN the casement or vehicle they chose to use in the seen.” Another Guardian, on May 14, speaking from “the Seventh Sector Density of Creton” (presumably a planet in the “constellation of Cerus”) explained: “We are in the avagada [space ship] of light force propulsion. We are like the human beings of Earth and have much in common; though there are millions of years difference in our culture, we are still brothers. What we enjoy as natural everyday enjoyments, you of the world cannot yet imagine.” Sananda briefly commented on the planet Clarion, “It is a beautiful place to live. We have weather — snow and rain. We adjust our bodies to the temperature.” He described the diet of the Guardians as “the bread of increase, which is like a snowflake.”
On April 24 several messages provided this information: “We are coming through your atmosphere and being seen by your astronomers. They say it is large sun spots. The various methods of communication with the people of Earth can be explained by the various frequencies that we operate on. Our systems are very complicated to you; in reality they are very simple. . . . I am coming via inter-conscious-perception, which you call telepathy . . . It is our common means of communication and is used between our own planet and all the others we have communication with. How many you ask? We cannot number them for you have not enough paper to write the 000s on. This is staggering to you, for we have been learning for millions of years. . . . We know no death, as you do. It is as a cocoon turns into a moth — very consciously and voluntarily — when we need or desire the change. We never go back to the former lear [our Earth body].” Sananda further described the communication technique in these words: “The thermin [“that which records our thoughts, actions etc. in the Losolo”] you heard was really from Cerus. It is the engine-like affair that we use for timing the vibratory impulses that come from your Earth. This communication is being recorded by your thermin. It looks much like a large looking glass and your thoughts are recorded on it as quickly as you think. And we beam back our impulses in the form of magnetic energy. It is done with a celecoblet, something your scientists have not yet imaged.”
The second major proposition is that the Guardians are instructors or teachers in a school of the universe, called “the Losolo” (located on Cerus), who are communicating with Mrs. Keech in order to teach her —and, through her, other humans —those principles, ideas, and guides to right conduct that are necessary to advance the spiritual development of the human race and to prepare the people of the earth for certain changes that lie ahead. Thus, Mrs. Keech was told that “It is ignorance of the Universal Laws that makes all the misery of the Earth”; and that “We see and know that you struggle in darkness and want to bring real light, for yours is the only planet that has war and hatred. . . . We feel no sadness but are interested in the progress of the people of your Earth. Why? We are all brothers. Need I tell you more?”
Elder Brother encouraged Mrs. Keech with a report of progress: “Since we have been in contact with your planet, your people have been responding to our forces of light for the advancement of the human race on your Earth.” “Surely,” remarked Sananda on a later occasion, “there is light and it shall be revealed to you. You are coming to the end of the age of darkness. The light of the world shall be made manifest by the coming of the earlings. The earlings are the beings who are inhabiting the regions you call the atmosphere. The atmosphere is alive with beings of such a vibratory rate that the dense people of Earth cannot see them.”
A number of messages promised visitation from outer space and gave some hint of the visitors’ interest in earth. Early in April Sananda said: “The saucers are over West Virginia taking Listings of the world’s industrial people that make war material and profit from war assets. They are going to land and make contact with you people of Earth in May. . . . It may be June when they land in West Virginia.” In mid-May Elder