extraordinary%20encounters

274 Xeno
requested a full briefing from Reeder. Later
that month, Cody personally interviewed
Padrick and his family. In his estimation
Padrick “seemed sincere.” He thought Padrick
had either had the experience or dreamed it
(Cody, 1967).
After accounts of Padrick’s alleged experience
were published in the press, he was besieged
by letters and calls from UFO buffs.
One pointed out that “Xeno”—heretofore
Padrick had spelled the name phonetically as
“Zeno”—is Greek for “stranger.”
Following the initial publicity, Padrick did
a few lectures and spoke at several contactee
conferences, sticking to his basic story without
elaboration, but then dropped out of
sight. In 1970, local newspapers reported that
a friend was suing Padrick, who had borrowed
one thousand dollars to write a book detailing
his experience but had not repaid it or even
been able to produce evidence that a manuscript
existed. Padrick insisted that a third
person had borrowed the manuscript and
never returned it. The San Jose Municipal
Court decreed that Padrick had to make good
on the loan.
From some accounts Padrick had furt h e r
alien contacts after the Ja n u a ry 1965 incident,
but he has never spoken about them in
p u b l i c .
See Also: Contactees
Further Reading
Cody, L. D., 1967. Letter to James E. McDonald
(August 25).
“Contactee Loses Court Case,” 1971. UFO Investi -
gator (April): 1.
“The Padrick ‘Space Contact,’” 1965. Little Listening
Post 12, 3 (August/September/October): 2–5.
“Watsonville’s Weird Story—A Ride on a Spaceship,”
1965. San Francisco News Call Bulletin
(February 12).