extraordinary%20encounters

20 Alyn
ening encounter on a Virginia highway. The
first incident reportedly took place on the
night of August 28, 1979, when a UFO hovered
over his truck. Even though the truck
was moving at seventy miles per hour, an alien
figure opened the door, and a terrified Turner
fired several pistol shots at it, without apparent
effect. Turner blacked out, returning to
consciousness in the Fredericksburg warehouse
that had been his destination.
Turner noted other anomalies. His odometer
indicated that he had traveled seve n t e e n
miles though he knew that Wi n c h e s t e r, his
s t a rting point, and Fredericksburg we re
eighty miles apart. An odd, filmy substance
c ove red the truck, and parts of his CB and
AM/FM antennae we re missing, as if they
had been melted or cut off. He also complained
of a burning sensation in his eye s .
While trying to enter his truck to resume his
j o u r n e y, Turner passed out and was taken to a
hospital. After a short stay he was re l e a s e d
and, on returning home, suddenly “re m e mb
e re d” that the UFO had lifted both him and
the truck inside it.
Turner also recalled that the craft carried a
crew of white-clad, humanlike beings who
wore caps. When they took the caps off,
Turner could see a series of numbers stamped,
or otherwise impressed, on their heads. They
spoke in a squeaky, high-pitched tone. Only
when one of them, Alpha Zoo Loo, slowed his
speech could Turner understand it.
As they traveled through space, Alpha Zoo
Loo asked Turner questions about his truck.
Eventually they arrived at a planet two and a
half light years beyond Alpha Centauri, where
dome-covered cities dotted an otherwise devastated
landscape. Turner had the impression
that the civilization had experienced a nuclear
war in its not-distant past.
Back on Earth, Turner later claimed other
contacts with Alpha Zoo Loo and assorted
aliens. His erratic behavior, however, undercut
his credibility, leading friends, family members,
and onlookers to wonder about his psychological
stability. Investigators also learned
of Turner’s reputation for yarn-spinning.
Further Reading
Hendry, Allan, 1980. “Abducted! Four Startling Stories
of 1979.” Frontiers of Science 2, 4 (July/August):
25–31, 36.
Whiting, Fred, 1980. “The Abduction of Harry Joe
Turner.” MUFON UFO Journal 145 (March):
3–7.
Alyn
“Alyn” is the name Constance Weber, who
wrote under the name Marla Baxter, gives
Howard Menger in her book My Saturnian
Lover (1958). Weber/Baxter relates that after
being widowed, she devoted herself to an interest
in flying saucers. In the summer of
1956, she joined a group headed by Alyn R.,
who “was said to have had contacts with people
from other worlds.” Alyn eventually reveals
his secret to her: “I am not of this world!
I am a volunteer to Earth from the planet Saturn.”
On Saturn, he tells her, he was the spiritual
teacher Sol da Naro. In the meantime, on
Earth, the two become lovers. She writes, “My
Howard and Connie Menger (August C. Roberts/Fortean
Picutre Library)