Sightings - Valiant Thor: Washington DC, 1957

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

What if our greatest extraterrestrial contact didn't happen in a cornfield or on a lonely road, but in the halls of American power? Was Valiant Thor truly an alien ambassador to Earth, or something else entirely? Sightings is a REVERB and QCODE Original. Find us on instagram @sightingspod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Samsung Galaxy. Ever captured a great night video only for it to be ruined by that one noisy talker? With audio erase on the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, you can reduce or remove unwanted noise and relive your favorite moments without the distractions. And that's not all. New Galaxy AI features like NowBrief will give you personalized insights based on your day schedule so that you're prepared no matter what. Pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra now at Samsung.com. There are claims throughout history of visitors walking among us, hidden in plain sight. But

what happens when one of them steps into the spotlight? During the height of the space race, as humanity reached for the stars, something reached back. And as this visitor found himself in our halls of power, walking corridors from the Pentagon to the White House, he left a legacy that isn't just redacted, it's out of this world. Welcome to Sightings, the series that takes you inside the world's most mysterious supernatural events. Each week we bring you a thrilling story that puts you at the center

of the action, followed by a discussion that dives into the accounts that inspired the story and our takes on them. I'm McCloud. And I'm Brian. And today, we're diving into the wildest conspiracy story I think I've ever heard. Did an extraterrestrial really infiltrate the highest levels of our government in the late 1950s? And more importantly, were our leaders ready to hear what he had to say. Find out on this episode of Sightings. I know I don't talk much about my past.

I prefer to keep things quiet, simple, even if my life was anything but. You knew I was Chief of Staff to President Eisenhower way back in the 1950s, didn't you? Ah, yep, your great granddad was a pretty big deal. Ah, but now I'm old and withered and, well, I don't think I'm long for this Earth. And since you've always been my favorite, I need to level with you, man to man, because I can't die with a clear conscience unless something's been said. Understand? Good boy. Because this story is going to change absolutely everything you think about this country. No, the world.

No, the world. But I'm getting ahead of myself. To follow everything I'm about to tell you, to relive those events of, um... What was it? 1957 through 1960. We need to go back a little earlier to... February, 1954, Palm Springs, California. See, Eisenhower was on vacation there, and I happened to be there too. Not as chief of staff, not yet, but as part of his team nonetheless.

And the trip was going normal, perfectly normal, actually, until it suddenly wasn't. Because Eisenhower disappeared, see? Straight up vanished in the night with his head of Secret Service. And no one, not even his then chief of staff, knew where he went. There were rumors, of course, a late night tryst, an off-the-books appointment. And naturally, the media had a field day, with the AP even going so far as to suggest that Eisenhower had died, which was obviously incorrect. But the next morning there he was, safe and sound at breakfast, and told all of us he'd

chipped a tooth over a chicken wing and needed emergency dental work. But we knew that was a load of bull, because we'd heard something else. Something shocking, frankly. Because Eisenhower had allegedly driven out into the desert for what's likely the most high-stakes meeting in human high-stakes meeting in human history. A meeting with aliens, see? And that night a treaty was signed, the content of which I still don't know to this very day. But I'll tell you this, that wasn't America's last interaction with aliens. No, not at all. Because what would happen three years later would blow the top right off Palm Springs and change my life for good.

So, jumping ahead to 1957. March 16th, 1957 to be specific. Normal day at the White House, but outside Washington. Well, let's just say something was in the air out there. There were reports of strange objects in the skies that morning, and eventually a UFO landed in a field just outside Alexandria. It was your pretty typical flying saucer, far as I heard from the boys in blue who spotted it.

And wouldn't you know it, they drove their patrol cars right out into that field and approached the thing with their pistols drawn. Whew! Braver men than I. That's all I can say about that. But anyway, a huge, seamless door opened up in the side of this ship, and a figure stepped out. A human figure. Six feet tall, buck eighty-five, brown hair, brown eyes. Straight up the most handsome fella you've ever seen in your life.

He was wearing a golden jumpsuit with no seams, and when he spoke, his voice carried an easy confidence. And you know what he said to those troopers? He said, I mean you no harm, and I need to speak to the President of the United States immediately. And, well, put yourself in those troopers' shoes and ask yourself what you'd have done when you're staring at a man who just walked out of a spaceship. I'd have run for the hills, but those troopers put him in the back of their patrol car and drove towards the capital. And the government was alerted, naturally,

and the Secretary of Defense, six staff members, and six armed guards were waiting at the Pentagon for his arrival. And after seeing he was unarmed, and after hearing him reference that night back in Palm Springs, it was decided that this spaceman ought to see President Eisenhower straight away. That's where I come into the story, because I was among those who greeted the Pentagon entourage at the West Wing doors. And Secret Service were everywhere, absolutely swarming the place, and they herded the spaceman into the Oval Office and right up to President Eisenhower. And it was a sight to see, I tell you. One man and one spaceman facing off in front of

the Resolute Desk. And then the spaceman raised a hand, and the Secret Service instantly reacted, drawing their revolvers. But Eisenhower nodded it was alright and shook the spaceman's hand. It's funny Eisenhower seemed unfazed by the entire meeting. He simply asked where the spaceman was from and the spaceman replied, I come from the planet your Bible calls the morning and the evening star. Of course, that meant Venus. And Eisenhower considered that for a moment, then asked,

calm as can be, please, sir, what is your name? And I'll never forget the slight smile as the spaceman replied, my name is Valiant Thor. The meeting between Eisenhower and Val, as I'd come to call him Val, lasted another several minutes, during which Val explained that Earth had been under scrutiny by his race for hundreds of years. Then to their horror, the 1945 bomb went off, and thus Val had been sent by his high council to convince the leaders of Earth to deactivate their nuclear arsenals. Naturally, Eisenhower was skeptical of this proposition. We were smack in the middle of the Cold War, after all, and throwing aliens into the mix

didn't seem advisable. The people of Earth, Eisenhower said, are not ready to cope. But despite his polite rejection of Val's proposition, Eisenhower did extend the tall, handsome spaceman an invitation. And it sounds patently absurd as I'm telling it now. I suppose all of this does, but he wanted Val to stay on Earth for a while. To work in secret with our scientists. To allow us to learn more about one another. And to bridge the gap between our peoples.

So I, at that point still a few years from becoming Eisenhower's chief of staff, was designated as liaison between Vow and the President. And at that moment, I don't fully recall what I felt just then, other than knowing I'd just become swept up in the biggest geopolitical development in American history, in Earth's history even. So I smiled at the nice spaceman, extended an arm, and escorted him out of the Oval Office. Little did I know then that Val would spend three years in Washington. That's right, three.

And not as a prisoner, mind you. We gave him a well-appointed apartment in the Pentagon and a guarantee he could leave any time. In return, he shared everything he could with anyone willing to listen. And often enough, that anyone was me. Because believe it or not, I was right there for all of it. At first I found myself rather shy around this strange visitor. He was a formidable specimen in that he looked human, yet somehow not. He was too perfect, almost intimidatingly so. And what would I, a lone politico, have of possible import to say to him?

So in the first weeks I escorted him quietly from meeting to meeting. Our top scientists were fascinated with him, of course, and he was happy to undergo rigorous tests. We quickly discovered his IQ was well over 200, and the strange uniform he wore upon arrival here, a beautiful gold and silver thing, was found to be made of an entirely unknown fabric that couldn't even be penetrated by a diamond drill bit. Acid even rolled off it and burned holes in the floor when tested. It was alternately unbelievable and invigorating being around Val.

And soon enough he and I started talking. All silly things at first, like how pop culture worked. But soon I felt a real connection growing between us. I even picked up on advanced scientific theories as Val worked tirelessly with our most advanced medical and space scientists. But most of all we bonded over books. As you know, I love reading, and it turns out so did Val. He was a voracious consumer of print, dozens of books a day,

on all topics imaginable, plus newspapers, magazines, leaflets, everything. And as we talked endlessly about the topics of the day, I found myself forgetting I was talking to someone who wasn't exactly human. To me, he was just foul. But all this while, he was making little progress on his actual mission. Even when surrounded by scientists and officials, few would lend an ear to hear about nuclear de-escalation. And as he continued to subject himself to test after test, and briefing

after briefing about propulsion systems, he began to worry he was being used. And behind the scenes, I knew it was true. So I decided I'd try and do something about it. And I didn't know it at the time, but it nearly exposed Val to the world, almost derailed my career, and set me down a path that very nearly killed me. Like I said, Val knew things weren't exactly going his way. He constantly asked me if he could meet Eisenhower again, and all I could do was politely decline. Not my choice, naturally, but orders nonetheless. But just being around Val, around his infectious dedication to his cause, had a profound effect on me.

And you know what? His mission started making a whole lot of sense. I mean, tensions were running high around the world at that point. It's just that the people who had any power to do anything about it simply didn't want to bother. And that got to Val. He was an emotional being, and while I never saw him cry, I saw the weight of his mission hang heavy in his eyes. And several months after he first arrived outside Alexandria, he confided to me that he was starting to lose faith.

In fact, he said he maybe shouldn't have ever come here at all. Then he saw the article that changed everything. It was about this New Jersey UFO enthusiast group that drew the ire of local politicians. And you guessed it, that article gave Val an idea. And while I know it was wrong, technically treasonous even, I couldn't help but go along with it, because Val wanted to meet those UFO enthusiasts for himself, face to face. Now, sneaking a spaceman out of the Pentagon is an exactly standard protocol. But Val had a way about him, a sort of otherworldly charisma, if you'll pardon the pun.

So when we approached the security checkpoint that evening, Val simply raised his hand slightly, and the guard nodded as if he were looking at a perfectly valid ID badge, one that I know for certain didn't exist. We reached my car and drove up to Highbridge, New Jersey, where the backyard gathering of UFO enthusiasts was taking place.

You should have seen Val's face light up as he listened to these people talk. They were on to something, he said. They understood the bigger picture. But what troubled him most was how they'd been treated. Mocked by the press. Dismissed by the press, dismissed by the public. These were serious people, with serious ideas, yet they'd been reduced to punchlines. Val got so caught up in the moment that he started showing off a bit, speaking any language the crowd requested, just like that.

Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, even dead languages like Sanskrit. I kept trying to catch his eye, worried he might give himself away. But in all honesty, I needn't have bothered worrying about that. No, what I should have worried about was the photographer, August C. Roberts was his name, quietly snapping photos of Val that would soon make their way through UFO circles. And when those photos reached certain desks in Washington well... Let's just say I found myself abruptly unemployed. Security protocol breach, they said. And I was devastated, naturally, but Val wasn't having any of it.

He even threatened to leave Earth entirely if they didn't reinstate me. And wouldn't you know it, they did. Of course I wanted to thank him somehow, but Val beat me to it and asked if I'd accompany him on a little trip. So, with permission this time, we drove out to a remote lake in Northern Virginia. And there it was. His ship, floating right there on the water, glistening in the late afternoon sun. As we approached, an opening appeared in its side, and two figures stood there.

Don and Teal, Val called them. They knew my name, if you can believe it, and they took me inside the ship. And then... Well, it sounds crazy, but they asked me to strip down and walk through what looked like a shower without water. The sensation... I can't even describe it. Like being purified from the inside out. And it's amazing when I emerged from the thing. I didn't even need my classes anymore. My vision was suddenly perfect. Better than perfect. I was given white overalls made of that same impossible fabric as Val's golden uniform.

And then I was guided to Val's quarters. I couldn't help taking in the architecture as we walked and noticed there wasn't a single square corner in that entire ship. In his quarters, Val gestured for me to sit in a sleek chair, and as I did, one wall just... Well, it just up and disappeared, giving us a perfect view of the sunset. And Val sat down beside me, thought for a moment, then confided that he was fearful that his mission was failing. He had companions stationed around the world, Geneva, Reno, other places, monitoring communications, trying to prevent World War III, and chatter suggested that unless something was done soon, it may be much too late.

These are the stakes, he told me. And you have been my strongest ally. Then he furrowed his brow and said, So I must implore you to be careful. Though you may not know it, we have many enemies. You may not know it, we have many enemies. Do you understand me, Jerry? Be careful who you meet and talk to. Little did I know, I'd soon find out what he was referring to. In the months that followed, I tried to use my leverage

to press for another meeting between VAL and Eisenhower, but was constantly denied. So when I was unexpectedly promoted, not to Chief of Staff, not yet, I thought maybe then I'd have the power to make some change. And I admitted I was flying high, so much so that I agreed to an interview with two reporters I didn't know. I mean, they wanted to interview me, of all people, how exciting! So my driver took me to a quiet restaurant, but as soon as the reporters turned on their

tape recorders, all they wanted to know about was Val. I tried to dodge their questions and focus on my soup, but they were relentless, and when it got so bad that I stood up to leave, I was interrupted by a waiter who said I had a phone call. I excused myself. It was just some routine White House business. But when I returned to the table, the reporters were gone and everything was cleared except for my soup. And I still don't know why I was stupid enough to do it, but I sat down and kept eating. And the moment I took my first spoonful of soup, I knew something was terribly wrong. There was this gritty substance that burned

all the way down. And immediately I called for help. My driver came running, but by the time we got to the car, blood was trickling from my mouth and soaking my shirt. And I admitted I thought I was going to die, right then and there, poisoned by soup. But my driver pulled out a vial and poured its contents down my throat. Not knowing what to think, I instinctively tried to spit it out, but my driver clamped my mouth shut. Swallow! He insisted, and before I could object, I slipped unconscious.

I woke up in my apartment with my driver sitting by my bedside, and it's incredible the pain I'd felt earlier was completely gone. I searched for words, but the driver handed me water and I drank. Oh, it tasted good. It felt good. But before I could fully savor it, the phone rang, and my driver handed me the receiver with a knowing look. I trust the remedy I gave your driver was successful, Val said.

Didn't I caution you to be careful in who you meet? From then on I took Val's warnings seriously. More than ever I knew how important this mission was. But as our efforts to enact change continued to be rebuffed. Val concluded that the authorities were too wrapped up in their own ambitions to care about mankind's pressing needs. Simply put, his mission threatened the status quo, politically and economically. But we never stopped fighting, and eventually I became Chief of Staff and pressed harder for a meeting between Val and Eisenhower,

and finally, finally, it was approved. That morning felt heavy with possibility. Val wore his one and only shirt and tie and looked completely human unless you knew better. During the drive to the White House, he set a hand on my shoulder and said something I'll never forget. I want you to know that even if I ultimately fail in my mission, my journey here was worth it. Knowing you was worth it.

And I realized then that the closest person in this world to me wasn't even from Earth. Ha ha ha. Oh. Unfortunately, Val's final appearance at the White House went nowhere. Eisenhower seemed receptive to Val's proposals, but the Secretary of Defense, CIA Director, and military chiefs all opposed it. Vice President Nixon even tried to intervene, insisting, The Pressure Boys let the President decide.

But they wouldn't budge. And after the meeting, I accompanied Val back to the Pentagon and said good night and felt like we'd just closed a door on the future of humanity. And I didn't know it then, but that evening was the last time I'd see Val, because later in the night he simply vanished. Just gone. Like he'd dematerialized from his room. That same night, radar picked up a strange craft rising from a field in Northern Virginia. Air Force jets were scrambled, of course, but they couldn't spot it, and once ground radar lost contact too, we realized he was

gone. Val was gone. My friend was gone. Of course, part of me hoped it wasn't a one-time mission, that maybe he'd come back someday, and sometimes I'd catch myself staring at the skies hoping for a hello from an old, dear friend. But it never came. But telling you now, it lightens me. Makes me feel like Val is here. If not in body, then in spirit.

And I know with absolute certainty that I'm not alone. We are not alone. And I suspected somewhere out there, Val's still working tirelessly to find a way to save us from ourselves. I just hope when the time comes, we're finally ready to listen. Sightings will be back just after this. Hello, everybody. I'm in a good mood right now after that Valiant Thor story because I think it's just so warm and friendly and there's camaraderie and there's teamwork. I really love this as

an alien story. I like thinking that if the aliens were advanced enough to get here in the first place they would be sophisticated enough to have more nuanced higher goals than probing us or attacking us or otherwise generally terrifying us. So just generally so many paranormal stories are about violent conflict in one way or another. It's really refreshing to imagine intelligent life beyond us blossoming into something that makes the universe more full of possibility than hazard. So it makes me feel optimistic this story. That's a really heartwarming take on that story and I think that's one of the reasons it stuck with me when I first heard it because it is such an unconventional alien story. That's a really heartwarming take on that story, and I think that's one of the reasons it stuck with me when I first heard it, because it is such an unconventional alien story.

Usually we have these, like you said, abduction stories or confrontational or violent stories or weird sightings or things like that. In this case, this was really a story of camaraderie and friendship. Yeah. Unfortunately, of course, there are a few things about the story that trip me up. Like the fact that he came from Venus, but I'll reserve judgment until I learn more

about the accounts that informed this story. So hit me with the facts. So yeah, all the events in the story allegedly happened. I didn't make anything up for this. What I did do though, was assign all of the drama to the character that you read, who was the White House, who became the White House Chief of Staff.

That was a real person, but I have no idea if he met Valiant Thor or anything like that. Instead, most of the discrete events in the story happened to a different guy who wrote a book about this. And the book was called Stranger at the Pentagon written by a guy named Frank Stranges. Stranger at the Pentagon by Frank Stranges.

That's kind of a fun and suspect coupling of words. Yeah. And I have to tell you, it was not the easiest book to read. He's not a particularly talented writer. And also, as we'll get into, there was a lot of stuff that happened in Frank's story that was not in the story that you just told.

Okay, did Frank work in the Pentagon? Nope, not at all. He claims that he had top secret clearance of some kind, although he never held a government position. He claims that Val reached out to him. And the reason that he did this is because Frank at the time was working on a book about UFOs. But in a really weird way, he wasn't just a UFO guy, he was also a evangelistic UFO guy in

the religious sense. So he was trying to connect the dots between UFO sightings and Christianity. And I ended up leaving all of the religious elements out of the story entirely because they're kind of tangential to the core story, number one. But also, the book gets pretty heavy-handed with mentions of Jesus and religion and things like that on the whole that kind of dilutes the overall effect of the entire piece in a weird way. Wow. Okay. I did not see such a specific agenda coming for this story.

Can you give me any examples of this kind of mashup of theology and ufology? Yeah, so in the story Val is here to help denuclearize Earth, but he also claims to be here to quote, work in Earth. But he also claims to be here to, quote, work in full harmony with our heavenly creator. Also, Frank writes about how he and Val would talk about Jesus and about how religion fits into his universal view, so to speak. But it was just a lot laid on top of an alien story,

if that makes any sense. Woof. Okay. So, well, for now, let's just kind of, let's compartmentalize this and stick to the sort of plot of the story, the story that, as opposed to the intended message of the story, let's focus on what supposedly happened, the actual events, the implications of an alien being at the Pentagon and the White House. If this is true, it's one of the biggest cover-ups

in history that an alien was influencing US and by extension global politics. Absolutely, absolutely. And that's why I still wanted to do this story, because there are so many really cool threads to pull. As I said, though, in the story itself, the main events allegedly happened. You know, the craft lands outside of DC. He talks to Eisenhower. He goes to the Pentagon. He lives there for three years. He ends up meeting the main character. They go to a party. He's photographed at the party. And then ultimately, after three years on Earth, he just disappears.

And are there any corroborating facts, like anything that corroborates Frank's story? Actually there is. And this is where it gets kind of interesting. The following people have supposedly verified that Valiant Thor was a real entity who was in Washington, D.C. at this time. They include an Air Force photographer, the one who took the picture of Val, Dr. Harley Byrd, who says he worked for Project Blue Book, and he saw a bunch of top secret documents related to Valiant Thor.

Also, the former Canadian Minister of National Defense, his name is Paul Hellyer. He insists that there have been face-to-face meetings between government officials and aliens and that Valiant Thor was one of those aliens. And then probably the most personal connection to the entire thing is President Eisenhower's great-granddaughter. She says that her great-grandfather tried to schedule a meeting with the United Nations to talk about Valiant Thor, but he was shut down. But again, there's no documents, there's no smoking gun here or any physical evidence, frankly, to corroborate any of this.

Those are still some of those. The first two seem to me like, well, okay, maybe they were the people they said they were. But the former Canadian Minister of National Defense, that's a real and powerful person. And the great granddaughter of Eisenhower, that's, I mean, not that people can't have out there children. But why would she pick that? Yeah, yeah.

That's the hill to die on, you know? That's interesting. That's very interesting. So yeah, actually, speaking of Eisenhower, remember the opening of the story where Eisenhower just went missing one night in Palm Springs. And that actually happened. And rumor is that Eisenhower that night went to Edwards Air Force Base where he met with two extraterrestrials.

They signed a treaty in which the aliens gave us a whole bunch of technology. And in return, we say, you know, you can abduct some of our people, just let us know who. So, that's what happened. I guess in this theory's defense, it was the middle of the Cold War. So, this whole story of Val seems to basically be the plot

of the day the Earth stood still. I mean, aliens land on Earth to save humanity from itself. Basically. Which I suppose could mean that this Frank Stranges guy just kind of cribbed that story, layered on a religious message, and used it for essentially propaganda purposes. And I also want to mention, after Val left the planet, he apparently came back several times and saw Frank several times. And Frank's told a story in his book about how he had this car accident, broke his neck, and they weren't sure if he was ever going to be able to walk again.

But Val showed up in his hospital room and healed him, and he walked out of the hospital the next day. Which, it's almost like it's one step too far. Yeah, why isn't it enough to just say, like, an alien talks to me? Exactly, exactly. The question now is, was Valiant Thor real number one? And number two, did the U.S. government actually allow him to stay in the Pentagon for three years

while experimenting on him and learning from him and stonewalling him? I guess my feeling from everything I've been told by people who have worked in government is that if this many people were aware of an alien, it just would not be, the government would not be able to keep it a secret. But I mean, really, it's the Venus part that- Yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I wonder though if for a little bit of a mental exercise here, and because I want to believe this story is true, like you said,

is there a believer beaver path to squaring this lore with what could have actually happened? Well, I mean, the Believer Beaver, it's the provenance of the story gets in the way of my Believer Beaver. I do not trust this Frank guy one bit. If this had been written by a military general in the Pentagon saying, this happened, I met this guy, what would you say then? Would you believe it or would you still be like, hmm?

I'd still be like, hmm, hmm, because people are people. But my believer beaver then would be like, okay. Like I would, the Venus thing, I could maybe find my way to Venus or just consider the Venus thing as kind of a head fake, as a misdirect. Like they're not actually from Venus because the truth is harder to believe.

Ah, interesting. I like that. Yeah, yeah. That'll be the, that's the believer beaver element I'll take. Cool. Yeah. I do have to give this Frank Stranges guy some kudos though, because he certainly

found a unique way to spread the gospel. Yeah. You know? So good for him for, you know, I guess, because he certainly found a unique way to spread the gospel. Yeah. You know? So good for him for, you know, I guess, making his mark on that respect. Yeah. I'd be really curious to hear what some of the listeners think about this because there's a lot to unpack here.

And I feel like we've kind of only scratched the surface. But if you knew Eisenhower's great granddaughter and were like, yes, she believed this firmly, let us know anything, thoughts you have about this. You can always find us on Instagram at SightingsPod. Or leave some comments on Spotify and if you enjoy the show, leave a review. Brian, I'm ready to get on my rocket ship and fly away from this story and visit the next planet of narrative wonder that you have in store for us next week.

Next planet of narrative wonder. I like that. I will say that we're going back to the more creepy, unsettling side of the supernatural. We're going to Egypt. Whoa. Okay. Awesome. So any guesses? I'm gonna assume King Tut's

tomb, the curse of King Tut's tomb. Interesting. That's the first one, but it could be aliens in the pyramids, like, because the pyramids are also, Egypt is just like, there's so much there, I love this. It's a fascinating place and I cannot wait to bring you the next story. But listeners, you gotta wait till next week. Same time, same place, here on Sightings. Thanks again for listening. Bye. Sightings is hosted by McLeod, Anders and Brian Sigley. Produced by Brian Sigley, Chase Kinzer and McLeod, Anders.

Written by Brian Sigley. Story music by Madison James Smith. Series music by Mitch Bain. Mixing and mastering by Pat Kickleiter of Sundial Media. Artwork by Nuno Cernatus. For a list of this episode's sources, check out our website at sightingspodcast.com. Sightings is presented by Reverb and Q-Code. If you like the show, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you're first to hear new episodes every week. And if you know other Supernatural fans, tell them about us.

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