So Supernatural - CONSPIRACY: Valiant Thor

Episode Date: June 30, 2021

In 1957, an extraterrestrial named Valiant Thor allegedly landed outside of Washington D.C. demanding to speak with President Eisenhower. For the next three years he lived inside the Pentagon working with top scientists and government officials. But his mission has not been completed... 

When you think of aliens, you typically picture these big-headed, bug-eyed creatures with green or gray skin, right? Like the kind of thing you saw all over t-shirts in the 90s. But what if this idea isn't entirely accurate? In 1957, an extraterrestrial supposedly landed outside of Washington, D.C. Allegedly, this creature remained on Earth for the next three years, working with the government's top scientists and politicians. He was given a lush, fully furnished apartment inside the Pentagon. But this being defied every notion we have about interstellar travelers. For starters, he spoke our language, or rather, any Earth language you asked it to. He was able

to predict the future, and from head to toe, he looked positively human. That visitor's name was Valiant Thor. This is Supernatural. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. This week's episode is about an extraterrestrial named Valiant Thor. In March 1957, he arrived in Alexandria, Virginia, and he had a crucial message to deliver to the president. I have all that and more coming up. Stay with us. Now, I'll admit, when I first heard Valiant Thor's story, my gut reaction was, there's no way this is true. Especially since most of the details come from a single book titled Stranger at the Pentagon. But when I discovered that Valiant Thor's existence was verified by a member of the U.S. Navy's security clearance team, the former Canadian Minister of National Defense, and

President Eisenhower's great-granddaughter, well, it made me second-guess my instincts a bit. So buckle up, because today's story is a pretty wild one, and by far my favorite story I've ever told you so far. It starts around 8 a.m. on March 16, 1957. About a 20-minute drive from the White House, there's this small crop field out in Alexandria, Virginia. It's so quiet there that you'd have no idea the most important decisions in the world are being made a few miles away. But on this morning, that crop field gets a bit of its own excitement. Descending from the sky is this giant metal saucer, one that's undeniably not from this world. Now, I have no idea who the first person is to spot this thing and call it in, but I know that two local policemen arrive at the scene,

and when they see the metal door on the front of this ship open, they immediately draw their weapons and get ready for the worst. But what emerges isn't some bug-eyed space monster with a laser. It's this six-foot-tall, brown-haired, brown-eyed beefcake of a man. And he's not reaching for his holster. He's just smiling and waving like he just arrived for some tropical vacation. Apart from the flying saucer, the only thing that's unusual about him is his clothing. He's wearing this golden jumpsuit that doesn't appear to have any seams or openings, almost like it was painted onto his perfect body. The visitor tells the police that A, he means them no harm, which is pretty cliche, I know, but B, that he needs a meeting with President Eisenhower.

And apparently he conveys all of this information telepathically. For whatever reason, the police don't question his request at all. They just welcome him into the backseat of their patrol car and take him directly to the Pentagon. Which to me is really odd. Like maybe the alien has some kind of mind control powers or maybe somebody was actually expecting his arrival. Because when they get to the Pentagon, the visitor is supposedly greeted by the Secretary of Defense who assigns six armed guards to lead him through the halls. He's taken to an elevator that goes straight down into the Pentagon's basement. Then the visitors transferred to this underground

train. It's described like a secret subway system that connects the Pentagon to the White House, which as far as we know, doesn't actually exist, but it's supposed to be secret after all, and doesn't sound that far-fetched to be secret after all, and doesn't sound that far-fetched. A secret subway would definitely come in handy during an emergency, you know, like when you've got to transport an alien visitor to the president. Once they get to the White House, the visitor is taken straight to the Oval Office, and the moment those doors swing open, President Eisenhower is totally into it. He jumps out of his seat,

excited to shake hands with whatever this thing is. Then he asks for the visitor's name, which he learns is Valiant Thor. Now, Val, as people come to call him, tells Eisenhower that he's traveled from, quote, the planet your Bible calls the Morning Star, which the president is like, okay, I'm familiar with the Bible. That's Venus. And when Eisenhower asks if he can prove he's from space, Val says,

sure, come and take a look at the massive spacecraft I brought with me. Like, what more do you need, right? Now, if I were Eisenhower, I would be out that door so fast the Secret Service's head would spin. But he actually keeps his cool. He tells Val he'd love to go see it, but he can't just come and go as he pleases. He has to adhere to certain security measures. That's when Vice President Richard Nixon comes storming in. He greets Val like he's some old poker buddy he hasn't seen in decades, and he tells him he's caused quite a stir for an out-of-towner. After a few more awkward quips from the VP,

Val gets down to business. Oh, and side note, if you weren't already wearing your seatbelt, you're going to want to put it on here. Val says that he's been sent to Earth by something called the High Council, which seems to be this benevolent committee of intergalactic beings, like a bunch of aliens looking out for the less intelligent species of the universe. So, hint, hint, that's us. He says his mission is to speak with the military leaders and convince them to deactivate their nuclear arsenals. See, nuclear warfare won't just be bad news for Earth. Val says it's a concern for the entire galaxy. Now, I get it. This is a lot to digest. Like, yes, we know nuclear weapons are dangerous, even catastrophic. But if it's so pressing that an intergalactic committee needs to interfere, that is pretty terrifying. So if this is actually true, someone probably should do something about it.

But there's something odd here. If I were Val, I don't know that I'd go directly to Eisenhower. I mean, it's a pretty bold move to start at the top of the food chain. My first instinct would be, you know, maybe let's try some scientists or military personnel, see where that gets me before getting laughed out of the Oval Office. Unless Val knew that Eisenhower could be trusted to listen, considering the president had an alleged history of conspiring with aliens. See, three years earlier, in February 1954, Eisenhower was on vacation in Palm Springs, California. But after dinner, he didn't return to his room at the ranch where he

was staying. Supposedly, he was rushed off to an impromptu appointment. To be clear, this part is all confirmed. In fact, the Associated Press reported on his disappearance that night, going as far as to suggest that Eisenhower had died, which obviously was incorrect. The next morning, Eisenhower tells his colleagues that he'd simply chipped a tooth over a chicken wing and needed emergency dental work. But there's a lot of people who believe this dental appointment was just a cover story. Allegedly, Eisenhower was actually called to the Edwards Air Force Base about two hours outside of Palm Springs. Waiting for him there were two extraterrestrials hoping to spark a deal. This meeting was supposedly the first of many. It led to a written agreement between America and the extraterrestrials called the Griotta Treaty. The terms?

They'd give the United States some of their advanced technologies if they could abduct humans for their own experimentation. To which Eisenhower was apparently like, well, that's no skin off my teeth. And he agreed to this as long as the names of those abductees were reported back to the government's UFO research committee, which you might remember from one of our past episodes as the Majestic 12. Now, I know this sounds absolutely bananas, but if we play along and assume it is true, Eisenhower's motivations kind of make sense. It was the midst of the Cold War, so he would have wanted to get ahead in the technology race against the Soviets. And what better way to do that than conspire with aliens?

And, starting in the 60s, there was also a sudden increase in UFO abductee claims. Coincidence? Maybe, but maybe not. But here's the thing, abductions seem almost minuscule compared to what Valiant Thor is asking when he arrives at the White House. Convincing the entire world to disarm their nuclear weapons is a pretty massive undertaking, which is why Eisenhower's unable to make any promises, but he's willing to try. So the president gets down to business on this nuclear weapons thing. In the meantime, he sets Val up with this pretty sweet apartment inside the Pentagon. Val returns the favor by helping the government's top-level scientists with everything from space exploration to medical research.

He even becomes somewhat of a science project himself. Researchers discover that his IQ is well beyond 200 points, so apparently he's incredibly handsome and incredibly intelligent. And they put his suit, that gold seamless body paint thing, under some rigorous tests as well. According to one report allegedly sent to the president, the military uses everything from a diamond drill to acid to a high velocity rifle, even a laser, to try and penetrate this thing. But it is indestructible. At times, it does seem like Vow's treated like a lab rat, but by no means is he a prisoner at the Pentagon. He's genuinely treated as a guest. Some people even say he teleports in and out of his apartment as much as he pleases. In fact, shortly after his arrival, he rounds up a couple of his other crew members who have hilariously human names like Don and Jill, and he brings them to this backyard UFO convention in Highbridge, New Jersey.

According to a few reports, Val and his friends wow this group of believers with their interstellar abilities. One account says they're able to speak any human language on command. But one thing at this little convention solidifies Val's place in UFO history. A former U.S. Air Force photographer captures the aliens on film. In the right hands, those images could become a golden ticket, giving one researcher direct access to the Pentagon. Coming up, we'll learn there's a lot more to Val's mission than disarming nuclear weapons. Now back to the story. Forty miles away from that UFO convention in Highbridge, New Jersey, author and Christian minister Dr. Frank Stranges is penning his next book.

Aside from being deeply devoted to his faith, Frank has a pretty eclectic background. He says that he has degrees in psychology, criminology and theology. Allegedly, he even spent some time as a private investigator and U.S. marshal. Oh, and he's extremely into UFOs. So you can imagine Frank's absolute delight when he receives a phone call from his old friend, August Roberts. That's the Air Force photographer from the UFO convention. Before Frank can even get out the word hello, Augie starts going on about how he met a couple of extraterrestrials and snapped their photos. Now, even Frank, who is in the process of writing a book called Flying Saucerama, wonders what Augie's been smoking. But Augie tells him this is no joke.

He'll be right over to prove it. Cut to a few hours later, Frank is staring down at the image of what looks like a pretty normal guy surrounded by other normal people in a backyard. Frank isn't sure what to make of it. Like, sure, it's possible that Augie might have gone off the deep end, but for as long as Frank's known this guy, he's been a pretty reliable source. On top of that, Frank has this intuitive feeling that there's something spectacular about the man in this image. Even the people standing around him are looking at him like he's a scientific marvel. So Frank keeps a copy of this photo, thinking it might come in handy.

A year or so later, in December 1959, Frank's on a national tour promoting his newest book. He's visiting churches throughout the U.S. sharing his theory that extraterrestrials are more connected to the Bible than we think. Essentially, Frank believes that UFOs are literal angels that have been sent to Earth by God to improve mankind. In fact, he claims the book of Ezekiel clearly describes a UFO when it says a wheel within a wheel was seen hovering over the land. So to prove that these extraterrestrials are benevolent creatures not worthy of fear, he wraps up his presentation with those very charming images of Valiant Thor. After one of these lectures in DC, a woman approaches Frank. She doesn't say much. She just flashes her Pentagon ID and asks if they could chat privately.

Behind closed doors, the woman asks Frank, how would you like to meet the man in those images? To which he's like, uh, yes, please. This woman, who Frank refers to as Nancy, tells him to meet her outside of his hotel at eight o'clock the next morning. Now, Frank is beyond thrilled. At the same time, he's probably a little skeptical. For all he knows, this is one giant prank, but it's a risk he's willing to take. So he gets up early and stands outside in the bitter cold, waiting for Nancy. At eight o'clock, she pulls up in this fancy car and

escorts Frank to the Pentagon. When they arrive, they don't even go through the main entrance. They actually go through some like sneaky back door. And after getting past security, which according to Frank requires zero credentials, Nancy leads him to this unmarked door. Then she gives a little nod like, okay, your future awaits in there. Inside, Frank sees these three army men doing paperwork. They barely acknowledge that he's in the room. Then from another door walks the tall, tanned alien Frank knows as Valiant Thor. Val doesn't beat around the bush. He tells the author there's a reason why Nancy brought him here today. He needs someone who's open-minded to the idea of extraterrestrial life and has a devout Christian faith, which is when Val drops an even bigger bombshell than the

nuclear weapons thing. He says there's something people need to understand about Christianity. Jesus is actually a space alien. Now, I know this sounds totally ridiculous, but like I mentioned, Frank has literally written books on how UFOs appear in the Bible. So he buys it, hook, line, and sinker. Val goes on to say that God is displeased with mankind, but he hasn't lost all hope yet. He needs Frank to be a disciple of this message so that mankind can, quote, return to the Lord. And in exchange, Val's willing to unlock the secrets of the universe to Frank. Over the course of this 30-minute meeting, Val confirms a few other things, like the idea that there's life on many other planets, some that man hasn't even conceived of yet.

He tells Frank things that he doesn't even know about himself, things Frank has to confirm with his parents later on. And it must be pretty personal stuff because Frank never discloses what those details are. Val also admits that there's only a few people in Washington who know about his existence, which may be why this story is so hard to verify. But those who do know about him have refused to help his cause. And Val seems pretty worried about this. See, Val's instructions from the High Council are to remain on Earth until March 16, 1960. But the clock is ticking down, and Val's coming to the hard realization that he's probably not going to complete his mission in time. Apparently, the president has made multiple attempts to alert the world of Val's message,

but he's been thwarted by the CIA, the Secretary of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to Frank, many of these politicians fear that if the world knows about Valiant Thor, they'll choose to follow his lead instead of theirs, sending everything into absolute chaos, which kind of makes sense. So Val needs Frank to continue his work on Earth once he's gone. But he warns him it will not be an easy path. People will try and discredit Frank, fight against his message, and they might even threaten his life. But Frank, he's up for the challenge. He leaves the Pentagon that day with this cocktail of emotions. I mean, he's boiling over with excitement that Val just confirmed his life's work, but he's also totally overwhelmed by it all.

Like, where does he even begin and what's going to happen if he fails? Well, after three years of back and forth with Eisenhower, Val's final meeting with the president is a total bust. On March 16th, he returns to his craft in Alexandria, Virginia, and takes off, leaving our presumably doomed planet behind. Now it's up to Frank to carry the torch, and he's about to find out the stakes are higher than he ever imagined. Coming up, Frank is targeted for knowing too much. Now back to the story. In November 1967, Frank is invited to speak at a UFO convention in Germany. It's been over seven years since Valiant Thor's departure, and Frank is still

doing his best to spread his message. You know, the idea that Jesus is a space alien and that nuclear arms need to be deactivated. For as wild as the whole thing is, there's actually plenty of people interested in Frank's work. In fact, right after his arrival in Germany, he's asked for an interview with some Italian magazine. Frank is slurping soup across the table from the magazine's reporter and photographer, who, according to him, are two intimidating guys. With the tape recorder rolling, they question Frank about every possible detail of his experience with Val. Like, what are the terms of your agreement? Where is he now? When will he return to earth? It's actually getting a bit aggressive. So Frank's relieved when the maitre d' comes over to tell him

that he has a phone call. But when Frank returns to the table, the two men have vanished. Even their plates are cleared. There's nothing left except Frank's bowl of soup. So he shrugs, sits down, and takes another bite. That's when Frank tastes this grittiness that wasn't there before. It's followed by this painful burning sensation that rips down his throat and into his stomach. Frank's pretty sure he's just been poisoned. Luckily, his interpreter is sitting at a table nearby. He comes rushing over and helps Frank back to his hotel room. Frank at this point is coughing up blood and it's looking seriously bad. That's when the most bizarre thing happens. Frank's interpreter whips out this vial of powder, stirs it into a glass of water, and tells Frank to drink. Moments later, Frank falls into

this deep sleep. When he wakes up, he feels completely fine. He asks his translator what he gave him and like how he knew he'd have to save his life that afternoon. Well, the translator, who's supposedly a medical student, says he has no idea what he administered to Frank. All he knows is that prior to this trip, someone called him, told him to take this powder from his lab and bring it with him to the meeting. Before he can finish his sentence, the hotel room phone rings. On the other end of the line is a warm, familiar voice. It says, Frank, didn't I tell you to be careful about who

you meet with? The caller and lifesaver? Valiant Thor. Val warns Frank that he'll need to take extreme caution throughout the rest of his trip, but they'll reunite in person soon. Cut to seven months later. Frank gets another call from Valiant Thor, who tells him to fly to San Diego as soon as possible. When Frank arrives, he's pretty shocked to see that Val is just waiting for him outside of baggage claim. Val helps him with his bags, shows him to his, I imagine, rental car, and starts driving south towards the Mexico border. They arrive in the coastal town of San Felipe, where Val takes Frank to a boat. And after a few minutes of cruising into the ocean, Frank spots something spectacular. It's a massive silver saucer just floating on the surface

of the water. And as they get closer, a hatch on the craft begins to open, and Frank is welcomed inside. According to him, he's told to disrobe and is put through this sterilization compartment, kind of like a shower but without water. Then he's given a lightweight jumpsuit, which actually sounds kind of chic, and he's escorted to this buffet of food and drinks that are unlike anything he's ever consumed on Earth. From there, he's given a full tour of the interior.

From Frank's description, the ship sounds massive, like a full-on resort. It has a library, a laboratory, an auditorium, even its own power plant at the center. Apparently, even the toilets are unlike anything Frank's used before, but I'll spare you those details. But the strangest part of the tour is when Val and his crew gather around this giant view screen. It's like a big projector that can tune in to anything happening anywhere at any time. And on this day, Senator Bobby Kennedy happens to be giving a speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Now, according to Frank, Bobby Kennedy was one of the few politicians that Val had developed a trusting relationship with. Supposedly, just a few weeks prior, Bobby even asked Val about his chances of becoming president. But Val warned him, basically, in four years, you'd make a great president. But right now, I beg you to stay

out of the limelight. So gathered in front of that view screen, Val, Frank, and the rest of the crew watch as Kennedy wraps up his speech. And then almost as soon as he walks off stage, he's assassinated. Now, naturally, Frank is gobsmacked by this. He just watched Bobby Kennedy get shot in real time. But Val and his crew once again seem to know that this was what the future held. In fact, one of the crew members allegedly stands up and says something like, if only he'd have listened to you, Val. I know that Frank's entire experience on this ship seems pretty bonkers, but according to other sources, his story never wavers over the years, which is impressive since it's so detailed. And it's not the last meeting Frank has with Val. A few years later, Frank is summoned to Las Vegas for another meetup.

Outside of the airport, he sees these two tall men in black suits waving him over to their limousine. Frank just assumes they're friends of Val who are there to pick him up and he goes along with them. Clearly, he hasn't learned his lesson on stranger danger yet because these guys aren't friends. Frank is carted out to the middle of the desert, thrown out of the limo, and beaten half to death. Whether these men were government agents trying to keep Frank from exposing the truth or whether they're men in black is kind of hard to tell. But luckily, Val's friends aren't too far away. According to Frank, two spacemen pull up in this white Cadillac and fight off his attackers. So Val saves Frank's life once again. This second murder attempt doesn't stop Frank from spreading Val's message. It's almost like

he's courting danger at this point because in 1985, a similar thing happens again. Frank and his new wife are on their honeymoon coming back from the Hoover Dam when a car materializes out of nowhere and runs them off the road. The crash seems intentional, almost like it was another attempt to keep Frank quiet. And this time, it's pretty serious. Frank's wife is okay, but Frank is paralyzed from the neck down. He's rushed to the hospital where doctors are certain he's suffered a broken neck and other spinal injuries. They aren't sure if the paralysis is permanent, but it's not going to be an easy recovery. Although, once Frank is left alone, a familiar figure appears in the door of his hospital room. It's Val, of course, there to save his life yet again.

According to Frank, all it takes is Val's healing hand, which sends this warm, tingling sensation down his body. And a few hours later, Frank's able to walk right out the front doors of that hospital as if nothing ever happened. His rapid recovery completely blows the minds of his wife and his doctors. No matter how many times Frank comes close to death, to him, it's worth it. He never cuts off his friendly relationship with Val. In the years that follow, the two supposedly even write a book together called Outwitting Tomorrow. According to Frank, Val still spends a lot of time on Earth today. Supposedly, he's just outside of Las Vegas in an invisible ship called the Victor One. And this craft isn't alone. According to Frank, there's a couple hundred of these things surveying

humanity all over the planet. We're talking Africa, China, Japan, Russia. It's pretty incredible, if you can believe it. See, by now you probably understand why this story is so hard to digest, especially since it comes mainly from Dr. Frank Stranges himself, who has a shockingly fitting name, all things considered. It's also hard to ignore that Frank's bread and butter was writing books on the connections between Christianity and alien life. So really, what better way to promote his business than to invent this elaborate tale himself? What's more, a lot of the details seem to be identical to a fictional story called The Day the Earth Stood Still, which might ring a bell. The movie came out in 1951, six years before Val supposedly came to Earth.

But like I mentioned at the beginning, there is one giant reason why Val's story is worth telling. And that's the fact that it's validated by all of those other people. Aside from August Roberts, the Air Force photographer who snapped the photo of Val, there's also Dr. Harley Bird. He says he worked for the Air Force's UFO research program, known as Project Blue Book, which was a confirmed operation from 1952 to 1969. Allegedly, Dr. Bird had access to several top-secret documents that mentioned Valiant Thor.

The story was also backed up by the former Canadian Minister of National Defense, Paul Hellyer. He insists there have been face-to-face meetings between government officials and aliens, and claims the best evidence of this was Valiant Thor. In fact, he says that Val's mission was a massive turning point in global history, an opportunity that mankind completely failed to seize. There's also President Eisenhower's great-granddaughter, Laura. She said that Val was placed on VIP status by the government and that her great-grandfather tried to schedule a meeting with the United Nations to talk about Val, but he was shut down. So if Val really was just the work of Frank's imagination, then why would all of these prominent people jeopardize their careers and their reputations to confirm a bunch of lies? Not to mention, this isn't the only report of alien visitors interfering with our nuclear weapons.

For the last 75 years, there have been dozens of witnesses, many high-ranking intelligence officials who saw UFOs near nuclear storage and testing sites. Take, for instance, the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. In 1967, an Air Force missile launch officer named Robert Salas reportedly saw a glowing red craft hovering above the facility. At exactly the same time, the nuclear weapons stored there inexplicably deactivated. So perhaps there are some extraterrestrials out there doing Val's work, just with a more straightforward approach. Dr. Frank Stranges passed away in 2008. Since then, Val has allegedly continued to communicate with

other authors and researchers to get his message across. In 2016, he supposedly wrote the introduction for Gray Barker's book, Mysterious Ascensions. It's probably the most recent message from Val to the people of Earth. It reads, We will be watching developments, hoping for the day when those involved in UFO research vote out their corrupt leaders and media stars and start afresh with the next crop of searchers eagerly waiting in the wings. Embrace change and you may just embrace truth. So who knows, maybe we're that next crop of searchers that Valiant Thor has been trying to reach. And if you're listening, Val, my handle on Instagram

is at Ashley Flowers. Get in touch. I am in. Thanks for listening. I'll be back next week with another episode. To hear more stories hosted by me, check out Crime Junkie and all AudioChuck originals.