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Local History 

Buck Nelson, Part 2

 Out of this world traveler has all the answers for skeptics.
Nelson elaborates on his space jaunts
by Dale Freeman

Springfield News-Leader, February 26, 1956, page 3D.

Continued…we last left Buck Nelson entering a space ship in Howell County, Mo…

“...Here’s what happened on that trip, as told in Buck’s own words

“’I left his earth with them on April 24, 1955, at midnight. I first arrived on Mars, ate dinner at the ruler’s house. The air is just a little different and I was told that they set the gauges on the ship when I left this planet, so that when I arrived on Mars I would be acclimated.

“’The buildings were built of rock on the outside and the interiors seemed to be made of steel or iron of some kind. It was a colorful planet but you couldn’t tell where one color began and the other ended. The people didn’t know I was from earth until they were introduced to me. The children came up around me and wanted to ask questions. There are other races, different colored, I am told, but the part I was taken to was most like what I would be used to.

“’Next I landed on the moon. Again, we went directly to the ruler’s home there and ate again. The side of the moon we see from this earth has deep craters and mountains and there is snow on those mountains. There is water, but not on the side that we see. The ruler’s home was built in a crater. The first room we entered had a telescope and rock samples on shelves all around it.

“’The moon is used for a base, they told me, for interplanetary travel. The earth is the only planet in the system that does not travel from planet to planet. There are homes there on the moon to keep up the bases. Small towns, you might say.  I was told that there are lakes and rivers on the dark side of the moon, although I did not see any. It was hazy. On Mars, they use electric power and sun power.’

“’On Venus I had two landings. The first time I ate at the ruler’s home, too. Venus, too, was very cloudy and hazy. You could see but a little distance. The homes were made of rock and had steel interiors too. On Venus I saw three moons and it was just about as bright as day.’

“Buck then went into detail about planetary government, explaining that the space men lived under ‘The Twelve Laws of God, ‘commandments built on a love, honor and obey concept. “’Our government is what one here would call ‘local or family-liked,’ Nelson said cousin Bucky told him.

“It was April 27, 1955, that Nelson returned home from his 48-hour inter-planetary visit. And he promptly began passing along this news to all who will listen:

“’They told me that if we blow our heads off they will come in here (our world) and take over but they are still willing to help us if we will let them.’

“Buck was mighty pleased that his friends permitted to him take the ship up into the air himself—‘they showed me what buttons to push and I was allowed to play with it for about 15 or 20 minutes’ – and he’s looking forward to making another trip one of these days.

“In the meantime, he’ll continue to write letters, averaging about 90 a month, to persons who have inquired about his saucer sighting and space travel. And he’ll also be marking time until his next visit, possibly around Christmas, from Bucky, who has become a voluntary Venoosian [sic].

“’Buck says he’s coming back to see me,’ Nelson contids [sic], ‘but he won’t give the exact date. Why if he did, we’d be swamped by the Air Force and everybody. The whole world will be here.’

Other space men are expected to fly in and out all the time, stopping momentarily at three springs they’ve cleaned out for fresh water. Nelson has a magnet hanging from his ceiling ‘that goes crazy’ when the space ships are in the neighborhood.

“’But I don’t bother ‘em at all,’ he explained. ‘I figure if they want to talk to me, they’ll come up to the house.’

“Nelson was first invited to lecture in Detroit after a committee of the Study Group on Interplanetary Relationships, headed by Mrs. Laura Marxer, made the trip to Mountain View to investigate him. They found no witnesses as to his visitors and trip. Neither did a reporter.

“But in checking the grounds around Mr. Nelson’s home,’ Mrs. Marxer reported, ‘we feel that what he says happened, ‘COULD HAVE HAPPENED.’

“Buck thinks the reason the visitors have picked his place to land is because it’s so remote. ‘They just won’t come around if there’s a whole pack of people here.’

“A reporter, explaining that he had never interviewed a real, live space man, told Nelson that he certainly would like to meet Bucky when the young Venoosian [sic] re-appeared’ at his ‘ranch’.

“’That’d be impossible,” Nelson shot back. ‘You see, Bucky don’t want any publicity.’


 Mr. Nelson went on to write a book about his experiences called My trip to Mars, the moon and Venus. This is a rare book and does not check out, but you are welcome to view it in the Local History Department at the Library Center.


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