Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida • Page 4A

N. "sr f4A "VKratODAV, Friday, Novtmber lmSfc err 'M ii i mm A JJ 4. I. By TOM BUTLER TODAY IlolWrltr Sky lab Vi'. Countdown THE PEOPLE 'fi N.

fcjnr 4 V. i ntftd Vft From Qihe? BROOKSVILLE If John Reeves "has his straight, there'll be a fourth for bridge when astronauts Jerry Carf, Ed Gibson and Bill Pogue rendezvous with the orbiting Skytab today. "Oh, you won't hear anything about It for a while, but there are men from other planets up on Skylab right now," says Reeves, best known, as the man claims to have' beaten Neil Arm strong to the moon by nearly a year. "The other' Skylab astronauts came In contact," the wiry Br 7 'B nr I Jrv Ifi ('" iTit 1 BM9JVflflHB9AvBBBBBBBBBBBBBKT 'tti ft' I TODAY Slot) Pnotot ty llll IIKnbtri JOHN REEVES SHOWS'PRIZES OF HIS 'SPACE ADVENTURES' holds plaster cast of spade 'footprint' nd flying saucer model who lives alone In a ramshackle dwelling, he "built on the outskirts of the Hernando County seaUv'They. saw all klndspf people from 'other planets, and even had some of them In the Skylab.

"NASA knows all about this, but they're keeping the lid on It," explains Reeves; who he. gets his Information from acquaintances with whom he has made two trips Into, space. A retired cabinetmaker and luggage handler who says he will be 75 In January, Reeves first attracted attention in 1965 when he reported sighting a flying saucer In the woods about a mile and a half from his house. To commemorate, that event, he" constructed an enormous wooden model of the saucer In his back yard. It.

Is "now; in a'sad state of disrepair, havlhg been damaged a' hurricane, three vears" "ago, but he says the Alcoa 'aluminum people' are; interested In patching It up for him toadvertise. their, product A few yards from the dilapidated saucer is a concrete obelisk Reeves describes as a memorial to his "ex traordinary other worldly experiences. He has dug his own iomb at the base of the, monument, where he plans to engrave a 400 word epitaph, that will: say; in part: "The amazing John F. Reeves will be remembered for centuries to come." It was iri August 1968, Reeves says, that he his first Journey into space a trip to the moon and back as the guest of a flying saucer crew. His hosts, he says, called the moon "Chachaya" and referred" to the earth as "Trouble Planet." Their name for him was "Sunbeam." vr Reeves returned from that whirlwind touTrWithsome souvenirs a piece of pinch, of "dost he sjtys hen 'rtirVprt Iin tho lunar cnrf4 i TJo tilf? T.

has.the dust, which he keeps in a plas tic Mai, in a locked attache case, but he ik says.some'.rhischieyous boys broke iota, his house and stole the "I offered a J25, reward tor if.V he the boys who took it said, no, they 'wanted $75. Well, I wasn't about to pay that kind of money." Reeves' house, just off. State Road '50. west of Brookesville, must.indeed be a temptation "for curious boys. Besides the saucer and monument, there is a real man made flying saucer In a sideyard shed and, out; front facing the highway, (a sign that reads: "Flying.

Saucer Area, Home of John F. Reeves." Planefs in Skylm wmS 'wmy I4Vw il jBBBBBBSBBMBBMHB1QbSb If MONUMENT TO SPACE he has dug his tomb at base, Inside, tne 36 foot wide living room is a veritable wonderland of Five television two Of them built into the walls; oddments of ragged furniture scattered hither and a sign that advises "This. is a respectable establishment you must be properly attired at all times;" a Happy Hour from some corner tavern; the plaster casts of spacemen footprints; a live' baby bunny rabbit on the prowl; 'a large flag he says' he brought "back from the. city of Therrasle in the state, of Cabec on'the. planet' Of Monih eya, better known to earthlings as Venus.

that Journey, In 1970, was. Reeves' last into space. Het he found the STANDS BEHIND REEVES' HOME designs top is of earth and moon planet virtual paradise where nobody gets and everybody helps each 15 billipn says liyetothe ageTjf ,175 or. more a society that has rid.ltself of such diseases as "They had TV" and radio '200 ago and they don't use Cars. All the buildings and streets are nia'de but of marble and the strawberries there are as big as grapefruit." Despite all that, Reeves says he stayed only one day in Paradise.

"They didn't want to bring me back, but I begged I knew if I stayed there, people would be' breaking into my house. I didn't like to think about that." Vtrtt ft'' Bible's Spaceship Con ve rts i ee By MARGARET SHALEULY, TODAY llotl Wrlir A list of forbidden books enticed rioted author Erich Von Daniken into the. world of astronauts and space travel. Now he's writing books about formerly taboo subjects. Tr? Three vears aeo a sNASA engineer who helped develop the space shuttle and the Saturn 5, rocket 'setouTtd disprove one of Von Daniken's theories.

insteaa Josef. Biumrich aopHed von daniken space, technology to the Old Testament text of Ezeklel PWW.V 4fcJ to us because they cast doubts on' religion," the author said: But he read them and began a study of religions. "I Started to'read the ment Moses, who talked about the gods. I asked myself what is he talking about? "God existed only in the plural those who turn into I asked myself, who turns into'clouds," said the researcher in an "almost perfected English. 'One of Von Daniken foremost disbelievers was Blurhrich, chief of the Systems Layout Branch at the, Marshall' Space.

Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Now, he1 is a believer. "I tried to show and prove to myself he was wrong," said the 60 i iwttfewWAMMi.iiWwfai(rt.jhii,iiMi TOOAV UPI Tt)ott and up with engineering old Australian, drawings vt a craft described by the But his research during 18 months uahmiii nmnnar DRAWING OF OLD TESTAMENT 'SPACESHIP' AS SEEN FROM 180 FEET sketch described in Bible text engineered by Biumrich Hebrew 'Tlie blurbs' of the '38 year old Swiss Von Daniken's, book Jackets tantalize readers with: v. "Did astronauts" visit the earth "40,000 years "Is there evidence of a. prehistoric airfield In the Andes? Did beings help set up the; giant stone faces' thar brood 9ver Easter island?" I yon uaniKen says yesan, uiar iotsof thfe Gods?" "Gods from Outer iSpacV' and J'Gold of the Gods." 'He's "now on a rpromotIon lecture serles'tour In the U.S..

Last weekend 'of his spare time took a twist and Biumrich came up with drawings of a craft described by Ezeklel 2,6.00 years "It all started In the fall of 1970 when I got a German" version of Von panikejtt's. "Chafiots of the God?" and was 'convinced It was same old nonsense," Biumrich said. 'When I came to the passages, 'about Ezekiel, I. pufVon Daniken's, book away, and "took out. one! of my "I told my wife; 'I will show you where he is wrOne.

But instead, Bluiflfich saw things which made sense to hihv chatter one, Ezekiel speaks; he attended the American premiere of his of thennAkv At 15, Von Danikeaiwaslold bTtat length about the structure. It Just teachers not to read certain books; so that T'haye myself de i yiaa a nign scnoai siuaeni wua signep sucn tmngs here. a background And the philosophlcar books were From a modern. EnellsH transla tion of. the.

Bible, here, is part of the passage td which he "One day late in June when I was 30 the heavens were suddenly opened to me Iaw in sion; a great storm coming toward me from the driving before It a huge cloud glowing with fire, with mass of fire Inside that flashed continually; and in the fire, was somethlng vthat shone.llke pol Jshed brass. the center of the "cloud, four strange forms appeared that, looked like except that each had four faces and two pairs of wings And beneath their. wings I could see human hands." "Biumrich has been vth N.ASA' 'since 1959, when" he camevfrom Austria to join the space program. In 1972 was presented the 'Exceptional, Service Medal" by the federal agency; His career began in 1934 in the German aircraft in dustry. He said that by "using mathemat fcai formulas, he was able to determine craft was similar to; a child's spinning top, concave on the bottom with a crew compartment, above.

The ship was 55 feet In diameter, and the length of the rotor blades was 35 36 Biumrich figured. "The thrust' of the; engine would about 280,000 pounas, hot much byour standardswhen you consider the goes Into the millions," he His colleagues are Interested in Blunirlch's Ideas about ancient, as "he said, but skeptical, 'as scientists should be." Vori, Daniken and Biumrich; are now friends, and ardent supporters of the space program. WA is Space Alien Ih Texas Grave? By JERRY GREENE TODAY Stall Wrltir Once again in 1973, man is i'nyading the unknown of space from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. i But did the unknown of space invade in. 1897 when a "flying ship" crashed at the tiny, typhoid stneken community of Aurora in Texas? is the answer' given groups dedicated to investigating unidentified flying respond most of the citizens of Aurora who want to be left alone, The debate could be settled because the bo3y of the visiting alien may be buried in the Aurora icem fteryt.BuMhe local cemetery association has hired a lawyer who is blocking, any 'attempts' to dig up graves in search of aliens.

According io the story which appeared in the Dallas Times Herald tin April 19, 1897, a ship crashed. near Aurora and a "small huraanoid, badly mangled," was, found. In the: wreckage. The newspaper, article said the humanoid was given a Chris tianebu'441. This.smnmer, 76 years later, investigators at the crashitejpund, pieces of metal which they thought could not be.

earthly origin in 1897. However, analysis' of the metal Indicates It's an aluminum alloy which was invented in 1888 and used for cookware. lr Still, something did crash 'there and crashed with sucn intensity that the metal did melt and sink to the bedrock. That "something" may be Jn "the The citizens of Aurora and nearby communities do4iot want their cemetery violated to find out. A major reason for their reluctance; is the uncertainty overvhich grave might contain the.

At the iimebf. trie xrash in 1897, Aurora was stricken with a typhoid andryellow fever epidemfc Two men were paid one bqttle of whisky' per day to pjck up the dead each morning: iii' a buckboard aiid bury. them. are.unmarKed. "This' story resurfaces every 10 years," said Kerl Rqselle, editor of the Wise Messenger, in nearby old timers say.

It's' a Jioax;" "It's possible it was a hoax," said 'Bill' Case, aviation editor of the Dallas Times Herald, who 'has. done coreiderable on the sure' would like to.dig in there andlindouU' i Ji vi f. S) fw iiSS jiUti.