Christopher Bledsoe and the UFO Cult of Intelligence, Pt. 3
The Men from NASA (Hal Povenmire & Timothy Taylor) Befriend Chris Bledsoe
Chris Bledsoe had several visitors and apparent corroborators who held NASA credentials and were eager to meet with the troubled experiencer. The first of these was a man named Harold (Hal) Povenmire, who showed up at Bledsoe’s doorstep after attempting to “debunk” the case. Far from being able to debunk Bledsoe’s claims, however, “after four years of interviewing (…) neighbors and researching county records, he wasn’t able to” find any discrepancies.1 Povenmire then served as one of the biggest sources of validation for the Bledsoe family, offering “no-strings-attached support” at a time when Bledsoe felt more attacked by the public writ large.2 This was a turning point for Bledsoe, being the first of many government-connected individuals to show interest and belief in his many experiences. He writes:
As much of a blessing the visit was for Ryan, who longed for the kind of validation a NASA official could bring, it made the rest of the family all the more anxious. It seemed the world’s microscope would stay aimed at our family, with all the suffering that came with it. Another concern was that the government’s attention meant that our livelihoods were now in the hands of a vastly more powerful and dangerous entity than MUFON and The Discovery Channel. The thought crossed all our minds that one agency or another would come one night and disappear us all, sweeping the whole thing under the rug forever. (…) Every group that was supposed to help us ended up embroiling us further into a state of confusion and anxiety.3
Bledsoe was partially right, representatives of multiple government agencies did have their eye on him and his family, but most of them appeared to be very sympathetic if not true believers outright. Although this appears to be unsubstantiated elsewhere, Ryan Bledsoe revealed on The Danny Jones Podcast that he was given the impression that Povenmire was amongst several individuals “double-dipping” in NASA and the CIA and had served as analyst for the Company at some point in his life.4 On the same episode, Ryan says that Povenmire gave the year 2025 as the moment for UFO disclosure—which seems to have shifted to a later date if the UFO scuttlebutt is to be believed—and claimed to be part of the original MJ-12—whatever that means. More alarmingly, during a separate appearance with Danny Jones, Chris Bledsoe said that Povenmire spoke of structures on the moon: “There are buildings up there, big ones, and we didn't build them and they're ancient.”5 Such a claim, which is verging on the loony and entirely unproven, begins to make sense considering Povenmire was a guest on Richard Hoagland’s The Other Side of Midnight where he discussed “cities on the moon” in an episode I refuse to pay money for.6 Hoagland—who previously cropped up as an associate of Vance Davis in my Gulf Breeze Six series—is an infamous Coast to Coast AM regular who proposed that magnificent structures appear on both the moon and Mars if one looks at the supposedly doctored NASA photographs closely enough. Povenmire having some form of relationship with Hoagland does not inspire confidence in the amateur meteorite expert’s integrity. Hoagland has been consistently examined as a fringe scientist whose claims suspiciously lack verifiable evidence and who seems to have egregiously inflated his credentials.7 A completely reasonable response to this association with Hoagland is to bring into question some of Povenmire’s own credentials and integrity—the claimed backgrounds of both individuals are remarkably similar.
A detail that appears both in Chris Bledsoe’s interview with Danny Jones and in Povenmire’s obituary is the idea that Povenmire worked closely with J. Allen Hynek at Ohio State University—even part of the Bluebook investigation—but I cannot find corroborating evidence from any sources on this connection.8 Povenmire, his family, or the Bledsoes seem to be the only people who mention this relationship. Whether it be inflated ego or not, he appeared to be credulous in other areas of UFO research: Povenmire claimed in his 2016 book UFO's and Alien Abduction Phenomena: A Scientific Analysis (apostrophe not my own) that the notorious Wiesbaden alien photo depicted a real extraterrestrial from a supposed UFO crash in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The photo has a complicated history, but is a definite fake covered well in one of Weird Reads with Emily Louise’s videos on the hoaxes iceberg. That Povenmire both vouched for its validity and got its generally accepted location of origin wrong is cause for some skepticism. When this was pointed out online, amongst other criticisms of the book, Chris Bledsoe “appeared on Facebook defending it.”9 A review of the book in the UFO publication SUNlite noted that Povenmire “is an experienced amateur astronomer and has done some great work in occultations and meteors” but “is not a professional astronomer” nor has he “received a PhD in Astronomy.” Further: “From what I recall, he did some work at Cape Canaveral, but this is a far cry from being a rocket scientist. Hal Povenmire had also written some articles about the space program, but he was not the head of the NASA press corps.”10 While Povenmire seems to have done legitimately respected work about meteorites, not all of his research—in fields branching away from astronomy especially—is credible or accepted by the organizations he claims to represent. That Bledsoe considered his “NASA credentials and words of support” to be “unassailable shields” that he and his family could point to when doubted is a concerning development—but also representative of when Bledsoe began viewing his experiences as irrefutable and deeply significant at a spiritual level.11 Besides, Povenmire was not the only person with NASA connections to ingratiate himself with the Bledsoe family and attempt to lend them credibility.
In June 2013, Bledsoe was invited by a publisher living in Pennsylvania to “spend a weekend (…) with a few of his authors and wealthy friends.”12 Bledsoe indicates that he was driven by an acquaintance he met at the 2012 event “The Gathering” which was attended by a variety of individuals in the paranormal sphere. These attendees included the aforementioned Pasulka, along with others like Stanton Friedman, Col. John B. Alexander, Linda Moulton Howe, and Grant Cameron. According to UFO of God, the organizer of The Gathering was Larry Frascella, a Philadelphia businessman who has previously been associated with CIA agent and To the Stars Academy founder Jim Semivan.13 It is possible there was a potential book project in the works given the crowd at this event, a publisher and a stable of authors. Further, this meeting also indicates that this specific crew was aware of another personality that would become a key figure in the current UFO conversation before nearly anyone in the broader UFO culture had heard his name—or pseudonym. While among this group, Bledsoe recalls some of the unsettling conversations that took place at this small meeting in rural Pennsylvania:
One of the men posed me a question about good and evil: do they exist? How does one know the difference? What is a person’s obligation to the good? I felt cornered. I believed that good and evil existed, that like dark and light every person had a duty to pursue the good and the light. One of the men asserted that there was no evil, that the universe and life itself was random chaos. Some of them chimed in, agreeing. At that point I wanted to go home. I could hardly tolerate such a pessimistic, lonely philosophy. It went against everything I knew about life. (…) They kept asking me how I knew that evil existed, so I brought up the case of Jeffrey Dahmer. Surely if there were evil in the world, it could be found in the soul and actions of a man who committed murder, rape, cannibalism, and necrophilia. (…) Like the sophists they were, they had a canned response in defense of the assertion that evil did not exist. They said that Dahmer’s victims had in fact chosen to be eaten in their previous lives. Not only was I confused about why they cared about this topic or what it had to do with me or UFOs, but I was also deeply creeped out.14
Rightfully skeeved out by the conversation taking place, Bledsoe began to stop engaging with the others at this meeting. “I myself had been close enough to the brink of death so many times that (I) cherished life in a way these men did not,” he writes.15
However, there was a “surprise guest” who took a special interest in Bledsoe in particular at this meeting. Indeed, this individual had delayed a flight once the chance arose to meet Bledsoe after being captivated by his story in the months prior. Bledsoe recalls: “I noticed that his attention was fixed squarely on me though I was hardly participating in the discussion at that point.”16 After going outside to call D.W. Pasulka for advice, Bledsoe was approached by this man who told him his name was Timothy E. Taylor. He immediately distanced himself from the disconcerting conversation taking place inside, telling Bledsoe that the group “simply could not understand (his) experiences and where (he) was coming from.”17 He expressed immense sympathy and understanding for Bledsoe’s plight following his bizarre encounters, his treatment by the broader public, and the trauma inflicted on his son. He informed Bledsoe that he had worked for NASA and thought that this background could offer some solace to the family. “He asked if he could come visit us at home, and that maybe someone credentialed like him could talk to Junior and help him feel validated in his experiences on the river,” Bledsoe writes. “He simply wanted to help us.”18 Bledsoe, always eager to welcome people who believed in his unique encounters and spirituality, seemed incredibly grateful that someone of Taylor’s profession and status would take the embattled family under his wing. After this point, Bledsoe and Taylor talked frequently. Through these conversations, more details would emerge about Taylor’s background:
I learned that his training and qualifications were unbelievably broad-ranging. He was a genuine expert on medical, aerospace, military, and intelligence technology. As an inventor and engineer he held thirteen patents. His affiliations with government agencies were an endless trail of alphabet soup, though he was officially employed by the National Reconnaissance Office.19
The scope of Taylor’s proficiencies seemed never-ending, and he appeared to be the charming, highly intelligent, and sophisticated advocate that Bledsoe had sought and prayed for. But the question of motivation is necessary to consider, especially in the realm of ufology, inundated as it is by military disinformation and intelligence infiltration. Even in past UFO cases, the recurring presence of NASA personnel engaging with experiencers is strangely not that uncommon, in instances that certainly resemble the maintenance of operational security. Taylor, after all, is verifiably connected to NASA and defense contractor McDonnell Douglas.20 He has claimed all manner of less-verifiable government and military connections since he has become known to the UFO community. Did Taylor seek out Bledsoe as part of a military or intelligence operation of uncertain purpose? Is he a private citizen spinning tall tales? Is he telling the truth?
A possibly crucial piece of information has recently come forward regarding the aforementioned “Gathering” event. The meeting took place in November of 2012 and was held at the Johnsville Centrifuge and Science Museum in Bucks County, PA.21 Speaking in an interview with the YouTube channel VETTED, Gathering attendee and paranormal researcher Grant Cameron is alleged to have first met Tim Taylor at this event.22 Host Patrick Scott Armstrong, frustratingly, does not ask for confirmation that Cameron first met Taylor at The Gathering, instead choosing to focus on the specifics of the alleged crash site where Taylor would later take D.W. Pasulka and Garry Nolan on an infamous expedition to. Grant Cameron is noted as an attendee of The Gathering by Bledsoe in UFO of God.23 However, according to the same book, while Chris Bledsoe and DW Pasulka both attended this semi-private meeting, neither of them seem to have been aware that the man who would enter into their lives and radically change them was also present. But Taylor, if Cameron is to be believed, was already watching and would soon introduce even more fantastic elements into the already highly strange life of Chris Bledsoe.
Thank you for reading Getting Spooked. If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read, consider becoming a regular subscriber to get posts directly to your inbox. Become a paid subscriber to read over a dozen archived posts and support the continuation of this publication. I also started a referral program that rewards archive access to those who share the newsletter with others, so be sure to tell any friends who might find this work interesting. The leaderboard tab is now public if you want the bragging rights of your referral numbers. Email me at gettingspooked@protonmail.com with any questions, comments, recommendations, leads, or paranormal stories. You can find me on Twitter at @TannerFBoyle1, on Bluesky at @tannerfboyle.bsky.social, or on Instagram at @gettingspooked. Special thanks to The Anomalist for linking to the first two parts of this series with kind comments. Until next time, stay spooked.
Bledsoe, Chris. UFO of God: The Extraordinary True Story of Chris Bledsoe. Self-published, 2023. Page 209.
Ibid.
Ibid., page 129.
“CIA & NASA are Trying to Open the Door to a Spirit Realm | Ryan Bledsoe.” YouTube, uploaded by Danny Jones, 25 December 2023. (Timestamp 48:04)
“NASA's Forbidden Alien Study Finds Proof of Spiritual Beings | Chris & Emily Bledsoe.” YouTube, uploaded by Danny Jones, 4 December 2023. (Timestamp 2:08:31)
“2017/07/22 – Hal Povenmire – A NASA Engineer — on the 48th Anniversary of Apollo 11 — Talks ‘ETS, UFOs, NASA Cover-ups … and cities on the Moon!” The Other Side of Midnight. 22 July 2017. https://www.theothersideofmidnight.com/satsun-july-22-hal-povenmire-ufo-and-alien-abduction-phenomena/.
Plait, Phil. “Richard Hoagland’s Nonsense.” Bad Astronomy. Accessed 15 March 2024. http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/hoagland/index.html.
“Harold Robert ‘Hal’ Povenmire.” Find a Grave. 20 May 2020. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/210271855/harold_robert-povenmire.
“Buy it, Borrow it, or Bin it: ‘UFOs and alien abduction phenomena: A scientific analysis by Hal Povenmire.’” SUNlite: Shedding Some Light on UFOlogy and UFOs, vol. 9, no. 1. January-February 2017. Page 20-21. https://astronomyufo.com/UFO/SUNlite9_1.pdf.
Ibid.
Bledsoe, Chris. UFO of God: The Extraordinary True Story of Chris Bledsoe. Self-published, 2023. Page 242.
Ibid., page 206.
“Larry Frascella sponsorship.” Archives for UFO Research - Archives for the Unexplained (AFU) Annual Report 2015. https://files.afu.se/Downloads/Magazines/Sweden/AFU%20Annual%20Reports%20(AFU)/AFU%20Annual%20Report%20-%202015.pdf.
Bledsoe, Chris. UFO of God: The Extraordinary True Story of Chris Bledsoe. Self-published, 2023. Page 206-207.
Ibid., page 208.
Ibid.
Ibid., page 209.
Ibid.
Ibid., page 213.
McDonnell Douglas Corp, Timothy E. Taylor, Clyde Riley, William R. Lacefield, Jr., Harold D. Coble, and George W. Maybee. “Preparation of ceramic-metal coatings.” US5330826A, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 13 August 1990. https://patents.google.com/patent/US5330826A/.
Although talked about very little online, some emails from Larry Frascella about “The Gathering” were posted by exopolitics term-coiner and fringe futurist Alfred Lambremont Webre on his blog in 2013. His invitation was apparently rescinded after he dug up information on Frascella’s payday loan business being involved in a bankruptcy lawsuit. Afterwards, Webre’s resident psychic would declare that the researchers who attended were subsequently “mind controlled by manipulative ‘Dow’ Grey ETs” who resided “in secret bases located beneath the Johnsville Centrifuge.” (1. https://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics/2013/06/documentation-supporting-secretive-meeting-of-leading-ufoet-researchers-at-johnsville-centrifuge-buc.html 2. https://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics/2013/06/anya-briggs-leading-ufoet-researchers-mind-controlled-by-manipulative-dow-grey-ets-at-johnsville-centrifuge-now-spre.html)
“PART 2: Who is Tim Taylor? Featuring Grant Cameron & Nicole Sakach.” YouTube, uploaded by VETTED, 18 March 2023. (Timestamp 15:30)
Bledsoe, Chris. UFO of God: The Extraordinary True Story of Chris Bledsoe. Self-published, 2023. Page 201.