The "Ancient Skies" newsletter (1974-1999) was published by the "Ancient Astronaut Society" founded by Gene Phillips in the USA. Gene Phillips has been described by Erich von Daniken as "perfect" and by the Chicago Tribune (in an article pasted below) as "an outgoing, well-informed, articulate and often humorous man".
Gene Phillips wrote in the first issue of "Ancient Skies" that the Ancient Astronaut Society was founded in 1973 as "an Illinois not-for-profit corporation organized exclusively for scientific, literary and educational purposes". Its stated goals were "to seek evidence to deter- mine whether intelligent life existed on Earth before recorded history, and to determine whether Earth was ever visited by extraterrestrial beings". The Society was intended "to arrange expeditions , present lectures, arrange study groups and seminars, collect and exhibit artifacts and physical evidence of ancient civilizations, promote scientific research, and establish and maintain a library". The "Ancient Astronaut Society" reportedly had 10,000 members in 93 countries in the 1990s,
Gene's grandson, Jim Phillips, recently helped me get in touch with his father - Gregory Phillips. Gregory liaised with his brothers and they kindly indicated they have no problem with my uploading scans of their father's "Ancient Skies" newsletters. Gregory also provided me with some recollections of his father's production of that newsletter, which I'll include below, and a photo of his father. (I wanted to include a photo since most people involved in UFO research know what Erich von Daniken looks like but few - including me - have seen any photos of Gene Phillips).
Copies of this newsletter are now rather rare. Putting together collection of all (I think) 151 issues of this publication involved efforts in Russia, Sweden, America, England, New Zealand and elsewhere. Mikhail Gershtein in Russia provided a nearly complete set of scans of the earlier issues. The AFU in Sweden provided a nearly complete set of scans of the later issues. Eric Wojciechowski in the USA helpfully filled in several gaps. Rod Dyke of the "Archives for UFO Research" in the USA provided one issue missing from the collections of all the others involved. (A researcher in New Zealand, Peter Hassall, also very kindly offered to post some issues that were hard to locate, but this became unnecessary due to the speed of the assistance from the others involved).
Chris Aubeck (a UFO researcher and co-author, with Jacques Vallee, of the book "Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times") mentioned the following acecdote on the UFO Updates mailing list in 2001: "... I finally unsubscribed to the English version of Ancient Skies after a polite argument with Gene Philips, its founder and EvD's legal bodyguard. I wanted him to publish an article of mine which criticised Z. Sitchin's 3rd Earth Chronicles book. "This is not a scientific organization," he wrote. "We will not publish anything critical of our members' work as the skeptics do enough of that already." I thought this conflicted so much with the statement that "this is a tax-free, not-for-profit educational and scientific organization" printed on every document or letter they sent to people that I felt more than a bit annoyed with the whole lot of them".
Material about "Ancient Aliens" continues to be very popular with some people, as evidenced by the fact that the "Ancient Aliens" TV show has now been running for over 19 years. Incidentally, a quick search for Facebook groups in relation to "Ancient Aliens" and "UFOs" indicates that the largest "Ancient Aliens" groups have several times as many members as the largest "UFO" groups.
Background and comments from Gregory Phillips about his father and "Ancient Skies", from several of Gregory's helpful emails to me:
"The production of "Ancient Skies" was certainly a dominant part of my life for a while! It was intensively so from the time my Father started the Ancient Astronaut Society in 1973 until I went to college in 1976. All of the other Society business took a lot of effort as well, but getting that darned newsletter out each month was a lot of work! And it was only us: Dad would receive and vet contributions that ranged from the intriguing to the borderline insane. My older brother, who worked in my Dad's law office for the first couple of years of college, ended up being the primary formatter. (He would actually type the material onto galley sheets that had the masthead printed on them.) My younger brother and the rest of us would help read through the content. Mom was primarily responsible for folding the printed newsletters and stuffing them into envelopes (with the assistance of our cat).
Perhaps the wildest incident in the production of "Ancient Skies" -- for me, at least -- was when my Dad came to me while I was doing some rather involved homework for High School and handed me a manuscript. "I need you to translate this," he said. Well, I was doing pretty well in French class, so I took it as a bit of a compliment -- until I saw that the document was in German, of which I had absolutely no knowledge at that time of my life. "Dad, I don't speak German! What am I supposed to do?" He handed me a Langenscheidt pocket dictionary and said, "Better get started!" I had to look up every word, starting with "der." (It was an article by German science fiction author Walter Ernsting, who was a friend of ours.)
Looking back, what's surprising is that we never lacked for content. Between the decent pieces that we received (largely unsolicited), and the material that Dad would produce (usually reports of our trips, or, as we styled them, "member expeditions"), and even a few things that my brothers and I wrote, we never had to publish anything that wasn't any good -- which was a lot of what we got in the mail. Now, there were plenty of pieces that I considered highly dubious even during that time of youthful enthusiasm, not to mention now. But the point was to encourage the development and flow of ideas.
This was all happening, of course, even as my Dad was running a successful law practice -- much like yourself, I imagine!
Dad never wanted to mix the "Ancient Astronaut" business with UFOs, or anything else. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the other areas of investigation. It was just that he thought it was important to maintain his "brand" and focus on the Society's core area. He was afraid that the inclusion of other topics, even ones as closely related and as popular as UFOs, would dilute and possibly even overtake the focus on Ancient Astronauts.
I guess it bothers me that there is little to no acknowledgement among what they now call the "Ancient Aliens" people of the role of my Dad or the Ancient Astronaut Society in developing thought on these issues. Erich von Daeniken, whom Dad met in late 1973, was an enthusiastic member, contributor, and, of course, principal "star" of the Society. He and Dad were very close for many, many years. (One of von Daeniken's oft-repeated comments was that "the city of Chicago should erect a statue to you, Gene!" Well, that never happened!) Initially, von Daeniken did not want to be involved in the operations of the Society --he wanted to focus on his work. Over time, though, he began to be responsible for Society operations in the German-speaking world. At first, they (he and his colleagues, all of whom were friends of ours) would publish what was basically a translation of our content. Later, though, the "European Ancient Skies" put out its own content. When my Dad retired from both the Society and the practice of law, von Daeniken rebranded the European portion of the Society.
I have no idea where the "Ancient Aliens" business came from or when it became the common term of art. I was doing other things. I stopped being an "Ancient Astronaut" in my 20s. For one thing, I had started my diplomatic career. As regards the Society, I got tired of everyone hashing over the same material and asking leading questions, but never actually doing anything to test or verify their assertions. It all seemed to lack intellectual rigor. In those first few years, we were all convinced that we would find that ancient spaceship any day -- but no one actually did anything to accomplish that. I attended the occasional "World Conference," including the last one, which took place in 1998 in Orlando. I had the chance to hear from the sources about some of what became the old warhorses of the discourse -- crop circles, the Mars face, the Tenth (now Ninth, I guess) Planet, etc. etc.
I've written a couple of books (unpublished) that are fictionalized accounts of the beginnings of the Society - the creation, the first Conference, and a Member Expedition. As I note there, "Someday, someone may discover that spaceship. But it won't be me."
...
As far as we're concerned (that is, my brothers and myself), we have no objections to your use of "Ancient Skies." The Ancient Astronaut Society, which was the original copyright holder, was legally dissolved in 1999 after my Dad retired from public affairs. No one has maintained the copyrights, and my Dad did not, as far as I know, agree to have anyone else take over the Society, as such. (He told me that he did not want to do that, so I assume that he did not give permission, even though he was still alive when this seems to have come out.) The closest legal descendent would be the organization that Erich von Daeniken and his colleagues maintained. I do not now know the status of that organization.
My brother turned up some other instances of people using the material from "Ancient Skies." We did not know about any of that. He found the following:
1. There is a webpage that calls itself the "Ancient Astronaut Society" at www.ancientastronautssociety.com. It displays our logo (the line drawing of the Colombian "insect" figurine that we thought looked like a spaceship). I don't know who put this together, or whether they're still active. The cite the "German" (European) organization, which I assume refers to von Daeniken's organization.
2. There is an "Internet Archive" that, my brother says, holds over 30 issues of "Ancient Skies." I have not been able to find those pages, and I don't think I'll keep trying. Again, we have had nothing to do with that effort.
After about ten years (so, around 1983), one of our friends in Europe produced an index of "Ancient Skies" articles to that point. Although I have a package of what my brother told me was a complete collection of "Ancient Skies," I don't think it can be complete, because it's not large enough. I looked for the index, but I couldn't find it. It was put together by Ulrich Dopatka, one of von Daeniken's colleagues and a close friend of his. Ulrich happened to be a trained librarian, so I guess indexing came naturally to him! Anyway, production of "Ancient Skies" continued until 1998, and I don't know whether Ulrich did any more indexing. But the German "Society" would know (assuming that it's still in existence). I believe Ulrich is still around. He is a little older than me (I'm 65). Thee last we heard from him was when he sent my Mom a very nice condolence letter on the death of my Dad in 2016.
One further tidbit about the newsletter: I'm actually the one who named it, although I didn't mean to do so. We were kicking around potential names, and I said something like, "It should be something that makes you think about flying, in ancient skies -- how 'bout "Ancient ..." (I can't remember what my brilliant idea was). Dad said, "That's it! We'll call it 'Ancient Skies'!"
As regards the long-expected Government statement, I think that file is sitting in the cockpit of that ancient spaceship! (In other words, it doesn't exist!) I've spent a lot of time in government -- active in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1983 to 2011, and still taking the occasional assignment that they offer to Foreign Service annuitants. Nothing about the notion that the government is holding secret knowledge of extraterrestrials makes any sense. I'd be much more willing to believe that we think that all the focus on UFOs-as-extraterrestrials is great, because it's a useful smokescreen over what really needs to be kept confidential: technological developments and program initiatives that we want to keep secret, not from "the public," but from our adversaries. But apart from knowing that secret technological development does, indeed, exist, I have no direct knowledge of all that. (Dad was a firm believer in the "government conspiracy" theory, I have to admit. But his only government experience was serving for two years as an Air Force contracting officer.)
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Here's a photo of my Dad that appeared in the January-February 1987 "German Edition" of Ancient Skies on the occasion of his 60th birthday, which had just occurred in December 1986. (Sixty seemed really old to me until about five years ago.)
I took a photo of the whole page, but it hasn't come through yet. A couple of points: first, his full given name was indeed "Gene," and not, as some thought, "Eugene." Second, the German speakers always called him "Dr." because he held a Juris Doctorate. No amount of correction from us to the effect that an American J.D. is not, in fact, a Doctorate, would convince them otherwise. "In Europe, he's a Doctor!" My Dad figured that since he had an MBA as well, it wasn't too much of a stretch. Well, I gave up on the matter a very long time ago, but of course, "Dr." is not correct!
He was from the very small town of Sophia, West Virginia, and went to Virginia Polytechnic University for his B.S. He then got his M.B.A. from Harvard University. He worked in his Dad's car business until joining the Air Force during the Korean War. (That's a long story that has nothing to do with swelling patriotism.) He served as a contracting officer until leaving the Air Force. Then he got his own car dealership in Rochester, Minnesota, the only dealership that Dodge had available. He met my Mom, who had immigrated from Peru -- she told him she would marry him if he would become a lawyer or a doctor, and he chose the former. He got his J.D. from Northwestern University in Chicago and, kind of by coincidence, got a job at a firm in Chicago. He specialized in corporate law. He worked for Argonne National Laboratories, Abbot Laboratories, and then at a firm downtown. He set up his own practice in 1971, focussing on the establishment and management of small medical corporations. He continued practicing until 1998, moved to St. Augustine, Florida (where I had set up a home base) in 1999, and lived there with my Mom until they both passed away in 2016. He was really good at law, but found it a bit boring. He was fascinated when, on September 14, 1973, we watched a program called "In Search Of ... Ancient Astronauts," and he established the Ancient Astronaut Society practically the next day. He met Erich von Daeniken a couple of months later, and they were close for a long time. Dad was desperate to learn German, but he had absolutely no facility for languages -- he was one of those people who think foreign languages are like a substitution code. (Once when we were in Germany, he asked Walter Ernsting how to order a beer. Ernsting said, "Ein Bier." Dad turned to the server and said, "Two ein Bier!")"
While looking into "Ancient Skies", I found the following article about Gene Phillips from the Chicago Tribune on 7 November 1993:
IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS TROTTING THE GLOBE, SEEKING AN ANSWER
11/07/93
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
The human-like face seemingly carved into the surface of Mars made news in August when a NASA mission to photograph the surface closeup failed. The subsequent protests that the space agency was covering up the secret behind the formation have died down.
But mysteries such as that formation and innumerable others on this planet have kept Gene Phillips, 66, of Lake Forest and thousands of other people in the Ancient Astronaut Society busy for 20 years.
Phillips founded the organization on Sept. 14, 1973, and it now numbers 10,000 members in 93 countries, including 1,500 in the United States.
Phillips, a lawyer who does corporate work through the firm bearing his name and who is president of the society, also is editor of its bimonthly newsletter, Ancient Skies, written at the headquarters of the organization at 1921 St. Johns Ave., Highland Park, which is also Phillips' law office.
What brings together these widely diverse people, ranging in age from 12 to 90-plus, is their common zeal to find evidence of what they believe to be the truth of mankind's past.
Many members believe the human race may be descended from or was given advanced technological knowledge by astronauts of a higher intelligence from other planets who visited Earth before written history.
Other members believe certain human civilizations possessed sophisticated technology that has been lost and most evidence of its existence destroyed.
Phillips subscribes to the former theory.
Recently the organization held its 20th Anniversary World Conference in Las Vegas and attracted about 350 people from 15 countries, including theologians, astronomers, physicists, archeologists, aerospace engineers, philosophers, clergymen, doctor, lawyers, accountants, authors and journalists.
In his address, Phillips told them of his belief that only the ancient astronaut theory can explain the sudden appearance on Earth of human intelligence.
The theory, first popularized by Swiss writer Erich von Daniken in his international best-seller "Chariots of the Gods?" (Berkeley Publishing Group, $4.99 paperback), was the subject of a 1973 PBS television special called "In Search of Ancient Astronauts," which Phillips saw and found convincing.
On the evidence of his background, Phillips does not seem like a man to be easily influenced. He is an honors graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Va., with an MBA from Harvard Business School and a law degree from Northwestern University, where he was an editor of the Law Review and was awarded the Order of Coif for academic achievement. He is also a former Air Force officer.
In other words, this man is neither stupid nor a wide-eyed flake. Nevertheless, when Phillips saw "In Search of Ancient Astronauts," almost immediately he became a believer.
"What I saw on that television show answered many of my questions about religion and the origins of humankind," Phillips said.
Born to a poor family in Beaver, W.Va., Phillips was raised as a Methodist, converted to Catholicism and has not gone to church in more than 20 years, except for an occasional wedding or funeral.
By his own admission, he is not a religious man.
Inspired by that television show, he founded the Ancient Astronaut Society "... to search for evidence to determine whether Earth was visited in the remote past by intelligent beings from outer space and whether a highly developed, technological civilization existed on Earth before our recorded history," Phillips said.
That same year, 1973, Von Daniken came to Chicago to speak, and The Tribune, which had covered both Von Daniken and Phillips, arranged for them to meet. There was an immediate rapport between the two men.
"We liked each other right away," Phillips said, "I guess because we had so much in common."
Today, 20 years later, Phillips and Von Daniken are close friends, Von Daniken is an officer of the not-for-profit Ancient Astronaut Society, and he operates its European office in Feldbrunnen, Switzerland.
In a phone interview, Von Daniken said, "Gene was always very, very correct and fair. Whatever we have done together in the society and in private, he is perfect. "In the beginning, he was very enthusiastic. He made the organization."
Von Daniken added that in the early days, the two agreed that an international organization would be better than one limited to the United States. Now both are glad they took that direction, because European membership has been more active than the U.S. branch, prompted by Van Daniken's regular television show, "On the Traces of the Almighties," which airs on the German equivalent of an American cable superstation.
For the next two decades, Phillips, an outgoing, well-informed, articulate and often humorous man, searched "for knowledge and truth," as he said, in remote corners of the Earth where he examined, photographed and speculated on the significance of archeological ruins and artifacts.
When not traveling, he reads exhaustively on the subject. His library numbers 2,500 volumes and continues to grow.
"Evolution does not explain how man could have evolved from the cave to the stars in such a short time," Phillips said. "And when you see the immense achievements of early civilizations, you have to conclude that they had sophisticated technological knowledge-architectural, engineering, astronomical and metallurgical, for example. That advanced knowledge had to come from another source, and that source appears to be extraterrestrial."
To investigate firsthand and expand upon his theories, Phillips has taken thousands of color slides around the world at the sites of what he calls the "remnants of great civilizations that utilized advanced technology which has long since been forgotten," in more than 30 countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, Easter Island, Malta, Jordan, Egypt, Russia and China.
The Sarcophagus Cover of Palenque, found in the ruins of that ancient Mayan city in Mexico's Chiapas state, for example, is just one of countless archeological objects or artifacts that confirm, according to Phillips, the truth of his theory.
The 5-ton slab of stone, 7 feet wide, 13 feet long and 10 inches thick, was identified by archeologists as a cover for the tomb of the Mayan king Pacal. It bears an intricately carved picture of what Phillips describes as an ancient astronaut in a spacecraft using hand controls and a foot pedal to operate the vehicle. An object attached to the figure's nose is thought by Phillips to be an oxygen mask, and what appears to be flames beyond the capsule look to Phillips like rocket exhaust.
"Here's convincing evidence that ancient astronauts visited the Earth," said Phillips as he points out each pictorial element on an exact scaled-down reproduction of the sarcophagus cover, one of numerous original artifacts and reproductions he has collected over the years and displays in his home.
"And how was it possible to carve so intricate and precise a design," Phillips asked, "in a culture which archeologists believed did not to have metal tools? It was not possible. So obviously, they did have metal, and apparently the archeologists are wrong."
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