Michel Zirger and Franck Boitte
Michel Zirger and Franck Boitte
Franck Boitte was born in Brussels, Belgium 1940.
His UFO interest began in 1954 after reading articles by Aimé Michel. Because
of his acquaintance with Patrick Morlet, son of Mrs. May Morlet founder of the
Adamski-oriented organization Belgian UFO Informations (BUFOI), Boitte was invited
to a lecture by George Adamski during a private meeting in 1963. But he soon left
the group because of its cultist atmosphere and lack of field investigation. Beginning
in 1972 and joining SOBEPS, Boitte, during a twenty year period, interviewed more
than 250 UFO witnesses. During his later years he migrated to France and in
2002 became a member of the skeptic PARA Committee (Belgium) and SCEAU, the
French UFO archive organization. Franck Boitte died on December 11, 2017.
Franck Boitte
When I learned that Franck had met Adamski, and that
he ”totally convinced the young university student I was then of the genuiness
of his psychic abilities”, I naturally wanted to know more of his views on the
controversial contactee. In a subsequent email Franck mentioned he had published
three booklets in French with memories of the meeting and his involvement in
UFO research. They were published between 2006-2009. Not fluent in French I
suggested he should consider en English translation of these obviously important
historical documents. ”Encouraged by your recommendation. I also started to
translate the first of my three booklets”, he wrote in a email July 24, and also
asked for my help with his draft translation. Eventually I received all three
booklets for revising and help to correct translation inadequacies. In the
English edition these booklets were titled: 21 May 1963: My Meeting With George
Adamski (1), The Adamski Succession (2), A Never Ending Story (3).
Because of our common interest in George Adamski and
the translation project our email correspondence soon became more personal and Franck
told of his wife Chantal, using the nom de plume Sibylle, whom he had married
June 15, 2002. She was an exceptional and unusual woman with several UFO close
encounter experiences and two abductions. Sibylle also considered herself to be
a fairy incarnated on this planet: ”Already ”gifted” since her younger age by
so-called ”paranormal” capabilities, she as a result of her ”contacts”
developed hightened abilities in sight-seeing and magnetism she used (God forbade,
for a fee) to despite repeated accusations of charlatanism, help to relieve and
sometimes cure people who came to consult her from their physical or
psychological ailments and eventually assist the authorities to solve criminal
affairs or locate missing persons.” (Email, July 25, 2017).
Unfortunately Sibylle had died of Type 2 diabetes on
April 8, 2017 and when Franck told of this personal tragedy I tried to comfort
him by hoping he had close friends nearby to ease the existential pain and
loneliness. His reply was a joy to read: ”Happily enough, I preserved some.
And, me think I´ve recently found a new one… :-) Being some sort of (mildly
gifted – it could maybe be a contagious ”illness”) paragnost myself the death
of my wife inspired me this: ”Instead of whining about the hardships that
befall us, let´s welcome them as blessed opportunities to achieve greatness”.”
Franck had also read my latest book, Esotericism and UFO Research, commenting ”esoteric
erudition impressive”. The ufologist I had presumed to be a hardline skeptic
proved instead to be sensitive and profound philosopher, a spiritual searcher
and an openminded investigator of the controversial claims of George Adamski.
In his first booklet Franck Boitte begin by stating
that he does not pretend to prove anything about the veracity of the statements
of the Californian contactee about his alleged encounters with possible
creatures from space. ”On the other hand, I am convinced that this matter is much
more complex than meet the eye and it is very regrettable that from the
beginning it was buried under the mantle of ridicule so that it was never
properly investigated while, as is often the case in ufology, there was a
possibility time to do so.” His intention with the booklet is to relate a
personal experience that ”carried a profound transformation of my way of
thinking and life. And in my way of apprehending what is commonly called ”reality”.”
George Adamski in Denmark 1963
What happened on that fateful day May 21, 1963 was
put down on paper a few days after the meeting. 23 years old, Franck is invited
to attend a BUFOI meeting in Antwerp to hear a lecture by George Adamski. Describing
himself at that time as an ”academic knight headed by snooty rationalism” he
intend to ”corner the Missionary of Space and bring him to contradict himself.”
But Franck never get a chance asking his questions, instead he is confronted
with exceedingly personal statements about his life by Adamski, without his
name being given:
”… suddenly the monologue takes an unexpected turn
which immediately restores me in full possession of my faculties : "Take
this young man there, for example ... The young man over here (eh, but it's
well of me of which it is finally
question !). Always without looking at me : "Some people - just
like this young man - have been told that I was just a lousy crackpot seeking
publicity. Let us consider that statement for awhile. Let us see how youngsters
like him become convinced by that kind of rhetoric. Let us just imagine...
Maybe his father is a businessman, practicing a liberal profession as they say,
in relation to law or legislation. Perhaps he is in the process of completing a
graduate degree in business or economics studies while aspiring to pursue
another profession. Imagine again he has a sister younger than he who is about
to get married because she is pregnant. Perhaps the father of this child will
later work a certain number of years with the one who will become his
brother-in-law ... ".
Totally flabbergasted now, I forget my questions. With his implacable
accumulation of "perhaps", Adamski was exactly describing my family
situation and part of what would probably be my future. How can he do this
without ever having met me? Even today, I still have
not found a completely satisfactory answer to this question.” (pp. 5-6) Later Franck asked May Morlet if she had told
Adamski anything about himself which she denied.
George Adamski with co-worker Ms. Lou Zinsstag
In booklet no 2, The Adamski Succession, Franck mention
an interesting conversation with his friend Patrick Morlet many years after
they both had left BUFOI. Patrick had then no longer any interest in UFOs but
told of observation at close range of an Adamski-type scoutship that he and his
wife Brigitte had observed during holidays in Switzerland: "We had been distanced from the group and were
admiring the spectacle of snow-capped mountains surrounding us when suddenly,
emerging from between two cumulus, appeared that big domed bell shaped vessel
with portholes. On its underside were present the three spheres that are to be
seen on Adamski's pictures. It was the very same landing gear, the only
difference being that the vessel did not shine like chrome, but had a rather a
golden shine... The ship tilted and started to rise in the clouds where it
quickly was lost from sight. We hastily joined the group that had continued on
its way. Nobody had seen anything special. Shortly after, several jet planes
flew over the area.” (p. 4) Franck asked Brigitte about this experience and she
replied “Yes, that´s actually what happened.”
Photo by George Adamski, December 13, 1952
In 1901 the
Canadian psychiatrist Maurice Bucke published his magnus opus Cosmic
Consciousness. A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind. In this work he
recorded his personal mystical experience and presented the theory that cosmic
consciousness is the next step in the evolution of human development. There are
many books detailing the experience of unio mystica, peak experience or cosmic
consciousness and it proves to be more common than usually realized. In the
chapter A Possible Contact With the Divine, booklet nr. 2, Franck Boitte documents a personal mystical
experience:
“I have
already told elsewhere that in the course of my life I have experienced a dozen
events (none of a UFO nature) that, even if others who have not experienced
them might think the opposite, I dare to consider as "paranormal".
For no reason, one of these experiences took place around 10:00 am on Sunday,
October 25, 1998. As I gradually came back to "reality," my whole
body was bathed - I cannot find another expression - by an incredible sensation
that I cannot better describe otherwise than one of unconditional and absolute
love... I had never experienced anything like it, and for the religiously
inclined, its only possible explanation couldn't have been nothing else that it
was of divine origin, whatever that might mean. The only thing I can say is
that I wish all my possible readers be favored of the same experience... I was
reclining on my right flank, with my back turned to the window, my left hand at
temple height, as if to protect myself from the too bright sunrays which
flooded the bedroom though the by Sibylle discarded tentures wall hangings. It
lasted a maximum of tenth of seconds and gradually inundated my supine body with
such intensity that couldn't help but beg "God" or who could be
responsible to these delicious moments they would last a bit longer. The “it”
inexorably began to recede little by little while I tried in vain to “hold”
it.... I have no explanation for this incredible experience, which I
immediately related to Sibylle.”
Booklet no.
3 contain further studies and theories regarding George Adamski. On May 24, 2009
Franck received a rather surprising letter from Jacques Vallee where he admit
the mistake of not at the time seriously investigating the early contactees: “Thanks for your memories of Adamski, which are not
only exciting but so well described that they bring me back to this curious and
rich era. We were guilty of arrogance when we considered all the Contactes as
amusing "snickers" or dangerous charlatans (which they were often
...) without realizing that they also touched on real mysteries, to which no
one could escape – unaffected." Franck Boitte end his third booklet with
the admonition that much important research work remains to be done on the life
and contact experiences of George Adamski.
Giving
a summary of his life and philosophy in an email July 26, 2017 Franck wrote : "It comes I am an aging man who has seen much and had had many inspired Teachers.
You maybe know the saying "Where the pupil don´t outpast his Teacher´s
learnings, then the Teacher failed". Adamski and my wife were among the Teachers
I was privilegied to have." Franck had hoped to get his booklets
published on Kindle but didn´t find the time to implement this project before
his death. In his last email, October 17, 2017, he wrote : "Full
starry sky above my head ! All job done, all engines running". In
Franck Boitte I found a friend – and lost a friend in only four months. I was deeply saddened when the news of his death reached me. This
blog is my hommage to a most unusual man and fellow UFO researcher. Bon voyage
Franck!
