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From the High Desert book cover

From the High Desert

A Cultural History of Art Bell

Thumbnail for February 24, 2007: UFO and Alien Accounts - Dick Criswell

February 24, 2007: UFO and Alien Accounts - Dick Criswell

Feb 24, 2007
2h 37m
0:00 / 0:00
Art Bell interviews Dick Criswell, a lifelong UFO researcher whose first encounter with Grey aliens occurred at age six on a farm in Wheeling, West Virginia. Criswell describes how two three-and-a-half-foot beings communicated telepathically, passing through walls effortlessly and telling him he would one day serve as their emissary. The visits continued through his teenage years, growing more frequent over time, and his parents eventually revealed their own encounters, including his father witnessing a craft so massive it blacked out the sky and streetlights.

Criswell also discusses his involvement with AlphaCom, a project organized by Dr. Michael Wolfe to bring government UFO knowledge to the public. The effort collapsed when the Monica Lewinsky scandal consumed the Clinton administration, making officials reluctant to step forward. He says the witnesses remain available but are bound by secrecy agreements. Criswell shares the aliens warning about coming Earth changes, though specific timelines have proven elusive.

The first hour features open lines with follow-up reports from the intent experiment, shadow people accounts, and a caller near Ground Zero who recalls hearing news coverage of Building Seven being deliberately demolished for structural safety reasons. Art also mentions his cameo appearance in an upcoming Lindsay Lohan film.

Key Moments

  1. AlphaCom and the Lewinsky timing: Criswell describes Dr. Michael Wolf's AlphaCom team, set up to deliver government UFO knowledge to the public, and says the disclosure effort collapsed when the Monica Lewinsky scandal made the Clinton-era witnesses fear they would no longer be credible.

  2. Two greys on the West Virginia farm: Criswell recounts his first encounter at age six in 1953 on a Wheeling, West Virginia farm: two three-and-a-half-foot greys appeared in his yard and communicated telepathically, like a Bose wave system inside his head.

  3. Father's mile-long craft over Wheeling: Criswell says his father, after years of silence, described a 1930s Wheeling encounter where a craft 'a couple miles long' blacked out the sky and even the streetlights, then his memory of it was effectively erased.

  4. 70 species in the AlphaCom files: Criswell says documents he reviewed at Dr. Wolf's home around 1994 showed the U.S. government knew of at least 70 different alien species, far above the figure of 17 that he often hears cited.