Can an extraterrestrial be a soulmate? In the summer of 1952, among the scorching sands of Mormon Mesa, Nevada, night mechanic Truman Bethurum claimed to have met a crew of small men in black uniforms. But it was their captain who would haunt him for the rest of his life: Aura Rhanes. Hailing from the “hidden” planet Clarion—supposedly tucked forever behind our Moon—Aura was described as a stunning, olive-skinned woman with “roses in her cheeks” and a tight-fitting velvet uniform.   

Bethurum’s story is a cornerstone of the “Space Brother” movement, but it carries a deeply personal, almost tragic edge. His obsession with the “Lady Captain” was so profound that it led to the end of his marriage and a lifelong quest to find her again on Earth. Was Aura Rhanes a benevolent visitor from a Utopian world, or was she a psychological projection born from the desert heat? Dive into the story of the captain who didn’t just capture a saucer—she captured a human heart.

Aura Rhanes, the Captain of my Heart.

Bethurum was one of the contactees that appeared in the 1950s and captivated the UFO enthusiast community with his tales of interacting with the crew of a flying saucer. Altogether, he claimed to have ridden in saucers 11 times, and was promised a trip to another world, Clarion, by the ship’s captain.

All of this began when Bethurum was 55 and employed as a mechanic in a road construction crew. Like myself, he had a part time job: He worked nights as a fortune teller and spiritual advisor to chumps with too much money. The first occurred around 3:00 a.m. – a time when a wealth of supernatural activity typically occurs – one August 1952 morning.

Then, in 1953, he began publishing articles in a local newspaper about meeting the crew of a flying saucer. They were from the planet Clarion, a utopian place that, in absolute defiance of everything we know about physics, was invisible to Earth because its orbit always positioned it behind the earth’s moon. Later, he claimed he had misunderstood what the Clarionites had told him: The planet was invisible because it was on the other side of the sun, not the other side of the moon.

Clarion is a beautiful world, totally at peace. It knows neither war nor hunger, and the inhabitants do not have tobacco or liquor. Devout Christians, the Clarionites attended church every Sunday, were about half the size of humans and lived to be 1000 years old. They also spoke perfect English, though always in rhyme. Bethurum went on to describe the flying saucer he had ridden in: 300 feet in diameter and 18 feet deep, it was made of stainless steel for some reason. The crew did not call it a flying saucer; rather, they called it a “scow,” which for some reason implies to me that it was involved in hauling garbage.

The captain of this scow was a beautiful woman named Aura Rhanes, who had a “slender, Latin-type face “Her smooth skin was a beautiful olive and roses, and her brown-eyed flashing smile seemed to make her complexion even more glowing. I am sure she wore no makeup, but she certainly needed none.” and was, in human terms, much too good-looking to be giving people like Bethurum a ride. She wore a red skirt, a short-sleeved blouse of black velvet and a beret of black velvet with red trim. So this queen of women was the lady captain!

Bethurum enjoyed quite a bit of popularity after his story came out, giving lectures at conventions, publishing a number of books and appearing on television and radio shows. Like many other contactees, he claimed that his space aliens had told him to start a religious commune, with himself as leader. He named his commune the Sanctuary of Thought, founded near Prescott, Arizona, and to this day, some people adhere to his space-man beliefs. Strangely, he had a bit of trouble with the ladies: His second wife divorced him, an event he claims was spurred by jealousy for Aura Rhanes.

I’m sure that that’s true, but not the way he thought. He also claimed to have seen Aura Rhanes herself sitting in a restaurant in California, drinking a glass of orange juice, but she denied both that she was the captain of a spaceship and that she knew Bethurum. I am certain that this also happened, but that the woman’s refusal to talk to this guy was based on, shall we say, purely human considerations. He also hired a secretary solely because, according to him, the woman looked a lot like Aura Rhanes, and I’ve got to believe that may have been the crappiest job of all time. I mean, talk about a boss with expectations that are a little too high.

This post chronicles the series of 11 contacts Bethurum allegedly had with the Clarionites. Unlike the clinical abductions of later decades, these were “social” visits where Bethurum was invited aboard the Admiral’s Scow (their 300-foot saucer) to discuss philosophy, religion, and the state of Earth. Aura Rhanes described Clarion as a world without war, taxes, or divorce—a “Christian” planet where everyone lived in harmony.  

The article highlights the human cost of Bethurum’s claims. His first wife, Mary, famously named Aura Rhanes as the “co-respondent” in their divorce papers, claiming Truman was in love with an alien. Bethurum’s later years were spent hiring secretaries who resembled Aura and even marrying his third wife at a UFO convention at Giant Rock. We explore the “Clarion” mystery—a planet that physics says cannot exist behind the Moon—and how Bethurum’s “unimaginative sincerity” made him one of the most beloved, yet ridiculed, figures of the Golden Age of Flying Saucers.