THINK ABOUTIT’S ALIEN TYPE SUMMARY

RAELAINS

In the Think About It Alien Database, the Raelains (properly, Raëlians) represent the scientific-creationist origin story promoted by the Raëlian Movement, a UFO-based new religious movement founded in France in the 1970s by Claude Vorilhon (later “Raël”). Vorilhon claims that on December 13, 1973, he was contacted by an extraterrestrial race called the Elohim, who told him they had created all life on Earth through genetic engineering roughly 25,000 years ago and asked him to help arrange a formal embassy for their eventual return.

Name: Raelains (Raëlians)

AKA: The Elohim (singular: Eloha) — a Hebrew term Raël translates as “those who came from the sky.” Per movement retellings, the being who contacted Vorilhon identified itself individually as “Yahweh.” “The Shining Ones” and “Scientists of the Stars” are undocumented.

Location – Home System: Undocumented. Vorilhon’s account describes visiting the Elohim’s home planet during an October 1974 experience but does not name a star system.

Distance from Earth: Undocumented.

Attitude: Described in the movement’s own literature as paternal, scientifically minded, and peace-oriented — presenting themselves as humanity’s creators rather than as gods.

Motives: Per Raël’s account, the Elohim created humanity as a genetic experiment and now wish to return openly, once humanity governs itself peacefully, to share advanced technology.

Physical Appearance: Vorilhon describes the being he encountered as about four feet (1.2 m) tall, with long black hair, olive skin, and almond-shaped eyes, projecting a sense of harmony and calm.

Average Height: About 4 feet (1.2 m), per Vorilhon’s account.
Average Weight: Undocumented.
Body Temperature: Undocumented.
Pulse/Respiration: Undocumented.
Blood Pressure: Undocumented.
Life Expectancy: No specific Elohim lifespan is documented. The movement’s own literature states that humans, using Elohim-derived cloning and memory-transfer technology, could eventually reach a life span of around 1,000 years.
Hair: Long and black, per Vorilhon’s account.
Skin: Olive-toned, per Vorilhon’s account.
Eyes: Almond-shaped, per Vorilhon’s account.
Sex: Undocumented.

Other Physical Information: Undocumented beyond the description above.

Special Traits and Abilities: The movement’s texts describe the Elohim as masters of genetics and cloning, capable of creating and modifying life through DNA manipulation. Adherents practice “sensual meditation,” described as a way of achieving telepathic connection with the Elohim.

Communication Type: Verbal, per Vorilhon’s account — the Elohim reportedly spoke to him in fluent French. Some movement retellings add that the being claimed fluency in all Earth languages, though this detail does not appear in Vorilhon’s original books.

Origin: Not named as a specific planet or star in any source. The movement’s account states the Elohim created life on Earth roughly 25,000 years ago using genetic engineering.

Life Form Type: Physical, biologically human-like beings, per Vorilhon’s account — not energy or non-corporeal entities.

Subspecies: Undocumented.

Most Common Species: Undocumented.

Level of Species: Undocumented as an alien classification. The movement does have a documented internal hierarchy of seven guide levels (0 through 6) for human members of the Raëlian organization; this governs the human church structure, not the Elohim themselves.

Habits: Undocumented beyond the creation and monitoring narrative described elsewhere in this entry.

Transportation Type: Vorilhon describes a metallic, bell-shaped craft roughly seven meters in diameter at his 1973 encounter.

Witnesses Reports: Claude Vorilhon (Raël), December 13, 1973, at Puy de Lassolas, an extinct volcano near Clermont-Ferrand, France, with a further claimed encounter on October 7, 1974. The movement counts additional French contactees among its early membership, though these are not independently documented outside movement sources.

Special Features/Characteristics: The movement’s official symbol — a hexagram (Star of David) interlaced with a right-facing swastika — is documented and explained by Raëlian sources as representing infinity: the hexagram for infinity in space, the swastika for infinity in time, reflecting a belief in a cyclical universe with no beginning or end.

Summary/Description: The Raelains, as presented in this entry, are the Elohim of the Raëlian Movement, a UFO-based new religious movement founded by Claude Vorilhon (Raël) after a claimed 1973 contact experience. The movement teaches that the Elohim created all life on Earth roughly 25,000 years ago through genetic engineering, that they have been mistaken for gods and prophets throughout human history, and that they are awaiting a formal embassy — historically and specifically requested in Jerusalem — before returning openly. The movement’s Clonaid affiliate claimed in 2002 to have produced the first human clone, a claim that has never been independently substantiated.

Related Cases: Clonaid’s 2002 “Baby Eve” cloning announcement; the October 1991 letters from the Raëlian Movement to Israeli embassies worldwide requesting land in Jerusalem for the embassy.

Source: Claude Vorilhon (Raël), Le Livre Qui Dit La Vérité (“The Book Which Tells the Truth,” 1974) and Les Extra-Terrestres M’ont Emmené sur Leur Planète (“Extraterrestrials Took Me to Their Planet,” 1975); International Raëlian Movement official materials (rael.org); academic and journalistic summaries of the movement’s history.

DETAILED REPORT

Unlike many entries in this archive, the Raelains/Elohim narrative traces to a specific, named, still-active organization with a documented founding date, founder biography, and publicly available texts, which makes it possible to check individual claims against the movement’s own record. Claude Vorilhon, a French former motor-racing journalist, said he encountered a small humanoid being on December 13, 1973, near the extinct volcano Puy de Lassolas, close to Clermont-Ferrand. He described the being as roughly four feet tall, with long black hair, olive skin, and almond-shaped eyes. The being reportedly identified itself as “Yahweh,” a representative of the Elohim, told Vorilhon that “Elohim” is a Hebrew plural meaning “those who came from the sky,” and stated that this people had created all life on Earth in laboratories approximately 25,000 years ago — a scientific-creationist alternative to both religious and evolutionary origin accounts. Vorilhon also reported a further encounter on October 7, 1974, during which he says he was taken to the Elohim’s home planet.

The movement’s official symbol — a Star of David interlaced with a swastika — is genuinely documented, including its stated meaning (infinity in space and time) and its controversial history: it was replaced with a swirling, non-swastika variant around 1991–92 as a gesture toward Israel and Holocaust sensitivity, then restored as the official symbol in 2007. The embassy request was historically and specifically aimed at Jerusalem, formalized in October 1991 when the movement sent letters to Israeli embassies worldwide asking for land to build it; the request was never granted, and Raëlian representatives have said the movement approached successive Israeli governments multiple times over the following decades without success.

The Raëlian movement’s cloning company, Clonaid, announced in December 2002 that it had produced the first cloned human baby (“Eve”). No evidence of this birth has ever been independently verified, and it is generally treated by outside observers as an unsubstantiated publicity claim.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

Raelains — A Real, Named Movement With Documented Claims

Unusually solid documentary anchor: the Raëlian movement is real, active, and has published its founder’s claims in specific, dated books, which makes source-checking more straightforward here than for most entries in this archive.
The symbol history checks out in full: the Star of David/swastika “infinity in space, infinity in time” explanation, the circa-1991 replacement, and the 2007 restoration are all directly attributable to the movement’s own record and outside reporting on it.
The embassy demand was specific, not generic: the historically documented request was for land in Jerusalem, formalized in an October 1991 letter campaign — treating it as a vague “neutral territory” request understates how pointed and Israel-specific the movement’s actual diplomatic history was.
The internal hierarchy is real but applies to humans, not the Elohim: the movement’s seven guide levels (0–6) govern human church structure and are sometimes mistaken for, or conflated with, a species-classification system for the aliens themselves.
Some claims are corroborated only in secondhand movement retellings: details like the Elohim’s claimed fluency in “all Earth languages” appear in guide interviews and later movement materials rather than in Vorilhon’s original 1970s books, and are worth flagging as a step removed from the primary source.

The Raelains entry differs from most others in this archive in that its underlying source — the Raëlian movement — is a real, ongoing organization with a traceable founder, dated claims, and its own publicly stated theology, making it unusually possible to separate documented belief from embellishment. What Vorilhon actually claims — a 1973 contact, Elohim creators, a genuine and controversial symbol, a real embassy demand specifically aimed at Jerusalem, and an unverified 2002 cloning announcement — is preserved above as the movement’s own record, not as fact.

“We were the ones who made all life on earth. You mistook us for gods. We were at the origin of your main religions.”
— the Elohim being, as recounted by Vorilhon