The Life on Mars debate

"Mars has become a kind of mythic arena onto which we have projected our Earthly hopes and fears," wrote world famous astronomer Carl Sagan. For very many years the debate has continued about whether the Red Planet actually has life on it. That it could have is not just an idea from science-fiction or fantasy books and films but is a seriously contended issue and a belief of a great number of people.

The mainstream view is that no evidence of life on Mars has so far been found, and that conditions there are unsuitable. However, if you study conspiracy theories, ufology and the comparatively new subject of exopolitics - the political implications of extraterrestrial presence - you soon find plenty of authors, researchers and speakers on the subject who argue that life on Mars is a definite reality.

Many of the views expressed by these people are extremely controversial and can be seen as downright bizarre by the standards of commonly accepted beliefs about the nature of reality and the universe. But what if any of it is true? I am well aware that some readers demand peer-reviewed scientific evidence before they accept anything, and that most of the claims are backed only by word of mouth, but again I ask: what if any of what is being claimed is the truth?

I came across the idea of Martians and life on the Red Planet long ago in science-fiction and had accepted it as being a fantasy until I read the controversial book Alternative 3 by Leslie Watkins. Although this paperback book which is now seriously hard to get hold of, was presented as fiction its author has stated that it was based on fact.

A TV drama programme entitled Alternative 3 was broadcast once in 1977 by Anglia Television. It was intended as a spoof and not to be taken seriously but this is not how it was received by a large number of viewers. Watkins wrote his book based on the screenplay for the TV drama but wasn't expecting what happened. He was deluged with thousands of letters from readers who basically led him to understand that what was presented on TV and written about in his book was based on a sinister reality. Of course it is worth noting that the 1938 radio airing of War of the Worlds narrated by Orson Welles had had a similar effect when thousands of listeners thought the Earth was really being invaded.

The idea in the story is that scientists had determined that the Earth was not going to be able to support human life for that much longer due to pollution and climate change but they had come up with three solutions to tackle this. The first was to drastically depopulate the planet, the second was to build vast underground cities and bases where the elite, the leaders of the governments and a cross section of the public would go until it had become safe again above ground, and the third alternative was to create colonies on the Moon and Mars. Here the best scientists and other top people from all spheres of endeavour would go and other Earth people would be abducted and brought there to be used as slave labour.

Conspiracy theorists believe that all these three alternatives were actually put into practice. It is believed that there are secret bases on the Moon and Mars and a Mars Colony. Jim Keith's Casebook on Alternative 3: Ufo's, Secret Societies and World Control , claims that some ideas expressed in the broadcast were in fact true.

So how did all this interest and belief in life on Mars get started? Many famous and notable people have made statements that fuelled the belief. One of the first was the genius inventor Nikola Tesla, who received some signals he thought might have come from Mars. In a 1901 interview he stated: "It was some time afterward when the thought flashed upon my mind that the disturbances I had observed might be due to an intelligent control. Although I could not decipher their meaning, it was impossible for me to think of them as having been entirely accidental. The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another."

It was later reported in 1902 that Lord Kelvin, who had been visiting America at the time, had claimed that he thought Tesla had received signals from Mars sent to the continent. However, Lord Kelvin subsequently denied that he had said this.

One of the most controversial people making a name for himself by talking about Mars, and his experiences in actually teleporting to the planet, is Andrew D. Basiago.

Basiago is described as a lawyer, a writer and visionary. It is said in his "Mission Statement" (see the Project Pegasus website) that "Project Pegasus was begun in 1968 by Andrew D. Basiago, when he was serving as a child participant in the US time-space exploration program, Project Pegasus."

And further: "Andy, a lawyer in private practice in Washington, was the first American child to teleport and one of America’s early time-space explorers, as told in his soon-to-be-published book, Once Upon a Time in Time’s Stream: My Adventures in Project Pegasus at the Dawn of the Time-Space Age ."

He claims to have not only teleported to Mars but also to have travelled in time, and that these technologies exist and are kept secret by the government. Andrew Basiago has been giving a lot of talks about his experiences and there are a lot of videos of him speaking. Just try Googling "Andrew Basiago" and you will see what I mean. You will find one interview he gave to Jessica Schab aka Jessica Mystic whom I have a hub about too.

Not surprisingly, with the nature of the material he talks about, not everyone is convinced that what he says is the truth. Some of his detractors have even gone as far as to point out that his recorded voice sounds spookily like that of lecturer, author and conspiracy theorist David Wilcock. And indeed it does! David Wilcock is a mysterious man himself and is believed by many to be the reincarnation of Edgar Cayce, the American psychic who came up with all sorts of incredible information about illnesses, world history, Atlantis and Earth changes, whilst in a trance state. He was known as the "Sleeping Prophet." There is an uncanny likeness between Wilcock and Cayce!

Wheels within wheels and mysteries within mysteries. This all gets stranger and stranger. The mystery deepens!

Laura Magdalene Eisenhower, whom I have interviewed for HubPages in the past, is the great-granddaughter of the late President Eisenhower. She describes herself as a "colleague" of Andrew Basiago and the two have appeared together on the same bill at various events. In her interview here, whilst talking specifically about Mars, she said: "Basically the implementation of a secret Mars Colony happened to only adhere to a small portion of the population, and was a plan instigated through contact with an ET race..."

On her CosmicGaia website Laura says that she has been: "Continuing both the Eisenhower and Magdalene legacies, she has battled dark, hidden forces and agendas in order to protect humanity from larger global crises, including a recruitment to a Colony on Mars that represented a time-line that she refused to go along with."

Laura Magdalene Eisenhower is one of the people who are very sure of the reality of life on Mars.

The Wikipedia entry for Alfred Lambremont Webre describes him in this way: Alfred Lambremont Webre, J.D., M.Ed. (b. May 24, 1942 on a U.S. Naval Air Station) is an author, lawyer (member of the District of Columbia Bar), futurist, peace activist, environmental activist, and a space activist who promotes the ban of space weapons."

He is also Chairman of the Mars Anomaly Research Society (MARS). Webre has been one of the main people behind the subject of exopolitics and has written the book: Exopolitics: Politics, Government, and Law in the Universe. On March 10, 2007, he launched the Exopolitics Radio show and has had many quests on there ever since talking about the sort of subject material he is interested in and presents.

On his exopolitics.com website Webre reveals that Andrew Basiago and fellow time and space-traveller William B. Stillings have confirmed that Barack Obama was in the Mars training class along with them back in 1980. And further that they actually encountered him again on Mars itself in the American base there during separate visits between 1981 and 1983. Obama was then known as Barry Soetoro and changed his name to Barack Obama before he became the current American president.

Richard C. Hoagland is a name well-known to conspiracy theorists, alternative historians and ufologists. An American author, he has put forward the theories that there were alien civilisations on the Moon and Mars and that NASA and the US government are well aware of this but are concealing the truth from the general public.

Hoagland is one of the main proponents of the idea that the so-called "Face on Mars" is evidence of lost alien civilisations there. This face is part of an ancient city and pyramids that he claims were built in the Cydonia area of Mars.

Hoagland also believes that the Martian civilisation knew of a cataclysm that would destroy much of the life as it was there and that they escaped by coming to Earth. According to this theory we are descended from them.

Amongst Hoagland's writings and books is The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever (2002).

Science-fiction author and creator to the Scientology religion L Ron Hubbard taught his followers that there was life on Mars. In fact Scientologists learn that it is where there is an "Implant Station" where the disembodied "thetans" (spirits) can go after their bodies have died. There is another such place on Venus, Hubbard claimed. Hubbard said that thetans are bombarded with images on vast electronic screens and force-fed false memories before being sent back to Earth to pick up a new body.

There is another Scientology connection with Mars. David Bowie's backing band at one time in the early 1970s was the Spiders From Mars. Former drummer of the Spiders From Mars Woody Woodmansey joined Scientology in 1973 and is a still part of it.

One of Bowie's most highly-acclaimed songs is entitled Life on Mars. It was first released in 1971 as part of his album Hunky Dory but became a number 3 hit when released again as a single in 1973.

So is there really life on Mars? After reading all this I will let you be the judge of that!

Copyright © 2011 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.