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Charles Hall and the Tall White ETs
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Charles Hall's Millennial Hospitality book series, describing his encounters with a race of
human-like extraterrestrials – the “Tall Whites” (TW) - during a two year duty
assignment at Nellis Air Force Base from 1965 to 1967, is a story with tremendous visual
impact. Situated on Nevada's vast Desert National Wildlife Range, a scenic wilderness
containing almost no artificial structures, the Nellis Ranges consist of almost nothing but
breathtaking scenery. This is the backdrop against which Hall's story plays out. Every event he describes can be said to consist of the same basic elements: the landscape, the weather, the people (humans and humanoids), the craft, sometimes the weather shacks... the occasional glimpse of a hangar door and, believe it or not, the TW children's playgrounds. The story cries out for visuals of these elements. Yet it was not possible for Hall to provide us with anything other than his memories. Visuals would have had value beyond the esthetic: they also would have demonstrated the feasibility of some of the things Hall describes. For example, he writes that he was able to view the Tall Whites' main hangar entrance high in the mountains 30 miles north of his Range 3 theodolite position on the desert floor. A photograph of that unlikely view would have helped to support the story. Twenty years after his discharge from the Air Force, Hall began writing down his experiences, and after another twenty years, published them – at first presenting his books as works of fiction. Had he never reversed himself and begun claiming them to be true stories albeit slightly modified to protect the identities of some of the characters, there would have been no point in going back and trying to reconstruct the events as they took place on the ground. When he was writing his stories, he did not know that it might be possible to reconstruct how they fitted into the landscape and in that way test the possibility of what he claimed to have viewed. He did not know that high resolution elevation data and satellite imagery of the Nellis ranges would ever be made available to the public, or that software capable of rendering photorealistic images from the raw data would be widely available. And yet, these things have come to pass, and this makes it possible to create realistic illustrations and even a video animation of at least one element of his story: the landscape in which it takes place. I first began experimenting with the geological data, the satellite images, and landscape rendering software in late 2004, hoping to have a first look at “geometric feasibility” and to add interest to Hall's narrative. The results were successful on both counts. In each instance, the views described by Hall turned out to be confirmed by the graphic renderings. And the images were pleasing and even dramatic to look at.
One unexpected benefit from this work has been the opportunity it has given Charles Hall
to relive his old experiences through viewing these illustrations. Here is what he wrote in
an e-mail after having been shown the report as a work-in-progress: But what of the other elements that we would like to have: weather, people, spacecrafts, and structures? Here we are dependent on what Charles Hall remembers and is willing to help us recreate in terms of drawings and verbal descriptions. He has supplied two sketches of spacecraft shapes, and from this a graphic model has been developed. This is included in the report. Weather and lighting conditions are amply described in his books where relevant, and it has been possible to recreate that aspect in the landscape renderings. Hall also describes the weather shacks in some detail, and they do play a role in his experiences. I have elected not to take on the task of rendering architecture in the present report, however, as this would require significant additional effort, and it remains to be seen if there will any interest in it. As to the rest, we can hope that this report itself will stimulate Hall's memories to the extent that he will be able to contribute more information that can be included in future updates.
Airman First Class Charles James HallNellis Air Force Base with its associated "restricted ranges" occupies more than 5000 square miles of southern and central Nevada desert. Nellis is a vast military reservation, home of "top gun" flight training, exotic and leading-edge R&D projects. To the civilian airman, Nellis lies under restricted airspace, which makes it in effect a "no-fly zone". To the rest of us, it is a no-man's land, a blank spot on the map, a black hole out of which no information may come.
![]() That is, no information is supposed to come, although fabulous stories have emerged over the years. Recently there has been a new one, told by a one-time air force weather observer whose assigned duty took him to a desolate outpost on the ranges of Indian Springs AF Auxiliary Field, ninety miles northwest of Nellis AFB proper, for extended periods between 1965 and 1967. Today Charles James Hall is an information technology specialist, actively employed in Albuquerqe, NM. In 1965-66, Airman First Class Charles Hall was Range Weather Observer for several gunnery ranges. There was nothing at all exotic about his official duty assignment, and that is what makes it possible for this story to be told today. Hall's job was to release and track weather balloons, measure the "winds aloft", and call in reports to Nellis. What was unique about his situation was that as he was performing his weather observing duties, he was almost continuously surrounded by a group of extraterrestrials observing him. Tall, white-skinned – Hall eventually dubbed them “the Tall Whites” - somewhat human-looking but clearly not of any known Earthly race of human, the beings would be found in his weather shacks, all over his equipment, even watching him shower in his (otherwise-deserted) barracks, coming and going with complete freedom. This curious feature of his work was apparently never directly discussed with his superiors. Did they know? Of course they did, and they let Hall know that every person who had previously held that assignment had been seriously attacked or at least warned away on threat of death. Over a period of seven years, at least 41 weather observers had been compromised while trying to perform their duties on the Nellis ranges. Some had required hospitalization and were given medical discharges from the air force, and some had been killed. One of them actually deserted the air force and moved away from the area. His buddies covered for him until the day of his actual discharge, when he showed up to sign the papers. On one occasion the beings even turned on Hall without warning, grievously wounding him in the neck, and leaving him to bleed his life away in the desert dust. In that desperate situation, alone and miles from any human help, Hall found a way to save his own life by using his body weight to press his wound against the soft earth, stemming the flow.
A comment by Dr. Michael Salla from his Prepare4Contact Yahoo Group (April 2, 2005): Showing talent for being a survivor, Hall was eventually told he could have that lonely job on the ranges as long as he wanted, and was offered an officer track through the Air Force Academy and and an eventual permanent assignment as Nellis Range commander (with time out for other career-enhancing assignments). Hall's experiences were never classified but his orders were highly classified. The reason for this mysterious arrangement is novel and highly surprising. Hall's own explanation is provided under Correspondence in the sidebar at the right -- but it would be best to read the rest of this page before looking at that, because you will then be able to appreciate how it actually adds consistency to his story. Hall's experience with the extraterrestrials at Nellis / Indian Springs is too long and complex to be told here. He has published the complete chronicle in his Millennial Hospitality quartet. Follow the link for access to excerpts at the publisher's website. Additional links to online pages containing research reports, a radio interview, and other material are provided in the sidebar at the right. The first three books were presented as fiction, and Hall went to great lengths to fictionalize the locale as well as names of the characters, including his own. However in the fourth book of the series, and in current interviews, Hall now acknowledges that the events described in the books are otherwise factual. To "decode" the story as told in the first three books, simply apply the following:
Salient Characteristics of the Tall White ETsHall has described these beings as tall - ranging upwards of 6-7 feet in height - and quite thin and frail. The skin color is chalk white. They are physically different from us in several noticeable ways, yet the most important physical aspect is that they are humanoid, a fact that is filled with significance.Their life span is about ten times ours. They do not age as we do, but after around 400 earth years' time they undergo a second stage of growth, eventually reaching around nine feet in height. They die of organ failure at an age of approximately 800 years. According to exobiologists, extraterrestrials are not supposed to resemble us, as they should have developed independently via natural selection with randomness and varying environments leading to innumerable "genetic" paths. On the other hand, some scientists speculate that there will be resemblances due to the universal utility of various aspects of the human form (i.e., what's good for us should be good for everyone). Meanwhile, a number of encounters known in the "UFO" field are with entities that can look quite human - so much so that a deep connection simply has to exist. The present case is one of these. (See Appendix 2.) The Tall Whites have a physical form similar to ours in all gross aspects. That is, they are upright bipedal vertebrates; they have human-like faces, etc. With suitable clothing, they can and do pass as humans during well-guarded forays into Las Vegas. Their life span is about ten times ours. They do not age as we do, but after around 400 earth years' time they begin a second stage of growth, eventually reaching around nine feet in height. They die of organ failure at an age of approximately 800 years. The Tall Whites have the faculty of speech, but some of their speech sounds are outside the audible spectrum for humans. In other words, we can't hear the sounds. Normal speech sounds “like a dog barking or a meadowlark singing”. However, some Tall Whites can mimic human speech and in fact carry on normal conversations with humans. Some have demonstrated an ability to imitate specific humans so well that the imitation cannot be detected when used over a telephone. They also can use a device that projects speech so that it is heard by humans within their head. This works only over a short range (several feet) and requires the human to turn the head sideways to the Tall White. The device is also a language translator. According to its settings from time to time, Hall was occasionally able to overhear Tall Whites conversing among themselves as though they were speaking English. As stated, there was a pattern of confrontations with our personnel, in which panic led to injury and death of our soldiers. These beings are all well-armed, and they can and do kill, sometimes at the tiniest provocation. They react and move much more rapidly than humans can, so if they decide you have threatened them, you may be cut down and bleeding out without having even been warned. Every Tall White adult carries a pencil-like weapon that can be set to stun, kill, immobilize, or "hypnotize" humans. It can also administer severe pain, and they frequently use it to discipline people who act in ways that annoy, frighten, or endanger them. The weapon's actions and effects are accomplished by varying the frequency of focused microwaves to interact with specific ions in the human body. Although they can be friendly, they are at times arrogant and insulting. They appear to be sensitive to our social structures (i.e., classes), for example cultivating relations with high-ranking military officials, some of whom were often seen working with them, while holding lesser-ranking persons in disdain. Hall got along with them by letting them treat him as their "pet", a term they used in his presence. In time, the term "Teacher's Pet" became Hall's code name that was respected among the ETs and the ranking military who were aware of his activities. He was selected by "both governments" to function as the point man in a pilot program to explore paths of cultural acclimatization between the tall whites and ourselves. Because of everyone's tendency to panic, and the ETs to strike with their weapons, Hall was awarded commendations for the rare bravery that he exhibited during this period. The Tall White group at Nellis have family structures, not unlike our extended families. They often point out family members – uncles and cousins, etc., - who are living and working with them on the Nellis Base. They seem to care greatly for their children, who are growing up and being educated out there in the sagebrush. They have what we would call serious issues over "control". They felt the need to control their pet, just as they observed us controlling ours. In all our fantasies of extraterrestrial contact, we probably never imagined it would be like this. They are altogether too much like ourselves for our own comfort. Is that cause to doubt the authenticity of the story? Beware of that logic. This aspect - that the Tall Whites deport themselves much as we would when establishing a small base with family quarters in the midst of a hostile land - deserves much more discussion. The point has natural interfaces with other pages in Open SETI and will connect to the Open SETI paradigm at several levels. This will be addressed over time. (See Open SETI At A Glance and also Search Engine Results for "paradigm".)
Origin of the Tall WhitesA ripple of emotion passed through the crowd when I mentioned the star Arcturus, some 36 light years away. After a short pause, the older lady asked with some surprise, "Teacher, does Charlie know where we come from?"When asked where they came from, they would usually evade the question by reminding him that he would not recognize the name of the place if he heard them speak it. This is disingenuous as they well knew that we had our own names for many celestial objects and they could use them as well as they could communicate anything else in English to Hall. Typically they would laugh among themselves (in their barking way) whenever they threw this response to Charles -- their little joke on him. Charles wisely refrained from protesting. In fact, they treated such topics as being what we would call "sensitive". However, Hall, via the telepathic link they often established with him, was able to perceive that the star Arcturus or something close to Arcturus is very important to them. Their ultimate home may be somewhere else. In recent correspondence, Hall stated: I was never able to determine which star the tall whites called their home star. However, my best guess was a star that is roughly 105 light years away. Hall's "best guess" was most likely an excellent guess, as he had been able to figure out their route transit times from very careful observations of the different craft and their schedules. The date of their establishing the present Earth base location is ambiguous. Hall received mental imagery suggesting they knew the area prior to the arrival of European-Americans. Furthermore, one of them suggested she had arrived here during the administration of our President Madison. However the various bunkers and interior spaces that Hall observed looked as though they had been built for the Tall Whites by U.S. construction firms sometime in the 1950s. Hall was led to believe that they use their Earth base as a sort of waystation along lengthy interstellar travel routes, as though this were the only intermediate station for them. As Hall puts it, our solar system lies in the middle of a large open space that the Tall Whites must traverse between their home location and a certain distant destination. But a glance at a table of distances to the closest stars from our system puts that explanation in some question.
One thing that could be special is the simple fact that they like the climate and environment of the Nevada desert and would not consider any other place in our solar system. Not even another place on the Earth, apparently. It is possible that they need conditions that rather precisely match theose of their home, and we are in no position to guess how widespread or rare such may be. They may, for example, require some trace element in our atmosphere. At this point it is worth mentioning that Michael Salla has been thinking about what the more hidden purposes or activities of the Tall Whites might be. Since we have at this time only the most tangential information bearing on the purposes of the Tall Whites, it is worthwhile for the reader in making his own evaluation to examine Dr. Salla's statements. His Comment #25 (see links in the sidebar) is particularly recommended. At any rate, if Arcturus or something close to Arcturus may be significant in connection with the activities of the Tall Whites, it would be well to review a little basic information about this star.
Arcturus, the alpha star of the constellation Boötes, is the fourth brightest star in the sky. A spectral type K1 star, an orange giant, Arcturus has ceased fusing hydrogen in its core. With 1.5 times the mass of our Sun, it releases 215 times more radiation, a considerable portion of which is in the infrared. Boötes is one of the oldest defined constellations, having been mentioned in Homer's The Odyssey. This constellation has figured in other contact cases. The following image links to a 3-D view of the solar neighborhood out to 50 light years. You will find Arcturus near the top, well above the plane occupied by our sun. As you gaze at this lovely image, ask yourself: Our solar system is the only possible base on the way from Arcturus to WHERE? Note that the map shows only the brightest 10% of the roughly 1400 star systems contained within this volume of space, but most of the fainter stars are red dwarfs. Every G-type star is shown.
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A study of this image merely reaffirms that the geometry of travel routes in this part of the Galaxy in no way makes our solar system a standout choice for a waypoint The Tall Whites' base seems to have a core of permanent residents but also hosts transients, such as visiting scientists. While here, they study such human behaviors as are available for observation around Nellis. TechnologyThe Tall Whites obviously possess highly-advanced technology. Hall confined his descriptions of their technology to brief discussions of their deep space craft, the scout craft used for travel near the earth's surface and around the solar system, a weapon that they always carried, and special suits that afforded them limited levitation and also a defensive force field.Brief descriptions of the deep space and scout crafts are scattered throughout Millennial Hospitality. From those descriptions and some private communication with Charles Hall, simple details of the two types of craft have been provided in the following table and figure.
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