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Considering the Validity of Valiant Thor Part 2—an Alien Consultant for Government Black Ops?

A former government engineer and geologist claims involvement in secret underground military bases, the alien agenda, and a meeting with the mysterious figure, Valiant Thor. Read Story

Published by

Chevas A. F. Balloun

Founder and editor of Gospel Vision, Co-founder of Consol.io and Artifact.tools, Christian, husband, and father of three. His professional career is in design and creative endeavors and his builder-mentality drives entrepreneurship for the purpose of adding blessing to the world. Having blogged since 2006, he is a practiced writer and thinker. He has a bachelors in Comparative Religion from the University of Washington and his high conscientiousness makes him a seeker of truth and a self-motivated learner.

Frank Stranges and Phil Schneider are the two most prominent people that make claims about the figure known as Valiant Thor. What Stranges claims and what Schneider claims have nearly nothing in common except for his name and that he worked at the Pentagon. The topic of Valiant Thor initially piqued my interest because Stranges’ told us that Valiant Thor believed Jesus was the “Alpha and Omega of yours and everyone else’s faith” and that Jesus is “the ruler of the universe.” A supposed alien that spoke of Jesus seemed to be a most appropriate topic to tackle here on Gospel Vision.

My first post about Valiant Thor evaluates Frank Stranges’ claims and doctrinal implications from various writings and presentations. The article ends with a definitive revelation that prompted a handful of emails to me in which several readers expressed their appreciation while one other expressed their contempt. To finish my assessment of the validity of Valiant Thor, this article will evaluate the claims made by Phil Schneider. I recommend reading my first article before proceeding here as there will be spoilers.

The UFO—New Age Religion Connection

The connection between New Age Religion/Occultism and UFOs is well documented, which I discuss in more detail in my first post. Dr. Hugh Ross, who has a background in physics and a PhD in astronomy, and co-authored Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men (NavPress 2002) explains that the more someone is involved in New Age or Occult practices, the more likely they are to have UFO encounters.1 This brief links to a 30 minute video testimony of Steven Bancarz, a former leading New Age thinker and practitioner. Bancarz expounds on how his interest in UFOs led him to New Age religion, before he met Jesus. After thoroughly researching Frank Stranges writings and speeches about Valiant Thor, his language about Christianity declined while New Age beliefs were increasingly espoused. This all begs the question: is there a New Age or occult connection to Schneider?

Stranges vs Schneider

Schneider claimed to be a former US Government geologist and engineer who was involved in the pre-construction of various underground black ops military bases, most notably the Dulce Base. He was a Texas-type, straight shooter. Unlike Stranges, there are no spiritual undertones in his claims, but his most well known presentation delivers a litany of patriotic sermonizing and exhortations to take America back from leadership that lies to the American people. He is well known among UFOlogy circles.

Also unlike Stranges who seemingly devoted his life to Valiant Thor and New Age spirituality, Schneider’s coverage of Valiant Thor is like a footnote. In this presentation from the Preparedness Expo in May of 1995, he speaks for over an hour making numerous claims about secret government projects and the alien agenda, all of which are their own rabbit trails to get lost on. Yet for three minutes, between 23:00 and 26:00, we hear what I believe to be everything he ever said publicly about Valiant Thor.

Schneider’s Contextual Claims

They are wild. Most of what Schneider claims is impossible to verify. The best I could do was research some of his claims on the periphery and then judge whether he is telling the truth about them.

The context of Schneider’s Valiant Thor claims are that there is an ongoing alien threat. Our military and other countries’ militaries have been in constant conflict with them since at least 1979 inside secret underground bases. There are 11 distinct species of aliens, two are benevolent. One had to leave because their world was under attack. Leading up to this point, Schneider described some of the work he had done for the government in these secret underground bases and his involvement in an attack with one of the malevolent alien races during which he got injured from a projectile that was shot at him by an alien that caused his cancer. He did have cancer.

1. Valiant Thor. 2. Oscar Schneider, Phil’s father.

At 23:19 Schneider holds up a photograph (shown above) and identifies the person in the bottom middle with the lighter colored hair as Valiant Thor and he identifies his own father, Oscar Schneider to the right. Schneider says the photo was taken in August, 1943 in the “Ready Room” of the USS Eldridge, a Cannon Class Destroyer Escort Naval ship. Phil Schneider states that Valiant Thor has been assisting the US government “at the Pentagon” for the last 58 years (beginning in 1937 or 1938). The Pentagon’s construction began on September 11, 1941, so there is a small discrepancy, but I think it can be dismissed given the close proximity. Conspiracy theorists may delight to indicate the Pentagon was built right after the supposed discovery of the Alien Agenda (somewhere around 1933) as well as the coincidental construction start date of September 11. Frank Stranges, while unreliable, claims Valiant Thor came to earth in 1957, a 20 year difference.

Oscar Schneider was a medical officer in the Navy and was claimed to have been on the USS Eldridge.3. It’s plausible the man Phil identifies is his father. Schneider describes the rest of the personnel in the photo as the “atomic bomb scientists of the day” and “time variant experimentalists of the day.” Are these people who Schneider says they are?

The USS Eldridge is famous in conspiracy circles for being the ship that was rendered invisible on October 28, 1943 as part of the Philidelphia Experiment. There are claims that when it phased back into visibility, soldiers on board were partially fused into the bulkhead and structures of the ship. Abovetopsecret.com is a conspiracy theorist blog and forum where users engage with one another in their own research into varying conspiracies. One user by the name FearYourMind attempts to verify Schneider’s statements about the composition of personnel by connecting two individuals in the photo with known nuclear scientists. His photo diagram is of fairly low resolution, so I have recreated it below with higher resolution images.

Left: Allegedly 3. Arthur H. Compton 4. Karl T Compton. Right: Manhattan Project meeting at Berkeley: 3. Arthur H. Compton 4. Karl T Compton.

After reviewing numerous photographs of these two scientists, it’s plausible that the two individuals on the left side of Schneider’s photo could be Arthur H. Compton and Karl T. Compton, but it’s disputable. I haven’t found any evidence to corroborate or contradict Schneider’s claims about any of the individuals in this photo. In terms of the personnel, we’re at a stalemate.

Left: Alleged “Ready Room” on the USS Eldridge. Right: Mess hall, the largest room on a Cannon Class Destroyer Escort.

There are, however, some holes in Schneider’s story regarding the timeline and the composition of the Naval ship. He said the photo was taken in 1943, just before the alleged Philadelphia Experiment. However, there is a problem with the lights. Neon lights were not built into Navy ships before the early 1960s.4 In addition, there’s no space or room that big on a Destroyer Escort Ship. The above photo (right side) is of the mess hall, the largest room a Cannon Class destroyer, fit with good old fashioned incandescent lighting. The room is arguably smaller than what is being shown by Schneider. Even if they were the same size, the largest room on this class of Naval ship doesn’t look anything like the photo Schneider displays.

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Schneider's Fancier Claims About Valiant Thor Himself

Here are some of the things Schneider says about Valiant Thor:

  • He hasn't changed in appearance in 58 years
  • His lifespan is 490 years
  • He's human looking with six fingers and six toes
  • He has an over sized heart, one giant lung, larger blood vessels, and copper oxide blood, similar to an octopus
  • His brain is 300cm greater
  • An off the scale IQ of 1200
  • He speaks 100 languages fluently, including alien languages
  • Schneider met him on one occasion and said he was a remarkable person
  • He doesn't shake hands. He is quarantined to a special suit so as to not cross infect with humanity

At this point in the presentation nearing the 26:00 minute mark, Schneider abruptly changes the subject to another government conspiracy. I now have 1000 unanswered questions. If he really did meet someone like this, in person, surely there would be an immense amount of detail to talk about, even if no words were exchanged. What were his other mannerisms? What color was his suit? If he did speak, what did he sound like? Where did you get your information about his biology?

Also at this point, Schneider has already broached numerous subjects in brevity, for each of which I have 1000 unanswered questions. If this were all true, it seems Schneider could say a lot more about any given bullet point. Frank Stranges employed similar speech mechanisms in his presentations: make some wild claims, list a handful descriptive details, corroborate the claims with a historically significant picture, change the subject. This pattern keeps the minds of the audience moving along, leaving no room to think about what is being said.

In the case with Frank Stranges, it was one of his photos that showed him to be a liar. He showed a fragment from Dead Seas Scrolls and made some claim about it discussing "flying objects from beyond this planet." This was before YouTube or the internet. Flashing a fragment with some Hebrew on an overhead projector during a speech was a low risk maneuver to earn audience trust. Stranges didn't count on future people like me taking a screen shot of the fragment and doing a reverse image lookup, only to discover the Hebrew is a poem discussing the virtues of Torah Study.

Schneider's photo is more difficult. It's clearly historical and it's possible it was taken on a Naval ship, but whether it was taken on the Eldridge and whether the men pictured are nuclear scientists is questionable.

Phil Schneider's Death

In January of 1996, seven months after giving this presentation, Schneider was found dead in his apartment. He was found by his friend Al Pratt who was apparently leading Bible studies that Phil attended. The official cause of death was ruled a suicide, yet some believe he was murdered, namely his ex-wife Cynthia Drayer5, due to numerous inconsistencies with how his body was handled.6

So Where is the New Age / Occult Connection?

In his book Dulce Base, former New Mexico State police officer Greg Valdez supplies a large collection of evidence gathered by his father, Gabe, over a 30 year time span, that tells a much different story.8 Gabe was also a New Mexico State police officer in the rural area around Dulce Base and became the resident expert on cattle mutilations. As he dug into these investigations, he unearthed a much deeper conspiracy. Valdez makes the case that UFOs are advanced government aircraft, that the government authorizes disinformation campaigns, and the dead cows are the result of covert radiation testing related to these programs. Valdez doesn't outright dismiss aliens as an explanation, but believes it to be mostly implausible. One potential problem with Valdez's conclusions is that in January of this year, the Pentagon acknowledged there was a government UFO search program. Could this also be part of ongoing disinformation campaigns? Who knows.

Addressing Phil Schneider's death, Valdez explains several inconsistencies with the murder theory and Cynthia Drayer's testimony, but the one that stuck out the most was this:

“Cynthia Schneider Drayer was the person who actually came up with the murder theory. Cynthia didn't get this idea from actual evidence but from her mother, who had a psychic vision [emphasis mine] and concluded that Phil was murdered."

Closing Thoughts

The pattern is nearly always the same: digging into UFO and alien stories reveals New Age and occult activities. Perhaps Cynthia's mother influenced her to find meaning in New Age practice. Perhaps Cynthia and/or her mother influenced Schneider in the same way at some point during their relationship. These are pure speculations and I have yet to come across any evidence that directly links Schneider himself to New Age spirituality or practice, but this connection is no surprise.

I don't know what to think of Schneider. His claims are far fetched and some say he's an outright liar.9 In the end, I don't think Valiant Thor is who Schneider says he is, nor especially who Stranges says he is. He's either made up, just a man, or there is a very small, outside chance he is a demon or unclean spirit spreading misinformation. For Stranges, he's a figure that represented meaning. Hunger for meaning and purpose is innately human. This New York Times headline "Don't Believe in God? Maybe You'll Try U.F.O.s" says it outright.

Since the fall, humanity has been looking for meaning and purpose in something or someone that was created rather than the Creator. People have looked to celestial creatures for that meaning since at least Babel. Whether made up, earthly, or celestial, the reality is that Valiant Thor is a nobody. Neither Valiant Thor nor any celestial creature took our sin upon himself and died to save our souls. Jesus is the absolute Lord, who is both God and man, who is uncreated and always was, and who is the only one that gave his own life as a ransom for many that some might be saved. Jesus is the only one that dispenses true purpose for those that place their trust in Him.

References:
  1. Tarjanyi, Judy. "Astronomer Links UFOs to Occultism." Toledo Blade, Jan. 2003.
    http://www.toledoblade.com/Religion/2003/01/04/Astronomer-links-UFOs-to-occultism.html
  2. Heiser, Michael S. "The Unseen Realm." 2015.
  3. Bruce, Alexandra. "The Philadelphia Experiment Murder." Bibliotecapleyades.net, January 2001. Accessed November 15, 2018.
  4. Abovetopsecret.com. "This is the picture Phil Schneider presented showing a humanoid alien with his father." Forum post by user Ionwind, Sept, 15 2013. Accessed November 15, 2018.
  5. Drayer, Cynthia. "A Message from the ex-wife of Philip Schneider." Accessed November 15, 2018.
  6. Bruce.
  7. Valdez, Greg. "Dulce Base: The Truth and Evidence from the Case Files of Gabe Valdez." Levi-Cash Publishing, August 12, 2013.
  8. Valdez.
  9. Hayakawa, Norio. "Phil Schneider is a total fraud." Linkedin Post, December 24, 2015. Accessed on November 15, 2018.

Published by

Chevas A. F. Balloun

Founder and editor of Gospel Vision, Co-founder of Consol.io and Artifact.tools, Christian, husband, and father of three. His professional career is in design and creative endeavors and his builder-mentality drives entrepreneurship for the purpose of adding blessing to the world. Having blogged since 2006, he is a practiced writer and thinker. He has a bachelors in Comparative Religion from the University of Washington and his high conscientiousness makes him a seeker of truth and a self-motivated learner.

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