Giant Rock Space Convention
Giant Rock Space Convention
Organized annually by George Van Tassell from 1954 until just before his death in 1977 at Giant Rock airport near Valley, California. The 1954 and 1958 events attracted more than ten thousand attendees. Van Tassell, author of the book I Rode in a Flying Saucer (1952), claimed that the Giant Rock area was a "natural cone of receptivity" for flying saucers and that he received telepathic messages from UFO "crew members," who were also said to visit him.
The space conventions resembled old-time Spiritualist camp meetings, with lectures by "contactees" or speakers on the metaphysical and religious aspects of UFOs. The conventions declined in attendance through the 1960s and were discontinued after Van Tassell's death.
Sources:
Clark, Jerome. The Emergence of a Phenomenon: UFOs from the Beginning through 1959. Vol. 2 of The UFO Encyclopedia. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Van Tassell, George. I Rode in a Flying Saucer. Los Angeles: New Age Publishing, 1952.