Reinhold Oscar Albert Schmidt (1897–1974) was a convicted

embezzler Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

and fraudster who claimed to be a

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

contactee Contactees are persons who claim to have experienced contact with extraterrestrials. Some claimed ongoing encounters, while others claimed to have had as few as a single encounter. Evidence is anecdotal in all cases. As a cultural phenomenon, c ...

Career and UFO contact claims

Schmidt was born and grew up in Nebraska, where he worked for most of his adult life as a grain buyer and dealer. In 1938, he was convicted of embezzlement and was imprisoned in the

Nebraska State Penitentiary The Nebraska State Penitentiary (NSP) is a state correctional facility for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Located in Lincoln, it is the oldest state correctional facility in Nebraska, opening in 1869. Until after World War I, it ...

. According to Schmidt, while driving through a rural area near

Kearney, Nebraska Kearney is the county seat of Buffalo County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 30,787 in the 2010 census. It is home to the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The westward push of the railroad as the Civil War ended gave new birt ...

on November 5, 1957, he saw a large, blimp-shaped object on the ground in a field. He claimed two men left the object and escorted him inside it, wherein he witnessed a group of four men and two women speaking a language he described as " High German." The group claimed to be from the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

. After a conversation lasting about thirty minutes, Schmidt departed the craft and ascended into the air, revealing large propellers at each end. Following this alleged experience Schmidt contacted the local

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

and brought two local police officers to view the supposed landing site, whereat a greasy, greenish substance was observed. That same evening Schmidt began publicizing his story via telephone, radio interviews and a television appearance. The police were skeptical, and held him overnight in jail while they continued their investigation. After uncovering his prior embezzlement conviction and finding a can of green motor oil near the alleged contact site, Schmidt was transferred to the Hastings State Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Publicity

Schmidt traveled with alleged UFO contactees

Wayne Sulo Aho Wayne Sulo Aho (24 August 1916 – 16 January 2006) was an American contactee who claimed contact with extraterrestrial beings. He was one of the more obscure members of the 1950s wave of contactees who followed George Adamski. Early life Born i ...

and John Otto on their lecture circuit, and in 1958 published an account of his claimed experience entitled ''The Kearney Incident Up To Now: The Report of Reinhold Schmidt.'' Schmidt also contacted

exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour **Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery **Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploita ...

movie producers June and Ron Ormond about making a film based on his alleged experiences. The film, ''Edge of Tomorrow'', premiered on May 28, 1961 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. Shortly after this, Schmidt's 1958 booklet was republished under the title ''Edge of Tomorrow''. Schmidt also had a minor role in another exploitation film produced by the Ormonds, ''Please Don't Touch Me''.

Trial and second criminal conviction

Schmidt relocated to

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where he continued to present lectures about his alleged UFO experience for the next few years, soliciting money from audience members that, he claimed, he would use to mine unique crystals identified for him by his extraterrestrial contacts. In late 1961 Schmidt went on trial for grand theft, charged with tricking several elderly women out of over $30,000 by claiming that flying saucers had directed him to a mine that was full of "free energy crystals." The prosecution called

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

to testify that the planet Saturn could not support life, an experience later described by Sagan in his 1966 book ''Intelligent Life in the Universe'', using the pseudonym "Henry Winckler" for Schmidt. Schmidt insisted that the jury be shown his film ''Edge of Tomorrow''. Schmidt was convicted on October 26, 1961, and sentenced in June 1963 to a term of one to ten years in prison. Following his release from prison, Schmidt returned to Nebraska, where he died in 1974.Clark, 1039.

References

External links

The Saucers That Time Forgot: The Trial of a UFO Gold Digger
a detailed account of the Reinhold O. Schmidt saucer story, including his crimes, trial, conviction, and post-prison life.
''The Kearney Incident Up to Now''
Schmidt's first booklet.
"The Reinhold Schmidt Story"
in ''AFSCA World Report'' no. 13-15 (Jan.-Jan. 1960), another account of Schmidt's contacts. * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Reinhold O. 1897 births 1974 deaths Contactees American people convicted of fraud