JOHN REEVES

The 1965 Brooksville, Florida Case
John Reeves: First Man on the Moon
by Billy J. Rachels,
Director UFO Bureau
From Alternate Perceptions Magazine
Brent Raynes, Editor

Before there was Gulf Breeze there was Brooksville, Florida, known as the UFO Capitol of the world during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1968 I got into radio broadcasting and ended up working the Neal Armstrong landing in 1969, airing the Mutual Network coverage of it on WCNH AM/FM in Quincy, FL. Shortly after that, I heard about a man in Brooksville saying he was the first man to set foot on the moon. In 1970 and 1971 I would go to see him and the landing site, his moon dust and plaster casts of footprints.

Our story begins when a former steelworker from the cold North decided to retire to sunny Central Florida. Born John Frank Reeves -- in 1961 he bought a small house on highway 50 located 10 miles wet of Brooksville and not too far from the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Reeves, who is one of the most overlooked contactees of all time, is a simple and honest man with a limited education. His favorite form of exercise is taking long walks behind his house in the sandy, hilly countryside. It was on one of these leisure walks that he had his first encounter with beings from outer space. The date was March 2, 1965, and between 1965 and 1971 he would have a number of encounters with the Space People (as he would call them).

On that day back in 1965, it was mid-afternoon, about a half mile from his home. Just as he topped a sand dune he saw an amazing sight. Approximately 100 yards away was a disc-shaped object sitting on the ground with four stilt-like legs. Mr. Reeves described the object as a disc with a dome on top, a dull, silvery-gray color. He estimated the diameter at 40 feet, 8 to 9 feet at its thickest point, and the distance from the edge of the disc to the ground was approximately 3 1/2 feet. John Reeves later would build a full size wood model of the saucer in his back yard. It really grabbed your attention as you drove down the highway.

Now, back to the encounter. John had never seen anything like this before, and he moved with caution. As he approached the strange craft he noticed a figure about 25 feet from the saucer. He said it appeared to have a tight, luminous skin covering the entire body. Later, he thought it may have been a robot. The being turned suddenly around and started moving toward John, pulling from its side a small square object, similar to a camera. The being held the device at chin-level, then pushed a button that caused an extremely bright flash. Mr. Reeves attempted to run away, but tripped over a bush and lost his glasses. Lying on the ground, he watched the being as it picked up the glasses and gave them to him. (!) By this time, John was quite upset. As the being made its way back to the ship, it dropped two pieces of paper onto the ground, then entered the object via a slat-like stairway on the underside. Mr. Reeves then described something that he will never, ever forget. The Saucer began rotating counterclockwise, slowly at first, then faster as it rose gradually and finally left the area at a high rate of speed.

Sometime later, he took the thin papers with what appeared to be writing on it to the local radio station. They interviewed him, and then called the Air Force. The Air Force confiscated the papers, and several weeks returned to him a different type of paper with no writing on it of any kind.

The local sheriff and newspaper editor said they found Mr. Reeves to be a normal, sincere and honest man. After some more sightings were made in the area -- one being very low-level -- the Air Force brought in some high-ranking officers and some special equipment, then closed off the entire area to everyone, including the sheriff and members of his staff. The Air Force later declared the sighting a hoax.

Mr. Reeves would have more sightings and contacts with the Space People. His most outstanding took place on August 6, 1968, almost a full year before Neal Armstrong landed on the Moon. Responding to an unexplainable urge to go to the same part of the woods where he had encountered the saucer, he saw the same type of ship, and met with the Space People for several hours. He asked them all types of questions. He said they spoke English, as well as other languages. They told him their ships were made of a super strong substance, much stronger than steel but lightweight like aluminum. He went on to describe the beings as beautiful, slim, tall, with smooth skin and features similar to Orientals, but only slightly. They wore tight-fitting, one piece jumpsuits, and appeared to be in their 30s, though they claimed to be much older. The Space People asked him if he would like to take a trip to the Moon. John quickly said yes, as he felt he could trust them.

The entire trip (there and back) took a little over six hours. They landed on the dark side of the Moon, where he found their base enclosed in a large, transparent dome, under which he was able to walk comfortably in his short-sleeved shirt. Let me point out that in the last couple of years, Richard Hoagland claims to have found similar structures in NASA Moon photos.

Needless to say, being the first Earthman on the Moon, Mr. Reeves' eyes almost popped out of his head. Realizing he would need proof of his trip, he reached down and scooped up some dark gray lunar dust into a medicine bottle, and picked up an approximately softball-size crystal. Later, when he talked to scientists about his trip, he told them that the Earth was more egg-shaped than round, and that you could see light clouds on the Moon. He did not show them the dust or rock because he feared they would take his samples and never return them.

One year later, as Neal Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the Moon, he said, "The surface of the Moon ranges from chalky gray to much darker. The ground is covered in a gray dust ranging from very finely granulated to larger glasslike beads very much like earth coal." He also said you could see light clouds off in the distance, coming together, but quickly breaking up. On their trip back, they noted that the Earth was more egg-shaped than round.

I saw the dust. It was much finer than coal dust. I also looked in a book on all types of rocks and could not find anything that matched the crystal that John had let me hold, though he would not give me a sample. He kept the dust and the crystal under heavy lock and key. He would show them to almost no one, and I had to beg to see them. He also showed me a duplicate of a flag he had from their world, saying he had the real one in a safe deposit box (I never found out if that was true). The Space People told John that their home planet was called Moniheya. It was 32,000 miles around, with 30 countries, total population 15 billion.

In September 1972, the sandy deserted hills where John loved to walk and meet with the Space People were no more. Developers began removing trees and flattening hills to make way for a mobile home park. And, yes, someone does have that original landing site in their front yard.

Mr. John Reeves is now deceased, but his claim to be the First Earthman on the Moon will live forever in the hearts of researchers like myself.

EDITOR'S NOTE: (Brent Raynes) Back between 1969 and 1975, I made several sojourns to Brooksville. I met with locals, like Ramona Hibner and Eula Lewis, and heard all kinds of fascinating tales of UFOs, aliens, and Bigfoots. And, of course, I met John Reeves at his home. It was a circus. People came by while I was there, and Mr. Reeves told his story to them as he told it to me. He didn't seem to tire of telling his story over and over. He took people around his property to see a curious monument he had constructed to the Space People. Nearby was the Saucer replica that Mr. Reeves had constructed, as mentioned in the above article.

Mr. Reeves was a very nice and open man. He really did seem to believe his own stories. Ramona felt that he had been "programmed" though with certain memories by an alien intelligence, and that his memories and experiences could not be trusted as objective evidence of what actually transpired during his "encounters." And, of course, over the years details might become embellished and distorted with the frequent retelling.

Nevertheless, Brooksville indeed used to be the UFO Capitol of the Saucer World, and John Reeves was its resident Contactee celebrity!