The Man Who Claims He Lived on a UFO for 10 Days — And Brought Back a Message

Paul Balmer
2 days ago
2 min read

In the bizarre world of contactee claims, few stories are as strangely detailed — or as wildly overlooked — as that of Howard Menger, a soft-spoken sign painter from New Jersey who, in the 1950s, claimed to have spent 10 days aboard a UFO with human-like extraterrestrials.

He didn’t just return with wild stories.

He returned with a message.

Who Was Howard Menger?

Howard wasn’t your typical fringe personality. He was clean-cut, polite, charismatic — a veteran. But starting in his youth, he claimed to have had ongoing contact with beings from other planets, whom he described as tall, radiant, and entirely human-looking.

According to Menger, these beings operated craft that landed in remote wooded areas near his home in New Jersey. One day, he says, they invited him to board their ship — and that trip became a 10-day journey across the solar system.

What Did He See?

Menger claimed he was taken to:

A base on the Moon, far more advanced than Earth at the time
Mars, which he described as partially habitable with underground cities
And other planetary "stations" invisible to human eyes

He said the craft used magnetism and light for propulsion and operated in a frequency range invisible to us — which is why we rarely see them unless “they want us to.”

According to Menger, time passed differently aboard the ship. The 10 days felt longer… and he wasn’t sure how much Earth-time had actually passed.

The Message He Returned With

Here’s where things get especially strange.

Menger said the beings warned that Earth was in danger due to nuclear weapons, environmental degradation, and spiritual decay. They emphasized the importance of raising human consciousness and learning to “live in harmony with universal laws.”

Sounds familiar? A lot of this echo's messages from other contactees of the 50s and 60s, but Menger’s calm demeanor and oddly consistent storytelling earned him some curious followers — and plenty of critics.

But Wait — Was It Real?

Let’s get real. Most people reading this will think: "He made it up."And maybe he did. Maybe it was a dream. A hallucination. A hoax.

But here’s the thing:

Menger stuck to his story for decades. He gave lectures. Wrote a book (From Outer Space to You). And even later in life, when asked if he regretted telling the world, he said no.

Check out his full book in our UFO Archive.

He knew people wouldn’t believe him. He said he told the story because the message mattered more than being believed.

Final Thoughts

If you believe in the possibility of contact, Menger's story isn’t the wildest you’ve heard.But it is one of the eeriest because of how normal he seemed — and how convinced he was that these beings were trying to help us, not conquer us.

Did he live on a UFO for 10 days?

We’ll never know.

But something happened to him — something that made him spend the rest of his life trying to warn us.