By Harold Gwin

The professor emeritus believes in the presence of extraterrestrials on Earth.

YOUNGSTOWN — Stephen A. Graf says most people are skeptics when they
come into his “Extraterrestrials, Meditation and Free Energy” class at
Youngstown State University, but that trend is reversed by the time
they finish the course.

Graf, a retired psychology professor, truly believes that visitors
from other worlds come to Earth and monitor mankind, although he said
he’s never had a face-to-face encounter with one of those beings.

He has, he said, had an encounter that involved two unidentified
flying craft. This was during a training seminar conducted by Dr.
Steven M. Greer, a physician who has also been described as a
“ufologist” and who claims to have had personal face-to-face contact
with an extraterrestrial being. Greer also claims to have devised a way
to contact ETs through a process involving meditation.

Graf uses in his course a text written by Greer and has been to
seven of Greer’s training sessions conducted in areas of the world
where high numbers of UFO sightings have been reported. The two UFOs
that appeared during one of those sessions flew at a very high speed
from horizon to horizon in just four to six seconds, he said.

Greer has produced “a credible body of testimony” supporting the existence of extraterrestrials, he said.

Graf, who holds a degree in psychology from Miami University, a
master’s in psychology from Ohio State University and a doctorate of
philosophy in experimental psychology from Ohio State, joined the YSU
faculty in 1970.

He retired in 2005 and developed the “Special Topic” course
“Extraterrestrials, Meditation and Free Energy,” which he has taught
twice so far. It’s also scheduled for this spring term, which begins
Jan. 12. Jack Auman, his brother-in-law and a retired school teacher,
assists with the three-credit-hour course.

YSU is the only university in the United States offering this
particular combination of topics, Graf said, noting that most academics
have avoided serious consideration of an extraterrestrial presence
because of several factors, including the fear of ridicule.

The meditation portion of the course focuses on developing a frame
of mind that allows humans to operate on the extraterrestrials’ level,
Graf said, explaining that what is known about extraterrestrials is
that they are very spiritually involved.

Free energy, he said, is the notion that the universe contains
enough energy to avoid the use of other forms of energy — such as
fossil fuels — if we can find out how to harness it.

Graf said he developed the course to offer something “on the cutting edge.”

He said he believes extraterrestrials have been monitoring
activities on Earth for the last 40 to 60 years and are benevolent
creatures, not the evil, scary type portrayed in the entertainment
media. Most reported sightings have indicated the extraterrestrials
have a head, two arms, two eyes and two legs, but they don’t always
have a human form.

He also believes they have a policy of nonintervention and are
secretive because we haven’t developed spiritually and sociologically
to their level.

It would be very destructive to the world’s economy if their
technology and adaptation of “free energy” suddenly became available to
mankind, he said, explaining why the global military-industrial complex
seeks to keep their presence here a secret.

He said he believes that there have been crashes and shoot-downs of
extraterrestrial craft and that government agencies have
“reverse-engineered” some of those craft. Flights of those alien
reproduction vehicles may be responsible for some UFO sightings, he
said.

Both traditional and nontraditional students have signed up for his
course, Graf said, adding that it is usually the older, nontraditional
student who is skeptical about the existence of extraterrestrials.

The course gives participants a good dose of separation of spin from
fiction and trying to get at the truth, what constitutes good evidence
and what constitutes believability, he said.

The lessons learned can be carried over into other aspects of one’s
life and needn’t be limited to the issue of extraterrestrials, he said.

To register for the course, listed as Special Topics course number
21953, contact the YSU registration office at (330) 941-3178. Space is
still available for the spring session.

gwin@vindy.com