William R. Ferguson

William R. Ferguson (July 23, 1900 – June 20, 1967) was an American contactee, fraudster, and religious leader. He was the leader and co-founder of the UFO religion the Cosmic Circle of Fellowship. A former mail carrier and taxi driver, he promoted techniques of "absolute relaxation" that he claimed allowed him to travel to other dimensions, and later claimed he was in communication with a Martian entity named Khauga. He wrote several books propounding these techniques and concepts.

Ferguson began to gather followers in the 1940s due to claimed cosmic healing techniques, including a quack medical device called the Zerret Applicator, which he sold as a cure-all. Ferguson was convicted of fraud over his medical claims about the applicator in 1950 and spent a year in prison. Following his release, Ferguson founded the Cosmic Circle of Fellowship in 1954 in Chicago, after he said he had received a vision from aliens that UFOs were beneficial and desired to help the Earth. After its founding, Ferguson traveled around the United States and established several chapters of the organization in different cities. Following Ferguson's death in 1967, the Circle continued to publish his works.

Early life William R. Ferguson was born on July 23, 1900. He had one sister. He was a mail carrier and another time a taxi driver. Ferguson described the Martians as being a foot shorter than the average Earth person, being red haired, red complexioned, broad featured, and with the ability to levitate.

Martians were said to be "twenty thousand years ahead of earthlings in spiritual evolution and scientific development". He claimed that on Mars, one could swim in the water without getting wet, breathing was unnecessary, and that the food was simply absorbed and did not need to be excreted. In reality, the Zerret Applicator was made of two plastic globes which were originally from a baby rattle, and the globes contained only paraffin wax, dust, and tap water. It was nicknamed the "dumbbell cure" for its resemblance to a plastic dumbbell.

In 1963, an issue of the magazine Popular Mechanics listed the Zerret Applicator among the "typical fraudulent machines", in an article on quack medicine. Writer Carl Sifakis sarcastically deemed the Zerret Applicator "one of the grandest miracle devices of all" in an article on quackery. The Zerret Applicator was about 10 inches long, and was claimed to contain what was called "Zerret water", which was supposed to produce the "Z-ray, a force unknown to science". Instructions for usage were to hold the applicator with all ten fingers on both hands, without crossing one's legs, at least three times a day for 15 minutes. If one crossed their legs, it was said to "short circuit" the mechanism.

Ferguson's sales director was Mary Stanakis, who met Ferguson when he picked her up for a taxi ride in April 1946. Stanakis then had asthma, and believed she felt better after Ferguson gave her the applicator. She decided to buy one and afterwards became an associate of Ferguson and his sales director. In July 1946, Ferguson quit his taxi driving job to sell Zerrets. After being sold the Zerret, several customers agreed to sell Zerrets to others. During the federal trial in 1950 presided over by judge John P. Barnes, it was demonstrated by American nuclear physicist Bernard Waldman, using a Geiger counter, that the Zerret contained no radioactive material. Physiologist Anton Julius Carlson testified that the devices had no therapeutic value. A chemical analysis was done on the contents of the Zerret, and its contents were found to be the same as Chicago tap water. Ferguson was sentenced to two years in federal prison and Stanakis was sentenced to a year. Ferguson served only a year in prison.

Cosmic Circle of Fellowship

alt=Black and white newspaper advertisement reading: Cosmic Circle Fellowship, Inc. invites you to usher in the resurrection of the planet earth. To the left there is a circle in a cube symbol In 1954, following his release from prison, Ferguson went on a tour of the Midwestern United States, lecturing about his supposed experiences on Mars for $1 a person and attempting to sell items that he claimed were souvenirs from his time on Mars. Included among these items were "brain-relaxing helmets" and "water-float clarifiers". In 1954, he attempted to sell a policewoman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin a brain-relaxing helmet and other alleged Martian trinkets, told her about supposed Martian food and water, and told her that in 14,000 years she would return to her home planet of Saturn. As a result, the police issued a warrant for his arrest on the grounds of vagrancy. That same year, the Canadian newspaper The Kingston Whig-Standard wrote an article on Ferguson and his claims of Mars travel, calling him a "very remarkable man". Ferguson began traveling throughout the United States in 1958, lecturing and founding circles in other cities, including in San Francisco, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. 1967 in Chicago, Illinois, and was interred at Rosehill Cemetery. The Cosmic Circle of Fellowship continued to practice Ferguson's "consciousness-expansion" methods, and after his death the Chicago circle continued to publish his writings.