Philip H. Krapf: What Happened? Part Two



As explained in Part One, Philip H. Krapf was a journalist who claimed he had been abducted in June 1997 by aliens called Verdants. He was appointed a Deputy Envoy by the ETs. His mission was to write a white paper about his experience. That project ended up becoming his book, The Contact Has Begun, published in 1998.

Krapf was retired from the LA Times. As he speculates in TCHB, maybe his abduction experience was related to being older with plenty of free time. Why would he undergo such personal paradigm shifts? His encounter changes him from a UFO skeptic who becomes a believer in aliens, announcing they’re here. Once atheistic/agnostic, he’s challenged that by the Verdants’s statement that God really exists and each being can live on after death.

What I find fascinating are the parallels between his normal, earthbound life and his incredible relationship with the Verdants. I’ve never met Krapf and all I’ve ever seen is a headshot of him on the back cover of TCHB. But reading between the lines in his book, he seems to be like most older men, struggling with his weight.

I know, that’s an oddball aspect to consider, but in one scene aboard the alien spacecraft he’s served a meal by the Verdants. He hesitates to eat dessert – a banana cream pie - because of the extra calories. But the ETs tell him that it’s special food, made from processed vegetable matter. His body will only take in the calories it needs and the rest will be discarded. After hearing this, Krapf digs in. (I know I would if I was offered such a wonder food.)

But the major parallel is Krapf’s career history and the special role chosen for him by the Verdants. Krapf worked his way up from a reporter to an editor. A considerable accomplishment, but he never made it into the top level of the LA Times.

The Verdants tell him that one of their Ambassadors is a higher-up in the LA Times organization. Ambassadors are the leaders, the big movers-and-shakers. Krapf is only given the role of a Deputy Envoy.

Editors are important to the function of a newspaper, but they’re not regarded with the same status as a publisher or owner. Even though he’s just a Deputy Envoy – an alien contact worker ant, if you will - Krapf’s participation is still vital. He has to write a book to prepare mankind for the startling announcements that will be coming from the Ambassadors throughout the world.

So while the Ambassadors hide their identities until the proper time, Krapf has to face ridicule and rejection because of his “crazy” book. He’s on the front lines while the generals are up on the hillside, safely out of sight.

I don’t know what happened to Philip Krapf. TCHB can be analyzed outside of the question whether his abduction was “real” or not. It’s ironical either way that his role as a Deputy Envoy proves that someone who only attained a lower level position still carries out an important duty.



(NOTE: I’ve never heard of Krapf until I read his book, The Contact Has Begun. Through a quick Google search I’m aware that Krapf did write a sequel and even had a website at one time. Maybe I’ll write more about Krapf post TCHB. But for this article I’m just concentrating TCHB as a stand-alone work, my first impressions of the author and his story.)