The following interview with Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross was never published, but she remains a very important figure in my own spiritual development and so I include the interview here.

Q. and A. With Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

By Sean Casteel

Swiss-born psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross is generally acknowledged to be the world’s foremost expert on the natural phenomenon of dying. Her 1969 classic “On Death and Dying” established a completely new way of viewing the dying process and introduced her Five Stages of Grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

Kubler-Ross eventually published eight more books on the subject of death, helping to raise the collective consciousness on a subject most prefer to ignore until the inevitable finally happens. But she also began to broaden her approach to the subject in ways that were far outside the realm of hospitals and the lecture circuit.

In a 1981 interview published in “Playboy,” she admitted to having received several visitations from entities she called “spirit guides.” One in particular was named “Willy,” who appeared in her bedroom out of nowhere and serenaded her with his guitar.

It was thought that perhaps such a long fixation on the morbid subject of dying had made Kubler-Ross want to reach out to some kind of personality that transcended death entirely. Nearly 20 years later, her experience seems to contain elements of a bedroom abduction by aliens, or at least a “screen memory” of one.

Kubler-Ross also had a couple of UFO sightings, though she is unclear on the details, which made a firm believer out of her on the subject of extraterrestrial life. She even cites Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.” as a cherished metaphor for the sacredness of living on in spite of everything.

Kubler-Ross has suffered a series of strokes in recent years, but she was still willing to grant a phone interview in spite of her frail health. She spoke not only about the reality of UFOs, but also about the reality of unconditional love in a world that sees so little of it.

Casteel: Well, I know you consider yourself to be basically a believer in UFOs and their alien occupants. But I wanted to know when did you become a believer? And why?

Kubler-Ross: After the first one.

Casteel: Pardon me?

Kubler-Ross: When I saw the first one.

Casteel: Ah, you saw one.

Kubler-Ross: Yes.

Casteel: When did you see that?

Kubler-Ross: I don’t know. I have no memory for dates.

Casteel: So you had a sighting, and you’ve had more since?

Kubler-Ross: Yeah.

Casteel: How many altogether? Do you have a number?

Kubler-Ross: No. I can’t count. After six strokes, you don’t have any memory for numbers.

Casteel: Right. Well, are you familiar with some of the abduction literature of the last several years? Have you read things like Whitley Strieber’s “Communion” and Raymond Fowler’s “The Andreasson Affair”?

Kubler-Ross: Yeah.

Casteel: So you’re pretty well read in terms of the literature and so forth?

Kubler-Ross: Most of it.

Casteel: What do you think about it all?

Kubler-Ross: They are like human beings. They are both good and bad.

Casteel: It’s said that you’re a tremendous fan of Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.” character.

Kubler-Ross: Right. I love “E.T.”

Casteel: Why? Why does he appeal to you?

Kubler-Ross: Because he represents everything I believe in. To prolong life. When they hook him up to the machines.

Casteel: Right. When the scientists show up and so forth.

Kubler-Ross: Right.

Casteel: Does this also reflect a belief in aliens in the real world? Do you believe that, similar to “E.T.,” there are benevolent aliens in the real world?

Kubler-Ross: Naturally.

Casteel: Well, can you expound on that?

Kubler-Ross: Why do you ask all that?

Casteel: Well, I’m just trying to scope out your feelings about UFOs. That’s what the interview’s mainly about, your beliefs about UFOs.

Kubler-Ross: I have no question that they exist.

Casteel: Do you believe they’re possibly angelic?

Kubler-Ross: There are many, many different galaxies. [voice grows too faint for two or three sentences]

Casteel: So you believe they’re numerous and morally complex, as morally complex as we are?

Kubler-Ross: Right.

Casteel: I remember you once talked about spirit guides who appeared before you in physical form and imparted great wisdom to you?

Kubler-Ross: Yes.

Casteel: Do you believe it’s possible that those spirit guides were aliens?

Kubler-Ross: I have no idea.

Casteel: There are certain researchers who feel they’ve established a link between alien abduction and Near-Death-Experiences, that the two experiences share many factors in common. Those researchers include Kenneth Ring and Raymond Fowler. Are you familiar with their work? Do you also feel the two experiences spring from the same source?

Kubler-Ross: I know Kenneth Ring.

Casteel: He wrote a book a few years back called “The Omega Project.”

Kubler-Ross: Yes, I know.

Casteel: So do you agree with his findings that-

Kubler-Ross: I can’t tell you. I’ve had six strokes since I read that.

Casteel: Well, what are your feelings on the prophecies of doom that are centered around the Millennium? Do you think we’re close to the time when things like the Book of Revelation are going to be fulfilled?

Kubler-Ross: Yes, most of it. Very soon. Human beings need that. They need to be shaken out of their sleep and change their values.

Casteel: You also believe the change will ultimately be a positive one then?

Kubler-Ross: Sure.

Casteel: I once interviewed a researcher named Dr. Hans Holzer who had written a book about an Israeli soldier who encountered a UFO in the desert and then developed miraculous healing powers. Do you feel that healing and the aliens go hand in hand?

Kubler-Ross: Not for everybody.

Casteel: But for some?

Kubler-Ross: A lot of people develop certain [voice grows too faint again]

Casteel: Well, what do you think about the Heaven’s Gate episode? Is it possible for suicide to be a valid form of martyrdom?

Kubler-Ross: Ah, they’re fanatics.

Casteel: Is it possible for suicide to be a form of martyrdom?

Kubler-Ross: It’s stupid. They were extremists and fanatics.

Casteel: Well, we’ve run through my questions pretty quickly here. I was hoping to get a few more words from you. What would you like to say about UFOs and alien abduction, about that whole school of research?

Kubler-Ross: I can’t say anything about abductions because I’ve never experienced one.

Casteel: You’ve never experienced abduction, but you’ve read a great deal of the literature about it.

Kubler-Ross: Yeah, but what you read, you get a lot of rubbish. Do you know how many times I’ve been interviewed and then I read the interview and it was only half of what I said? You cannot count on what you read.

Casteel: Well, in order to study alien abduction, all you have to work with is the stories people tell.

Kubler-Ross: Yeah, and you get a lot of rubbish when you read what people write. And I’ve had a lot of interviews where when I read the interview, then I don’t know myself.

I don’t have a very high esteem of journalists.

Casteel: Well, I guess I can understand that.

Kubler-Ross: They should write what they’ve been told, but then they write what they would like to hear.

Casteel: Well, I’ll be happy to send you a transcript of our interview.

Kubler-Ross: That would be nice. [Dr. Kubler-Ross never responded to the transcript I sent, presumably because of her poor health.-S.C.]

Casteel: So you can go over it and suggest changes or whatever.

Kubler-Ross: Thank you.

Casteel: Well, let’s talk a little more about “E.T.” then. It said in the article I read recently that you felt “E.T.” was a symbol of “unconditional love.”

Kubler-Ross: It is.

Casteel: Could you expound on that a little?

Kubler-Ross: I don’t have the energy to expound. There’s no such thing as “love” on Earth. Most people don’t know what love is. It’s “I’ll love you if, if, if . . .”

That’s not love. And that’s all I can say for right now.

THE END