Visual courtesy of Elizabeth Fuire // @liz.fuire

When a musician disappears off the face of the Earth and leaves behind an album titled “U.F.O.,” some may speculate if aliens had anything to do with it. Such is the case for 1970s psych-folk rocker, Jim Sullivan.

On his 1969 album, “U.F.O.,” Sullivan sings about failing to earn money, experiences buying psychedelics from a “magic man”, and attending his brother's open-casket funeral. However, “U.F.O.’s” central theme is undoubtedly the supernatural.

On “Whistle Stop”, Sullivan meets a lover from a past life who can hear what he’s thinking. He asks if anyone else can relate to telepathically communicating with someone they’ve never met before. On the title track “U.F.O.”, Sullivan remembers Christ coming to Earth via U.F.O. He stares into the sun and waits for Christ’s second coming. On “Highways”, Sullivan feels lost and tired, so he stops and lays down where he is. He insists that he can make his own reality by sitting down and resisting life’s ‘highways’.

With “U.F.O.” dropping the same year as “Abbey Road”, “Led Zeppelin II”, and Woodstock, it didn't reach the acclaim or audiences Sullivan had hoped for. This, compiled with the release of another album to similar sales, “Jim Sullivan” in 1973, he was looking for a change. Sullivan felt like if he was going to find success, it wasn’t going to be in Los Angeles. In 1975, he planned to leave his wife and kids in Los Angeles and go to Nashville - but he ended up only doing the former.

The rest of Sullivan’s story comes from letters written by his wife, Barbara, before her passing. Days after leaving for Nashville, she received a call from Jim where he spoke ambiguously. When Barbara asked what Jim meant, he said “You wouldn’t believe if I told you.” The next few days, there was no communication between Jim and Barbara.

The only known information from that point on is:

1. Jim Sullivan got pulled over by police and passed a sobriety test

2. Jim Sullivan checked into the La Mesa Motel which authorities said he never slept in

3. Jim Sullivan was never seen again

Jim Sullivan’s Volkswagen bug was recovered in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. In it was his ID, his 12 string guitar, and a box of his two albums. Locals disagree about whether the investigation following Sullivan’s disappearance was thorough or not. Regardless, people began forming their own theories as to what happened. Some believe he was suicidal while others suspect a drug deal went south. Barbara Sullivan accepted the most common explanation; her husband was abducted by extraterrestrials.

“U.F.O.” and the Supernatural Story of Jim Sullivan