Arolla entity encounter — 1896

Aleister Crowley’s own account places this experience during an 1896 climb near Arolla in the Pennine Alps. In LetterLVII of Magick Without Tears, he describes descending Mont Collon with his cousin Gregor Grant after a demanding ascent. Crowley had repeatedly assisted Grant with the rope, and they were late. Near a snowfield, he paused to coil the rope and rest, describing himself as extremely tired. Continuing downhill, Crowley said he saw two small men moving playfully on the scree below. He compared them with the solid-looking gnomes of German folklore, rather than describing machines or visitors from another planet. He called to them, but they took no notice. They remained in view until he reached Grant, who was sheltering among boulders. Asked afterwards, his cousin said he had not seen them. The NICAP abstract reduces this to two little men disappearing among rocks, losing the first-person context of fatigue, the climb and the second person’s non-observation. No craft, aerial light, communication or taking aboard occurs in Crowley’s narrative. It is a retrospective personal recollection included in an occult discussion, not a contemporary UFO investigation. The Atlas retains it as a reported anomalous figure sighting while preserving Crowley’s actual description and the absence of corroboration.