GENESEO — E.D. Janzen believed in the existence of visitors from other planets — visitors who came to earth not to frighten humans, but to warn them of the dangers of the atomic bomb.

In many ways, Doc Janzen — as he was called by his patients — was a product of his time.

His interest in space travel coincided with the testing and other scientific advancements of the atomic age. “It’s an American kind of thing,” is the way local rancher and historian Jim Gray describes the years Doc Janzen and others spent working inside a culture tied to the atomic bomb.

Inside Doc Janzen’s home in Geneseo are dozens of drawings by his friend, artist John Dean of Nickerson, of space ships and other UFO- related items.

But this wasn’t his only interest.

Also on display are several ventriloquist dummies, one of which has a faded handwritten note that identifies it as a creation of Theodore Mack, the man responsible for Charlie McCarthy.

Doc Janzen used the dolls to spread the gospel during his time as a pastor.

“In most cases, everything was Christian-based,” Gray said.

“He was an eclectic fellow. To really put your thumb on who he was and how he thought — he’s really not the kind of person you can do that to.”

Gray became involved in the Janzen story at the urging of his son, Guy, who feared Geneseo was about to lose its unique history.

Doc Jansen, who died in 1976, opened his house and the collection inside to the public in 1964. His will gave the property to the city; however, the museum was eventually closed.

With Jim Gray as chairman, a group of local residents took on the task of reopening Doc Janzen’s house. On the committee are Vince Hancock, secretary/treasurer, Janet Splitter, Tina Podlena, Guy Gray and Linda Nicholas.

Over the months, they have painted, replaced the carpet and performed other tasks. There is still a lot of work ahead, but they plan to have the museum open from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday so the public can see what has been done do far.

Future plans call for it to be open the second Saturday of the month and eventually full-time.

Jim Gray is determined to spread the word about Doc Janzen and his museum.

He was raised on a farm outside Geneseo, the grandson of a member of the Baptist colony that first settled in the area. His parents moved into Geneseo, a town of fewer than 300, and Doc Janzen took over the house when they died.

His degrees and certificates are part of his collection. He was a doctor of naturopathic medicine, which the dictionary describes as a form of alternative medicine that employs an array of pseudoscientific practices branded as “natural”, “noninvasive”, and as promoting “self-healing”.

He also was an auctioneer, chiropractor and hypnotist.

Gray remembers two encounters with Doc Janzen as a child.

He was 7 years old and unable to stand straight. Gray’s parents took him to Doc Janzen.

“He fixed me up,” Gray recalled.

The other time was at a PTA meeting, where Doc Janzen invited artist Dean and another friend to speak of their outer space experiences. Gray, who was with his parents, remembers how tired he became as the meeting went on for hours.

“He was an intellectual,” Gray said of Janzen.“His wide range of interests tended to give him the presence of a odd fellow. A very nice guy, but different.”

Despite their skepticism at some of Doc Janzen’s ideas, local residents have a lot to thank him for. In addition to everything else, he collected thousands of slides and large containers of family photos from the town’s founding to the 1970s.

The slides are each identified — Norman’s mail wagon, the Corner restaurant — by information written by Doc Janzen on sheets of notebook paper bound together with rubber bands.

“It’s tremendous. There’s nothing like it anywhere in the state. I know it,” Gray said

Especially the outer space stuff.

Doc Janzen even had photos of visitors and their dogs. They weren’t the little grey men with big eyes we imagine today. The visitors of Doc Janzen’s time looked just like the rest of us. They were here, Gray said, because they believed the atomic bomb had the capacity to harm not just earth, but the entire galaxy.

“It’s wonderful stuff. It really is,” Gray said. “It’s a little harder to believe today than it was back then and even back then it was hard to believe.”

For more information, go to www.geneseomuseum.org or geneseo city museum on Facebook.