Riley Lee Martin (May 9, 1946 – December 22, 2015)[1][2][3] was an American self-described aliencontactee, author and radio host. Martin was the author of the book The Coming of Tan,[4] which describes his life and his alleged alien visitation. He hosted The Riley Martin Show on the Sirius XM Radio channel Howard 101. He appeared on The Howard Stern Show and was considered part of the Wack Pack.[5]
Biography
Martin stated on his website that he "was born May 9, 1946, in Mississippi to a family of sharecroppers of African American and Native American descent".[6] He claimed he was first visited by aliens in November 1953, near the St. Francis River while living in Arkansas.[7]
Martin characterized his interaction with the aliens as positive. The Biaviian alien O-Qua Tangin Wann (also known as Tan), is listed as the co-author of his book.[4] He asserted that a significant amount of knowledge was uploaded into his brain by the aliens within a matter of minutes, including 144,000 different alien "symbols".[5]
Martin claimed that these aliens, flying aboard 'The Great mother ship', gave him this knowledge so that he could produce and sell hand-drawings of these symbols, which were to allow passage aboard the Mother Ship when the Earth was to have been 'transformed' in 2012.[5]
Besides his Sirius show, Martin hosted a weekly Internet radio show, The Official Riley Martin Radio Show.[8]
Martin's official Facebook fan page[9] and Twitter feed[10] announced his death on January 5, 2016, although it had occurred in December 2015. The producer of his radio show told TMZ that Martin had died "a few days before Christmas".[11]
The plot of season 2, episode 3 of Brickleberry, "Woody's Girl," revolves around a follower of a cult that worships Lord "Tarzishian," which talks about re-joining the "mothership," and chants of "oh-qa-tanzin-wan." There is also a brief appearance of a cult follower that resembles Riley Martin.[12]
