Union of Text Converting to Numbers

Does anyone know why the query below would return numbers?  I'm
attempting to produce a re****t that shows in *one* column the names
that appear in multiple columns in a single table.

Table Name: project
col1 = project_id
col2 = manager
col3 = participant1
col4 = participant 2
col5 = participant 3

Query:

SELECT [project].[manager]
FROM [project];

UNION

SELECT [project].[participant1]
FROM [project];

UNION

SELECT [project].[participant2]
FROM [project];

UNION

SELECT [project].[participant3]
FROM [project];

Instead of a single column of names, I'm receiving numbers.  What's
really weird is that on first run, the query produced names.  On its
second run, however, the query started re****ting numbers only.


jim