CUFOS Link Added

A pleasure it is, yes, to add a worthwhile link today for the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies. Created by the late Dr. J. Allen Hynek, whose credentials as a professional astronomer and former U.S. Air Force chief consultant on UFOs are legend, CUFOS has continued to play an important role in UFO investigations and research since its inception in 1973. Dr. Mark Rodeghier currently heads up CUFOS as Dr. Hynek's successor, and the organization currently publishes The International UFO Reporter, The Journal of UFO Studies and engages regularly in other publishing and investigative projects.

"The Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS)," states organizational literature, "is an international group of scientists, academics, investigators, and volunteers dedicated to the continuing examination and analysis of the UFO phenomenon. Our purpose is to promote serious scientific interest in UFOs and to serve as an archive for reports, documents, and publications about the UFO phenomenon."

One mammoth CUFOS project involved putting an extensive library of NICAP publications on CD for sale publicly. Entitled, "UFO Investigator and Selected NICAP Documents," the compact disc -- still available postpaid to any national or international destination for 50 dollars - contains a complete run of the NICAP UFO Investigator (its membership journal) issues, 162 of them, dating from 1957 to 1980, in addition to various bulletins and other important historical material. For further information on this CD, saturated heavily with no less than 1,600 pages of pure UFO history, go directly to: http://www.cufos.org/ufoi.htm

AN IMPORTANT REASON WHY I mention this compact disc is because it also contains NICAP's 1972 series, "The Year of the UFO," a monthly calendar spotlighting the dates of important UFO cases. You'll be interested to know that in a day or two this blog will begin posting all 12 pages from "The Year of the UFO" for my readers. If you care about the older, impressive UFO events and various days important to UFO history, please be sure to check out these original gems, which I believe accompanied The UFO Investigator issues on a bimonthly mail-out basis. I'm pretty sure you'll want to download them, as the scans look quite good -- though perhaps not as pristine as I'm sure they are in the NICAP compact disc.

Side Note: I had the honor of briefly meeting Dr. Hynek when he spoke at Onondaga Community College (Syracuse, NY) on April 9, 1980, invited to speak via the monumental efforts of a Syracuse amateur astronomer who also happened to be a UFO researcher. What a hoot it turned out to be as Hynek not only discussed UFOs and science, but also took a few moments to criticize the local astronomical society about its ignorance and debunking about UFO evidence. This, from a scientist who slowly changed from UFO skeptic to accepting of UFOs as a legitimate and disturbing scientific mystery -- and thus his impetus for the creation of the Center for UFO Studies.

In the meantime, welcome CUFOS, and thanks to Mark Rodeghier for his guidance as we add the essential link above.

Play It Again, Mr. Chairman

In his time, there was nobody like L. Mendel Rivers, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to put his critics in their place. Via Congressman James Hanley, he certainly set me straight in this July, 1965 letter, parroting the Air Force position on UFOs. There's nothing particularly striking about this letter except it demonstrates that, at least publicly, official UFO commentary hasn't changed in over 40 years. How sad. How outrageous.

Argentina UFO in 1965

How refreshing, those times when members of the U.S. media grit their teeth and discover they actually can report about UFOs without throwing in some lame joke at the end that literally screams out to the audience, look, we all know this is a joke and has no place in the news, but it was out there, so we were forced to include it.

In 1965 Argentina reported significant UFO activity, and this letter from a TV news department clarifies one of the more familiar incidents making headlines. WSYR-TV is now WSTM, and another Syracuse TV station adopted the WSYR name in recent years. This letter comes from the original WSYR-TV.

The Congressman

Congressman Jim Hanley was unquestionably one of the best House representatives Central NY ever hosted, and the James M. Hanley Federal Building in Syracuse honors his reputation. In the sixties and seventies I inundated his D.C. and Syracuse offices with letters regarding the UFO subject, and whether I had concerns about the topic in general or needed government documents relating in large or small ways to UFOs, he kindly fulfilled my requests as often as possible, even when "butting heads" with military or government officials to gain information.

The June, 1965 letter shown here is typical, and in this case he obtained several Air Force regulations for me. He also acknowledged receiving a copy of NICAP's UFO Investigator I had sent to keep him informed. Like many members of both the House and Senate, he was intrigued by the UFO evidence, but maintained a reluctance to comment or take action publicly. Nevertheless, I deeply appreciated the late Mr. Hanley's assistance over the years and I'll be putting more of his letters on display in months to come.

(Also of note: His influence in developing the original Freedom of Information Act, resulting in the release of a treasure trove of UFO-related government documents to grateful researchers.)

Simply Me

For those who haven't yet checked my other blog, concerning my four Air Force years from 1968-72, there's a link on this page in the link list. I posted a 1970 photo of myself over there a few weeks ago and thought I would use this golden opportunity to again plaster my face on a blog. Have I changed much? Yep. Maybe I'll post something more recent eventually. For now, here's the oldie.