What sort of man was Albert K. Bender--he who supposedly discovered the secret of the UFOs, for which he was "silenced" in 1953 by the Three Men in Black? Gray Barker, whose They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers (1956) gives the classic account of his silencing, describes him in the most … [Read more...]
Credulity and the Astronomer – The Strange Case of Cedric Allingham
"It certainly has taken me by surprise," said Mr. Gascoigne. ... "Probably you think me blamable." "Not blamable exactly. I respect a man for trusting another." --George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, chapter 64 Do you know the strange story of Cedric Allingham? And--do you care? If you think … [Read more...]
Trickster Tales – James Moseley, Sherlock Holmes, UFOlogy
I've been reading an unusual UFO book. It came out about six weeks ago, edited by Timothy Green Beckley, whom I've known from our teenage UFOlogist days in the mid-1960s. It's entitled The Astounding UFO Secrets Of James W. Moseley: A Special Tribute to the Editor of Saucer Smear and the Court … [Read more...]
The Philadelphia Experiment – “Almost As If She Vanished”
One of the more curious items in the Gray Barker Collection is a letter, on NASA stationery, addressed to “Dr. Karl Merditt Allenstein, 1316 Leishmann Strasse, New Kensington, PA.” The letter is dated August 6, 1975, and is obviously a response to an inquiry. It’s also obvious that the said … [Read more...]
The Philadelphia Experiment – “Carlos Allende Speaks”
When did Carl Allen begin to grasp that he was no longer an invisible, insignificant drifter but an exotic mystery man, earnestly sought after by “those who ponder the elusive disks” (Gray Barker’s phrase), himself as elusive as any of them? That Hispanicized Carlos Allende had become a hero of … [Read more...]
