R.I.P. Mr. UFO

By Charles Lear

This past Memorial Day, May 31, 2021, UFO and paranormal researcher Timothy Green Beckley passed on. He was a colorful character who stood out in a field full of colorful characters, and while he might not have been the most serious of researchers, he was part of a circle of legendary characters from the days of flying saucers that included James Moseley, Gray Barker, and John Keel.

Records of Beckley’s age at the time of his passing range from 65 to 69. According to the IMDb, he was born on March 4, 1952 as Jeremy Stone. In addition to his interest in the paranormal, he was an actor in and producer of soft-core porn/horror movies and was known to fans as “Mr. Creepo.” He wrote and published many books on the paranormal with a definite sensationalized bent and was active in the community up until his death. According to what is believed to be his self-authored bio, “Tim Beckley had so many careers that even his own girlfriend didn’t know what he did for a living… Timothy Green Beckley has been described as the Hunter Thompson of UFOlogy by the editor of UFO magazine Nancy Birnes.” His bio contains the claims that his life was saved by an invisible force at the age of three, he started having out of body experiences at the age of six, he had his first UFO sighting at age ten, and had two more after that in the course of his life.

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Pancakes From the UFO

by Charles Lear

In 1961, Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe, USMC (Ret.) was the director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. That year, he and his organization were making life difficult for the Air Force with criticism of their UFO investigation, Project Blue Book. This was nothing new, but now they were close to getting open hearings in Congress to address their criticisms.

Then, on April 18, 1961, Joe Simonton, a 54 year-old plumber, handyman and part-time chicken farmer, reported a UFO encounter involving humanoids and offered physical evidence not usually associated with extraterrestrials. This was a strange case with a single witness, but Blue Book Director Robert Friend thought the Air Force should get involved. He mistakenly thought that NICAP would turn the case into a big story and accuse the Air Force of shirking its duties.

Simonton first told his story to his friend, Vilas County Judge Franklin Carter. Carter had been a UFO enthusiast since Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 report. Carter interviewed Simonton and wrote an exclusive report for Gray Barker’s publication, the Saucerian Bulletin.

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