By Charles Lear
From the days of the earliest citizen UFO investigators, metals associated with UFO reports have been held up as evidence for extraterrestrial visitation. Labs have been employed in testing and claims have been made that the results support a non-earthly origin for the material in question. While some of these claims have been dismissed, others continue to be debated.
The first modern UFO era citizen investigator was Kenneth Arnold, who was also the first modern era UFO witness. Arnold had seen a fleet of UFOs while flying near Mt. Rainier on June 24, 1947. Arnold was offered an assignment by publisher, Ray Palmer, who was looking for a good story for the premier issue of his new venture, Fate magazine. Palmer had received a letter describing a sighting near Maury Island, off the coast of Tacoma, Washington. Six donut-shaped craft were reported, one of which seemed to be having difficulties. It discharged hot material that allegedly injured the witness’s son and killed his dog. Palmer asked Arnold to look into the story, and Arnold asked for $200. Palmer wired him the money and Arnold became the world’s first privately funded UFO investigator. Read more
Among the early flying saucer investigators who stumbled their way through the mystery in the late 1940s and early 50s, there were some fascinating characters. Imagine being able to meet and discuss flying saucers with the likes of Donald E. Keyhoe, Edward J. Ruppelt, Frank Scully, Albert Bender or Gray Barker. A young man who did was James Moseley, who had more than a passing interest in the subject. With no prior writing experience or credentials, he convinced the most prominent people in the field to sit with him for interviews for a book he’d set out to write. He never published the book but found a place for himself in the world of flying saucers and saucerers where he’d remain for the rest of his life.