Civilian Saucer Intelligence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Civilian Saucer Intelligence (CSI) was an independent unidentified flying object research group founded in New York City in 1954. It was initially called Civilian Saucer Intelligence New York, but the "New York" was quickly dropped from their name.

Jerome Clark writes, "Though its membership was small, what the organization lacked in quantity it made up in quality of its personnel" (Clark, 188) CSI's core personnel were Ted Bloecher, Isabel Davis, and Alexander Mebane.

In contrast to the many amateurish early "flying saucer clubs", CSI actually conducted rigorous investigations of UFO reports. The CSI Newsletter was issued quarterly, and Clark describes it as "the best UFO periodical of its time -- well edited, intelligent, thoughtful and critical-minded." (Clark, 188)

They were critical of contactees who claimed to be in regular contact with aliens, but stood apart from other groups by actively investigating close encounters of the third kind, where animate beings are alleged to be seen as part of UFO sightings.

Though the group never formally disbanded, CSI was defunct by 1959. However, Davis and Bloecher were active in UFO research into the 1980s, Davis as a NICAP associate. Notably, Bloecher investigated an early 1970s UFO sighting made by young painter, Budd Hopkins; in later years, Hopkins would become a key figure in the alien abduction scene.

[edit] References

• Clark, Jerome, The UFO Encyclopedia: 2nd Edition; Volume 1, A-K; Omnigraphics, Inc, 1998, ISBN 0780800974