James W. Moseley
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James W. Moseley (born August 4, 1931 in New York City) is an American ufologist.
Probably best-known as the publisher and editor of the newsletters Saucer News and Saucer Smear, Mosely is one of the longest-active figures in ufology, representing a unique and deeply personal presence on the UFO scene. He has exposed UFO hoaxers and perpetrated fraud in his career, and, according to Jerome Clark (Clark, 2005), has "entertained just about every view it is possible to hold about UFOs, without ever managing to say anything especially interesting or memorable about any of them."
[edit] Biography
Born in to a military family (his father, George Van Horn Moseley, would attain the rank of Major General in the U.S. Army) Moseley attended Princeton University for two years. Despite earning good marks, he dropped out to pursue his own interests and hobbies, including archeology (he took part in numerous South American expeditions in the 1950s and '60s). He became interested in UFOs following the 1947 claims of pilot Kenneth Arnold (the same UFO sighting that sparked widespread interest in the subject), but his interest deepened following the 1948 death of U.S. Air Force pilot Thomas Mantell in pursuit of a UFO.
In July, 1954, Moseley co-founded Saucer News, a periodical remembered for its unorthodox, "freewheeling" (Clark, 2002) style. Saucer News only occasionally featured serious UFO research; notably, Moseley was among the first to publicize evidence against the claims of leading "contactee" George Adamski. In 1953 he investigated the Ralph Horton flying saucer crash.
Saucer News was sold to Gray Barker in 1968. Moseley became a regular lecturer on UFOs for several years, and organized an annual convention. In 1970, he founded a newsletter that went by several titles until Moseley settled on Saucer Smear in 1981. He produces the newsletter irregularly, and mails it free-of-charge to about 200 friends and associates. Saucer Smear typically has a joking, gossipy tone.
Moseley reports (Story, 1980; Clark, 2002) that he has accepted, then rejected, a number of explanations for UFOs. In roughly chronological order, he considered the extraterrestrial hypothesis; a secret weapon/aircraft hypothesis, psychic/supernatural/interdimensional hypotheses in the vein of John Keel or Jacques Vallee; deep skepticism; and agnosticism.
In 1984, Mosely established an antiques store in Key West, Florida. Mosely co-wrote a memoir With Karl T. Pflock, entitled Shockingly Close to the Truth! (2002).
[edit] The "Straith" hoax letter
Moseley was long suspected of having co-created a phony 1957 letter as a prank against contactee George Adamski. After years of alternately denying the charges, evading the subject, and hinting at responsibility, Moseley admitted to the "Straith Hoax" in 1985 (Clark, 2005; Moseley and Pflock, 2002)
In 1957, Moseley's friend Gray Barker had acquired some blank U.S. Governmental letterhead stationery and envelopes from a friend. During an alcohol-fueled weekend, Moseley and Barker wrote seven letters, each using this official letterhead. Five of the letters were jokes to friends; only two of the letters were outright hoaxes, the Adamski letter and one to Moseley's father.
The letter to Adamski was signed by the fictional "R.E. Straith", a representative of the non-existent "Cultural Exchange Committee" of the U.S. State Department. Straith wrote that the U.S. Government knew that Adamski had actually spoken to extraterrestrials in a California desert in 1952, and that a group of highly-placed government officials planned on public corroboration of Adamski's story.
Adamski took great pride in the Straith letter, and publicized its contents. FBI agents investigated the letter, and, since none of the claims were genuine, asked Adamski to stop publicizing the letter (Adamski refused).
FBI agents also questioned Barker and Moseley about the matter, but no criminal charges were ever filed against them for the misuse of the letterhead.
Moseley has also been quoted (Clark, 2002) as stating that he committed multiple UFO "hoaxes", but the incidents are not detailed by Clark.
[edit] References
- Clark, Jerome, The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning, Volume 2, L-Z Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1998 (2nd edition, 2005), ISBN 0-7808-0097-4
- Mosely, James W. and Karl T. Pflock, Shockingly Close to the Truth! Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2002, ISBN 1-57392-991-3
- Story, Ronald J. (editor) and J. Richard Greenwell (consulting editor), The Encyclopedia of UFOs, Garden City: Doubleday & Co, 1980, ISBN 0-385-13677-3
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