PDFs: Jim Melesciuc's "Orbiter" UFO newsletter (USA, 1980s-1990s)

Further to my post yesterday enquiring about Jim Melesciuc, I have now uploaded all 37 issues of Jim Melesciuc's"Orbiter" newsletter.

This newsletter contained a lot on Gulf Breeze (mainly skeptical) and quite a bit of material by Barry Greenwood, Dr Willy Smith, Christopher D Allan, and others.

The first issue declared an objective of seeking to "clarify the reliable evidence of an important phenmmenon that has recently been clouded by a fog of fringeness and mysticism". Jim Melesciuc wrote in that issue that "the UFO phenomena cannot be explained away - people worldwide are still reporting maneuvering apparently controlled unknown aerial objects".

Subsequent issues included debates of various well-known cases from a range of viewpoints in more depth than most other periodicals - and included more skeptical voices than most UFO newsletters. Those cases included the Gulf Breeze case, the Linda Napolitano case, the MJ12 documents, Flying Triangles (including the triangles reported over Belgium), several "Blue Book Pearls", various claims by Marina Popovich and, of course, Roswell.  

It also included numerous contemporaneous press cuttings about UFOs.

 

PDFs: "Ohio UFO Notebook" (1992-2005) co-founded by Bill Jones, "a virtual encyclopedia of UFO information"

Bill Jones (the founder of Ohio MUFON) was, according to researcher Phyllis Budinger, "a virtual encyclopedia of UFO information". He co-founded the "Ohio UFO Notebook", published from 1992 to 2005.

Early issues were published by the "MidOhio Research Associates" and later issues were published by MUFON Ohio.

A slightly incomplete collection of issues of "Ohio UFO Notebook" has, helpfully, been on the MUFON Ohio website for a while.

Rick Hilberg kindly obtained permission a while ago for me to add MUFON Ohio's publications to my free online UFO archive. 

I've now filled in the gaps in MUFON Ohio's collection of the "Ohio UFO Notebook" (thanks to scanning by the AFU in Sweden) and uploaded a complete set of "Ohio UFO Notebook" to my archive.

"First peer-reviewed" UFO journal - UPIAR now online (1976-1984)

I have now uploaded the "UFO Phenomena an International Annual Review" journal ("UPIAR"), thanks to the efforts of Italian researcher Edoardo Russo in obtaining permission from the council of directors of the UPIAR Cooperative and scanning by the AFU in Sweden.

UPIAR and an associated newsletter (URIP) were published from 1976 to 1984.

Edoardo Russo has described UPIAR as "the first peer-reviewed UFO periodical".

It was later followed by some similar publications, several of which I have previously uploaded - including the Journal of Transient Aerial Phenomena, and the European Journal of UFO and Abduction Studies.

Edoardo helpfully provided the following background on UPIAR:"It was the initiative of CNIFAA (Comitato Nazionale Indipendente per lo studio dei Fenomeni Aerei Anomali), an Italian association based in Bologna. Its editors were Renzo Cabassi, Roberto Farabone, Francesco Izzo, with an international advisors board. After four yearly volumes, a quicker supplement was tried, UPIAR Research in Progress (URIP) under the editorship of Spanish ufologist Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos (1981-1984). A publishing house was created as a Cooperative society, whose members were all ufologists. It's still existing as a UFO publishing house for the Italian Center for UFO Studies (CISU)".

The international advisory board mentioned by Edoardo included J Allen Hynek, Richard Haines, Bruce Maccabee, David Jacobs and others.

All four volumes of UPIAR are now online.

The first two issues of four issues of the associated newsletter, URIP, are also now online. I hope to sort out the other two issues shortly.

UPIAR also published several monographs about different aspects of UFO research. You can expect some good news about some of those in the near future.  

More French UFO material : 24 issues of the AESV "En Direct" newsletter + 5 more AESV Bulletins

Thanks to Gilles Durand of SCEAU (the French UFO archival group) for the scans and liaising with Yves Bosson to obtain permission, I have now uploaded 5 further issues of the AESV Bulletin (which preceded "OVNI-Presence") and 24 issues of the AESV "En Direct" newsletter.

I have added this material to a folder for French UFO magazines / newsletters.

(I had previously uploaded many issues of the AESV Bulletin, and OVNI-Presence, with Yves Bosson's permission, thanks to scans by Pierre Lagrange and Patrice Seray).

PDFs: 90 issues of skeptical "Phactum" newsletter - Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking

With kind permission from the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking, I have now added searchable PDF copies of 90 issues of their newsletter ("Phactum") to my free online archive of UFO and Fortean material.

As described on the website of the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking ("PhACT"), PhACT's mission is "to encourage rational thought and the use of scientific principles ... intended to be an active, hands-on, experimental group.". 

"Phactum" described itself as "the main propaganda organ for the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking".

For ease of reference, the skeptical material currently in my online archive is listed below (this material being in addition, of course, to the hundreds of ufological / Fortean newsletters and magazines from other viewpoints that I have uploaded to that archive in recent years thanks to the help of well over 100 UFO groups / researchers around the world and, of course, thanks to permission from the relevant individuals):

(1) "Skeptic UFO Newsletter" by Philip Klass 

(2) John Rimmer's "Magonia" 

(3) Ian Mrzyglod's "Probe"  

(4) Tim Printy's "SUNlite" 

(5) "Tampa Bay Skeptics Report"

(6) "North Texas Skeptic"

(7) "South Shore Skeptic"

(8) "Arizona Skeptic"

(9) "Phoenix Skeptics News" 

(10) "Georgia Skeptics" newsletter

(11) "Bay Area Skeptics Information Sheet" 

(12) "Cincinnati Skeptic"

(13) "REALL News"  (Rational Examination Association of Lincoln Land)

(14) "Skeptical Eye" (National Capital Area Skeptics, NCAS)

(15) "Shadow of a Doubt" (National Capital Area Skeptics, NCAS)

(16) "The Skeptic" (UK)

(17) "Phactum" (Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking)

(18) The book "Flying Saucerers" by David Clarke and Andy Roberts ("A social history of Ufology")

(19) The book "The UFOs That Never Were" by Jenny Randles, Andy Roberts and David Clarke (in my view arguably the best UFO book in the last 50 years...)

(20)   a PDF archive of about 10,000 pages of Tweets by skeptics Mick West and Charlie Wiser

(21) a PDF archive of over 4 million pages of automated transcripts of UFO podcasts and videos, including those by several skeptics e.g. Mick West. 

Searchable PDFs: 300+ issues of Saucer Smear (Jim Moseley's "social history of ufology ... a gold mine rich in saucer lore, fact and fantasy, feud and folly")

"Saucer Smear" was a long-running newsletter published by Jim Moseley. It has been described as "unmatched as a running, 'as it happens' social history of ufology ... a gold mine rich in saucer lore, fact and fantasy, feud and folly" (by Karl Pflock, in an introduction to a book that he co-authored with Jim Moseley, "Shockingly Close to the Truth").

A video of an interview uploaded by Lance Moody: "a gossip sheet devoted to sarcastic humour, innuendo and occasionally libel...". 

More history about Jim Moseley (including various obituaries and tributes) can be found on the jimmoseley.com website. 

Most of the uploaded issues of "Saucer Smear" were provided to me by the AFU in Sweden. I obtained the final issue from Tim Brigham. (I think a penultimate issue is currently missing, but I'm sure it will be provided soon by one of the people that worked with Moseley).  

Several of those involved in publishing "Saucer Smear" helped get this collection online and provided relevant information to me, including Curt Collins, Tim Brigham, Vince Ditchkus, and Lance Moody.   

I recently uploaded complete sets of two earlier newsletters by Jim Moseley : "Nexus" and "Saucer News". My brief blog post in relation to those uploads noted that Jim Moseley has been called "the Jim Moseley has been called "the Court Jester of UFOlogy". George P Hansen has commented that Moseley "perpetrated some amusing hoaxes, exposed others, mocked and antagonized UFOlogy’s 'establishment'...".

James Moseley's sense of humour renders it difficult to give a brief summary of some basic details such as the number of issues of "Saucer Smear" or the date it commenced publication.  Moseley's "Nexus" was published in 1954-1955 and the numbering of issues continued with his next publication, "Saucer News", which ended with Vol 17 No 1. Moseley then took a break for about 6 years and when he recommenced publication of a UFO newsletter in 1976 he began with Volume 23 "in a bow of sorts to consistency (and confusion), and assuming one volume per year", stating that "I'm not at liberty to reveal why the first issue in the volume was numbered 16".  He then went through a period of changing the title of the newsletter with almost every issue (from "Saucers News" to "Saucer Muse" to "Saucer Zoos" to "Saucer Grus" to "Saucer Clues", etc etc etc etc) before settling on "Saucer Smear" in 1980.   The second issue of in this new series implied that the name change was due to Gray Barker having insisted that he owned the rights to the name "Saucer News", but in an interview at the link below James Moseley suggests that this was a joke and the two of them having a bit of fun.

I've tried to clarify and resolve permission issues in relation to "Saucer Smear" several times between 2016 and 2024 - so I'm pleased (relieved???) that I can finally share these scans and cross doing so off my ufological "to do" list.  Kal Korff helpfully told me recently that Jim Moseley said repeatedly that he did not copyright issues of "Saucer Smear" (and, with the help of that recollection, I quickly found at least two statements to this effect by Moseley in "Saucer Smear", on page 3 of the 10 January 1996 issue of "Saucer Smear" and in volume 42 number 8 in 1995).  Tim Crawford of UFOtv has, however, said that "Saucer Smear" is in his "proprietary library" so I hesitated to upload copies.  Fortunately, after several emails and telephone calls from people involved in Saucer Smear during the last few weeks, Tim Crawford clarified that he was not opposed to my uploading scans (and asked for people to stop emailing him supporting my proposal to make scans freely available online).

 

100+ issues of James Moseley's "Nexus" + "Saucer News" newsletters (thanks to UFO researchers in Sweden, Ukraine, USA and UK plus the University of Wyoming)

Complete sets of James Moseley's "Nexus" and "Saucer News" are now online, thanks to an effort involving UFO researchers in Sweden, Ukraine, USA and UK (plus the University of Wyoming).

Most of the issues were scanned by the AFU in Sweden.  Barry Greenwood (the veteran UFO researcher in the USA) and Igor Kalytyuk (in Ukraine) helped fill in some gaps.  Better copies of a handful of issues were obtained from an archive of the University of Wyoming.

Jim Moseley has been called "the Court Jester of UFOlogy". George P Hansen has commented that Moseley "perpetrated some amusing hoaxes, exposed others, mocked and antagonized UFOlogy’s 'establishment'...". 

I have now uploaded searchable scans of:

(1) All 11 issues of "Nexus".

(2) All 64 issues of "Saucer News" newsletters

(3) 33 issues of short bulletins related to "Saucer News", i.e. the Non-Scheduled Newsletter and the Interim Speed Bulletins. (Issues numbered 30 and 31 are not currently available and may not have existed)  

(I'm still trying to resolve copyright / permission issues so that I can upload a set of searchable scans of Jim Moseley's "Saucer Smear". I hope to clarify that position within the next few days).