I have been interested in UFOs since I was a child in the 1960s. Reading the widely-published misinformation of authors such as Donald E. Keyhoe and Frank Edwards, I was persuaded that 'there must be something to it.' Of course, UFOlogy in those days was much less wild than it is today. Even Keyhoe disbelieved most if not all claims of UFO "contact", and the early "abduction" cases. As I noted in The UFO Verdict (chapter 3),

the willingness to believe on the part of the UFO movement has steadily grown with each passing year

Those words were written over 15 years ago, and subsequent events have proved them to be absolutely true. Since they were written, the credulity of the UFO Movement has expanded to take in:

- The supposed "UFO Crash" at Roswell, New Mexico, now with

- a supposed "Alien Autopsy" film.

- A veritable Epidemic of supposed "UFO Abductions", including

- Supposed "UFO Abductions" that take place right in your own bedroom, and "beam you up" right through the ceiling, just like in Star Trek. No longer do you need to go out to deserted roads late at night to run into aliens. Since Budd Hopkins' books were published in the early 1980s, the aliens now come right into your bedroom to get you.

When I became older and a little wiser, I read other, more skeptical, UFO authors such as Dr. Donald H. Menzel. I realized that the UFO proponents were not being careful, reliable, or accurate in their statements on the subject. I began to correspond with the late Philip J. Klass in 1968, and we met the following year. We've been good friends ever since. I first met James Oberg in 1975. I met Gary Posner in 1977, and James McGaha in 1987.

my photo of a UFO made from a cottage cheese container and an aluminum plate

When I attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, during the very exciting yet frightening time of the Vietnam War protests, I majored in mathematics, and also took many astronomy classes. In fact, I had enough astronomy classes for an astronomy major, although I would have needed more physics classes to major in astronomy. I got to know the late Dr. J. Allen Hynek (1910-1986) quite well, I found him to be a most interesting character. He was the U.S. Air Force's chief astronomical consultant for the celebrated Project Bluebook . While a man of much personal integrity, he was also gullible in the extreme. He believed himself able to determine the sincerity, and even the reliability of an individual, simply by his intuition as he listened to their story. He was valuable to Northwestern in his role as Astronomy Department Chairman. Hynek was largely responsible for the construction of Northwestern's Lindheimer Astronomical Research Center right on campus, which has since been demolished since little useful research could be done from that location. Hynek's skills were primarily political and personal, rather than scientific. He did not generally teach advanced-level astronomy courses, he made few if any tangible contributions to the science of astronomy during his decades at Northwestern, and was primarily known for his interest in UFOs. His presentations and media appearances on the subject of astronomy were first-rate. Hynek was a great popularizer of astronomy. However, he was not greatly esteemed by his fellow astronomers - in fact, he was frequently the butt of their private jokes. Hynek envisioned himself as "The Galileo of UFOlogy", (see, for example, Newsweek magazine, Nov. 21, 1977, p.97.) but unlike the original Galileo, Hynek had no demonstration that could be made to believers and unbelievers alike to allow them to evaluate his claims. If the original Galileo had no more solid evidence to offer than did the Galileo of UFOlogy, his name would be forgotten today.

my triple-exposure UFO photo