What do you think?
Rate this book
UFO Crash Secrets at Wright Patterson Air Force Base
.
Paperback
Published January 1, 1992
8 people want to read
About the author
James W. Moseley
22 books2 followersProminent American ufologist.
Over his career, he exposed UFO hoaxers and engineered hoaxes of his own. Moseley didn't see himself as hardcore skeptic or "true believer" and believed himself to be more on the middle ground.
He was best known for the popular newsletter Saucer Smear, which published an expose on George Adamski's book "The flying saucers have landed". In his later career he mailed Adamski a prank letter in name of the Air Force Cultural exchange committee.
Moseley also spend a couple of years in Peru where he illegally excavated graves and exported artifacts.
Over his career, he exposed UFO hoaxers and engineered hoaxes of his own. Moseley didn't see himself as hardcore skeptic or "true believer" and believed himself to be more on the middle ground.
He was best known for the popular newsletter Saucer Smear, which published an expose on George Adamski's book "The flying saucers have landed". In his later career he mailed Adamski a prank letter in name of the Air Force Cultural exchange committee.
Moseley also spend a couple of years in Peru where he illegally excavated graves and exported artifacts.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 12, 2024
THE FAMED WRITER LOOKS AT ROSWELL, AND MANY OTHER TOPICS
James Willett Moseley (1931-2012) was an American and ufologist, who was the publisher of the UFO newsletters ‘Saucer News’ and its successor ‘Saucer Smear.’ He was also quite willing to expose cases he felt to be ‘hoaxes.’
He recounts, “The [George] Adamski Foundation became side-tracked into metaphysical rather than mechanical research. And thus began a series of fantastic episodes at Palomar Gardens where Adamski held court and conducted his researches. [George] Williamson would go into mediumlike trances, and receive space messages, which he would repeat to his listeners in a voice different from his own---as if the space investigators had taken possession of both his will power and his vocal chords. At times he even spoke in unknown languages. The group would take elaborate notes, make tape recordings of the messages and later try to decipher the information given by Williamson in trance. Later, Williamson would assign pictograph symbols to the languages in his messages, based (he said) on his knowledge of anthropology and ancient symbology.” (Pg. 24)
Of a purported alien from Venus, he comments, “I wondered that if the space man were indeed from Venus, how he had been able to defy all scientific evidence by existing so easily and comfortably in Earth’s atmosphere, since it is an established fact (confirmed, later, by the Mariner space probes) that the Venusian atmosphere is much different from ours. How, also, did the spaceman defy the laws of probability by looking so much like an Earth man? Why had no one succeeded in taking any movies or DECENT still pictures of the mother ship seen during the November 20 contact?” (Pg. 35)
He says of the ‘Lubbock Lights’ photos taken by Carl Hart Jr., “In a personal interview with me Hart had told me that the camera exposure he used was very slow---only 1/10th of a second… Yet, even with my inexperience in the field of photography I knew that any fast moving object would produce a blur at that setting… I talked to many other people in the town, and was further convinced that the photographs were fakes. In another incident… I was told that Hart stuck to a false, preconceived story in spite of definite evidence against him. Furthermore, another informant told ma Hart, an ardent amateur photographer, once told him that he would do ‘anything ‘to get a picture of his own in a newspaper. To me it seemed quite evident that the famous Lubbock Light photographs were nothing more than clever fakes that had ‘taken in’ dozens of editors and authors. Taking advantage of the genuine phenomena being seen almost nightly over his home town, Hart apparently found the opportunity he was looking for to achieve a small degree of fame.” (Pg. 47)
He recounts, “In looking through the Air Force files I hadn’t expected to find, nor fond, any reports of captured saucers or little men. Despite official AF denials, however, such rumors still persisted. The late Frank Scully, well-known and highly respected Hollywood writer, had caused a sensation with his book. ‘Behing the Flying Saucers,’ in which he related how a government scientist had been called in to examine a saucer which had allegedly crashed in New Mexico. Few people now believe Scully’s story, which he had obtained from two acquaintances, Silas Newton and Leo Gebauer; for a ‘True’ magazine article had pretty well exposed it as a hoax. It probably wasn’t Scully’s fault. The article, and other reports suggested that the author had simply been taken in. But at the time the basic rumor, with many variations, vividly haunted the saucer scene. Every month or so a new crashed saucer report, complete with little men, would appear…” (Pg. 48-49)
He continues, “I had little faith in the accounts until I bumped into a bizarre investigation of a saucer said to be in the possession of the AF at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base! Since my perusal of the AF files late in 1953 I had begun corresponding with people all over the U.S., and was becoming fairly well known as a civilian UFO researcher. In April, 1954, one of these [pieces of] correspondence floored me with a letter from which I quote: ‘My opinion is that the Air Force is holding a saucer or parts thereof at Wright-Patterson Field…’… The [reports] I had been able to check turned out to be hoaxes, or else they had no discoverable factual evidence to back them up. I finally decided that all of the accounts had been appropriated right out of the pages of Scully’s book.” (Pg. 49)
He observes, “In keeping these secrets, the government had many advantages, and the main one probably was that the saucers themselves carried a ridiculous connotation in the minds of most of the public. Quite possibly, of course, there were very effective ways of dealing with individuals, in or out of the service, who knew too much or talked to much. In Scully’s case (if his story has some truth in it) it was fairly simple: he was not dealt with in any cloak-and-dagger manner, but by the simple technique of RIDICULE. At first his book caused a sensation; now very few people believe it, for every possible effort has apparently been made to discredit and make him look ridiculous. Two principal characters of the book had been arrested on fraud charges, and they, their cases then undisposed of, were claiming that they were being persecuted for their saucer revelations. Could they be right and Miss Y be right? There probably was a fifty-fifty choice either way.” (Pg. 52)
He concludes, ‘Somehow, I mused, there was something to saucers that all of our theories and collecting of sighting accounts and investigations hadn’t managed to cope with. There was very much still hidden. The saucer mystery seemed to be more vastly complex than one could ever imagine… then I knew that despite the many unknown quantities and potentially dangerous facets of deeply exploring the UFO mystery, I would go on, hot and heavy, pursuing the elusive discs. Whatever they were, I knew they could change the course of history. In the meantime I would reveal my ‘fact’ to nobody.” (Pg. 80)
Moseley’s writings will be of great interest to anyone seriously studying UFOs and related topics.
James Willett Moseley (1931-2012) was an American and ufologist, who was the publisher of the UFO newsletters ‘Saucer News’ and its successor ‘Saucer Smear.’ He was also quite willing to expose cases he felt to be ‘hoaxes.’
He recounts, “The [George] Adamski Foundation became side-tracked into metaphysical rather than mechanical research. And thus began a series of fantastic episodes at Palomar Gardens where Adamski held court and conducted his researches. [George] Williamson would go into mediumlike trances, and receive space messages, which he would repeat to his listeners in a voice different from his own---as if the space investigators had taken possession of both his will power and his vocal chords. At times he even spoke in unknown languages. The group would take elaborate notes, make tape recordings of the messages and later try to decipher the information given by Williamson in trance. Later, Williamson would assign pictograph symbols to the languages in his messages, based (he said) on his knowledge of anthropology and ancient symbology.” (Pg. 24)
Of a purported alien from Venus, he comments, “I wondered that if the space man were indeed from Venus, how he had been able to defy all scientific evidence by existing so easily and comfortably in Earth’s atmosphere, since it is an established fact (confirmed, later, by the Mariner space probes) that the Venusian atmosphere is much different from ours. How, also, did the spaceman defy the laws of probability by looking so much like an Earth man? Why had no one succeeded in taking any movies or DECENT still pictures of the mother ship seen during the November 20 contact?” (Pg. 35)
He says of the ‘Lubbock Lights’ photos taken by Carl Hart Jr., “In a personal interview with me Hart had told me that the camera exposure he used was very slow---only 1/10th of a second… Yet, even with my inexperience in the field of photography I knew that any fast moving object would produce a blur at that setting… I talked to many other people in the town, and was further convinced that the photographs were fakes. In another incident… I was told that Hart stuck to a false, preconceived story in spite of definite evidence against him. Furthermore, another informant told ma Hart, an ardent amateur photographer, once told him that he would do ‘anything ‘to get a picture of his own in a newspaper. To me it seemed quite evident that the famous Lubbock Light photographs were nothing more than clever fakes that had ‘taken in’ dozens of editors and authors. Taking advantage of the genuine phenomena being seen almost nightly over his home town, Hart apparently found the opportunity he was looking for to achieve a small degree of fame.” (Pg. 47)
He recounts, “In looking through the Air Force files I hadn’t expected to find, nor fond, any reports of captured saucers or little men. Despite official AF denials, however, such rumors still persisted. The late Frank Scully, well-known and highly respected Hollywood writer, had caused a sensation with his book. ‘Behing the Flying Saucers,’ in which he related how a government scientist had been called in to examine a saucer which had allegedly crashed in New Mexico. Few people now believe Scully’s story, which he had obtained from two acquaintances, Silas Newton and Leo Gebauer; for a ‘True’ magazine article had pretty well exposed it as a hoax. It probably wasn’t Scully’s fault. The article, and other reports suggested that the author had simply been taken in. But at the time the basic rumor, with many variations, vividly haunted the saucer scene. Every month or so a new crashed saucer report, complete with little men, would appear…” (Pg. 48-49)
He continues, “I had little faith in the accounts until I bumped into a bizarre investigation of a saucer said to be in the possession of the AF at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base! Since my perusal of the AF files late in 1953 I had begun corresponding with people all over the U.S., and was becoming fairly well known as a civilian UFO researcher. In April, 1954, one of these [pieces of] correspondence floored me with a letter from which I quote: ‘My opinion is that the Air Force is holding a saucer or parts thereof at Wright-Patterson Field…’… The [reports] I had been able to check turned out to be hoaxes, or else they had no discoverable factual evidence to back them up. I finally decided that all of the accounts had been appropriated right out of the pages of Scully’s book.” (Pg. 49)
He observes, “In keeping these secrets, the government had many advantages, and the main one probably was that the saucers themselves carried a ridiculous connotation in the minds of most of the public. Quite possibly, of course, there were very effective ways of dealing with individuals, in or out of the service, who knew too much or talked to much. In Scully’s case (if his story has some truth in it) it was fairly simple: he was not dealt with in any cloak-and-dagger manner, but by the simple technique of RIDICULE. At first his book caused a sensation; now very few people believe it, for every possible effort has apparently been made to discredit and make him look ridiculous. Two principal characters of the book had been arrested on fraud charges, and they, their cases then undisposed of, were claiming that they were being persecuted for their saucer revelations. Could they be right and Miss Y be right? There probably was a fifty-fifty choice either way.” (Pg. 52)
He concludes, ‘Somehow, I mused, there was something to saucers that all of our theories and collecting of sighting accounts and investigations hadn’t managed to cope with. There was very much still hidden. The saucer mystery seemed to be more vastly complex than one could ever imagine… then I knew that despite the many unknown quantities and potentially dangerous facets of deeply exploring the UFO mystery, I would go on, hot and heavy, pursuing the elusive discs. Whatever they were, I knew they could change the course of history. In the meantime I would reveal my ‘fact’ to nobody.” (Pg. 80)
Moseley’s writings will be of great interest to anyone seriously studying UFOs and related topics.
October 5, 2023
This is one is almost as classic as the Gray Barker's "they knew too much about flying saucers", it has some strange and interesting stories from the heroic times of the early investigations of the UFOs, early 50's and 60's some fascinating narratives.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews