| The James W. Moseley (Dreaded)
Internet Roast |
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Jim:
Your accomplishment of chasing Flying
Saucers/UFOs for over fifty years is a milestone that should
be ever written in the stars, like an olde time byplane
gushing out smoke advertisements in the sky over a beach.
I initially observed your activites at the National
UFO Conference (NUFOC) located in a semi-rundown motel in King
of Prussia, Pennsylvania in 1974, long after you began your
chasing Saucers career in 1953. At this Con, you were mainly
introducing speakers including Jan Barbara Hudson, author of
"Those Sexy Saucer People" (Greenleaf, 1967, Saucerian ?), and
hawking back issues of Saucer News. I got to know you somewhat
better in the late 1970's and early 1980's, after making
several literary, etc. contributions to your newsletter,
including the one that cause the Postal Authorities to pay you
a visit and attending some of your non-subscriber parties at
your apartment complex, "Moseley Manor" in Guttenberg, New
Jersey.
Looking back, I recall many memorable events,
such as having dinner with you, 1980 NUFOC speakers and
others, prior to the Con in New York City. We had a
breathtaking nightscape view from the top floor of the
"Windows of the World" restaurant, located in one of the World
Trade Center tower buildings. Speakers included Gray Barker,
Betty Hill, Rick Hilberg, Bob Sheaffer and Stan Friedman.
Over the years, we in the chasing the Saucers field,
experienced many personal ups and downs, but you have been a
guiding light for me at times, like an older brother. I also
saw this apply to others, judging by their letters in your
newsletter.
A close friend of yours, Gray Barker at a
NUFOC in the Cleveland area in Ohio, a couple of years before
he passed over, while lecturing, in response to a question
asked by a member of the audience: "What are Flying Saucers?"
Gray said, "The answer is within you." As we continue our
quest to understand the paranormal phenomenon, the mystery
becomes more like the study of God. Full understanding of the
phenomenon is always elusive, and never achieved, it is like
waiting for Godot, who never comes. Occasionally, glimpses of
knowledge may pop into our minds, or appear to our sight, like
a lightbulb going on that floats above the head of a charcter
in a cartoon strip. In an intellectual humorous way, the
cartoon characters that appear in your newsletter, including
yourself have guided us in our quest for knowledge and is
always something to cherish. Thanks for your help and just
being there.
A friend,
Tom Benson
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| (posted: Mon Sep 20 20:44:30 2004) |
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| Jim: It was 1961(I was 11 then) and I checked out
Scully's book, BEHIND THE FLYING SAUCERS, and took it to my
science teacher(who was very pretty as I remember her) and
asked her opinion on it. And quess what? She knew that it was
a hoax book....the point here, Since then I take the UFO field
with a bag of salt, not a grain, but a bag! It's fun as it
should be, and when one, even if its a itty bitty saucer,
lands for the WHOLE world o see, THEN, and only then, will I
get serious about the UFO field-Live long...Viva la
Vida!!!-Roger, a member of the ufoology crowd.
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| (posted: Sat Sep 11 10:13:28 2004) |
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Oh
give a cheer for old Jim Moseley
He'd pull a hoax if not
watched closely
He'd laugh, tease, and jeer
In each
issue of Saucer Smear
With jokes that were mostly grossly.
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| (posted: Tue Aug 31 14:00:54 2004) |
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| John Keel may have called you a "boil on the ass" of
UFOlogy, but I prefer to think of you as the twinkle in it's
eye. Keep on twinkling, and many thanks, Jim!
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| (posted: Sun Aug 1 03:06:51 2004) |
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T Allen
Greenfield, D.D., Ph.D.
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| There's something utterly ludicrous and utterly Moseley
about an internet salute page to a man who refuses to own a
computer, but its soooo Jim. I began reading Saucer News in
1961 or 62, first corresponded with Jim about then, met him at
the FIRST National UFO Conference in Cleveland in June of
1964; we chatted in my room after the big public session til
Jim was too smashed to talk, and have considered him a friend
ever since. We visited Ray Palmer together in '65, chased the
Brown Mountain Lights together, ghosts on the Georgia Coast
etc in the late '60s, and at his GIANT SAUCER SHOW at the
Commodore Hotel in NYC I chaired his delegate sessions, went
on The Amazing Randi's show with Tim Beckley, and - uhm -
we'll skip the '70s, but I lived for awhile in Key West after
Jim "retired" there and we hung out a lot. I've known him
since my teens, and I consider him one of the funniest, most
intelligent, most complex and worthwhile people I have had the
pleasure to know. I once owned something like a complete set
of Saucer News, back to NEXUS "Book One Tome One" (whatever
that means, and I do hope to see him at least once more in
this present incarnation. I really wish someone would post the
picture here of Moseley and the late GA governor Lester
Maddox, as Maddox pretended to read what he called "Sausage
News" telling JW how much he loved sausage. Take that however
you want. Smear on Jim!
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| (posted: Fri Jul 23 03:38:28 2004) |
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| I
noticed that in one of your archives that you refer to Z.
Sitchin as a "scholar." I believe he is a pretty be hoaxer. It
is easy to fool people when one is dealing with ancient
languages such as Sumerian and Akkadian. Michael S. Heiser has
pulled the carpet out from under Sitchin in my humble opinion
and I encourage you "non-subscribers" to look him up. Mike is
a bonafide scholar and I believe he is simply after the truth,
he a very balanced approach to UFO's and aliens - I know you'd
like him.
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| (posted: Mon May 24 18:13:24 2004) |
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I
first learned of Saucer Smear and became a dedicated
non-subscriber way back in the l980s. I was writing about
UFOs, Bigfoots ( or is it Bigfeet? but I digress..) and such
for the late, lamented OMNI magazine. I believe I actually got
to interview the esteemed Mr. Moseley a couple of times over
the phone and I developed a big crush on him. He lost no time
in sending me literature hawking his paradise resort in Key
West. Key West? He lived in Key West?? Well, I figured he must
be gay.. sigh.. and my dreams of a mad fling with Jim were
somewhat stifled. Eventually, I realized, after seeing many
gratuitous pics of big breasted women in Smear, that, in fact,
he is probably straight so I thought I'd take this opportunity
to say -- Jim, darling, I love you madly, you ol' UFO nut,
you! and if we ever DO meet in person, puhleaze autograph my
copy of Shockingly Close To the Truth. It is FABO!!! like you
and Saucer Smear...
smooches,
Sher
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| (posted: Sun May 23 22:25:01 2004) |
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I
had dinner with Jim a couple weeks ago while in Key West. I
only know him from "Smear" and his book, and I must confess
that he was completely different than I expected! I knew from
"Shockingly Close" that he tells it like it is, but William
Cooper had accused him of being a CIA asset so I had developed
some crazy expectations.
I found him to be utterly
delightful. I mean really darling. (I'm no good at roasting--
I wish I had more wit.) I gotta admit that I love this guy.
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| (posted: Tue Mar 30 16:40:55 2004) |
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Well Jim, here you are at the fifty year mark in your
personal quest to chase those elusive disks. Hey, the year
2004 marks my 42nd year of editing publishing UFO and fortean
zines, so unless you up and croak very soon I don't think that
I can top your record anytime soon. Say, are you sure that you
are feeling well?
Anyway, while most people who join
in here on the dreaded Internet ( that my dear friend Al Gore
and I invented, I'll have you know ) will no doubt share some
of your most embarrasing moments in the UFO field, I'll wait a
bit longer and instead try to put all seriousness aside for a
moment - not!
Without being too stuffy and serious,
quite frankly ( Edwardsly ) you are one of the last of the
original UFO pioneers and dare I say one of my early mentors
in ufology. Hey, I first subscribed to SAUCER NEWS in the
early 1960s and had the pleasure to meet you at the first
"Congress of Scientific Ufologists" here in Cleveland way back
in 1964. And I dare say that without your help and backing in
SAUCER NEWS the bloody thing probably wouldn't have been held
at all. That's what I have always said of you, even though you
sometimes come on as someone who is only trying to have some
fun and stur up trouble in the field I sincerely believe that
you really care about the field, and it's just your way to not
take it or yourself too damn seriously. Maybe one hundred
years from now when some sociologist publishes a paper (
probably on this damn electronic monster ) on those silly and
misguided people who chased the flying saucers, your name and
comments will be featured. Some of the past and present
"leading lights" who have taken themselves waaay too seriously
will probably be nothing but almost forgotten footnotes in
those days to come.
But enough of this seriousness!
Let's take a walk down Memory Lane and recall some of those
outstanding memories from those days now so long passed.
Do you recall the time back in 1965 when you and some
of the other delegates at the convention here in Cleveland had
a wee bit too much medicine and tried to climb the fence at
the closed pool at the Park Brook Motel sometime around three
in the morning? And do you remember how you fell trying to
climb said fence and almost broke several of your ribs?
Do you remember me burning my NICAP membership card at
the 1966 convention while Gray Barker was capturing this
important protest on film? Hey, I assure you and those others
reading these ravings that I never inhaled the fumes!
Speaking of fumes, do you remember that time at a
convention back in the 1970s when you ran out of cigarette
papers and had to roll your, well, herbs in the local
newspaper?
Say, enough of this stuff from those times
when we were, as John Kennedy often said, full of piss and
jisim. Those days were indeed special, those days of wonder,
dreaming and awe.
Take care old friend. I hope that
you have another fifty, you old goat!
Rick Hilberg
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| (posted: Tue Mar 9 16:34:23 2004) |
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Jim Moseley
Dear Jim,
I’ve been
chasing saucers almost as long as you have, and I remember as
a teenager driving from Ohio in the mid-fifties with my pal to
visit you in your Fort Lee apartment. We also stopped to see
Leon Davidson, and then went south to Washington for an
audience with the The Man -- Major Keyhoe.
Those were
the days when we thought government disclosure was imminent.
Yes, America, saucers are real! And we were convinced that
some other guy had the answers, the inside scoop. Thus our
round-robin to the gurus, the keepers of the saucer secrets.
That short list included you, of course.
After all
these years, the saucers remain mysterious. The gurus,
insiders, contactees, and leakers have “strutted their hour
upon the stage, and are heard no more.” What a cast of
characters! Hundreds of names, but it would only cause pain to
recall them.
One man is left standing – that’s you,
Dear Jim. And that is because you never were a phony. Quite
the reverse. You had the common sense to figure out long ago
that the mystery was profound, but that the actors who
promoted themselves as keepers of the secret were shallow.
You laughed, nudged, winked, for over 50 years. But
always, you listened hard for the real signal. You still do,
which is why I take this moment to applaud your career in
saucerdom.
--Bob Durant
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| (posted: Fri Feb 27 19:36:27 2004) |
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I
first met Jim when he, John Keel, and I were speaking at a
Fortfest in the D.C. area, in the 1970s. The most vivid memory
I have of that time is sitting with these two gentlemen in the
dark and shabby lobby of a motel, listening to the foremost
scholars of ufology decide what they would do that evening. I
recall politely excusing myself to finetune my presentation,
as they skipped off, across the highway, to visit a nearby
striptease joint. And thus I was introduced to the braintrust
of ufology, and knew what the end would look like - some sort
of cosmic mix of humor and nudity galore!
Best wishes,
Jim, on your next 50 years of shining your flashlight in all
those hidden corners.
Loren Coleman
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| (posted: Mon Feb 23 10:02:59 2004) |
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Ignacio
Darnaude Rojas-Marcos
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The generous Manuel Fernandes has donated to this too
much old fan of Moseleyan unforgettable Saucer News journal
the delightful gift of several spine issues (very pricking
ones) of your S.S. bulletin, the non-nazi Saucer Smear.
(By the way Saucer Smear, in the smart language of
Cervantes, means by chance, sorry, "saucer to urinate", a
shallow (for prostatics) chamber pot, anyhow an useful
apparatus and a truly ufological device, due to "UFO"
signifies, too, something related to the morning ambrosia
devoured by one India's ex-President and the most abundant
golden nectar (more than wine, olive oil or toilet water):
"U.F.O." = "Urine For Oaks" (its best fertilizer).
I
think we are going to file an Urigellerian legal suit against
Manuel Fernandes, our common friend and excellent cook of ufo
food, because I am suffering a serious S.S. post-reading pain
on my abdominal muscles, a damned stiffness provoked by my
incontinent abuse of laughter.
Although the actual
culprit is, as usual in life, the tricomonic but ever
glamorous hymen (Hys Magestic Editor Narrator) and its
spiritual environs (Terranova's aromatherapic Chanel Number
69), that is, the unsinkable UFO Prophet His Highness James W.
Mose(s)ley lines hunter, our famous Klassical skeptic about
the current epidemic of other affluent UFO Cash Retrievers.
Please keep humour alive into the blood and lymph of
Saucer Smear. I suspect humour is the most powerful and
intelligent weapon at the hands of ufologists, a must in the
whole omniverse, and also our hardest shield against Dark
Forces, bad ufonauts and even unbearable ufonaughts.
Perhaps before the imminent End of the World the
little green Etherians, more than flesh and blood can bear,
maybe appoint H.H. J.W. Moseley their Intergalactic Emperor in
our impossible, blue planetoid. No doubt a long awaited and
well-deserved royal crown.
I am sure the Lieutenant
General will be present at this solemn ceremony, in spite of
all, Moseley Sr. frantically applauding, shaking his heroic
four stars along with filial attitudes.
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| (posted: Sun Feb 22 09:08:40 2004) |
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>Love him or hate him, there's no denying Jim
Moseley, for better
>or worse, has been and remains a
Presence in ufology.
Yes, like a steaming turd on the
living room carpet. This sort of silly crap explains why you
and your idol, who constantly treat the whole subject as a
joke, might just as well be on the Government payroll for UFO
debunkers.
>We'll keep everyone posted on the page
as plans develop.
Try the Comedy Channel.
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| (posted: Sun Feb 22 09:07:38 2004) |
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I
have been a fan of Mr. Moseley's and of "Smear" since buying
his book... FIRST! How could one resist such a title as
"Shockingly Close to the Truth - Confessions of a
Grave-Robbing Ufologist"
Yes, there I was, a happy
little "ghost investigator/researcher" with his Ufologist
girlfriend (now fiance) wandering through our local bookstore
and there it was... calling to ME! My girlfriend at the time
saying "Oh, you'd appreciate Jim Moseley!" so, a few bucks
later, I'm knee-deep into the tome.
Well, to make a
long story short, I then read every back issue of "Smear"
online and have tried to steer some of the "ghostly folk" I
correspond with over to it... to learn the one important
truth... "Don't take yourself TOO seriously and have fun."
Heck, myself and my significant other were thrilled
that our local video shoppe had a copy of "Whispers from
Space" in stock and were thrilled to be able to rent/watch
this documentary. (R.I.P. Gray Barker)
NOW, on to
something far more important...
Reading "Smear" as I
have, for some really odd reason, some people have fixated a
little too much as to Mr. Moseley's sexual preferences... I'm
shocked at all of you... Aside from sexual preferences having
about as much to do with a mans work in Moseley's fields as
the dust bunnies beneath my bed have to do with the ISS, those
of you who have fixated missed an important clue...
How often does a man have to print the words "Sex and
Saucers" before all you fixators get it?
That's right,
I'm "outing" Jim Moseley!
He's an ALIEN SEXUAL!
That's right, there's an obvious fixation with sex and
saucers... In my eyes, there's no question, he is a closet
gray-hugger... a shadow reptilian-luster... someone who has a
shine for the nordics.
THERE! SETTLED!
Sorry,
Mr. Moseley, your secret is now out... but at least some
people will finally stop speculating and start concentrating
on what's most important... Jasmine!
Happy 50th, Sir!
Your work and efforts are very-much appreciated... although
sometimes, it's difficult to tell...
(As a side note:
It is impressive the sheer number of serious Ufologists that
say that have issues with you and your work and yet, they all
read "Smear"... Hmmmm...)
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| (posted: Fri Feb 20 08:24:52 2004) |
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| I
met Jim at Ann Druffel's home in 1987 as he was preparing the
glorious National UFO CON in Burbank Ca for that Summer. I was
also at the Con helping out Bill Moore and Stanton Friedman as
they broke the MJ-12 story to the world of Ufology. I am sure
Jim remembers the night party we had for Stan and the suprize
we had for him? And yes I have pictures which include you Jim
so be nice!
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| (posted: Thu Feb 19 21:53:57 2004) |
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Jim:
Do you remember the First (and as far as I
know, your only) Annual Mothman Convention that you and Gray
Barker organized in, as I recall, 1970? It was held in Point
Pleasant, WV at a motel that had a round restaurant that
looked like a landed flying saucer.
Not too many
people showed up. Gray did, of course. And you brought along a
rather cute girl friend, whose name I have long since
forgotten.
My friend, Warren "Nic" Nicholson, and I
suspected that you, Gray and your friend had smoked a bit too
much funny weed. That was confirmed when we all tried to pile
in our cars to go out the circular driveway of the motel so we
could visit the infamous TNT factory.
Trying to get in
a single line with our cars, you drove your car down the
driveway and then turned around so you could follow Gray. Gray
drove out the other way and then also turned around at the
same time you did. You guys passed each other going in
opposite directions several times until we more sober folks
took charge and got everyone headed in the same direction.
We did make it out to the TNT plant after dark. I
remember standing out there over looking the Ohio River when a
small plane came down the river from the north. The reporter
from the Athens, Ohio newspaper (Mary Hyre?) who worked with
John Keel, you and others on the Mothman story, was there and
got very excited. She thought the airplane was a UFO. None of
the rest of us got too excited, but she sure did. She was a
bit disappointed when she realized her mistake.
Before
we met with you guys at the motel Nic and I tried to find the
TNT plant. We were having no success until we saw three
teenage boys walking along the road. We drove up to them in
Nic's MG and stopped. I leaned out and asked them where
Mothman had been seen. Expecting to be laughed at, I was very
surpirsed when one of the boys seriously replied by giving us
accurate directions. Those boys certainly didn't take the
Mothman stories as a joke. To them it seemed just a matter of
fact. That was impressive.
I also remember seeing the
remains of the SIlver Bridge piled up in a field not too far
off the road.
Thanks for putting on the First (and
only) Gray barker and James Moseley Annusl Mothman Convention.
It will always be a fond memory.
Bill Jones
MUFON
State Director for Ohio
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| (posted: Thu Feb 19 10:24:10 2004) |
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I
first discovered Saucer Smear on the Internet about 5 years
ago and have enjoyed it ever since. Being a novice UFO
enthusiast I found the information contained therein rather
entertaining and at times even informative. I’ve never met Jim
and I’m sure I never will since I do not intend to patronize
any of the conventions, conferences or lectures. I see enough
freaks, weirdo’s and charlatans here at home, no sense paying
for the privilege, especially since many are going to treat me
as a mark. Also, since I live in Michigan and don’t travel too
often the possibilities of visiting Florida are very remote.
However, I did enjoy Jim’s book immensely (and yes, I
purchased it) and found the information quite interesting.
Congratulations Jim, for all the hard work you’ve done
over these past 50 or so years and continued success in this
and any future endeavors. Yours is the first UFO site I visit
every day and the one I enjoy the most. Well done!
J.L. Wilder
UFO enthusiast
No credentials
No degrees
No experience
No lie
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| (posted: Wed Feb 18 10:36:07 2004) |
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