A Letter to Jerry Clark from Gaines M Crook [1991]

Gaines M. Crook

                     

December 29, 1991

Mr. Jerome Clark, Editor

International UFO Reporter

612 North Oscar Ave.

Canby, MN 56220

RE:  Publication of Paper.

Dear Mr. Clark:

     I  have followed the UFO scene with interest since  I  first read  about them in 1947. I have increasingly  been  dissatisfied with all sorts of reported UFO effects being called  "electromagnetic effects". About a year and a half ago I decided to write  a paper which was intended to examine some cases in the light of  a knowledge of electromagnetics and report the results. I chose  as a  starting  point Rodeghier's excellent "UFO  Reports  Involving Vehicle Interference" and added a few cases which I thought  were significant. These cases were reorganized by what occurred during the sighting and then analyzed for true electromagnetic  involvement (as we presently understand electromagnetics).

     This paper was completed about the end of 1990 and was  sent to  MUFON  to  see if they would publish it. I  received  a  very enthusiastic  reply from Walt Andrus in January, 1991. He  wanted me to divide it into two parts along with the references  because it  was too long to publish in one issue. I did this and sent  it back  to him. In this paper I discussed my disagreement with  the ideas of James McCampbell both about "electromagnetic effects" as well as the statement which he made in his 1976 CUFOS  conference paper "UFO Interference With Automobile Electrical systems,  Part I  Headlights"  as follows: "--But there is no reason  to  assume that the mechanisms by which vehicle interference take place  are beyond the capacity of contemporary science."

     I heard no more from Walt until October, 1991 when I got  an envelope from him with an "evaluation" of my paper by McCampbell. It  turns out that McCampbell is MUFON's "Director of  Research"! He  was  very upset with my disagreement with him and  vetoed  the publication of my paper. This sort of "referee" system strikes me as  a little bit odd, but then so is most everything else in  the UFO World!

     The UFO field is at a distinct disadvantage in regard to the publication  of technical papers since probably less than  1%  of the  readers could comprehend a genuinely technical  paper.  Even those  with  backgrounds in various technical  fields  would  not necessarily understand the details of technical papers in another field  so one is forced to write as if the paper were to be  published  in  the popular press. On the other hand, if  we  try  to publish in a legitimate technical journal, the staff and  readership will be not only unfamiliar with the UFO literature but will also be upset at the effrontery of the author for even  believing in such a forbidden subject. I had thought of attempting to  publish my paper in the Journal of the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility  Society (of which I am a member).

     The  quality of UFO literature is generally very poor.  Some of  the  references quoted in some papers are  stretched  to  the limits so the end result is that the relationship becomes no more than rumors. An example is XXXXXXX  [N.B. "XXXXXXX" is not identified and so far none of the documents I have recovered make further reference to this- jc]

     I  have  included copies of all of the  correspondence  surrounding this situation.

     If  you would like to publish the paper I would be  pleased. If  on the other hand you do not wish to publish it that is  O.K. too.  The  greater  benefit of writing any paper  is  in  getting things straightened out in one's own mind. If you have any  questions you may call me…

Yours truly,

  

Gaines M. Crook