JAR

History

JAR launched in Q1 2007 from Fairfax, Virginia under editor Susan Swiatek, with Board Editors John Carpenter (Springfield, Missouri), Elaine Douglass (Moab, Utah), and Barbara Lamb (Claremont, California). It ran quarterly through at least July 2010, reaching nine issues. Distribution was by email as a professionally typeset PDF. The website was www.jarmag.com and subscriptions cost $20 per year.

The journal published original research, case narratives, editorials, and letters across the full spectrum of abduction interpretation. David Jacobs contributed pieces on hybrid programmes. Budd Hopkins wrote on alien agendas. Helen Littrell shared personal testimony from her book "Raechel's Eyes." Craig Lang analysed the logistics implied by physical abductions at reported scale. Carpenter explored the ethics of applying moral labels to encounters. Elaine Douglass investigated physical harm cases. Michael Menkin reported on his "Thought Screen Helmet" project. Stefano Breccia wrote on the Italian "Amicizia" contact case.

Carpenter's involvement was significant. As a clinical social worker with hundreds of regression cases, he had access to a case database that most researchers lacked. His contributions to JAR drew on this material while cautioning against the "good versus evil" binary that other contributors leaned into. The tension between his clinical approach and the more advocacy-driven pieces from Douglass and Hopkins made for productive editorial conflict.