Mass. MUFON Newsletter

History

Massachusetts MUFON published continuously from 1982 under three successive State Directors. Marge Christensen launched both the Newsletter and the P.I.P.E. Line from Beverly, establishing the chapter's training programme, hotline (617-944-0686), and public outreach infrastructure. James Melesciuc took over as editor and State Director by 1987, operating from Reading. By 2001, Reinhard H. Bartelmann (M.S., D.C.) directed the chapter, now meeting quarterly at Framingham Town Hall and publishing a professionally formatted Journal with both technical meetings and officers' business meetings on separate schedules.

The chapter produced four distinct publication streams. The Newsletter (Issues 1 to 46, 1982 to 1987) served as the primary chapter organ: meeting schedules, case reports, speaker announcements, and investigator training updates. The P.I.P.E. Line (Issues 1 to 32, 1984 to 1987) coordinated MUFON's National UFO Information Week across all fifty states. The Annual Reports (1982 to 1986) were formal presentations at MUFON International Symposia, documenting membership, cases investigated, public education activities, and chapter policies. The Journal (2001) represented the chapter's later incarnation under new leadership.

The 2001 Journal shows the chapter still active two decades later, now with a website generating online Form 1 sighting reports, quarterly meetings split between technical presentations and administrative business, and active field investigations across Worcester County, the Connecticut River Valley, and the Cape Cod corridor. State Director Bartelmann maintained the chapter's investigative orientation, assigning cases and monitoring them through to resolution.