NJAAP Bulletin

History

Timothy Green Beckley founded the New Jersey Association for Aerial Phenomena (NJAAP) on July 14, 1961, operating from 3 Courtland Street, New Brunswick, New Jersey. The first publication appeared in December 1961. By its first anniversary in July 1962, NJAAP had crossed 100 members, purchased its own mimeograph machine, issued monthly sighting forms to the New Jersey press, and released a four-page fact sheet to Members of Congress and government agencies.

NJAAP began when Beckley was corresponding with around 30 people interested in UFOs. Half dropped out when he proposed forming a group. With those who remained, he started assembling the bulletin, writing articles himself and soliciting news from correspondents. The first issue ran to 15 pages. A New York printer took his money for the second issue and disappeared for four months. Beckley eventually found a local mimeograph service and got the publication back on schedule by early 1962.

The bulletin carried international content from the start. Volume 1, Number 5 (July 1962) ran an article by Ronald W.J. Anstee defending George Adamski's contact claims, citing Desmond Leslie and Professor Marcel Homet's Brazilian archaeological findings. It also reported a farm encounter near Everittstown, New Jersey, where a witness named Trasco described an entity with a metallic box on its back, and a visitor near Montreal who gave a name and address that later checked out as false.

By Volume 2, Number 4 (July 1964), the bulletin was reporting simultaneous sighting clusters: red luminous objects over Whitehorse, Yukon Territory in January 1964 (covered by the Whitehorse Star), and a physical evidence case from Fort Worth, Texas, where witnesses Ronald J. Jones and Melvin L. Lewis retrieved charred metal fragments after a luminous object fell onto Lewis's lawn. The metal was sent to Professor Leo Baggerly (physics) and Dr. Arthur Ehlmann (geology) at Texas Christian University for analysis.