The Ufologer

History

Jim Villard and Dan Washburn co-edited The Ufologer from Post Office Box 606, Morristown, New Jersey, publishing under the North Jersey U.F.O. Group banner. The first issue appeared on 17 June 1957 at 35 cents per copy, with subscriptions at $2.00 for six issues (12 issues per year planned). R. Krandall contributed the introductory article. Correspondence also went through 4301 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Apt. 1004, Washington 16, D.C. and 3312 R Street NW, Washington 7, D.C.

The editorial stance was unusual for its era: Villard and Washburn considered flying saucers and the occult "closely related" and covered both subjects equally. Each issue carried sighting reports alongside articles on prana, planchette (spirit writing boards), and parapsychological phenomena. Book reviews, editorials, and reader correspondence filled out the remaining pages. The production quality was modest (mimeographed, hand-stapled) but the content was sharp and frequently provocative.

Whether the Moseley accusations had any foundation (Moseley himself denied them with characteristic amusement for decades afterward), The Ufologer's willingness to publish them in its debut issue reveals how the magazine positioned itself: as a gadfly within the community, willing to name names and stir controversy. The North Jersey Group sat in the orbit of Gray Barker's network rather than the more cautious NICAP or CSI-NY establishments.

The Ufologer also covered Aime Michel's work on orthoteny (the alignment of sighting locations along straight lines), reporting on the French researcher's theories for an American audience at a time when few English-language publications engaged with European ufological methodology.