The Ufologist

History

Terrell W. Ecker launched The Ufologist as a monthly magazine in 1992, evolving it from the St. Johns River MUFON UFO Newsletter into an independent publication. Frances Anne Ecker served as Associate Editor. Published from 706 River Street, Palatka, Florida 32177, subscriptions cost $15 per year. Ecker was a MUFON field investigator and state section director for Polk and Osceola counties, a former Naval intelligence officer and native Floridian who had investigated UFO sightings for over twenty-eight years.

The magazine combined original field investigation with editorial commentary on the state of ufology. The July/August 1992 double issue (Volume 1, Numbers 3 and 4) featured Ecker's own investigation of the Haines City police encounter: Patrolman Luis Delgado's close encounter at 3:52 a.m. on 19 March 1992, when a domed green object approximately fifteen feet wide followed his cruiser on 30th Street. Three officers rushed to Delgado's aid and found him "shaking and crying." Sergeant L. Bartley filed a Suspicious Incident report. Ecker interviewed Delgado the following evening and published the full account.

Later issues covered the Alabama cattle mutilations (including Linda Moulton Howe's investigation and FAA confirmation of helicopter involvement), the "Oregon Chainsaw Mutilations," the 1992 MUFON Symposium in Albuquerque (where editors Ecker became aware of the Taos Hum), Bruce Maccabee's analysis of Gulf Breeze photographs, and news on the Roswell crash research by Friedman/Berliner and Randle/Schmitt. The Readers' Forum section hosted community debate. Fearon L. Hicks contributed field investigation reports from Polk County.

Ecker's editorial voice was sharp and sceptical of organised ufology's internal disputes. He questioned whether "a host of side issues of dubious merit" were diverting attention from the Roswell/Corona research, and noted that the Gulf Breeze controversy and the Gerald Anderson problems had arrived conveniently timed to overshadow new Roswell publications.