Jerome Clark
Jerome Clark is an author, editor, and historian of anomalous phenomena whose multi-volume UFO Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive reference work on the subject. Clark began writing about UFOs in the mid-1960s and served for many years as editor of the International UFO Reporter, the journal of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) founded by J. Allen Hynek.
His UFO Encyclopedia, published in multiple editions beginning in 1990, runs to over 1,400 pages in its most recent version and covers cases, people, organisations, and concepts with scholarly sourcing. It is the standard reference cited by researchers across the spectrum of opinion on the phenomenon.
Clark also authored Strange Skies: Pilot Encounters with UFOs (2003), Unexplained! (multiple editions), and numerous articles and book chapters. His editorial work at the International UFO Reporter emphasised documented cases and verifiable claims over speculation.
His approach evolved over decades. In his early career, Clark explored connections between UFOs and paranormal phenomena; later, he adopted a more conservative position focused on physical-evidence cases and witness testimony that could be corroborated. He has been described as a historian of the UFO controversy itself, tracking not only the phenomenon but the social, cultural, and institutional responses to it.
Compiled from primary sources held in the NHI Archive.
This profile was editorially curated from primary sources in the NHI Archive, including newsletters, books, government documents, and witness testimony.
