{"data":{"library_item":[{"blocks":{"time":1656463932306,"blocks":[{"id":"kYJRXZVf9P","data":{"url":"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/64e46c50-3d48-42b4-90a4-7a4a1b6664ba.png","caption":"from Skeptic.com","stretched":false,"withBorder":false,"withBackground":false},"type":"SimpleImage"},{"id":"NQSWExCLlf","data":{"text":"Summary","level":2},"type":"header"},{"id":"O9aaVu3A1w","data":{"text":"Philip J. Klass was an journalist, UAP researcher and perhaps the most widely known “debunker” in the United States from the late 1960’s through the end of the century. "},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"6AY43fmT85","data":{"text":"An avowed skeptic, Klass produced an immense body of writing, both public and private, on UAP phenomena, invariably arriving at mundane explanations that ran from misidentification of natural phenomena, appeal to scientific concepts, the revelation of alleged hoaxes, and ad hominem attack."},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"8tIxfEqTYn","data":{"text":"Entering the arena","level":2},"type":"header"},{"id":"AXqjwSTRNE","data":{"text":"Klass was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1919, He studied electrical engineering at Iowa State University and after graduation in 1941, took a job at General Electric in Schenectady, New York, where he worked on defense related electronics. In 1952, Klass changed careers to journalism and landed a job at Aviation Week and Scientific Technology, a long running publication on airline, defense and space aeronautics where he would become editor and remain a contributing writer long after his retirement in 1986.¹"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"rBJHael1tX","data":{"text":"Klass became interested in the UAP phenomenon in 1966 after attending a panel discussion of the topic at a convention of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.² Around the same time, Klass happened to pick up John G. Fuller’s Incident at Exeter, which examined recent UAP sightings in New England.³ Klass reviewed Incident at Exeter in Aviation Week, advancing the theory that atmospheric plasma, or “ball lightning,” could explain the sightings of Fuller’s interest. "},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"sKQPRrJZRQ","data":{"text":"Klass would publish only a few more UAP related articles in Aviation Week as his editor Robert Hotz reportedly told him not to get “involved with all those kooks.”⁴"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"dUKXTay9k6","data":{"text":"That same year, Klass investigated a well-publicized 1964 UAP sighting in Socorro, New Mexico, which he deemed to be a hoax intended to drum up tourist dollars.⁵ Klass then took on Betty and Barney Hill’s famous abduction account, which he found to be a species of wish fulfillment and psychological delusion, an explanation Klass would apply time and again as abduction reports entered the public sphere.⁶ "},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"qNlxS8ANFP","data":{"text":"Also in 1966, Klass entered an initially cordial correspondence with Dr. James McDonald, physicist, meteorologist and former U.S. Naval officer who advanced the theory that extraterrestrial life was behind certain UAP sightings. Klass again argued primarily for the ball lightning hypothesis. (In later years, Klass would abandon the ball lightning theory as it fell out of favor in the scientific community.) Two years later, the correspondence ended, and Klass sent the U.S. Navy exhaustive “white papers”, or explanatory memos, that repeatedly questioned McDonalds’ funding proposals with the Navy while simultaneously cataloging supposed contradictions in McDonald’s positions, strongly implying dishonesty or instability on McDonald’s part.⁷ "},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"JsgAHS5pJw","data":{"text":"(McDonald, who was going through a divorce and a professional dispute involving the Condon Committee, a civilian-led U.S. Air Force-funded UAP investigation, committed suicide in 1971). "},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"FseB5I9m2t","data":{"text":"In these and other early forays into discussion of UAP phenomena, Klass demonstrated a wide range of approaches that would characterize his voluminous work to come; Klass “debunked” by producing vast quantities of evidence that purported to, at turns, uncover deception, appeal to science and rationality, and undermine the credibility of witnesses, “UFO Proponents,” as he would come to call them, and the media outlets that he alleged made an industry of UAP reports.⁸ "},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"CS6nH_sgCR","data":{"text":"Klass, a self-professed workaholic,⁹ carried out this work in several books, the first of which, UFO’s - Identified, came out in 1968, private correspondence and white papers, television and public speaking appearances, and a steady stream of articles."},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"t5-iqDyAQW","data":{"url":"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/75e2e7d1-73d1-4494-b91e-cfd063708493.png","caption":"Klass’ first book, UFOs - Identified","stretched":false,"withBorder":false,"withBackground":false},"type":"SimpleImage"},{"id":"uV8-ddgBRs","data":{"text":"Decades of 'debunking'","level":2},"type":"header"},{"id":"hxvA9wIIgQ","data":{"text":"Against Hynek","level":3},"type":"header"},{"id":"oK6Thh4Dga","data":{"text":"For decades, Klass took aim at the credibility of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who was an astrophysicist, the director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at Northwestern University, a long-time consultant to the U.S. Air Force, and perhaps the most well known UAP researcher of the second half of the 20th Century."},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"SfyjLop9hE","data":{"text":"Klass’ primary criticism of Hynek involved identifying alleged inconsistencies in Hynek’s “UFO invariant,” meaning the percentage of UAP sightings Hynek felt were genuinely unexplainable. Klass found that Hynek at times indicated an “invariant” as high as 20 percent and at other times as low as three percent. Klass took the apparent discrepancy as evidence of Hynek being “two-faced” and prone to “bulloney.” The Hynek statements referenced by Klass took place over the course of nearly four decades and involved diverse audiences, ranging from popular magazines such as People to scientific societies such as Sigma XI, and the parsing of varieties of evidence, such as eyewitness accounts versus atmospheric and astronomical phenomena. Klass also apparently held Hynek’s self-reflective statement that he was “not very innovative,” which he reportedly made in May 1973 to New Scientist magazine as indicative of Hynek’s shortcomings as a scientist.¹⁰"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"UROmCdFOWM","data":{"text":"Hynek, for his part, refused offers to debate Klass, saying that the either/or format of a public debate was unsuited to testing the truth behind UAP claims. Hynek also said that he was a poor debater and wasn’t very quick on his feet.¹¹ In contrast, as evidenced by his numerous television appearances, Klass was an able debater: sharp, verbally quick, and able to weave sarcasm, argument and rapid recall of obscure detail.¹²"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"CsX3KO6g7D","data":{"text":"Walton's past","level":3},"type":"header"},{"id":"4udQ6JV5oy","data":{"text":"Klass devoted articles, interviews, letters, white papers and book chapters to debunking Travis Walton’s alleged five-day extraterrestrial abduction from a forest in Arizona in 1975. Klass discovered that Walton failed to pass his first polygraph following the alleged abduction and that an interview with a psychiatrist revealed that Walton had a prior interest in UAP. Additionally, Walton’s mother had reportedly seen UAP and was a believer in extraterrestrials. Klass also highlighted that Walton allegedly admitted to his brother that he had experimented with marijuana and LSD. More persistently, Klass raised the fact that Walton was charged with burglary when he was 14 years old. "},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"DhxIldLxcX","data":{"text":"On this evidence, Klass declared that Walton was unreliable. The abduction was a hoax, Klass said, that served as pretext to nullify a work contract for the U.S. Forest Service. Walton was part of a forestry crew that was facing penalties for falling short of fulfilling a contract to clear acreage, Klass said.¹³"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"65DCn9Z2of","data":{"text":"Walton defended his account and its credibility against Klass, most publicly in 1993 on CNN’s Larry King Live around release of Fire in the Sky, a film adaptation of Walton’s alleged experience.¹⁴"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"5msuqJYwXY","data":{"url":"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/8f71e092-2a99-401d-93a0-ac3a05bd1ee4.png","caption":"","stretched":false,"withBorder":false,"withBackground":false},"type":"SimpleImage"},{"id":"_Mu0rcaSnQ","data":{"text":"Incident at Roswell","level":3},"type":"header"},{"id":"5MxVkGBYeA","data":{"text":"In a 1997 book The Real Roswell Crashed-Saucer Coverup, Klass compiled and focused his decades of writing on the famous alleged incident in 1947 in New Mexico, where, according to some, the U.S. Army recovered debris of a downed UAP and its extraterrestrial occupants.¹⁵"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"0vQ4GH5_QO","data":{"text":"Klass’ argument proceeds in three steps, first with evidence that debris was, as the Army later stated, fragments of a weather balloon. Klass further introduces evidence in the form of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency memoranda contemporary to the crash, which fail to indicate anything unusual in the incident. Next, Klass argues more generally that an UAP crash would be an epoque-making scientific event that could not be kept under wraps for five decades, especially in light of failures to suppress smaller scandals such as Watergate. Finally, Klass alleges that the “real” coverup has been perpetrated by “UFO proponents” and the media outlets that publish their books and articles and produce their television shows and films for fame and profit."},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"1AU-YZEw5B","data":{"text":"In response to these and other arguments, Klass faced attacks on his own credibility. Some critics went so far as to accuse Klass of being a CIA disinformation agent, a claim notably made by UAP researcher Kathleen Marden, who is a niece to Betty and Barney Hill, an early target of Klass’ debunking work.¹⁶ Others, such as UAP researcher Jerome Clark, have offered gentler ad hominem, saying, for instance, that Klass’ time at Aviation Week had wedded him to the official line of military industrial complex.¹⁷"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"z1wF-oXXAL","data":{"url":"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/8358aff5-7f81-4716-85ea-5ef7857ae150.png","caption":"","stretched":false,"withBorder":false,"withBackground":false},"type":"SimpleImage"},{"id":"htf8vzHWen","data":{"text":"Challenges elsewhere","level":2},"type":"header"},{"id":"dt9Yxfowja","data":{"text":"In 1974, Klass closed his second book UFOs Explained by staking out a $10,000 bet. Klass said that he would pay anyone that amount if either the U.S. National Academy of Sciences confirmed evidence of extraterrestrial life, or an extraterrestrial appeared before the United Nations. Anyone wishing to enter the bet would have to pay Klass $250 per year until one of those instances occurred, he said. "},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"rWZ9Qdla4b","data":{"text":"Klass said the fact that no one took him up on the offer was evidence that UAP researchers advancing the “extraterrestrial hypothesis” did not truly believe their own “babble,” according to fellow UAP skeptic Robert Schaeffer.¹⁸"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"2vG5V3sZVX","data":{"text":"In 1976, Klass joined Dr. Karl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, the philosopher Paul Kurtz and others in founding the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, or CSICOP, now called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, CSI, a non-profit group intended to examine extraordinary claims, such as UAP sightings. Klass became an active contributor to the Skeptical Inquirer, CSI’s publication."},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"X7OhDPZg-w","data":{"url":"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/ced59251-ed4f-4482-838c-adc9e1f5cec8.png","caption":"Klass addressing CSICOP in 1983, Buffalo, N.Y., by Robert Schaeffer","stretched":false,"withBorder":false,"withBackground":false},"type":"SimpleImage"},{"id":"73heWE46ng","data":{"text":"In 1983, as Klass’ role in the UAP arena became ever more combative, he asked UAP researcher James Mosely to publish “The Last Will and Testament of Philip J. Klass,” which passes on to his critics the following “UFO Curse” …"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"7ZpzSPfDbz","data":{"text":"“No matter how long you live,” Klass said, “you will never know any more about UFOs than you know today. You will never know any more about what UFOs really are, or where they come from. You will never know any more about what the U.S. Government really knows about UFOs than you know today. As you lie on your own death-bed you will be as mystified about UFOs as you are today. And you will remember this curse.”¹⁹","caption":"Phillip J. Klass","alignment":"left"},"type":"quote"},{"id":"5rv24oilxb","data":{"text":"Klass died from cancer in Cocoa, Florida, in 2005. "},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"xq7xqw_-yY","data":{"text":"According to Schaeffer, Klass’s style of forceful argument came in part from Klass’ father, a lawyer. Klass, Schaeffer said, relished his adversarial relationship to UAP researchers and described himself as playing “the skunk at the garden party.”²⁰"},"type":"paragraph"},{"id":"yLoxYE8_sN","data":{"text":"References","level":3},"type":"header"},{"id":"HMHzRH_CGE","data":{"items":["The basics of Klasss life and career are largely drawn from an in memoriam article from Robert Schaeffer in a 2005 issue of the Skeptical Inquirer, available here https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2005/11/22164619/p16.pdf, a less positive write up from UAP researcher Jerome Clark in Fate magazine in February 1981, available here http://www.nicap.org/reports/790827marshallco_clark.htm, a biographical abstract accompanying Klass’ papers at the American Philosophical Society, available here https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.Ms.Coll.59-ead.xml, and profile of Klass in Out There by Harold Blum, available online at https://archive.org/details/outtheregovernme00blum/page/216/mode/2up ","Interview with Klass at https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/extraterrestrials-may-be-out-there/ and American Philosophical Society note at https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.Ms.Coll.59-ead.xml
","Schaeffer’s in memoriam article of Klass https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2005/11/22164619/p16.pdf
","See Blum at p. 216 https://archive.org/details/outtheregovernme00blum/page/216/mode/2up
","Klass’ writing from his investigation available here http://www.debunker.com/historical/PJK_MultiplyingTourists.pdf
","Klass correspondence on the Hills, including a letter from Betty Hill herself, available here http://www.debunker.com/historical/BettyHillBenjaminSimonPhilipKlass.pdf ; Klass developed his skepticism over abduction reports more fully in his book UFO Abduction - A Dangerous Game https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WT1HYY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1#customerReviews
","Klass’ notes and “white papers” available at http://www.debunker.com/historical/KlassContraMcDonald_1968.pdf
","Klass advances his media critique in several books, but perhaps most pointedly in UFO Abduction - A Dangerous Game and The Real Roswell Crashed Saucer Coverup, Google books preview available at https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Real_Roswell_Crashed_saucer_Coverup/CORGAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-n_-i4rv1AhUBSN8KHVpGB3AQiKUDegQICRAE
","According to Schaeffer in memoriam article
","Klass discusses Hynek in several of his book and in multiple articles, as well as in Klass’ whitepapers, available here http://www.debunker.com/historical/KlassContraHynek.pdf
","According to Jerome Clark http://www.nicap.org/reports/790827marshallco_clark.htm
","Youtube clips available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhvgKcNTxp4 , here Friedman vs Klass on Nightline - part 1 of 2 and here Larry King Live – Walton UFO abduction case (3/12/1993)
","Klass wrote about Walton in several venues. Klass’ notes and white papers in his investigation are available here http://www.debunker.com/historical/KlassContraWalton.pdf
","Segment available at Larry King Live – Walton UFO abduction case (3/12/1993)
","Searchable “snippet” version of The Real Roswell available at https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Real_Roswell_Crashed_saucer_Coverup/CORGAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-n_-i4rv1AhUBSN8KHVpGB3AQiKUDegQICRAE Klass also lays out much the same argument in a television segment with UAP researcher Kevin Randle Randle vs Klass
","Marden makes the argument during a radio segment available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p00K64EFT_Q and in a book co-written with Dr. Stanton Friedman https://www.amazon.com/Fact-Fiction-Flying-Saucers-Misinformation/dp/1799971961
","From Clark’s 1981 write up in Fate magazine here http://www.nicap.org/reports/790827marshallco_clark.htm
","Schaeffer’s in memorium article of Klass https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2005/11/22164619/p16.pdf
","Moseley reprinted the “UFO curse” in his book Shockingly Close to the Truth! Preview at https://www.google.com/books/edition/Shockingly_Close_to_the_Truth/KYKKiU9cvZEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=curse
","See note 18
"],"style":"ordered"},"type":"list"}],"version":"2.24.3"},"body":"{\"time\":1656463932306,\"blocks\":[{\"id\":\"kYJRXZVf9P\",\"type\":\"SimpleImage\",\"data\":{\"url\":\"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/64e46c50-3d48-42b4-90a4-7a4a1b6664ba.png\",\"caption\":\"from Skeptic.com\",\"withBorder\":false,\"withBackground\":false,\"stretched\":false}},{\"id\":\"NQSWExCLlf\",\"type\":\"header\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Summary\",\"level\":2}},{\"id\":\"O9aaVu3A1w\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Philip J. Klass was an journalist, UAP researcher and perhaps the most widely known “debunker” in the United States from the late 1960’s through the end of the century. \"}},{\"id\":\"6AY43fmT85\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"An avowed skeptic, Klass produced an immense body of writing, both public and private, on UAP phenomena, invariably arriving at mundane explanations that ran from misidentification of natural phenomena, appeal to scientific concepts, the revelation of alleged hoaxes, and ad hominem attack.\"}},{\"id\":\"8tIxfEqTYn\",\"type\":\"header\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Entering the arena\",\"level\":2}},{\"id\":\"AXqjwSTRNE\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Klass was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1919, He studied electrical engineering at Iowa State University and after graduation in 1941, took a job at General Electric in Schenectady, New York, where he worked on defense related electronics. In 1952, Klass changed careers to journalism and landed a job at Aviation Week and Scientific Technology, a long running publication on airline, defense and space aeronautics where he would become editor and remain a contributing writer long after his retirement in 1986.¹\"}},{\"id\":\"rBJHael1tX\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Klass became interested in the UAP phenomenon in 1966 after attending a panel discussion of the topic at a convention of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.² Around the same time, Klass happened to pick up John G. Fuller’s Incident at Exeter, which examined recent UAP sightings in New England.³ Klass reviewed Incident at Exeter in Aviation Week, advancing the theory that atmospheric plasma, or “ball lightning,” could explain the sightings of Fuller’s interest. \"}},{\"id\":\"sKQPRrJZRQ\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Klass would publish only a few more UAP related articles in Aviation Week as his editor Robert Hotz reportedly told him not to get “involved with all those kooks.”⁴\"}},{\"id\":\"dUKXTay9k6\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"That same year, Klass investigated a well-publicized 1964 UAP sighting in Socorro, New Mexico, which he deemed to be a hoax intended to drum up tourist dollars.⁵ Klass then took on Betty and Barney Hill’s famous abduction account, which he found to be a species of wish fulfillment and psychological delusion, an explanation Klass would apply time and again as abduction reports entered the public sphere.⁶ \"}},{\"id\":\"qNlxS8ANFP\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Also in 1966, Klass entered an initially cordial correspondence with Dr. James McDonald, physicist, meteorologist and former U.S. Naval officer who advanced the theory that extraterrestrial life was behind certain UAP sightings. Klass again argued primarily for the ball lightning hypothesis. (In later years, Klass would abandon the ball lightning theory as it fell out of favor in the scientific community.) Two years later, the correspondence ended, and Klass sent the U.S. Navy exhaustive “white papers”, or explanatory memos, that repeatedly questioned McDonalds’ funding proposals with the Navy while simultaneously cataloging supposed contradictions in McDonald’s positions, strongly implying dishonesty or instability on McDonald’s part.⁷ \"}},{\"id\":\"JsgAHS5pJw\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"(McDonald, who was going through a divorce and a professional dispute involving the Condon Committee, a civilian-led U.S. Air Force-funded UAP investigation, committed suicide in 1971). \"}},{\"id\":\"FseB5I9m2t\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"In these and other early forays into discussion of UAP phenomena, Klass demonstrated a wide range of approaches that would characterize his voluminous work to come; Klass “debunked” by producing vast quantities of evidence that purported to, at turns, uncover deception, appeal to science and rationality, and undermine the credibility of witnesses, “UFO Proponents,” as he would come to call them, and the media outlets that he alleged made an industry of UAP reports.⁸ \"}},{\"id\":\"CS6nH_sgCR\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Klass, a self-professed workaholic,⁹ carried out this work in several books, the first of which, UFO’s - Identified, came out in 1968, private correspondence and white papers, television and public speaking appearances, and a steady stream of articles.\"}},{\"id\":\"t5-iqDyAQW\",\"type\":\"SimpleImage\",\"data\":{\"url\":\"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/75e2e7d1-73d1-4494-b91e-cfd063708493.png\",\"caption\":\"Klass’ first book, UFOs - Identified\",\"withBorder\":false,\"withBackground\":false,\"stretched\":false}},{\"id\":\"uV8-ddgBRs\",\"type\":\"header\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Decades of 'debunking'\",\"level\":2}},{\"id\":\"hxvA9wIIgQ\",\"type\":\"header\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Against Hynek\",\"level\":3}},{\"id\":\"oK6Thh4Dga\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"For decades, Klass took aim at the credibility of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who was an astrophysicist, the director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at Northwestern University, a long-time consultant to the U.S. Air Force, and perhaps the most well known UAP researcher of the second half of the 20th Century.\"}},{\"id\":\"SfyjLop9hE\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Klass’ primary criticism of Hynek involved identifying alleged inconsistencies in Hynek’s “UFO invariant,” meaning the percentage of UAP sightings Hynek felt were genuinely unexplainable. Klass found that Hynek at times indicated an “invariant” as high as 20 percent and at other times as low as three percent. Klass took the apparent discrepancy as evidence of Hynek being “two-faced” and prone to “bulloney.” The Hynek statements referenced by Klass took place over the course of nearly four decades and involved diverse audiences, ranging from popular magazines such as People to scientific societies such as Sigma XI, and the parsing of varieties of evidence, such as eyewitness accounts versus atmospheric and astronomical phenomena. Klass also apparently held Hynek’s self-reflective statement that he was “not very innovative,” which he reportedly made in May 1973 to New Scientist magazine as indicative of Hynek’s shortcomings as a scientist.¹⁰\"}},{\"id\":\"UROmCdFOWM\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Hynek, for his part, refused offers to debate Klass, saying that the either/or format of a public debate was unsuited to testing the truth behind UAP claims. Hynek also said that he was a poor debater and wasn’t very quick on his feet.¹¹ In contrast, as evidenced by his numerous television appearances, Klass was an able debater: sharp, verbally quick, and able to weave sarcasm, argument and rapid recall of obscure detail.¹²\"}},{\"id\":\"CsX3KO6g7D\",\"type\":\"header\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Walton's past\",\"level\":3}},{\"id\":\"4udQ6JV5oy\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Klass devoted articles, interviews, letters, white papers and book chapters to debunking Travis Walton’s alleged five-day extraterrestrial abduction from a forest in Arizona in 1975. Klass discovered that Walton failed to pass his first polygraph following the alleged abduction and that an interview with a psychiatrist revealed that Walton had a prior interest in UAP. Additionally, Walton’s mother had reportedly seen UAP and was a believer in extraterrestrials. Klass also highlighted that Walton allegedly admitted to his brother that he had experimented with marijuana and LSD. More persistently, Klass raised the fact that Walton was charged with burglary when he was 14 years old. \"}},{\"id\":\"DhxIldLxcX\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"On this evidence, Klass declared that Walton was unreliable. The abduction was a hoax, Klass said, that served as pretext to nullify a work contract for the U.S. Forest Service. Walton was part of a forestry crew that was facing penalties for falling short of fulfilling a contract to clear acreage, Klass said.¹³\"}},{\"id\":\"65DCn9Z2of\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Walton defended his account and its credibility against Klass, most publicly in 1993 on CNN’s Larry King Live around release of Fire in the Sky, a film adaptation of Walton’s alleged experience.¹⁴\"}},{\"id\":\"5msuqJYwXY\",\"type\":\"SimpleImage\",\"data\":{\"url\":\"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/8f71e092-2a99-401d-93a0-ac3a05bd1ee4.png\",\"caption\":\"\",\"withBorder\":false,\"withBackground\":false,\"stretched\":false}},{\"id\":\"_Mu0rcaSnQ\",\"type\":\"header\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Incident at Roswell\",\"level\":3}},{\"id\":\"5MxVkGBYeA\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"In a 1997 book The Real Roswell Crashed-Saucer Coverup, Klass compiled and focused his decades of writing on the famous alleged incident in 1947 in New Mexico, where, according to some, the U.S. Army recovered debris of a downed UAP and its extraterrestrial occupants.¹⁵\"}},{\"id\":\"0vQ4GH5_QO\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Klass’ argument proceeds in three steps, first with evidence that debris was, as the Army later stated, fragments of a weather balloon. Klass further introduces evidence in the form of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency memoranda contemporary to the crash, which fail to indicate anything unusual in the incident. Next, Klass argues more generally that an UAP crash would be an epoque-making scientific event that could not be kept under wraps for five decades, especially in light of failures to suppress smaller scandals such as Watergate. Finally, Klass alleges that the “real” coverup has been perpetrated by “UFO proponents” and the media outlets that publish their books and articles and produce their television shows and films for fame and profit.\"}},{\"id\":\"1AU-YZEw5B\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"In response to these and other arguments, Klass faced attacks on his own credibility. Some critics went so far as to accuse Klass of being a CIA disinformation agent, a claim notably made by UAP researcher Kathleen Marden, who is a niece to Betty and Barney Hill, an early target of Klass’ debunking work.¹⁶ Others, such as UAP researcher Jerome Clark, have offered gentler ad hominem, saying, for instance, that Klass’ time at Aviation Week had wedded him to the official line of military industrial complex.¹⁷\"}},{\"id\":\"z1wF-oXXAL\",\"type\":\"SimpleImage\",\"data\":{\"url\":\"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/8358aff5-7f81-4716-85ea-5ef7857ae150.png\",\"caption\":\"\",\"withBorder\":false,\"withBackground\":false,\"stretched\":false}},{\"id\":\"htf8vzHWen\",\"type\":\"header\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Challenges elsewhere\",\"level\":2}},{\"id\":\"dt9Yxfowja\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"In 1974, Klass closed his second book UFOs Explained by staking out a $10,000 bet. Klass said that he would pay anyone that amount if either the U.S. National Academy of Sciences confirmed evidence of extraterrestrial life, or an extraterrestrial appeared before the United Nations. Anyone wishing to enter the bet would have to pay Klass $250 per year until one of those instances occurred, he said. \"}},{\"id\":\"rWZ9Qdla4b\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Klass said the fact that no one took him up on the offer was evidence that UAP researchers advancing the “extraterrestrial hypothesis” did not truly believe their own “babble,” according to fellow UAP skeptic Robert Schaeffer.¹⁸\"}},{\"id\":\"2vG5V3sZVX\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"In 1976, Klass joined Dr. Karl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, the philosopher Paul Kurtz and others in founding the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, or CSICOP, now called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, CSI, a non-profit group intended to examine extraordinary claims, such as UAP sightings. Klass became an active contributor to the Skeptical Inquirer, CSI’s publication.\"}},{\"id\":\"X7OhDPZg-w\",\"type\":\"SimpleImage\",\"data\":{\"url\":\"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/ced59251-ed4f-4482-838c-adc9e1f5cec8.png\",\"caption\":\"Klass addressing CSICOP in 1983, Buffalo, N.Y., by Robert Schaeffer\",\"withBorder\":false,\"withBackground\":false,\"stretched\":false}},{\"id\":\"73heWE46ng\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"In 1983, as Klass’ role in the UAP arena became ever more combative, he asked UAP researcher James Mosely to publish “The Last Will and Testament of Philip J. Klass,” which passes on to his critics the following “UFO Curse” …\"}},{\"id\":\"7ZpzSPfDbz\",\"type\":\"quote\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"“No matter how long you live,” Klass said, “you will never know any more about UFOs than you know today. You will never know any more about what UFOs really are, or where they come from. You will never know any more about what the U.S. Government really knows about UFOs than you know today. As you lie on your own death-bed you will be as mystified about UFOs as you are today. And you will remember this curse.”¹⁹\",\"caption\":\"Phillip J. Klass\",\"alignment\":\"left\"}},{\"id\":\"5rv24oilxb\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"Klass died from cancer in Cocoa, Florida, in 2005. \"}},{\"id\":\"xq7xqw_-yY\",\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"According to Schaeffer, Klass’s style of forceful argument came in part from Klass’ father, a lawyer. Klass, Schaeffer said, relished his adversarial relationship to UAP researchers and described himself as playing “the skunk at the garden party.”²⁰\"}},{\"id\":\"yLoxYE8_sN\",\"type\":\"header\",\"data\":{\"text\":\"References\",\"level\":3}},{\"id\":\"HMHzRH_CGE\",\"type\":\"list\",\"data\":{\"style\":\"ordered\",\"items\":[\"The basics of Klasss life and career are largely drawn from an in memoriam article from Robert Schaeffer in a 2005 issue of the Skeptical Inquirer, available here https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2005/11/22164619/p16.pdf, a less positive write up from UAP researcher Jerome Clark in Fate magazine in February 1981, available here http://www.nicap.org/reports/790827marshallco_clark.htm, a biographical abstract accompanying Klass’ papers at the American Philosophical Society, available here https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.Ms.Coll.59-ead.xml, and profile of Klass in Out There by Harold Blum, available online at https://archive.org/details/outtheregovernme00blum/page/216/mode/2up \",\"Interview with Klass at https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/extraterrestrials-may-be-out-there/ and American Philosophical Society note at https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.Ms.Coll.59-ead.xml
\",\"Schaeffer’s in memoriam article of Klass https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2005/11/22164619/p16.pdf
\",\"See Blum at p. 216 https://archive.org/details/outtheregovernme00blum/page/216/mode/2up
\",\"Klass’ writing from his investigation available here http://www.debunker.com/historical/PJK_MultiplyingTourists.pdf
\",\"Klass correspondence on the Hills, including a letter from Betty Hill herself, available here http://www.debunker.com/historical/BettyHillBenjaminSimonPhilipKlass.pdf ; Klass developed his skepticism over abduction reports more fully in his book UFO Abduction - A Dangerous Game https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WT1HYY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1#customerReviews
\",\"Klass’ notes and “white papers” available at http://www.debunker.com/historical/KlassContraMcDonald_1968.pdf
\",\"Klass advances his media critique in several books, but perhaps most pointedly in UFO Abduction - A Dangerous Game and The Real Roswell Crashed Saucer Coverup, Google books preview available at https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Real_Roswell_Crashed_saucer_Coverup/CORGAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-n_-i4rv1AhUBSN8KHVpGB3AQiKUDegQICRAE
\",\"According to Schaeffer in memoriam article
\",\"Klass discusses Hynek in several of his book and in multiple articles, as well as in Klass’ whitepapers, available here http://www.debunker.com/historical/KlassContraHynek.pdf
\",\"According to Jerome Clark http://www.nicap.org/reports/790827marshallco_clark.htm
\",\"Youtube clips available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhvgKcNTxp4 , here Friedman vs Klass on Nightline - part 1 of 2 and here Larry King Live – Walton UFO abduction case (3/12/1993)
\",\"Klass wrote about Walton in several venues. Klass’ notes and white papers in his investigation are available here http://www.debunker.com/historical/KlassContraWalton.pdf
\",\"Segment available at Larry King Live – Walton UFO abduction case (3/12/1993)
\",\"Searchable “snippet” version of The Real Roswell available at https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Real_Roswell_Crashed_saucer_Coverup/CORGAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-n_-i4rv1AhUBSN8KHVpGB3AQiKUDegQICRAE Klass also lays out much the same argument in a television segment with UAP researcher Kevin Randle Randle vs Klass
\",\"Marden makes the argument during a radio segment available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p00K64EFT_Q and in a book co-written with Dr. Stanton Friedman https://www.amazon.com/Fact-Fiction-Flying-Saucers-Misinformation/dp/1799971961
\",\"From Clark’s 1981 write up in Fate magazine here http://www.nicap.org/reports/790827marshallco_clark.htm
\",\"Schaeffer’s in memorium article of Klass https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2005/11/22164619/p16.pdf
\",\"Moseley reprinted the “UFO curse” in his book Shockingly Close to the Truth! Preview at https://www.google.com/books/edition/Shockingly_Close_to_the_Truth/KYKKiU9cvZEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=curse
\",\"See note 18
\"]}}],\"version\":\"2.24.3\"}","id":"ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058","witness_count":null,"cover_photo":"https://static.enigmalabs.io/library/ae36eded-aed8-4df6-a828-8ae625544058/64e46c50-3d48-42b4-90a4-7a4a1b6664ba.png","created_at":"2022-06-28T19:59:12.542324+00:00","updated_at":"2023-05-02T20:01:01.381975+00:00","summary":"Philip J. Klass was an journalist, UAP researcher and perhaps the most widely known “debunker” in the United States from the late 1960’s through the end of the century. ","time_end":null,"title":"Phillip J. Klass","library_item_category":{"value":"PERSON"},"incident_unauthenticated":null}]}}