The Case for the UFO - Varo Jessup Edition-pages

Page 5 of 165

Page 5 of 165
The Case for the UFO - Varo Jessup Edition-pages

Page Content (OCR)

Some of the terms used would have been familiar to any ufologist of the 1950’s, yet others expressed an alien-like vocabulary which had never been previously used in “saucer” literature. Some of the terms were: Mothership, home-ship, dead-ship, great ark, great bombardment, great return, great war, little-men, force-fields, deep freezes, measure markers, scout ships, magnetic and gravity fields, sheet of diamond, cosmic rays, force cutters, inlay work, clear-talk, telepathing, burning “coat”, nodes, vortice, magnetic “net”. They explained what happened to people and to ships and planes which had disappeared, as discussed in Jessup‘s original text — and elaborated upon the origin of odd storms and clouds, objects falling from the sky, strange marks and footprints, and other matters Jessup wrote about. Two Theories We do not know Admiral Furth’s personal reaction b the strangely marked paperback. The history of this matter, again from a confidential source, next surfaces several months later, in July or August of the same year, when the paperback was passed on to Major Darrel L. Ritter, U.S.M.C., Aeronautical Project Officer of ONR. Soon afterward, and no date is available, Captain Sidney Sherby joined ONR, and, along with Commander George W. Hoover, Special Projects Officer, ONR, indicated interest in the book. Sherby and Hoover were deeply involved in satellite development, and supervising the systems which would later place the first U.S. satellite into orbit. Some UFO buffs have expressed the belief that they were also coordinating gravity research, and that this was the reason for their interest. The book was evidently taken to the Varo firm by Sherby, possibly in conjunction with Hoover. At that time, Varo was deeply involved in aero-space design and manufacturing for the military. One division was called “Military Assistance”, which may have coordinated the firm’s activities with the government, and occasionally performed personal services for military personnel (as any commercial organization might do). At any rate, the Military Assistance Division agreed to run off a limited number of copies of the annotated book, and it was laboriously typed out my Miss Michael Ann Dunn, personal secretary to the president of the company, a Mr. Stanton. (Incidentally, Miss Dunn no longer is employed by Varo. Varo says that personnel records fails to find a record of her employment!) Two theories evolve as to Varo’s role in publishing the Annotated Edition: (1) Top military brass passed this down through the lower echelon, thus avoiding the responsibility should there be any publicity, and it was published surreptitiously by Varo, the personnel of which may have had top military security clearance — avoiding sending it to a government printing source, where word might leak out. The Military was interested in applications of the notes to secret research being carried out by the U.S. After printing, the limited edition could be passed around to interested persons, and distributed to other contractors engaged in secret military development. (2) Lower echelon officers, such as Sherby, had deep personal interests in the UFO mystery, and wanted copies to give to other Naval personnel who held similar interests. As a matter of personal interest, they asked the Varo company to make the reprint, knowing that the contractor would comply, as one of the many personal favors they may have extended to military personnel. The latter of these alternatives is the writer's best guess. No great degree of secrecy seemed to have been employed. Jessup was called in by Varo and shown the book, and nothing in his subsequent writings or reported conversations indicates he was requested to maintain secrecy. Permission was obtained both from the author and the publisher, Citadel Press, to reproduce the text of the original book. Jessup was given several copies, probably the source of the copies a few UFO researchers reportedly possess. One such copy, according to Riley H. Crabb, Director of Borderland Sciences Research, has been given to the late Bryant H. Reeves, author of two books published by Ray Palmer. Crabb told me recently that he saw the Varo Edition while visiting Reeves at his home in Virginia Beach. Reeves agreed to lend the volume for a brief period, and Crabb, who told me he felt that both he and Reeves were “under surveillance", hesitated to carry it with him back to his home in California. He posted it to himself, but it was lost in the mails. A tradition of bad luck or strange circumstances is connected with possession of the Varo Edition. One person's home, along with the book, was destroyed by fire shortly after he acquired a copy. Capt. The