Customer Reviews

Shockingly Close to the Truth : Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist

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James Moseley (1931-), the self-proclaimed "Court Jester" of the UFO phenomenon, is a "semi-legendary" - and highly controversial - figure in the history of Ufology (or "Ufoology", as he prefers to call it). Born in New York City, Moseley was abandoned early in life by his father, a right-wing US Army General, and was raised by his wealthy mother. When he was 19 his mother died and left him her fortune. Moseley, now a millionaire, quickly dropped out of Princeton University and decided to use his wealth to pursue his rather eccentric hobbies, most notably UFOs and, later, robbing ancient Incan burial sites in South America of valuable artifacts.

Over the last half-century Moseley has managed to interview, befriend, annoy, or infuriate just about every major or minor person associated with UFOs. Moseley has attended all sorts of UFO Conventions, from the serious to the silly (he prefers the silly); in the 1950's and 60's he interviewed con artists who pretended to be "contactees" with aliens; he talked with people who had experienced some of the most famous UFO sightings and encounters (such as Kenneth Arnold and Lonnie Zamora); and he also crossed swords with those whom he sarcastically calls "Serious Ufologists" (such as Jerome Clark and Richard Hall). At first Moseley was a strong believer in the theory that UFOs were alien spacecraft and he was a "Serious Ufologist" for a few years. He even did the main expose of George Adamski, a con artist and the most famous (or infamous) of the 1950's "contactees" who claimed to be in contact with friendly, humanoid "Space Brothers" who wanted to save the Earth from nuclear war. Moseley clearly has a soft spot for the contactees, and recalls them nostagically in this book, although he's the first to admit that they were either mentally disturbed or simply scam artists out to make a quick buck from the gullible.

However, Moseley quickly tired of his "Serious Ufologist" role, and after befriending notorious UFO "researcher" and hoaxer Gray Barker, he decided that reporting on the personal lives and infighting of his fellow ufologists was much more fun than doing the grunt work of investigating UFO cases. In 1954 he started a UFO magazine called "Saucer News", today it is known as "Saucer Smear" and is the longest-running UFO magazine in the field (it now has its own website). From the 1950's to the present Moseley has used his 'zine to poke fun at the UFO mystery, stir up controversy, and gossip about the private lives of "Serious Ufologists" and what he calls "assorted saucer fiends". Together he and his friend Barker (who pretended publicly to feud with one another) successfully perpetrated several hoaxes on other Ufologists. He also exaggerated or simply made up UFO stories to increase his magazine's circulation. Moseley very quickly became an annoyance to those who took UFO's seriously - such as Donald Keyhoe, a retired Marine Corps officer and the leader of the first serious UFO civilian research group, NICAP. Moseley considered Keyhoe to be too pompous and humorless for his taste - as he does most "Serious Ufologists" (he is definitely not one).

Although Moseley claims to take the UFO mystery seriously, it is difficult to read this book and get that impression. Instead, one gets the feeling that Moseley long ago decided that UFOs were nonsense (but fun nonsense), and therefore anyone who takes UFOs seriously must be either incredibly gullible, mentally deluded or a con artist. Moseley himself has held just about every belief imaginable concerning UFOs, from outright skepticism to believing they were supernatural to his current "4-D" theory, which he never bothers to explain in any detail. I must confess that I was somewhat dubious about this book. As someone who had read a good deal about UFOs and who therefore knew of Moseley's history of hoaxes, his large ego, eccentricity, and controversy - as well as his delight in digging up the gossip and "dirt" on UFO researchers and printing it in his 'zine, I wondered just how reliable his personal memoir would be. Well, I was wrong (to a point) - this book is well-written, well-focused (it follows his misadventures from the fifties to the present), and it is a delight to read. Moseley (with some help from coauthor Karl Pflock) writes with a breezy, almost jaunty style, and there's no doubt that he pokes some real holes in the reputations of some respected Ufologists.

However, Moseley also comes across in this book as less of a "court jester" than a "class clown" - a rather spoiled and obnoxious rich kid who genuinely enjoys stirring up controversy for its own sake, who loves being the center of attention and will say or do (or write) just about anything to get it , and who gets a real delight out of annoying or irritating other people - and not always for good reasons. It all makes for an entertaining book, but it's also easy to see why he has so many enemies in the field of Ufology - and to see why this book should be taken with a large grain of salt, despite Moseley's delightfully skewed take on the UFO phenomenon. Recommended, but please don't make this the only UFO book you ever read!

This book doesn't demand to be taken seriously, so it can be read with a sense of fun and there's no need to over-analyze. These are the slightly sarcastic and fun-loving memoirs of James Moseley, who has spent the past fifty years in the community of UFO enthusiasts, and has served in several organizations that behave more like competing fan clubs. Moseley claims he's a "skeptical believer" which is pretty levelheaded in that arena (such as it is), though at times you get the feeling that he's trying to cover up his own episodes of credulity in the past. Moseley's memoirs give us an entertaining history of the cult of UFO believers, from ultra-gullible fanatics who believe anything, to serious ufologists who tackle the issue with scientific reasoning. Most interestingly, we see how UFOs themselves have changed over the decades, with quaint metallic saucers giving way to conspiracy theories and chilling tales of alien abduction. Have the aliens really changed that much, or have we? Moseley's coverage of the infighting and ideological disputes amongst believers of various stripes shouldn't mean much to the rest of us, but I'll admit that the book is quite entertaining as it covers the evolution of weird beliefs and the people who have them. However, the book is docked one star due to Moseley's bragging about robbing ancient archeological sites in Peru, and his shifty descriptions of his own ongoing attitudes toward his field. [~doomsdayer520~]

With Shockingly Close to the Truth, James W. Moseley, publisher of the long-running 'zine, Saucer Smear, has finally given us his long-awaited insider's look at America's flying saucer/UFO subculture. From the nineteen- fifties until the present day, Moseley and his co-author, researcher Karl T. Pflock, have met a virtual Who's Who of saucerdom. From famed contactee George Adamski to obscurities like Andy "The Mystic Barber" Sinatra, they're all here in colorful black and white, no punches pulled, no hostages taken.
In spite of his "tell it like it is" approach, Moseley, an informed skeptic, is surprisingly forthright and even-handed in this comprehensive assessment of what he calls "The Field." Even the most outrageous rascals are given a modicum of respect, and Moseley is astute enough to recognize that the most outlandish tales are also usually the most fun.
The book is fast-pace and easy to read. It covers the relatively light-hearted contactee period of the early fifties through the increasingly grim alien abduction era of the eighties and nineties. There is also a marvelous photo section that includes such early luminaries as George Adamski, Major Donald Keyhoe, Howard and Connie Menger, and Moseley's friend, the "late, great" Gray Barker (of Men In Black fame).
Moseley and Pflock share a certain bemused affection for the bizarre folk they've met. For the last fifty years they've traveled a long, strange road that's been by turns mysterious, frustrating and absurd. Make no mistake about it- Jim Moseley and Karl Pflock were Out There. This book is the real thing, not just another armchair rehash. Whether you agree with their conclusions or not, it's must reading if you're a saucer fan.

As one who has read tons of UFO books, with a skeptical mind, I loved this book. It is a humorous and detailed look at the history of the UFO movement in the USA, by a man who has met with the principals, and knows them well. It was ingrossing, and now I am reading every back issue of Saucer Smear, a monthly newsletter put out by Moseley. Tons of fun, and educational too. Roswell believers need not bother.

James Moseley was the stereotypical rich orphan trust-fund kid, inheriting millions while still in college. He promptly left college and attached himself to a shady, Indiana-Jones-style South American graverobber. The graverobber wanted for some reason to do a book on the flying saucer myth, then only a few years old. Moseley was sent crisscrossing the US to interview anyone and everyone who had made contributions to that myth in the period 1947 - 1954. The book never materialized, but Moseley was left with extensive notes, and the indelible and accurate impression that, apart from a few people who had genuinely seen something in the sky they didn't recognize, and would have been expected to if it were anything familiar, the majority of the mythmakers were, as my old Grandma used to say, "crazy as a betsy-bug."

Over the years Moseley kept his hand in, meeting and interviewing anyone who came onto the scene in what he sometimes calls The Field, other times (more accurately) "ufoology." He edited and published a long series of saucer fanzines and newsletters and still publishes one to this day. He met everyone and he shrewdly sized up everyone. He organized many flying saucer conventions and seems to have attended most of the others. Here's his information-packed account of about 48 years in The Field, and there is no more accurate word-picture anywhere in print in english (I've looked!) of the classic early 1950s contactees led by George Adamski, on to the 1960s abductees led by Betty Hill, on to the growth of the crashed-saucer myth from its humble beginnings with the 1949 Scully hoax, on to the full-blown Roswell hoax of 1985 - 90, and on to the "supernatural" abduction stories of the 1990s. Moseley was an eyewitness to the birth of many hoaxes, a few of which he perpetrated himself.

Highly recommended, as a true insider's look at this nearly 60 year-old and seemingly immortal myth of "things seen in the sky."

I found the documentary by Bob Wilkinson, Shades of Gray, where I first learned something about Gray Barker. James W. Moseley and Gray Barker were friends, colleagues and collaborators in a vibrant era of UFO history. In the film, I was introduced to and fascinated by a notion I couldn't understand, an investigator who was also a fabricator. I turned to an Internet search and although there were many false paths, here were my major stepping stones:
"Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker" by John Sherwood,
An article on Ray Palmer, "The Man Who Invented Flying Saucers" by John Keel
and in searching for information on the "Shaver" link to the flying saucer legend, found "Shavertron Interview with James W. Moseley" which mentioned several important things:
the book Shockingly Close To the Truth, Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist
mention of an Internet radio interview, which in turn lead me to find interviews on the Paracast.com where Gene Steinberg often prompts listeners to write for a free sample issue of Jim Moseley's newsletter, Saucer Smear:
James W. Moseley
P.O. Box 1709
Key West FL 33041

Next I looked at Amazon.com browsed sections of SCTTT and I was hooked. I ordered the book online, and while impatiently waiting for it to arrive, I listened to a few more Moseley interviews on Paracast, and eventually accepted the invitation for a sample issue. Shockingly Close To the Truth finally arrived and I devoured it in short order. It was an enjoyable read, and contained many surprises for me. I was particularly struck by the squabbling and fragmentation of "The Field" into factions, and how many of them seem to cling to certain notional beliefs in a stubborn religious-like zeal.

I'm still looking into the investigator/fabricator paradox, and feel that I am getting shockingly close to the truth.

Of related interest:
Saucer Smear Magazine
Shades of Gray
They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers
The Silver Bridge: The Classic Mothman Tale

An excellent look at the UFO community and it's history. It illustrates why some observers of the in-group (out-group?) maintain that the members should be forced to wear numbers so that it's easier to follow the internecine feuds.

James Moseley has been providing fun and diversion for both the UFO community and those who observe them for decades with his "Saucer Smear." Part of the debate is whether "Saucer Smear" is a poor man's magazine or a overgrown newsletter. Whichever it is, it's now available on Amazon.com's Kindle. For some reason, though, the editor is listed as James Mosley (as you can see if you go to that site, this confused at least one reviewer).

For the most part, books about ufos and/or alien abductions are written either in the breathless Gee Whiz style or are ponderous and pompus.
But now, like a breath of spring, comes this irreverent look at ufology. It's a chucklesome account of the "follies, foibles, fads and feuds of ufology," which has already upped the blood pressure of innumerable 'serious' ufologists. Moseley inherited a million plus at the age of l9, promptly dropped out of Princeton and has spent nearly 50 years since on a variety of quixotic {and mostly money-losing] endeavors. From Indiana Jones-style grave robbing to rubbing shoulders with the ufologically famous [Hynek] and infamous [George Adamski] Moseley has been there and done that. Here you'll get the inside scoop on the Straith letter hoax, the real MIB story and much much more. You'll want to read it but put a plain brown wrapper over the cover so your stuffier friends won't know what you're reading.
[Full disclosure note] I've known Jim for well over 40 years, covered his first UFO conference for Connecticut's major newspaper and have alternately cursed and chuckled at his high jinks. Owning a strong sense of irreverence myself, I have to admit the chuckles have predominated. Highly recommended . . . but only if you have a sense of humor which far too many in the field lack.
This review originally appeared as part of my book review column in July 2002 issue of The Gate [P.O. Box 43516, Richmond Heights, Ohio 44143 and is reprinted here by permission. The Gate is published quarterly and covers various aspects of the Fortean field.

No doubt the True Believers in ufology will be upset by this book! Everybody else---from the hardcore skeptics to people like me who believe "something" is going, even if UFOs aren't spaceships from another planet---will love this hysterically funny history of ufology and its personalities. Moseley and Pflock are at their best when skewering the pathetic gullibility of True Believers from Adamski's followers in the 1950s to the Roswell and Ed Waters frauds of the 1990s. They also do takedowns of overrated UFO "experts" such as Walt Andrus, John Keel, and Jerry Clark by pointing out their errors, self-contradictions, eagerness to believe whatever they are told, and entirely too high opinion of themselves. Clark, in particular, gets taken down several notches for pretending that certain embarassing episodes in his past, like his belief in Todd Zechel and his former embrace of the paranormal explanation of UFOs, never happened. Moseley and Pflock make a strong case that something incredible is behind the UFO mystery, but that the current crop of "UFO experts" are going to be the last people to figure out what it is. Bravo, Commander Moseley!

Full disclosure: The "Esteemed Coauthor" of this book is a friend of mine. However, I would have purchased and read this book anyway, because it fills in the gaps of my experience with "ufoology."

I was a latecomer to the UFO field, having become interested in the subject in 1977 and actively involved soon thereafter. Somehow I managed to escape the more tawdry aspects of the subject and its personalities through the 1950s, '60s and most of the '70s. If I hadn't, I might have approached the subject with a great deal more skepticism. As it is, I'm grateful for the experience because it gave me the opportunity to meet some extraordinary people, such as the coauthor.

SHOCKINGLY CLOSE TO THE TRUTH is a history of the UFO subject, focusing on the personalities surrounding the source of the phenomenon--whatever it may be. As the character Lacomb says in the film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind": "C'est un phenomenon sociologique (It is an sociological phenomenon)." Understanding the character and motivations of those promoting a point of view can shed light on the validity of the subject itself.

Jim Moseley (also known as "Supreme Commander" to non-subscribers to his newsletter "Saucer Smear") spares no one in his examination of the characters who populate this field--especially himself. He is painfully honest about his own pranks and hoaxes that have made him an outcast among "serious ufologists." He is deadly serious in his refusal to take anything about the subject--especially its proponents--seriously.

There are no doubt many in the field who will find a less-than-flattering portrait of themselves in this book. Perhaps they should consider it to be a mirror. Like a mirror, the book casts a reflection on the viewer that is, uh, shockingly close to the truth.