The Allende Letters and the VARO Edition of The Case for the UFO

by Morris K. Jessup, Gray Barker (Editor)

DID THE PUBLICATION OF THIS RARE MANUSCRIPT CAUSE FAMED ASTRONOMER DR MORRIS K. JESSUP TO 'COMMIT SUICIDE?" Or was he murdered because of what he knew? Only a handful of copies were originally printed on an office copier by a private government contractor. NOW AVAILABLE AFTER NEARLY 50 YEARS On the evening of APril 20, 1959, an astronomer committed suicide in Dade County Park, FLorida. Inhaling automobile exhaust fumes which he had introduced from the tail pipe through a hose into his station wagon, he died in the same academic obscurity in which he had lived, unheralded and almost unrecognized in his discipline. Ironicallly, the scientists only public recognition had come from lay people, who had read his series of four books about UFOs. Morris Jessup's first book, THE CASE FOR THE UFO, had tended to alienate him from his colleagues. It was a paperback edition of this volume published in 1955 that enmeshed Jessup in one of the most bizarre mysteries in UFO history. An annotated reprint of the paperback was laboriously typed out on offset stencils and printed in a very small run by a Garland, Texas manufacturing company with military ties. Each page was run thrugh the small office duplicator twice, once with blank ink for the regular text of the book, then once again with red ink, the latter reproducing the mysterious annotations by three men, who may have been gypsies, hoaxters or space people living among humankind. The spiral bound volume contained more than 200 pages ane became known as the Annotated Edition. A reprint quickly became legend. A few civilizan UFO enthusiasts claimed to have seen copies, but there were only known to be seventeen in existence one of which Jessup possessed. . . but which mysteriously disappeared after his death. . . never to be seen again. This is a once in a lifetime offered reprint of the Case For The UFO with all the rare notes exactly as presented by these "strangers." The big mystery is why the government would go to so much trouble to reprint a book that had been rejected by the scientific community and further to include mysterious letters to the author and even more bizarre annotations. This manuscript is the first to hint at the Philadelphia Experiment, Time Travel and other scientifically "oddities." It is a manuscript which has been long searched for because of its quite peculiar nature and its rarity among "those in the know." There are some who say this book is among the weirdest ever published on unidentified flying objects. One copy is known to have been sold for $1200. This reprint is but a fraction of the cost.This edition also contains a rare introduction by Gray Barker.

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2007

About the author

American ufologist.

Although Jessup had a Master's degree in astronomy he worked most of his time as an automobile-parts salesman and a photographer.

He is mostly known for his pioneering ufological writings and his role in "uncovering" the so-called "Philadelphia Experiment"an alleged military experiment that is said to have been carried out by the U.S. Navy at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania some time around October 28, 1943. The U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Eldridge was claimed to be rendered invisible (or "cloaked") to enemy devices.

Reviews

[Jennifer Linsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I make a point of consulting source material whenever I can, and this book is often cited as the source of the Philadelphia Experiment urban legend, among others. However, this particular edition, with its limited scope of print, makes it difficult to distinguish what is the original writing of M. K. Jessup, what was underlined / highlighted, or which commentor is commenting.

However, even if that typography limitation weren't present (which might, I believe, go a long way toward fixing the readability issue), there would still remain the issue of credibility. It is asserted that this is a facsimile of comments received at the Office of Naval Research, reprinted on office copy equipment within or on behalf of that office, and now reprinted from that reprint. Honestly, the assertion strains credulity.

I, myself, am a veteran of the US Navy. I've known a handful of Commanders, and two or three Captains. I honestly cannot envision a senior officer receiving the letters with which this edition is prefaced, and doing anything but tossing the whole thing into the circular file. Further, it would seem to me that, if anyone were in a position to know that the Navy had not performed "unified field theory" testing upon a destroyer escort, it would be a senior officer at ONR.

I have to think that the entire edition is a monstrous hoax. Perpetrated by whom, or for what reason, I cannot say. But the idea that professional military officers would take this crap buffet at face value is... inconceivable. And I'm pretty sure that word actually does mean what I think it does.

[Sylpheera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't read it!

Actually, read Jacques Vallee's Revelations first, then if you feel like reading this one, so be it.
I just happened to be reading them both concurrently and saw Vallee's very well argued case in Revelations about Carlos Allende being a likely fraudster. Incidentally, one who he personally corresponded with in the 80s. I trust Vallee's opinions on UFOs, because he is an honest and thorough scientific researcher on the topic - neither a gullible, unrestrained believer or a stubborn, face-saving arsehole skeptic who won't change their mind about anything, no matter what the evidence.

I got half way through this book before I realised the VARO edition is most probably rubbish. So I stopped. I couldn't continue. Maybe the original edition of this book is worth reading, but the annotations in the VARO editons are likely a hoax by Allende.

[Dan C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Heard about this book on the podcast Generation Why - specifically the episode about the Philadelphia Experiment. Went into the book knowing that it was largely bullshit, but I also didn't expect it would be largely unreadable.

[Everett Pruitt]

Not so well, addendum under suspicion. I prefer his original paper back. Informative, but not as scholarly a the citadel, 1955 first edition, which is very rare in its original text.