What was Philip J. Klass' Impact on the UFO Community?

[Ivan Seeking]

Noted UFO debunker, aviation writer Klass dies at 85

Associated Press

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. - Philip J. Klass, a writer for Aviation Week & Space Technology who spent his career investigating, then debunking, UFO sightings and alien visitations, has died. He was 85. [continued]

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/12368391.htm

 

[Ivan Seeking]

ETs May Be Out There . . .
But He Says They're Not Here

An Interview with Philip J. Klass,
the World's Leading UFO Skeptic

http://members.aol.com/garypos2/Klass_inter.html

 

[Phobos]

Be sure to check out his UFO curse...
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/?p=118

 

[mouseonmoon]

One thing we know for sure, Mr. Klass went to 'his grave' not knowing what the heck's been gooing on!
Phil Klass had enough hot air to fill all the 'balloons' he's presumed everyone's been seeing these past 50 years.

He (one of the founders of the Committee for Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP)) and his fellows are known for this bit of wisdom: Why don't they land on the White House Lawn-if they don't want to be seen,why don't they turn off their lights?

Perhaps the media is somewhat responsible for this wiseass notoriety, yet Klass relished the role...like a mental 'wrassler'. 'Cute' Klass he wasn't, in face or thought .Like an old Bulldog who enjoys growling, but his teeth are rotten...chutzpah alright,he's got "plasma balls", "In nearly 30 years of searching, investigating famous cases, I have yet to find one that cannot be explained in down-to-earth prosaic terms," Mr. Klass told interviewers for the PBS program "NOVA."-

Curiously,for my birthday, a friend gave me Phil's "obituary" from the WP (which is cited as "an article in the Washington Post" above) -
i should frame it i guess,maybe auction it off-some Debunker in Iowa who doesn't read the Post might need it as a security blanket under those cystral clear skies...

sorry to say, but Phil was like a clown at a religious convention, or a chess tournement-do we really need this? yet the guy had 'credentials'...Why would people 'spit on his grave'? For the simple fact that he now has a grave. His humor sprung from his deep seated fear of 'the unknown'--woooooo...

OH he was brilliant when he actually interviewed the head of the 'American Hypnosis Association'-whatever-concerning hypnotic 'recall'.Yet this is merely what is expected of a true Skeptic.I don't recall Phil pointing out that Alvin Lawson and Dr. McCall in '77 had studied
'regression hypnosis' to the chargin of 'believers'...sadly,all you can expect is the arrogant blind prejudice of one who believed anyone who saw a UFO was as dangerous as a commie- anti-American flag burnin' scum...why? cos it implies our government would lie to US!


Anyone who hasn't heard of Phil doesn't know a pelican from a flying saucer.:-) and probably isn't familiar with Commander Moseley.
If "Saucer Smear" is the source of "Phil's Curse" ("Note added August 11:"), it's likely to be a hoax, well actually, a 'joke'.

It seems a "UFOlogist" recently gave almost the exact blurp to fellows:

from Re: Philip J. Klass 1919-2005 - Lehmberg/
at UFO Updates.
{quote: Sorry, Mr. Lehmberg, but that "curse" is _exactly_ what Mr.
Jerome Clark had just written in the last FATE UFO Special.

Quote:

(Your safer bet about the future of Ufology would be):

"Everybody reading these words will go to his or her grave without
knowing a whole lot more about UFOs than we know now"
Luis R. Gonz=E1lez Manso}=

----------------
(His wife) Nadya Klass's memorial message is quite-(i'm at loss for words)- revealing,he was lucky to have known her.

Some are lunatics on one subject, and Phil was a Klassic!

Science progresses one death at a time - Niels Bohr
Let's hope we're a little closer to getting some 'science' into this subject now that this hot air has passed on...


ps An asteroid discovered in 1983 was named in his honor.
i would not be surprised if UFoologists around the world
have named their 'roids' in his honor- and such is the flame of fame.

btw: from the WP "article":
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081002167_pf.html

quote>
His books included "UFO Abductions: a Dangerous Game" (1988) and "The Real Roswell Crashed-Saucer Coverup" (1997). In the first, he promised $10,000 to any victim whose abduction by aliens could be confirmed by the FBI. No one ever collected.

Mr. Klass was born in Des Moines and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After graduating from Iowa State University, he worked for a decade at General Electric as an electrical engineer. He joined Aviation Week in 1952 and later wrote extensively about surveillance satellites for that industry publication.

He was a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a founder of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. He was awarded top honors of the Aviation/Space Writers Association, the Lauren D. Lyman Award of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Boeing Decade of Excellence Award for lifetime achievement.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Over the years I have contacted many of the better known skeptics and debunkers. Even though Mr Klass and I may have had many differences of opinion, he was always professional, polite, helpful, and willing to consider the issue at hand. Unlike some debunkers who I think are complete nuts needing medical care, with me anyway, Klass was very reasonable on a personal level. I feel a sense of personal loss on this one, strangely enough.

Edit: I can add that apparently I was the first one to show Klass the STS75 video, which got him a little excited at first. I don't think he was as narrow minded as many claim.