UFOs, Weather Balloons and Witnesses

Weather balloons were nothing new in the 1940s, and had been flying since the 1890s without causing much trouble - until the flying saucer fever of the 1940s. 

(Photo by Metropolitan News, 1935)

Pilot R. J. McNown of Northwest Airlines, watching Betty Burt release the 10,000th balloon for the Weather Bureau at the Chicago Municipal Airport, while government meteorologist E. D. Knarr prepares to follow the balloon's flight through the Theodolite instrument. 

In March 1953, Captain Edward Ruppelt prepared "Project Blue Book Special Briefing For Air Command," a lecture on the status quo of the Air Force's UFO investigation.  It included balloons in a section discussing common generators of false saucer reports. Some sightings were indeed balloons, but an AF study showed that during two months of peak "saucer fever," only about 14.5% of balloons launched had generated UFO reports.  

Project Blue Book Special Briefing For Air Command (Fold3)

The following is a collection of news clippings from 1952-3. All these flying saucers reports were explained as balloons - before being reported to the Air Force.

Dubuque Telegraph Herald Oct. 24, 1952

Radiosonde balloon release. U.S. Army photo

What these stories can tell us is that these Identified Flying Objects-to be can sometimes generate some reports with some unearthly sounding characteristics.

Jefferson City News and Tribune Nov.16, 1952

Clovis News-Journal, Nov. 16, 1952

1952 Radiosonde launch. Bracknell, Berkshire UK

Morning Avalanche Jan. 28, 1953

Bakersfield Californian, Jan. 31, 1953

In a follow-up piece, we'll take a look at the reports and excitement from what was flying in 1954.

Saucer Scares, 1954: Real Things Seen in the Skies

Operation Hush-Hush: The UFO Crash and ET Bodies Cover-Up

Frank Scully was a Hollywood gossip columnist, with "Scully's Scrapbook" dishing up tinseltown gab for Variety magazine. Scully was also a respected reviewer of literature and wrote a few books of his own. In 1949, he published two Variety columns on the discovery of flying saucers (Aztec) and a follow-up piece Jan. 11, 1950 with 20 questions he thought the Air Force should answer, accusing the US Government of covering things up.

https://archive.org/stream/variety177-1950-01#page/n351/mode/2up

Those columns laid the foundation for what is arguably, the most influential book in UFO history, Behind the Flying Saucers, the original story of the cover-up of small alien bodies retrieved from captured UFOs in New Mexico. The tale also featured other elements that would later resurface in the resurrection and expansion of the story of the saucer debris taken to Roswell, such as the recovery and scientific examination of the spaceship's strange light metal, advanced technology and the dead aliens it contained.

The saucer story itself was thin, barely fleshed out from Scully's sketchy columns, but he added details about how oilman Silas Newton had heard about the discs from the mysterious magnetic research scientist Scully called "Dr. Gee," and there was extensive discussion of how the saucers were constructed on the "System of Nines," and flew using magnetic propulsion. Newton was interested in using that alien magnetic technology to detect oil, and that would come to play an important role in his future.

Silas Newton and Frank Scully

There were no verifiable details or evidence presented to prove the saucer tale, but then Scully said the Pentagon had it all, concealed by "Operation Hush-Hush." The book also featured a lot of padding or filler, including quotes from early news flying saucer stories, titled, "The Post-Fortean File 1947-1950," ironically, ultimately the most genuine and valuable part of the volume.

Scully secured a lucrative deal with major hardcover book publisher, Henry Holt and Co., whereas Donald Keyhoe's book was merely a paperback by Fawcett's Gold Medal Books. Behind the Flying Saucers became an international bestseller, a hit in hardcover and in paperback reprints. Here's a collection of items by (and on) Scully that didn't make it into his book.

Toledo Blade, Sept. 25, 1950

Variety: Scully’s Scrapbook, May 10, 1950

Frank Scully claimed he was surprised by being asked to make a premature disclosure about his UFO book. It was on May 6, 1950, at a banquet hosted by Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewcz was at Ciro’s in Los Angeles:

Then Mank threw me to the Lions... grabbed the mike and said I was writing a book on flying saucers and he was sure the Columbia alumni would rather hear about that more than anything else.  

So l had to violate my oath of office and talk for 15 minutes, striving desperately not to tell these diners anything of the sort. Surely Mank must have known that the first rule of a hep literati is, “Don’t tell it, sell it!” In the second place, why should I go to jail for Telling All before I get the book out? And in the third place, I’ve noticed only too often that people who get it through their ears never bother to get it through their eyes. Besides, if Henry Holt & Co. knew I was going around talking about this book instead of writing it; they’d slug me with a flying saucer, magnetically directed to hit me right where it would hurt most; which at this moment, due to millions of units of penicillin injections that read like a Truman budget, Would be right where I’d like it least. 

So these are some of the reasons I dummied up and wouldn’t talk about “Behind the Flying Saucers” (July, 1950, $2.75 all bookstores).

Variety, Nov. 22, 1950

Variety: Scully's Scrapbook, Nov. 22, 1950
Scully toots his own horn by reprinting an interview he'd given with a local paper.
(Full text below clipping.)

Scully's Scrapbook, Variety, Nov. 22, 1950

Scully’s Scrapbook

By Frank Scully

College Inn, Nov. 17. 

Among the sea of letters, clippings and exhibits, which have all but swamped Bedside Manor since I became the Saucerian ambassador (without portfolio) to the Pentagon, 98% have been favorable. Some of the best have come from those between the ages of 14 and 30. In fact in a coming issue of Pageant I am printing one from a 14-year-old 

amateur astronomer. But the best has just come from a 20-year-old student specializing in music at DePaul University, Chicago. 

His name is Richard Wyszynski. I realize that such a name more properly belongs in a Notre Dame backfield but this boy was fast, too. He chased me over half of Chicago and cornered me at the Bismarck hotel just when I was trying to get away from it all by catching a revival of vaude at the RKO Palace. I even offered to settle by taking him to the show and shelve the interview. But he said he could catch the show any time and wouldn’t take long to get his story because he had his questions all typed out. 

He was true to his word, and later we caught Belle Baker, whose son I understand is a nut on flying saucers; Smith and Dale, Frank Paris and others— a grand bill and a full house. 

Frankly I never expected to hear from Richard the Lion Hearted again but in the current DePaulia his piece is printed, and if Readers Digest can reprint the cream of the crop, why can’t I? Here then is the Scully Award for the Best Reporting of 1950: 

Frank Scully’s Theories on Flying Saucers 

By Richard Wyszynski 

Last year about this time, a man named Frank Scully wrote in his column in Variety that flying saucer had been dismantled and investigated. Since that time, Scully, an elderly gray-haired man who moves along at a spirited clip and talks in a low strong voice, has had his book “Behind The Flying Saucers” (On which he has been working since 1947) published and brought before the public. The book has risen from 13th to 4th place among the nation’s reading, but several areas in the country remain aloof from the book, and that’s why Scully was shuffled into Chicago, a few weeks ago, which also provided the fortunate opportunity for this private interview, coincidentally exactly a year after his first saucer article appeared in Variety. 

For those unacquainted with the lore of the airborne ovals, I might explain that Scully, along with Donald Keyhoe, Commander Robert McLaughlin U.S.N. (now serving sea duty) and 5% of the nation’s populace (according to Gallup, May 22, 1950) thoroughly believes that saucers are guided interplanetary space ships. 

Scully differs from his contemporaries in favoring Venus as the home planet of the discs and embracing magnetic force as the means of the ships’ propulsion. According to this theory, these ships ride on or across magnetic lines of force of which there are 1,257 to the square centimeter throughout the universe. In his book, Scully explained the instances of the mysterious lecturer at the University of Denver who amazed the students with his information on saucers, and also proclaimed that of all the saucers which landed here, none remain intact, although various parts of these missiles were hurriedly recalled by Washington from official personnel who had ransacked the saucers. The book also contained a detailed explanation of magnetic forces and a history of the antagonistic struggle between the Air Force and saucer-writers. 

When the book came out, it caused a lot of “backstage screaming” and one friend of Scully’s said: “Somebody in the Pentagon is going to have a hemorrhage.” When Scully wrote that valuable parts of the grounded saucers had been carelessly taken by personnel as souvenirs, the Air Force made a hasty summons for all disc equipment not in their possession. The Pentagonians, however, still ignored the twenty direct questions Which Scully fired at them in Variety and in his book (and in several newspapers which reprinted the article), although the Rosenwald Museum in this city took the trouble to refute any reports of an exhibit of a Venusian corpse in its display dealing with the growth of the human body. 

The Airforce fears 1) panic 2) revelation of military secrets if they let out all their data on saucers, they could reveal only that information which would not endanger national security, but Scully doesn’t accredit them with the necessary intelligence to do this. He also believes that secrecy-for-security-s’il-vous-plait requests from Washington have stifled any available reports from men stationed at Palomar, world’s most powerful telescope. 

Venusians Curious 

Scully’s train of thought on our global neighbors runs along these lines: the Venusians, maintaining the quality of curiosity, sent their reconnaissance force to investigate the atomic detonations of the past five years. There have been only two instances of hostility: the scattering of Captain Mantell’s body and F-51 over the Fort Knox countryside after a high and hot pursuit of a flying saucer, and the head-on crash challenge offered to Lt. George Gorman after his 27-minute dogfight with a disc above Fargo, North Dakota. (At the last moment, Gorman decided not to risk his skull on something so weird and relinquished the chase) Scully believes that the Venusians of the grounded saucer died not because they couldn’t maintain level flight over our magnetic fault zones, but because they hadn’t mastered the means of safe disembarkation into the atmosphere of this planet. The difference in gravitation between Venus' and Terra may account for the Venusian’s small, but proportionally accurate, sizes. 

Scully also affirmed three statements, to the effect that: 1, The mysterious lights sighted over Sweden for such a long period of time shortly after World War II were probably caused by fractures of magnetic forces of flying saucers. (The Aurora Borealis is an example of resplendent light caused by “fractures” of magnetic disturbances). 2. The United States of America has a defense weapon utilizing magnetic force. 3. Scientists, in their highly developed work with this secretive power of destruction, are actually defending the country more effectively than the Air Force, which should be considerably distressing to Major Alexander P. DeSeversky. 

States Disgust for National Officials 

Frank Scully is thoroughly disgusted with the foibles of inefficient officials stationed in the nation’s capital throughout past several decades; he stated that if he would’ve been president at Woodrow Wilson’s time, this country would’ve been saved a lot of trouble.

Scully likes to to “work out in the open” and that is just what he is doing in his book. He compares himself to a writer in the 15th century revealing the facts of modern civilization and being subject to the condemnation of the people of the time. His work is not that of a theorist, nor of a scientist, nor even of a witness, of a flying saucer; he is strictly a reporter trying to do his job as he sees fit and finding it to be a pretty rough task.

And in trying to separate the fact from the fantasy, if what Scully reports is all wet, why is the Pentagon so perturbed ... why has Scully’s phone been tapped for the last three years? And if this data turns out to be completely authentic, cannot the American people extend their concept of existence past the barriers of this globe and into the universe? Perhaps it is as Mr. and Mrs. Scully both said to me: “They don’t believe in them because they're scared. We seem to be scared of practically everything these days.

- - -

De Flygande Tefaten and The Journal of a Flying Saucerian

In 1952, Billboard magazine reported that Frank Scully's book was being circulated all over the world, and he was working on a second UFO volume, to be titled, "The Journal of a Flying Saucerian."

Billboard Aug. 6, 1952

Billboard Aug. 20, 1952

Billboard makes a mention of the debunking of Scully's Behind the Flying Saucers. It was published in True magazine's September, 1952 issue, an article by J.P. Cahn titled, "'The Flying Saucers and the Mysterious Little Men." It exposed the story as a hoax and ultimately put crashed saucer stories out of business until the 1970s. For more on J.P. Cahn's article and the follow up, see debunker Robert Sheaffer's page, The Frank Scully "Crashed Saucer" Hoax (1950).

The influence of Silas Newton's saucer tale and Scully's book is incredibly far-reaching, and we'll return to other facets of the story in future installments here at The Saucers That Time Forgot.

James J. Allen's Alien Encounter Embarrassment: Aug. 6, 1952

West Lumberton, North Carolina, Aug. 6, 1952: A relatively incredible close encounter. James J. Allen sees a UFO and speaks to its occupant. A few historians summarize the case in passing, such as this mention in the August 2005 MUFON Journal by Ted Phillips, in "Physical Traces: Occupants and physical traces."

08/06/52 NC, Lumberton: James Allen, 51 , saw a round object 8 ft long, 6 ft high land within 10 feet of him. A small occupant was seen, and small footprints were found.

INTCAT, (the International Catalog of close encounters and entity reports, compiled by Peter Rogerson, lists the Allen case and cites Phillips among the other Ufologists who have covered the case:

August 6 1952. 2100hrs WEST LUMBERTON (NORTH CAROLINA:  USA) American Houses employee. James J Allen saw an object 2m high, 2.5m long, lit by an interior orange light, descend from the north-west, hit his chimney, damaging it, and land in his backyard. As he approached to within 3m. of the object he saw a small being, 75cm high, standing beside it. When Allen asked the being if it was injured, “it went away in a whiff”, then the object moved away with a whistling sound.

• Ted Bloecher citing Lumberton Robesonian, 7 August 1952.

• Phillips 1975, p.8 (case 676) says footprints were found at the site but this detail is not given in the above source he quotes.

• George Fawcett in Flying Saucers 77.

• Fawcett 1975 p.26.

• Santesson 1968, p.183

• Vallee Case 99 citing Wilkins 1954b, p.268 citing Buffalo Evening News 27 Aug 1952.

• Data Net V, 11 citing Robesonian 18 Aug 1952.

Loren Gross in UFOs: A History, 1952: August, however, found the events to be fantastic:

A forerunner of many to come was the tale told by 51-year-old James Allen of West Lumberton, North Carolina, on August 6th. So incredible it, was dismissed outright by serious people, the story and others like it were to be favorites with the press. We can only wonder if Mr. Allen was reading too many science fiction books? 

Here's the way the Allen's story was reported at the time in the local paper.
(A line of copy seems to be missing from the printed version.)

The Lumberton Robesonian (NC) Aug. 7, 1952

The next day's news provided further information. There were several people investigating the report, and the Pentagon was expected to launch their own inquiry. Further questioning of Allen produced further details on the encounter, including a better description of the saucer occupant. The little man had a long white beard.

The Lumberton Robesian (NC) Aug. 8, 1952 

UFO historian Loren Gross concluded:

Actually, there is not much difference between Allen's story and that of the Socorro, New Mexico, incident of April 24, 1964, so if people like Allen were making up such stories, they were at least consistent. In 1952 Allen's tale seemed too whimsical which people believing it was just the result of a capricious notion by its originator. There is a very good possibility the Allen story is a hoax for the simple reason there was publicity at the time about a similar incident which was supposed to have occurred months before at the city of Red Springs, an incident that could have inspired Allen. 

James J Allen's 1947 Case Surfaces

UFO historians that discuss the Allen case seem to be unaware of what happened after the initial report. Shortly after the story of the encounter, there were troubling disclosures about James Allen's past, instances of him writing "obscene letters," arranging a rendezvous with a married neighbor, and threatening to hex her husband with witchcraft if she didn't comply.

The Lumberton Robesian (NC) Aug. 11, 1952 

As with so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book has no files on this incident

Epilogue

History doesn't tell us if Allen's house was insured, but an ad for the Ray Hatch Insurance Agency in the November 11, 1953, Indiana Kokomo Tribune indicates he could have filed a claim for the saucer's damage to his chimney.

Unfortunately, the typical home insurance policy does not cover alien acts of aggression, only instances of alien accidents.


. 

Abbott, Costello and Flying Saucers

August 8, 1952: An offer of employment for aliens. 

First, a non-show business Abbott in a flying saucer story:

Three Idaho men reported having observed a six feet wide flying sphere doing maneuvers unbecoming of a balloon. As reported in the Twin Falls Times News, Dec. 15, 1950:

Twin Falls Times News, Dec. 15, 1950.

It's interesting that Abbott had a prior belief in flying saucers, but did not accept the premise promoted by Donald Keyhoe that, "The Flying Saucers are Real." Unlike so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book does have a file on this incident, but it's a skimpy one: https://www.fold3.com/image/1/7004359


Abbott and Costello

The Saucer Crash of August 1952

With a case involving a witness named Abbott, we wondered what involvement Lou Costello had with flying saucers. Costello was involved in a flying saucer crash in 1952:

A flying saucer crashed into a rocket ship at UI and temporarily halted production on "Abbott & Costello Go to Mars"

Berkshire Evening Eagle,  Aug. 26, 1952

Flora Rogers' Flying Turtle over Texas, Aug.12, 1952

 Everybody knows turtles don't fly--so what was that thing Mrs. Flora Rogers saw paddling through through the air over her West Texas ranch?

Newspaper clipping from Project Blue Book.

Stanton, Texas, about 100 miles south of Lubbock

The Abilene Reporter-News August 13, 1952

As with so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book has no file on this incident... but they do have a bad, faded copy of a news article with a drawing of the UFO. https://www.fold3.com/image/6996929

Gray Barker

It was left to ufologist Gray Barker in his historic 1956 book, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers, to chronicle this event. He managed to stretch the newspaper story into three pages of his book, concluding his coverage thusly:

When pressed for an opinion as to what she thought the object represented, Mrs. Rogers hazarded a guess, but insisted it was only an idea she evolved while watching it."It must have been some sort of radar machine taking pictures of the ground beneath."

And so ended another flying saucer story few people would believe, except those who heard her tell it first hand, a story that would be discounted by the Air Force and forgotten by all but a few who had the temerity to collect and file away data on such unusual and unlikely events.

Flying Saucers, Flying Fists and Hypnotic High-Jinks

Hypnosis can be a therapeutic tool, but so can a scalpel, and it's important that the treatment is administered by a professional. Hypnotism has played a controversial role in its use for recovering lost memories in UFO cases, from its first known use in Sweden in 1959. There are some dangers to using hypnosis, due to the fact that it can often produce false memories to be "recovered." Worse yet, it can endanger the emotional and mental health of the subject.

With that warning out of the way, here's a unique flying saucer report from 1952. Like many of the best UFO stories, this one involves the claim of a saucer landing, the sighting of an alien, hypnotism and an apparent cover-up by the law enforcement. However, in this case, these elements come into play in a wholly different way.

The World Famous Jay Zee, "Anything Can Happen"

"Professor Jay Zee, who recently resumed his career as a top notch entertainer after several years of hypnotic therapeutics will appear..." was the opening line of Zee's press release. With modifications for time and location, it appeared in newspapers over many years throughout the USA announcing his show. Zee was a mentalist and hypnotist, and the main feature of his act was having volunteers from the audience perform "hilarious antics".

The Michigan, Cass City Chronicle, Aug. 14, 1953 

The Wisconsin Sheboygan Press, Nov. 29, 1952 

The January 8, 1953 Michigan Traverse City Record-Eagle carried a story advertising Zee's show, "Anything Can Happen."

Hypnotist Coming

"Jay Zee, who recently resumed his career as a top notch entertainer after several years of hypnotic therapeutics will appear at the State theatre on Sunday, Jan. 11th, for three days. Jay Zee's "Anything Can Happen," promises to be a thrill packed show of Intrigue, suspense and a million laughs. He was in retirement from the entertainment field during the World War II period. During that time he worked for the government in psychiatric hospitals and with the intelligence department.

In his theater performance he limits himself exclusively to entertainment, depending upon the audience for volunteer subjects. As a member of an exclusive professional organization of hypnotists, he is under an ethical pledge not to permit situations which would cause embarrassment of his subjects or leave any of them at a future disadvantage."

The Michigan Traverse City Record-Eagle page 10, January 8, 1953

The "Hypnotic High-Jinks" show was mostly comedy, with a few thrills thrown in along the way. This 1950 article goes into more detail about Zee's work during World War II and also discusses his ethical pledge "not to permit situations which would cause embarrassment to subjects."

Kenosha Evening News, March 6, 1950

Professor Jay Zee had an active show business career, and in 1952 was on a months-long tour of the mid-west, which leads us to an incident in Oregon, Illinois.

Embarrassment, Disadvantage and Flying Saucers

Oregon, Illinois, 100 miles west of Chicago. 

Robert Cross

Oregon, Illinois, Sept. 29, 1952:

Robert Cross went to the Sheriff's Office to make a report of a flying saucer over the town. He'd said the craft had landed, and that a small humanoid with an unusual complexion emerged from it. There was a sense of urgency, as Cross indicated that it was part of a flying saucer invasion. The concerned sheriff followed the witness to where to he could find the invaders. Cross told them, "Look at them land on the courthouse roof," but he was the only one who could see them. It was there, the encounter began to turn violent.

Ogle County Sheriff's Office & Jail 

From the Dixon, Illinois Evening Telegraph, Oct 1, 1952

Flying Saucers on Oregon City Hall Bring Turmoil; 

Hypnotist Blamed for All

OREGON -- A 20-year old hospital worker who left the stage of the Oregon theater here while still under the influence of a hypnotist turned this town into a turmoil last night with his fantastic stories of "flying saucers on the city hall."

Robert Cross, Rochelle, who attended the theater to see the magician Jay Zee perform, had the Ogle county sheriff's office and the Oregon police on the verge of "locking up the lunatic" before the situation was finally explained.

No Saucers Today

Cross, who doesn't see saucers today, was told last night by the magician that he would "see saucers until 10 a.m. today." And that's exactly what he did.

After leaving the theater Cross first "saw" saucers on the theater roof. He told this to police, who took him directly to the sheriff's office, where he related his story of "little men and spaceships" to Night Deputy William administered. administered immediately called Sheriff James White.

White and Cross then started towards the theater. On the way, Cross told White to "look at them land on the courthouse roof" and, of course, the sheriff saw nothing.

Back at the sheriff's office white began talking to the youth and finally, when Cross mentioned the magician, Jay Zee was called in.

After an hour and a half of grilling the hypnotist, the sheriff closed the "Case of the Flying Saucers" and announced that "There'll be no more of that in Oregon."

As yet he hasn't decided if the show will go on again tonight or not.

As the story came out, the controversy centered less on the flying saucer report, and more on Cross' allegations of having been beaten by the police. Further details emerged about what Cross had been ordered to do under hypnosis.

Freeport Journal Standard, Oct 2, 1952 

"Cross told the Telegraph yesterday that when he was hypnotized Tuesday night, Jay Zee told him that he should go to the 'police station, newspaper and fire station' and say that he had seen a little man, three feet high with a long nose, purple skin and pink polka dots, step out of a flying saucer."

The full text of the newspaper story below be can be found at Saturday Night Uforia, Hypnotized Youth Claims Sheriff Beat Him After Flying Saucer Reported

Dixon Evening Telegraph, Oct. 4, 1952 

This next story finally got to the root of it, exactly what caused all the trouble. The hypnotist had commanded Cross to leave the theatre to make false reports. "Under questioning it was brought out that Cross was under hypnosis induced by Jack Bernie Zitzen, aka "Jay Zee." Cross had been told to report seeing the visions at five places, including the sheriff's office."

Freeport Journal Standard, Oct, 4, 1952 

The Aftermath: Turmoil in the Ogle County Sheriff's Department

Four days after the incident there was a heated resignation by Ogle County"s Chief Deputy Joseph Powell over a "disagreement in policy." A month after Cross' alleged beating during the "flying saucer" incident, Sheriff James White fired deputy sheriff William Beaman, the officer who'd admitted slapping Cross. It was Beaman's claim that he was removed for "political reasons," perhaps feeling he'd been fired in order for White to avoid criticism or a lawsuit.

Dixon Evening Telegraph. Nov. 10, 1952 

There was a local scandal due to the incidents, and rumors outnumbered the facts. The controversy continued from October into November.

Dixon Evening Telegraph Oct. 13, 1952 

Dixon Evening Telegraph, Nov. 11, 1952 

The "fracas," denials and firings from the sheriff's department following the "flying saucer incident" are more puzzling than the incident itself. It smacks of a cover-up, but not the kind usually associated with UFO stories, just the old-fashioned kind to conceal embarrassment or wrong-doing.

The record is incomplete, and not all published accounts agree, but Robert Cross seems to have been a victim at least twice that night, first from the entertainer and later from mistreatment by the sheriff's department. No one was punished by the law, but two deputies, Powell and Beaman lost their jobs. James M. White remained as sheriff, but only until 1954, when he was replaced by Charles Allen. It seems that no charges were filed against the visiting world famous hypnotist.

Who was Jay Zee?

The Saucers That Time Forgot's Claude Falkstorm dug up a lot more info on hypnotist Jay Zee, including the fact that the flying saucer gag was one of his regular acts in his show.

Cedar Rapids Gazette August 27, 1952.

Business was said to be good, according to the Oct 27, 1954 Fairborn Daily Herald. "Jay Zee is in such demand in theatrical circles that he has been forced to give up all of his work that he has been doing in the field of psychology." His lovely assistant Vicki Vassar was enjoying success as well. Her description went from "west coast beauty contest winner" to "starlet."

This 1955 clipping provides further details about Zee's claims of hypnotic prowess and of his work with the US Intelligence Department. We could locate no records, military or otherwise, for Jack Bernie Zitzen.

The Ohio Wilmington News-Journal page14, October 14, 1955

Could it be that Jay Zee was involved in some kind of PSYOP or early MKULTRA "Mirage Men" type program? We consulted STTF asset, Jeremiah Dugger, knowledgeable both in espionage history and stage magic, but he drew a blank. However, his searches turned up a few items on a hypnotist with a similar name, a "Jay B. Zee."

Who was Dr. Jay B. Zee, Ph. D.?

Zee's mole is difficult to see in the photo, but the artist clearly depicted it in his caricature.

"It sounds like a show name, but it's real; it's the name I was born with." So said the man calling himself Dr. Jay B. Zee to the Northern Iowan in their Sept. 23, 1977 issue. The story provides some biographical details and Zee's thoughts on the ethics of hypnotism. This new information provided further leads.

In reverse chronological order:

The Nebraska Lincoln Star from Dec. 13, 1974 reported:

"Dr. Zee. who received his Ph. D. in psychology from Duke University, stresses that hypnotism can be emotional(ly) harmful when practiced by someone without the proper training."

Later in the article it indicated that he was still interested in alien encounters.

"In the near future, he will include in his act a routine in which the people believe they are astronauts who have landed on the moon and can speak moon language The moon language is actually a recording of Dr Zee's voice slowed down and played backward There will also be a cave on the moon where the people will confront various monsters, but that act will have to wait until the stage can be readied for it."

Good Housekeeping magazine, Aug. 1967 reported:

The Free Press exposed a second quack marriage counselor by the name of Jay B. Zee. Zee, who had a bogus PhD purchased from a diploma mill in Italy for $58, hypnotized couples who consulted him about their strained marriages. He also injected some of them with "truth" serums. One of his women clients became so emotionally disturbed that her husband feared for the safety of their children and she had to undergo psychiatric care."

The Michigan Detroit Free Press, Aug. 12, 1965 

That led us to the Michigan Detroit Free Press from Aug. 12, 1965, with the story, "Nightclub Hypnotist Poses as Expert in Emotional Ills" In addition to the items repeated in the Good Housekeeping article, it reports:

"According to Ernest Browne, investigator with the Detroit City Department of Health, several complaints have been filed against Zee. They include the charge that he worked with an M.D., now deceased, trying to cure ailments like goiter, spinal meningitis and multiple sclerosis through hypnotism."

There was also a discussion of his professional qualifications:

"According to another Phoenix University alumnus, a doctor of philosophy degree like the one Zee bought in 1957, costs $58. For another $10, the diploma came printed in Latin."

"He told a reporter for another Detroit paper that he had his doctoral degree in psychology from Duke University. The registrar of Duke University has no record of either Jay B. Zee or Jack B. Zitzer having been a student there. Zee twice applied to the State for certification as a psychologist, and was denied both times. He nevertheless, advertised himself as a 'psychologist' in direct violation of Act 257 of Public Acts of 1959 which reserves the title to persons who have met certain specific educational (qualifications.)

Zee says he got his master's degree in 1955 from a college in Indianapolis. His alma mater wouldn't permit such modesty. 'We gave him a DOCTOR'S degree in psychology,' said an officer of the College of Divine Metaphysics. 'He took two courses for the degree, one in practical metaphysics and another in metaphysical healing.' According to a brochure from the college, students begin by taking a 20-week course in how to heal cancer spiritually. Cost $100. Then they are permitted to move on to higher work."

The Newport Harbor Ensign, Dec. 22, 1966 

Searching for the new name Jack B. Zitzer produced no immediate matches, and neither did combinations with Jack Bernie Zitzen. It's not clear exactly when Zee changed from stage hypnotism to a medical career, but in 1961, an issue of the American Paint Journal, describes how Zee was billing himself:

"Dr. Jay B. Zee, Ph. D., Clinical Psychologist And Hypnotist."

Lastly, Claude found an even earlier press story on a Jay Zee, show, one from just a few months before the dawning of the flying saucer era, from The National Jewish Post, Jan. 31, 1947:

Checking this claim of "Professor Jay Zee"being the "world's youngest registered hypnotist," we found that he was born in 1917. This would have made him implausibly young to have been employeed as a medical health care professional during World War II, when Zee was supposedly working "for the government in psychiatric hospitals and with the intelligence department" as a psychologist.

Given these further revelations, it seems unlikely that his 1952 hypnosis of Robert Cross was part of a US UFO disinformation scheme. Jay Zee seems to have been nothing more than a charismatic con man, one of the many swindlers that have dabbled with flying saucers.

Postscript and Update

The News-Palladium from Benton Harbor, Michigan from April 29, 1959 reported:
"Jack B. Zitser, 41, applied to change his name to Jay B. Zee. Probate Judge Iran Kaufman declared: 'I'll grant your request. But how will I know you didn't influence me into doing so?'"

2021 research on another STTF story revealed that Jay Zee hosted a Detroit radio show on WGPR in the early 1960s. That show led to another flying saucer-related episode in his career. On April 5, 1962, Zee's guest was George King of the Aetherius Society, a flying saucer-based religious organization.

According to the site, drgeorgeking.org, "Because of the tremendous interest in the program, Dr. Jay Zee did two more 2 hour interviews on April 6th and 7th ... a total of 6 hours on this radio station alone." So once again Jay Zee served saucers as entertainment for his audience.

Jay B. Zee PH.D
1917 -1990.
Star of David Memorial Gardens, North Lauderdale, Florida. 

As with so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book has no file on this incident.

Special thanks to Jeremiah Dugger for his research help on this story, and to the regular STTF staff, Claude Falkstrom and Curt Collins.