In 1995 alone, four million Americans vanished, according to the Tracers Company. Missing persons reports from different law enforcement agencies around the world added another two million souls to the list. The world's load was lightened by six million human beings in that year alone. Most of these appeared to be solidly respectable citizens with clear consciences. UFO-minded researchers have long been fascinated by the epidemic scale of such disappearances and sought to interpret it as due to an unknown phenomenon. Soon, they themselves were becoming part of the phenomenon. Inevitably, when a UFO investigator disappears, it is seen as the action of sinister alien forces or sinister government silencers either way an obvious sign that they were 'close to the truth'.
Despite the seeming outrageousness of such claims, it is no secret that many UFO researchers have either disappeared without a trace or else perished under mysterious circumstances. Undoubtedly, the most famous in the latter category is Morris K Jessup, an American astronomer who was interested ironically in the apparent disappearance of a number of lunar craters, strange falls and other possibly UFO-related events. Jessup's interest in the UFO phenomenon brought him into contact with the bizarre Carlos Allende, the enigmatic author of a series of mind-bending commentaries on several classic UFO-related cases including the 'Philadelphia Experiment' written from the viewpoint of a visiting alien who knew the 'truth' behind them. Prior to committing suicide in April 1959, Jessup had exhibited symptoms of nervousness and foreboding. After entrusting his research notes and a copy of his book The Case for UFOs (1955) to a friend, Jessup was found dead in his car from asphyxiation.
Even "flying saucers" themselves disappear at times. According to an anecdote related by French investigator Patrice Gaston, the life-sized mock-up of the pie pan shaped flying saucer from the 1960s' TV show The Invaders which featured actor Roy Thinnes as UFO witness David Vincent disappeared in an extremely curious manner. It had been taken out to the Mojave Desert to be used in filming some exterior shots using the Rockies as a natural backdrop, after which it was displayed in an unnamed public square for promotional purposes. During the night and to the utter astonishment of the producers, the sizeable prop vanished, never to be seen again. Gaston discreetly suggested that the all too realistic contraption might have attracted the attention of officialdom, on this world or another.
It is quite easy, at first brush, to imagine that some nefarious organised force (governmental or private) might well have a vested interest in 'silencing' UFO researchers, particularly if they should 'come too close' to the truth about a secret project, concealed information, or other important item. Unfortunately for the mythologisers, this perspective simply doesn't hold up; there are as many active UFO researchers now as there were in the past and even the most vocal among them appear unconcerned for their welfare. Does this mean that all the lurid accounts of missing researchers are pure exaggeration?
Of course, not all cases are quite this mysterious. As I write this, perhaps the greatest speculation regarding the whereabouts of a UFO researcher surrounding the curious absence of Adelmar J Gevaerd, editor of Brazil's Revista UFO and host of the yearly UFO convention held in Curitiba. Gevaerd played a key role in breaking the news to researchers outside Brazil of the alleged landing and capture of an unspecified number of 'aliens' near the Brazilian city of Varginha on 21 January 1996 This bemusing event featured all the distinctive traits of a UFO crash-retrieval case: the doomed saucer, the hunt for the surviving aliens, the silenced witnesses, the military cover-up and so on. At the height of the world-wide media attention in June 1996, the story flew around ufology discussion groups on the internet that Gevaerd had been detained by his country's intelligence apparatus. Efforts to contact him by phone, fax and e-mail were suddenly fruitless and led to mounting concern among his ufological friends. I can now reveal that he had gone to Chile for a few weeks and was delayed in returning home. On learning of the excitement, Gevaerd, who is very good natured, was quite amused.
Other, more sinister cases, might never be so happily resolved.