Raymond Alfred Palmer (August 1, 1910 – August 15, 1977) was an American author and magazine editor. Influential in the first wave of science fiction fandom , his first fiction stories were published in 1935.
108-468: (Redirected from Ray Palmer ) Raymond or Ray Palmer may refer to: Raymond A. Palmer , science-fiction writer and editor Raymond F. Palmer , medical professor Raymond Palmer, 3rd Baron Palmer (1916–1990), British peer and businessman Ray Palmer (pastor) , American pastor and author of hymns Ray Palmer (Arrowverse) , a TV show character based on his comic book counterpart Atom (Ray Palmer) ,
216-469: A Catholic school in Milwaukee. After completing the ninth grade, he dropped out. Palmer began reading Amazing Stories magazine after discovering its first issue in the spring of 1926. He wrote his first science fiction story, "The Time Ray of Jandra", in high school. His English teacher was so impressed, she read it aloud to her class. Roy Palmer moved his family once again in 1929. Ray got
324-505: A wave of sightings followed. The 1952 sightings spurred Leonard H. Stringfield to form an early UFO investigation group called the "Civilian Investigating Group for Aerial Phenomena" and to publish research on UFOs. Albert K. Bender started his own "International Flying Saucer Bureau" in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1952. Influenced by these works, James W. Moseley began to tour the country interviewing witnesses and distributing
432-600: A "Science Correspondence Club" in May 1930 to help fans connect with one another. This was, according to science fiction historian Mike Ashley , the first organized sci fi fandom group. The two men also created and edited the first fanzine , The Comet , which first appeared in May 1930. Initially focused on spreading the word about new scientific discoveries and inventions, it refocused on science fiction writing in its second issue in July 1930. During Palmer's second bout with TB,
540-624: A DC Comics comic book character See also [ edit ] Raymond the Palmer (1139/40–1200), Catholic pilgrim [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raymond_Palmer&oldid=1244729949 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
648-399: A June 26 radio interview, Arnold described them as "something like a pie plate that was cut in half with a sort of a convex triangle in the rear". Headline writers coined the terms "flying saucer" and "flying disk" (or "disc") for the story. Arnold later told CBS news that the early coverage "did not quote me properly [...] when I described how they flew, I said that they flew like they take
756-416: A dome or knob-shaped protrusion on the top side. Size estimates ranged from 20 feet to thousands of feet in diameter. Menzel found saucers reported in nearly every color, often glowing or flashing. The sightings had little consistency in reported movement or sounds. Some witnesses reported silent objects; others reported a roar or thunderclap. Sightings were most often during the night. If the saucer's crew
864-504: A flying disc. Throughout 1947, the saucers became increasingly associated with the idea of extraterrestrial life. The stories spread to other countries, where they were influenced by local political and social concerns. In Europe, which was still recovering from the Second World War , saucers were often reported with rocket-like features. German newspapers reported flying saucers that exploded or had tails of fire. The names for
972-546: A genre emerged that treated fantastical stories as either true or plausibly true. The debut issues of Mystic magazine asked readers, "When you read this story, you will tell yourself that it is fiction; the editors assure you that it is. But what if—it isn't?" The Fortec Conspiracy , a science fiction novel, both drew from and fed into the UFO rumors surrounding the Roswell incident debris. Aliens and flying discs were common in
1080-411: A hospital, probably because the family could not pay. A social worker visited a few days later, and took Ray to a hospital. According to Ray's friend, Frances Hamling , Ray became infected with Pott's disease ( tuberculosis of the spine ), and by the age of nine could no longer stand or walk. Palmer underwent a spinal column bone graft performed by Dr. Frederick J. Gaenslen. Pott's disease
1188-421: A hovering disc by tilting their own body. Video games have a long history of depicting flying saucers, typically as antagonists. In the arcades, the popular early shooting games Asteroids (1979) and Space Invaders (1978) featured flying saucers as "bonus" enemies that only emerged briefly. Super Mario Land , one of Nintendo 's launch titles for the original Game Boy , contained spaceships modeled on
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#17328023460441296-482: A job as a bookkeeper at the P.J. Lavies sheet metal company after high school, and began writing short science fiction stories in his spare time. Palmer had several of his letters to the editor published in Amazing Stories . To encourage science fiction fandom , the magazine published addresses of its letter-writers. Walter Dennis, a Chicago fan, traveled to Milwaukee to meet Ray. Palmer and Dennis created
1404-478: A literary talent agency for science fiction authors, and Palmer sourced stories frequently from Solar Sales clients. In time, Palmer established a coterie of writers who turned in a set quota of words per issue, in return for a steady paycheck. Palmer also published his own work in Amazing , using a wide range of pen names. He often ran fake biographies of these pen names in the magazine, and in editorials attacked
1512-678: A month of the first flying saucer reports, Crisman sent Palmer metal fragments and an account from his employee Harold Dahl about a malfunctioning flying saucer. Palmer recruited Kenneth Arnold to investigate Crisman and Dahl's Maury Island incident . The metal turned out to be slag from a local smelter, but the men in black that Crisman and Dahl claimed were following them would become a common element of later UFO accounts. Gray Barker popularized "men in black" who intimidate or silence UFO witnesses in his book They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers . Palmer launched Fate (magazine) in 1948, claiming to offer "the truth about flying saucers". It
1620-432: A new mass of bone. Palmer was discharged in 1931. Palmer biographer Richard Toronto suggests that Ray Palmer now showed many of the signs of a classic trauma victim. He sought out any way in which to build his resilience, a typical coping method. He also exhibited a strong urge to control the world around him. Palmer often spoke of "knowing" that he would survive Pott's disease. Toronto notes that "precognition of survival"
1728-581: A newsletter for the growing saucer subculture. Within a decade of the first saucer sightings, reports had spread to many countries where local groups and ufologists emerged. Antonio Ribera started Centro de Estudios Interplanetarios in Spain, and Edgar Jarrold founded the Australia Flying Saucer Bureau . In France, UFO groups overlapped with occult groups and the anti-nuclear movement . Reports have been more often made in
1836-636: A parallel social movement. Well-known Variety columnist Frank Scully published Behind the Flying Saucers in 1950. The book presents the Aztec, New Mexico crashed saucer hoax as the true account of an alien craft that "gently pancaked to earth like Sonja Henie imitating a dying swan" and was recovered by the United States government. It describes one of the hoaxers—who were convicted of fraud for selling nonfunctional dowsing equipment to
1944-633: A popular explanation in France. Flying saucers in popular media underwent a similar change in movement. Early films like The Flying Saucer (1950) and film serials like Bruce Gentry – Daredevil of the Skies (1949) show saucers streaking past at high speeds. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) mentions high speeds tracked by radar but also includes a slow landing scene. The 1960s television series The Invaders prominently features
2052-533: A professional magazine, Science Fiction Digest . The first issue was published in September. Retitled Fantasy Magazine in January 1934 and lasting until December 1934, its primary audience was fandom and it proved to be a watershed in the science fiction movement. It published original stories as well, its most famous being the serial novel Cosmos . The idea of a serial novel written in round-robin style
2160-613: A prominent roadside flying saucer at its welcome center. UFO-shaped homes include the Futuro pods designed by Matti Suuronen , the former Sanzhi UFO houses from the Sanzhi District , New Taipei , Taiwan , and artist Harry Visser's iconic home in Roodepoort, Johannesburg. Flying saucers were a ubiquitous part of pop culture from 1947 into the mid 1970s. Flying disc motifs were used in toys and other novelties soon after
2268-677: A reprieve. Palmer then convinced Burroughs to write a new Carson of Venus story. This work, "Slaves of the Fish Men", ran in the March 1941 issue. Sales finally stabilized at a high level. Palmer continued to feature a mixture of whimsy and "lost land" stories in Amazing Stories through 1945. He became a believer in Richard Sharpe Shaver 's "Hollow Earth" conspiracy theory stories (which Shaver alleged were true, not fiction), publishing them frequently in Amazing . This gave
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#17328023460442376-434: A saucer and throw it across the water. Most of the newspapers misunderstood and misquoted that, too. They said that I said that they were saucer-like; I said that they flew in a saucer-like fashion." The circular shape of typical flying saucers may be due to reporters mistaking Arnold's "saucer-like" description of motion. Arnold's story incited a wave of hundreds of flying saucer reports . The next widely publicized report
2484-480: A science fiction author. Palmer wrote the foreword. Weinbaum's wife felt it was far too personal, and asked that a new forward be written. Lawrence Keating wrote the replacement. Only six copies of the "Palmer edition" were sold, and only 250 copies sold of the "Keating edition" (many of them unbound). In March 1936, Palmer began writing crime stories full-time for Shade Publishing Company's Associated Authors subsidiary, which published racy detective magazines. His pay
2592-504: A second fanzine, The Time Traveller , with Forrest J Ackerman , Julius Schwartz , and Mort Weisinger . It began publication in December 1932 and lasted just over a year. In May 1930, Palmer was diagnosed with Pott's disease again. It caused the bone graft and six of his vertebrae to disintegrate. In September 1930, Palmer went to Muirdale Tuberculosis Sanatorium . A physician told him he had six months to live until his spinal cord
2700-510: A short autobiography titled Martian Diary , co-wrote The Coming of the Saucers with Kenneth Arnold , edited Richard Sharpe Shaver 's The Hidden World , and republished the original edition of the spiritualist work, Oahspe: A New Bible . Palmer frequently pushed fringe beliefs and conspiracy theories , and was investigated by the FBI at least once. He was linked to an inquiry into
2808-560: A slow landing scene in every episode. Many later iconic flying saucer films, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Fire in the Sky (1993), depict hovering and slow movements. Since the late 1940s, flying discs have increasingly become associated with a cultural conception of aliens that reflects the social and political anxieties of the 20th century. Fictional flying saucers reflect concerns around atomic warfare ,
2916-742: A subgenre of documentary photography , showing often blurry or abstract discs framed by otherwise everyday settings. Notable examples include the McMinnville photographs , the Passaic UFO photographs , and the photographs of contactee George Adamski. Some of the alleged flying saucer photographs of the era were hoaxes , done with everyday objects like hubcaps . German rocket scientist Walther Johannes Riedel analyzed George Adamski's UFO photos and found them to be faked. The UFO's "landing struts" were General Electric light bulbs with logos printed on them. UFO researcher Joel Carpenter identified
3024-685: A wave of hundreds of sightings across the United States, including the Roswell incident and Flight 105 UFO sighting . The concept quickly spread to other countries. Early reports speculated about secret military technology, but flying saucers became synonymous with aliens by 1950. The term has gradually been supplanted by the more general military terms unidentified flying object (UFO) and unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). In science fiction , reported UFO sightings , UFO conspiracy theories , and broader popular culture, saucers are typically piloted by nonhuman beings. Descriptions in reported sightings vary considerably. Early reports emphasized speed but
3132-509: A wide range of topics, sometimes as many as 15 books a day. It was during this period that he became a fan of Ancient Egyptian history and science fiction. Palmer recovered enough to begin attending Washington High School in February 1924. He left in June 1925, most likely due to a relapse in health. He spent two more years bedridden. At the age of 16, Palmer enrolled at St. Anne's School,
3240-442: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Raymond A. Palmer Ziff Davis named him editor of the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories in 1938 and editor of its sister publication, Fantastic Stories , in 1939. He began promoting the " Shaver Mystery ", a series of stories about ancient aliens, lost civilizations, and underground inhabitants, in 1944. He claimed
3348-407: Is not uncommon among victims of trauma. To show his resilience, Palmer temporarily left his job as a bookkeeper at P.J. Lavies and became a steeplejack , installing aluminum roofs and gutters. He also took up bowling , jogging , and softball . To control his world, Palmer came to believe that his dreams could show him visions of what was happening around the world at that moment, and could foretell
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3456-458: Is often accompanied by kyphosis (hunchback), and Gaenslen's standard recuperative treatment required the patient to be in the prone position in a Bradford frame (a full-body metal rectangle with a canvas sleeve) for up to a year. Palmer's graft became infected, and he was given morphine for the pain. Combination of illnesses and trauma stunted Ray's growth, and as an adult he stood just slightly over 4 feet (1.2 m) tall. He spent most of
3564-467: Is often referred to as the "Jetsons look". Architect Frank Lloyd Wright , who collaborated on the design of the flying saucer in "The Day The Earth Stood Still", went on to use the flying saucer as an architectural motif. Wright's circular Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin , United States, is capped by a flattened dome over a hundred feet across. Spaceships are also one of
3672-605: Is seen as a symbol of 1950s culture. The motif is common in Googie architecture and Atomic Age décor. Notable flying saucer structures include Seattle's Space Needle and Los Angeles International Airport's Theme Building . Googie architecture in California, like the Chemosphere home, influenced the futuristic structures in the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons . The cartoon popularized the style to such an extent, that it
3780-490: Is that the idea of space vehicles shaped like flying saucers was imprinted in the national psyche for many years prior to 1947, when the Roswell incident took place. It didn't take much stretching for the first observers of UFOs to assume that the unknown objects hovering in the sky had the same disk shape as the science fictional vehicles. The modern flying saucer concept, including the association with aliens, can be traced to
3888-507: The Denison Daily News printed an article in which John Martin, a local farmer, reported an object resembling a balloon flying "at wonderful speed". The newspaper said it appeared to be about the size of a saucer from his perspective, one of the first uses of the word "saucer" in association with a UFO. During the 1940s, allied pilots reported encountering foo fighters they believed were advanced axis aircraft. Many aspects of
3996-512: The tokusatsu tradition in mid-50s films like Fearful Attack of the Flying Saucers and Warning from Space . Indian cinema began to incorporate alien invaders in the 1960s, starting with the Tamil-language Kalai Arasi . An adaptation of Bankubabur Bandhu by Satyajit Ray was never completed but may have influenced other works of science fiction. In Spain, alien-themed television shows became popular in
4104-429: The Amazing Stories editorial office to Chicago, where Ziff Davis was headquartered. Davis sought out Roger Sherman Hoar, partly because he was an accomplished writer of science fiction and partly because he was from Milwaukee and would be willing to relocate to Chicago. Hoar declined the position, and suggested Raymond Palmer for the job. Davis hired Palmer to edit Amazing Stories in February 1938. His first day on
4212-552: The Cold War , loss of bodily integrity , xenophobia , government secrecy, and whether humanity is alone in the universe. No correlation has been found between the release of major UFO films and spikes in sightings. A disc, often domed or shining down a ray of light, has become visual shorthand for aliens. It has been used in modern times to signify pop culture aliens. The aerial disc motif has been misinterpreted in much older art, created when it had different connotations. In 2017,
4320-582: The Daleks in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. or the Cybermen in " The Tenth Planet ". Aliens in the film Independence Day (1996) attacked humanity in giant city-sized saucer-shaped spaceships. As the flying saucer was surpassed by other designs and concepts, it fell out of favor with straight science-fiction moviemakers, but continued to be used ironically in comedy movies, especially in reference to
4428-469: The Mantell UFO incident , a pilot died while pursuing an unknown round object that was later identified as a Skyhook balloon. Beginning in the mid 1950s, psychologists began to study why people believed in flying saucers if the evidence was so limited. French psychiatrist Georges Heuyer considered the movement to be a kind of global folie à deux , or shared delusion, used to navigate anxieties. In
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4536-863: The Most SNP in Bratislava , and The Flying Saucer in Sharjah , United Arab Emirates . The Westall UFO was commemorated with the Grange Reserve UFO Park, featuring a UFO with red slides modeled after the reported sighting. Roswell, New Mexico , is a UFO tourist destination in the Southwestern United States. Many structures in the town, including the streetlights and the McDonald's, are designed around alien themes. Moonbeam, Ontario has an alien for its mascot and
4644-467: The pen name Ralph Milne Farley), Stanley G. Weinbaum , Robert Bloch , Jim Kjelgaard , and Arthur Tofte . The Fictioneers were the most significant influence on Palmer's writing. In 1936, the Fictioneers published Dawn of Flame , a fix-up of two of Stanley Weinbaum's unpublished stories ("Dawn of Flame" and "The Black Flame"). It was the first anthology ever published featured the work of
4752-697: The "author" for various literary, scientific, and personal faults. Palmer took delight in fooling readers, but at times would signal the hoax by making ludicrous claims or humorous injections. Palmer was poor, isolated, and lonely in Chicago in his early months there. This changed over time as he initiated employee poker nights at his apartment and coffee klatsches in cafés, and hosted visiting writers in his home. He also played on various Ziff Davis sports teams. Privately, he remained lonely and angry, and his writing, in stories like "Outlaw of Space" and "Lone Wolf of Space", reflected his emotional state. Ray also revamped
4860-460: The "flying saucers" concept in the fantasy artwork of the 1930s pulp science fiction magazines, by artists like Frank R. Paul . One of the first depictions of a "flying saucer", by illustrator Frank R. Paul appeared on the cover of the November 1929 issue of Hugo Gernsback 's pulp science fiction magazine Science Wonder Stories . Science fiction illustrator Frank Wu wrote: The point
4968-627: The 1800s included details like metal hulls, propellers, searchlights, and large wings. The 1947 sightings—occurring months before Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier —emphasized the "incredible speed" of flying saucers. The majority of 1947 reports emphasized speed. This fell to 41 percent in 1971, and 22 percent in 1986. In the 1950s, hovering flying saucers were associated with contactees and hoaxes; by 1986 almost half of reported UFOs were claimed to hover slowly or motionlessly. The majority of flying saucer and broader UFO reports have been identified with known phenomena . Investigations by
5076-498: The 1947 Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting . On June 24, 1947, businessman and amateur pilot Kenneth Arnold landed at the Yakima, Washington airstrip. He told staff and friends that he'd seen nine unusual airborne objects. Arnold estimated their speed at 1,700 miles per hour, beyond the capabilities of known aircraft. Newspapers soon contacted Arnold for interviews. The East Oregonian reported his supposed aircraft as "saucer-like". In
5184-490: The 1950s science fiction comics that flourished after the Golden Age of Comic Books . The comic book anthology UFO Flying Saucers , launched in the 1960s, published illustrations of supposedly real sightings. The opening to its first issue declared, "Our scientists have seen them! Our airmen have fought them!" Advertisements in the 1950s and 1960s referenced flying saucers as purported alien spacecraft and reflected
5292-401: The 1950s, musicians like Billy Lee Riley , Jesse Lee Turner , and Betty Johnson released novelty songs about flying discs and alien invaders. Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman released the first break-in record , " The Flying Saucer ", which took the form of a mock news broadcast covering an alien invasion. Disneyland introduced Flying Saucers , an attraction where guests could pilot
5400-548: The 1960s, they waned in popularity. Discs ceased to be viewed as the standard shape for alien spacecraft but are still often depicted, sometimes for their retro value to evoke the early Cold War era. Reports of fantastical aircraft predate the first flying saucers. In antiquity, mysterious lights in the sky were interpreted as spiritual phenomena. In the 1800s, many newspapers reported massive airships with glowing lights and humming engines. These are often seen as precursors to "flying saucer" and "UFO" sightings. On January 25, 1878,
5508-639: The 1960s. Flying saucers quickly spread to other genres. In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 's big-budget Forbidden Planet , a futuristic 1956 adaptation of William Shakespeare's play The Tempest , humans travel through space in the United Planets Cruiser C-57D , a ship resembling a 1950s flying saucer. The Twilight Zone episodes "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", "Third from the Sun", " Death Ship ", " To Serve Man ", " The Invaders " and " On Thursday We Leave for Home " all make use of
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#17328023460445616-488: The 1970s, French UFO researcher Michel Monnerie examined reports that were later identified and reports that remained unidentified. Monnerie found no difference in the frequency of paranormal phenomena reported alongside the sightings identified later as mundane known objects. This led him to develop the thesis that the saucer-specific experiences were a "psychosocial" process of myth-making triggered by but not caused by aerial phenomena. This Psychosocial UFO hypothesis became
5724-612: The Atoms", a mix of news about fandom and contests intended to boost the magazine's readership—all written in a chatty, informal style. He used the byline "RAP", a nickname bestowed on Palmer by Ackerman, Schwartz, and Aubrey Clements (a prominent member of science fiction fandom and, by 1930, president of the Science Correspondence Club). In mid January 1938, magazine publisher Ziff Davis acquired Amazing Stories . Under 86-year-old editor, Dr. T. O'Conor Sloane ,
5832-507: The British government in th 1950s found the vast majority of reports to be misidentifications or hoaxes. Some causes of saucer sightings include Venus, ice crystals, balloons, and airborne trash. The US Government and General Mills launched thousands of top-secret Skyhook spy balloon during the 1950s. These massive balloons floated at high altitudes, making it difficult to judge their speed, and were widely reported as flying saucers. During
5940-506: The Cold War. The 1949 film serial Bruce Gentry – Daredevil of the Skies featured a man-made flying saucer, and the 1950 film The Flying Saucer focused on Cold War espionage. The first novel to explicitly use the term "flying saucer" was Bernard Newman 's The Flying Saucer , released in 1950. The novel's craft was a hoaxed alien ship intended to end military tension by giving humanity a common enemy. Two early 1950s films, The Day
6048-470: The Earth Stood Still and The Thing from Another World , were financial successes that established the market for an "alien visitor" subgenre of science fiction that merged flying saucers into existing space opera tropes. Slowly hovering discs, like the one from the landing scene in The Day the Earth Stood Still , appeared throughout science fiction including It Came from Outer Space (1953), Earth vs.
6156-545: The Flying Saucers (1956), Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957), and the television series The Invaders . While contactees described aliens as benevolent messengers, Hollywood films often depicted them as monstrous antagonists. Other localities adapted the largely American phenomenon at different times, adding elements of the local culture. Early British films were low-budget productions like Devil Girl from Mars (1954) and Stranger from Venus (1954). Japanese filmmakers incorporated flying discs and alien invaders into
6264-406: The United States, the family converted to Catholicism . His mother was from northern Wisconsin, the daughter of German Lutheran immigrants. Roy Clarence Palmer was an alcoholic whose excessive drinking left the family impoverished. He also physically beat his wife. The Palmers lived a peripatetic existence, moving to a new home almost every year from 1912 to 1921. Ray's sister Evelyn
6372-622: The anticipation of the fearful" was his charge to authors, and initially Fantastic Adventures published both fantasy and science fiction. But after the success of Nelson S. Bond 's "The Amazing Invention of Wilberforce Weems", published in the September 1939 issue, Palmer pushed for whimsical fantasy. Among the early fiction published by Fantastic Adventures was "The Scientists Revolt" by Edgar Rice Burroughs and "The Golden Amazon" by Thornton Ayre (pseudonym of John Russell Fearn ). The four Golden Amazon stories published by Fantastic Adventures , which featured heroine Violet Ray, were among
6480-541: The body of Adamski's "flying saucer" as the lampshade from a 1930s pressure lantern. Flying saucers are now considered retro and emblematic of the 1950s and of B movies in particular. The term "flying saucer" was gradually supplanted by "UFO" and later "UAP". Discs ceased to be the standard shape in UFO reports, and a broader variety of objects were reported. Recent reports more often describe spherical and triangular UFOs . Flying saucer sightings differ in their descriptions of appearance, movement, and purpose of
6588-517: The countries where UFO groups are in operation, such as the United States, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. By the end of the decade, The Case for the UFO author Morris K. Jessup reflected on his field, "This embryonic science is as full of cults, feuds, and dogmas as a dog is of fleas. There are probably more opinions about the nature and purpose of UFO's as there are Ufologers." UFO photography emerged as
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#17328023460446696-804: The descriptions shifted over the decades to the objects mostly hovering. They are generally said to be round, sometimes with a protrusion on top, but details of the shape vary between reports. Flying saucers have been described as silent or deafening, with lights of every color, flying alone or in formation, and twenty to thousands of feet in diameter. Sightings are most frequent at night. The majority of reported saucers have been identified with known phenomena including astronomical objects like Venus , airborne objects like balloons, and optical phenomena like sun dogs . 1950s pop culture embraced flying saucers. These discs appeared in film, television, literature, music, and other minor aspects like toys and advertising. The shape became visual shorthand for alien invaders. During
6804-507: The direct instruction of an extraterrestrial. Some existing religions began to incorporate flying saucers. The Nation of Islam taught that the end of the world would be brought about by the "Mother Wheel" or "Mother Plane", a flying saucer half a mile wide. During the same time that Margaret Murray 's "Old Religion" or witch-cult hypothesis was being discredited in academic circles, its core idea—a lost civilization remembered in myth—was being embraced in pulp fiction, occult groups, and
6912-521: The discs were largely derived from the English "flying saucer" including the French soucoupe volante , Spanish platillo volante , Portuguese disco voador , Swedish flygande tefat , German fliegende Untertasse , and Italian disco volante . Flying saucer reporting declined by the end of summer. Newspapers had reported hoaxes by those looking to profit from the saucers and the Roswell incident , which
7020-401: The diversity of attitudes towards their plausibility. The major attitudes towards UFOs invoked in print advertisements were the potential for advanced technology, awe towards their potential pilots, and skepticism about hoaxes. Much of the former pulp reader base shifted their attention to the growing medium of television during the 1950s. Many early portrayals of flying saucers linked them to
7128-469: The earliest reports. The frisbee was introduced in 1948 and initially branded the "flying saucer". Flying saucer candy was introduced in the 1950s when a Belgian producer of communion wafers had a dip in sales. Along with other vintage candies, they have since seen renewed interest from customers as "retro". In the 1950s and early 1960s, Japan was a major manufacturer of tin toys often with space themes like robots, rockets, and flying discs. Throughout
7236-410: The family to care for the children. Roy Palmer remarried in 1924. His new wife, Mathilda, was 14 years his junior. In 1928, Mathilda gave birth to Ray's half-brother, Robert. Ray delivered newspaper to make money, and his father seized the income to make Ray pay for "room and board". During his convalescence, Ray was largely educated by a tutor provided by the Milwaukee public school system. He read on
7344-614: The first in a series of UFO investigations by the US Government . In the following years, other national governments would follow suit. Canada began Project Magnet and the United Kingdom launched the Flying Saucer Working Party in 1950, which attributed saucer reports to meteorological phenomena, astronomical phenomena, misidentification, optical illusions, misconceptions, or hoaxes. By 1950,
7452-476: The flying saucer emoji was added to Unicode . There were several precursors to the modern flying saucers in science fiction literature, like The Shaver Mystery . Richard Sharpe Shaver's stories about a secret technologically advanced civilization of "detrimental robots" inside the earth were published as a true account of his life. Backlash from the science fiction community carried over to UFO literature. Saucers did appear in conventional science fiction, but
7560-506: The future. He had visualized his own healing, and now believed that goal-directed visualization and imagination had not only been critical to his own survival but was critical to humanity's survival. Throughout the 1930s, Palmer had his stories published in science fiction magazines of the era. Palmer's first professionally published story was "The Time Ray of Jandra" in Wonder Stories in June 1930. Lester del Rey believed Palmer
7668-615: The growing UFO movement. Several authors speculated that ancient astronauts piloting UFOs were the cause of myths and religions. Schoolteacher Robert Dione wrote God Drives a Flying Saucer to reframe biblical miracles and the Miracle of the Sun as the work of humanoid aliens piloting flying saucers. Later, Erich von Däniken released Chariots of the Gods? , a work of pseudoscience that attributed ancient artifacts and monuments to its purported ancient astronauts. Ufology developed as
7776-564: The iconic saucer from Forbidden Planet . The C-57D was followed by other disc-shaped spaceships in broader science fiction, like the Jupiter 2 from the television series Lost in Space (1965-1968). Saucers appeared in the television series Babylon 5 (1994-1998) as starships used by a race called the Vree . Doctor Who has featured different designs of flying saucers, like those used by
7884-406: The job was February 14, 1938, and the pay was $ 75 a week. Palmer was told to significantly boost circulation in the next issue, or the publication would be shuttered. Davis encouraged Palmer to target a young male audience, and Palmer did not want to "aim too high". Palmer was in complete agreement: The competing magazine Astounding Science Fiction was for intellectuals, and Amazing Stories
7992-424: The large-size bedsheet format, focused on "lost world" fiction epitomized by the writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs . Palmer wanted to publish high-quality stories that retained "the lusty appeal of the pulp". He told potential writers to "Gimme bang-bang" or "When a story stops moving, that is the exact spot where the writer should drop a corpse through the roof". "Swift, dramatic action, with plenty of suspense and
8100-460: The low-budget B movies , which often featured saucer-shaped alien craft. The 1964 Italian comedy Il disco volante centered around a flying saucer. The image is often invoked retrofuturistically to produce a nostalgic feel in period works, especially in comic science fiction. For example, Mars Attacks! (1996) draws on the flying saucer as part of the larger satire of 1950s B movie tropes. The sleek, silver flying saucer in particular
8208-563: The magazine a "crackpot" reputation. Howard Browne resigned from Ziff Davis in the spring of 1947 to pursue a writing career in Hollywood. William Hamling was made managing editor of Fantastic Adventures as his replacement. In 1939, Ziff Davis launched the pulps South Sea Stories and Air Adventures , with Palmer editing both. Air Adventures lasted just two issues, and South Sea Stories ended publication in October 1940. Palmer
8316-409: The magazine internally. He began running single-panel cartoons, the occasional humor article, quizzes about science, and short pieces on history. He greatly expanded the letters section, and published notices of fan events and fan publications. The tone of his new editor's column, "The Observatory", was "brash, silly, and chummy". Palmer also changed how the magazine looked. Cover art for the magazine
8424-552: The magazine was failing and nearing bankruptcy. Readership had fallen from 100,000 readers in 1926 to just 40,000 in 1938. Sloane's editorial tone was "courtly and reserved". He favored science fiction stories that conveyed information about cutting-edge science and science writing that was Victorian (scientists were treated as unerring, highly respected individuals, while science writers translated their inevitably complex ideas into simple terms for an adoring, respectful readership). Ziff Davis fired Sloane. Bernard G. Davis moved
8532-496: The magazine's name was changed to Cosmology . Its publication became erratic due to lack of funds, and in January 1932 Palmer resigned as editor. The Science Correspondence Club was reorganized as the International Scientific Association in January 1932. Although it disbanded the next month, by then it was the longest-lasting science fiction fandom club in the United States. Palmer co-founded
8640-459: The masthead as editor. Howard Browne took over editorship of Amazing Stories with the January 1950 issue. The rapid rise in readership for Amazing Stories prompted Palmer to successfully propose that Ziff Davis launch a sister "weird stories" magazine, Fantastic Adventures . The first issue appeared in May 1939. Fantastic Adventures was an immediate hit, with the first issue selling 45,000 to 75,000 copies. The magazine, published in
8748-500: The material purchased by his predecessor was quite poor, and he quickly asked his Fictioneer friends to supply new stories. At Amazing Stories , Ray Palmer published the first science fiction stories by Robert Bloch and Isaac Asimov , and the first of the Adam Link stories by " Eando Binder " (the pen name of brothers Earl and Otto Binder ). Palmer's old friends, Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger, had founded Solar Sales Service,
8856-406: The most popular Golden Amazon stories published. Bi-monthly at first, Fantastic Adventures went monthly from January to May 1940. Barely profitable, it went bi-monthly again and converted to digest size in June 1940. Ziff Davis intended to cancel the magazine in October 1940, but that issue saw the story "Jongor of Lost Land" by Robert Moore Williams . Sales doubled, and the magazine was given
8964-408: The next five years prone in a Bradford frame. Palmer's mother died of peritonitis and pneumonia on January 26, 1923, and Palmer blamed his father for his disability. As he grew older, he became embittered, isolated, stubborn, and plagued by an inferiority complex. He was embarrassed by his hunchback, and worried that he would never lead a normal life. Ray's paternal grandparents moved in with
9072-436: The oil industry based on the claim that it was derived from alien technology—as a doctor with "more degrees than a thermometer". Donald Keyhoe took a more serious "nuts and bolts" approach to the idea of the government covering up alien life in his 1950 book The Flying Saucers Are Real . When the popular and respected Life magazine ran " Have We Visitors From Space? " in 1952, taking seriously ideas of alien visitors,
9180-467: The publication of pornographic paperback books, but his involvement was tangential at best. Raymond Palmer's editing of Amazing Stories has a mixed legacy, primarily due to his promotion of the Shaver Mystery. His editing of Other Worlds Science Stories has been praised, and he is an important early figure in the history of the flying saucer and New Age movements. Raymond Alfred Palmer
9288-409: The saucer. In a 1963 overview of flying saucers, astronomer Donald Howard Menzel found some broad traits across sightings, but noted that "no two reports describe exactly the same kind of UFO." Menzel found saucers were usually reported as round, but included objects shaped like dining saucers, teardrops, cigars, kidney beans, the planet Saturn , and yarn spindles . Saucers often were reported with
9396-551: The saucers and brought back messages for humanity. New religions and institutions arose around the contactees. Van Tassel's Aetherius Society built the Integratron , a domed structure near Landers, California , intended to facilitate further contact with aliens, physical rejuvenation, and time travel . According to George King , he founded the Ashtar Command —a new religious movement influenced by theosophy —at
9504-414: The stories were presented as a true account of Shaver's life. Until the magazine ceased printing Shaver's stories, Amazing Stories' s letter column was regularly full of readers sharing their own purportedly true sightings of the robots. Before the term "flying saucer" was coined, fantasy artwork in pulp magazines depicted flying discs. Commentators like Milton Rothman have noted the appearance of
9612-417: The stories were true, which caused a deep rift in science fiction fandom and readership. On the orders of the magazine's owners, he ended the Shaver Mystery in 1948. Palmer established his own publishing house in 1947. After leaving Ziff Davis in 1949, he began publishing the magazines Fate , Other Worlds Science Stories , Mystic (later renamed Search ), and Flying Saucers , among others. He wrote
9720-596: The subjects of novelty architecture . Novelty architecture, also known as mimetic architecture, is the practice of creating structures shaped like other existing objects. The Communist-era Kielce Bus Station in Kielce, Poland, was designed by architect Edward Modrzejewski to resemble a UFO. Other modernist and brutalist UFO structures include the Ukrainian Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, Bulgaria's concrete Buzludzha monument ,
9828-632: The term flying saucer was widely associated with extraterrestrial life. In a 1950 interview on flying saucers, Kenneth Arnold said, "if it's not made by our science or our Army Air Forces, I am inclined to believe it's of an extra-terrestrial origin". This extraterrestrial hypothesis was accompanied by a range of other unusual theories. Meade Layne speculated that they came from an alternate dimension. Under editor Ray Palmer, Amazing Stories had run Richard Sharpe Shaver 's purportedly true stories. Fred Crisman had written to Palmer about fighting Shaver's purported evil beings in an underground cavern. Within
9936-584: The typical flying saucer first appeared in science fiction. French sociologist Bertrand Méheust noted, for example, Jean de La Hire 's 1908 novel La Roue fulgurante [ fr ] ( The Lightning Wheel ). In the novel, a flying disc-shaped machine abducts the protagonists via a beam of light. Science fiction magazine Amazing Stories began publishing "The Shaver Mystery" in 1945. Written by Richard Sharpe Shaver and edited by Raymond A. Palmer , they were science fiction tales about technologically-advanced "detrimental robots" that abducted humans, but
10044-634: Was $ 150 a month. Palmer wrote two entries for the "Jim Grant" character created by Hoar as well as stories for Murder Mysteries , True Gang Life , Scarlet Adventuress , Scarlet Gang Stories , Spicy Detective , and Thrilling Wonder Stories . Among the pen names Palmer used for his crime fiction were Alexander Blade, Henry Cade, G.H. Irwin, Joseph J. Millard, Frank Patton, Wallace Quitman, Rap, A.R. Steber, Morris J. Steele, Robert N. Webster, and Rae Winters. From 1935 to 1938, Palmer also wrote science fiction for Amazing Stories , Astounding Science Fiction , Marvel Tales , and Wonder Stories . Palmer
10152-424: Was Palmer's idea. The 17-chapter serial was written by some of the top names in science fiction, including Roger Sherman Hoar, David H. Keller , George Henry Weiss (using his pseudonym Francis Flagg), John W. Campbell , Otis Adelbert Kline , Abraham Merritt , Edward E. "Doc" Smith , P. Schuyler Miller , Lloyd Arthur Eshbach , and Edmond Hamilton . Palmer also wrote a column for the magazine, titled "Spilling
10260-417: Was a prolific writer. He later estimated that from December 1934 to March 1935 he wrote 150,000 words for pulp magazines. Palmer's personal life was going through a difficult period. Roy and Hilda separated in 1933, and moved out of Milwaukee in 1934. When Roy Palmer returned to Milwaukee in 1936, he was divorced. One day, Roy moved out, taking everything with him. Ray returned home to an empty apartment. Ray
10368-422: Was also editing Mammoth Adventures and Mammoth Western . Flying saucer A flying saucer , or flying disc , is a purported disc-shaped UFO . The term was coined in 1947 by the news media for the objects pilot Kenneth Arnold claimed flew alongside his airplane above Washington State . Newspapers reported Arnold's story with speed estimates implausible for airplanes of the period. The story spurred
10476-598: Was born August 1, 1910, in Milwaukee , Wisconsin . His parents were Roy and Helen ( née Steber) Palmer. His father was of Irish ancestry who had held jobs as an electrician, machinist, and timekeeper at a marble company. He became a firefighter in 1911. The Palmer family were Ulster Protestants who emigrated from Northern Ireland . According to Palmer family lore, the Pricketts (as they were then known) were driven out of Northern Ireland by Catholics . Once in
10584-456: Was born in 1917, and his brother David in 1918. The family moved into the home of Ray's paternal grandparents in 1920 after Helen Palmer's health declined severely. When Palmer was seven years old, he ran out into traffic. His leg was caught in the spokes of a passing truck, and he was spun around and beaten against the pavement until it came to a stop. The accident badly broke several of his vertebrae. Roy Palmer refused to have his son taken to
10692-420: Was described by the witness, they were usually extraterrestrial . Flying saucers have been consistently described and depicted as ahead of contemporary technology. When comparing the 1947 saucer reports to the mystery airships of the 1800s, sociologist Robert Bartholomew found that the claimed observations "reflected popular social and cultural expectations of each period". The mystery airship sightings of
10800-420: Was divided on the potential origin of the saucers. Newspapers initially reported that Arnold suspected them to be experimental Soviet aircraft. A Gallup Poll found that 90% of Americans were aware of the saucer stories, 16 percent believed they were secret military weapons, and less than one percent believed they were alien craft. One report from Seattle, Washington, described a hammer and sickle painted onto
10908-423: Was exposed. The tuberculosis was already in remission, but Muirdale physicians did not want to operate and debride the bone for fear of reactivating the infection. Ray only received palliative care . For the next year, Palmer lay flat on his back, holding himself rigid and visualizing his body healing itself. When he did not die, doctors ordered new X-rays and discovered that the damaged area had become encased in
11016-438: Was not going to compete with them. His intent was to publish the kind of thrilling adventure-romance stories that had so excited him as a teenager. Palmer described his editorial approach as focusing more on story than on science. He wanted dramatic action, fast narrative pacing, suspense, and snappy dialogue. His intended audience for Amazing Stories was the teenager on the street and military servicemen. Palmer discovered
11124-526: Was now in charge of 19-year-old Evelyn, 18-year-old David, and eight-year-old Robert. Ray quit his job as a bookkeeper in March 1936 to write full-time. His father lost his job in June 1937 after a fire at his place of employment, and Palmer returned to work at the P.J. Lavies sheet metal firm in order to support his father. The firm shut down about February 1938 when the owner fell seriously ill. In August 1932, Palmer, Ackerman, Schwartz, Weisinger, Maurice Z. Ingher, and Conrad "Conny" Ruppert began publication of
11232-486: Was quickly retracted as balloon debris. In the July 7 1947 Twin Falls saucer hoax , a widely reported crashed disc from Twin Falls, Idaho, was found to have been created by four teenagers using parts from a jukebox . The Air Force's Air Materiel Command collected over a hundred reports at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base , Ohio . Air Force General Nathan Twining established Project SAUCER, later renamed Project Sign ,
11340-994: Was racy and lurid, supplied by artists such as Harold W. McCauley and Robert Gibson Jones. (In April 1941, Amazing Stories became the first science fiction pulp magazine to show a quasi-bare-breasted woman.) He replaced the advertisement on the back cover with relatively science-accurate scenes of planets, "cars of the future", and cutting-edge devices like atomic power plants. Such prominently placed educational illustrations were innovative, and often painted by Frank R. Paul . According to Palmer, Amazing Stories sold only 27,000 copies per issue when he took over. His first issue sold 45,000 copies, and his second 75,000. Circulation continued to rise. Palmer's assistant editor, William Hamling pegged circulation at about 200,000 in 1940. Amazing Stories began running war stories in 1940, many of them featuring German or Japanese villains. Palmer turned almost all editing of Amazing Stories over to William Hamling in 1948, although Palmer remained on
11448-490: Was the sighting by a United Airlines crew on July 4 of nine more disc-like objects pacing their plane over Idaho . On July 8, the Army Air Force base at Roswell, New Mexico issued a press release saying that they had recovered a "flying disc" from a nearby ranch, the so-called Roswell UFO incident , which was front-page news until the military issued a retraction saying that it was a weather balloon. The public
11556-518: Was the first fan to publish professionally. About 1932, Palmer joined the Milwaukee Fictioneers, a group of about 20 or so working writers who met every other week to talk about their stories, discuss writing, and figure out ways to sell their work. Members included founder Lawrence A. Keating, Moritz "Morry" Zenoff, Larry Sternig, Leo A. Schmidt, Bernard Wirth, Dudley Brooks, Gus Marx, Al Nelson, Roger Sherman Hoar (who wrote under
11664-588: Was the first in a wave of non-fiction paranormal magazines that would thrive in the 1950s. A flying saucer movement developed during the 1950s. It was influenced by scientific research, occult practices, pop culture, existing religions, and earlier myths. In reports and in popular media like the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still , saucers and their pilots were characterized as messengers. The first wave of so-called contactees, George Hunt Williamson , George Van Tassel , Truman Bethurum , George Adamski , and Orfeo Angelucci claimed to have ridden aboard
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