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Interview with George Eberhart George Eberhart serves as bibliographer and librarian for CUFOS. He completed a degree in journalism at Ohio State University, then came to the University of Chicago for a Masters in Library Science. He became involved with CUFOS when the Center was located in J. Allen Hynek’s home in Evanston, Illinois. He is employed by the American Library Association headquarters in Chicago as editor for the trade journal American Libraries. Among his publications are numerous articles and book reviews for IUR and the following books: A Survey of Ufologists and their Use of the Library (Evanston, IL : Center for UFO Studies, 1978). A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies : Primary Access to Observations of UFOs, Ghosts, and Other Mysterious Phenomena (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980). UFOs and the Extraterrestrial Contact Movement : a Bibliography (Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1986). 2 vol. The Roswell Report : a Historical Perspective. George Eberhart, ed. (Chicago, IL : J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, 1991). The following is a recent interview with George Eberhart in which he talks about his personal involvement with CUFOS. How did you become interested in ufology? Reading books in the 1950’s and ‘60’s about UFOs. I didn’t read science fiction. I belonged to a natural history book club, and in 1959 I read On the Track of Unknown Animals by Bernard Heuvelmans. How did that lead to books on UFOs? UFOs are on the borderlines of science, of unknown phenomenon, such as animals that are unknown. I’m interested in all phenomenon that is unknown to science to see whether there’s an answer. My main interests are in psychic phenomenon, unknown animals and UFOs. What personal experiences have you had with unknown phenomenon? I went on a Bigfoot hunt once as a kid, but we didn’t find anything. I saw a ghost once. I lived in a house in Gettysburg which was on the old battlefield. In 1958, I woke up one night and saw a white object against the black door. I felt it was looking at me. It was kind of a friendly Casper-type ghost. I hid under the bedclothes, but whenever I looked out it was still there. Then it moved into the hall into another room. Soon, my Dad got up to use the bathroom, and when I told him about it, we examined the rooms but nothing was there. Have you ever interviewed a UFO witness? Occasionally. In 1973, there was a big UFO flap in Ohio, when even the governor had a sighting. I interviewed a friend of mine who saw "The Little Electric Man," a being with spiky things coming out of his head. This person also had a very close encounter with a huge UFO flying right over her car, a large saucer shape all lit up. In another flap in Ohio in 1966, a man reported a sighting on the local news. I called him up and interviewed him. Other than that , I’ve mainly been more of an observer with other people interviewed at the Center. I’m also interested in pre-1945 cases, anything prior to the airplane age. Nowadays we look up and can see flying objects all the time, but it wasn’t the case then. So whenever you saw an aerial object in 1922, it was much stranger than in 1992. Did you work on your UFO bibliography while involved with CUFOS? Yes, I wanted to verify the titles I was using which were at the Center, at that time in Hynek’s home. I also used the files to write a pamphlet on ufologists and their use of the library while I was in library school at the University of Chicago, though my advisors wouldn’t let me use it as a thesis topic. I surveyed the UFO researchers about what books were popular, how they used the library and how they looked for information. Has the UFO literature changed since then? Vastly! There’s a lot more silly stuff now. There’s much more material now. It used to be difficult to publish a UFO book in the 1960’s. Publishers took their role seriously, but now in the post-modern world it’s "what will sell." Everything is tabloid now. Many new books now are excellent, but many are poorly written and are just speculation. Do you have plans to write and publish anything new? I’m now writing articles about alien postcards. My wife, Jennifer, has collected postcards all her life, so I have collected postcards on UFO’s, Bigfoot, psychic phenomenon, Atlantis and archeological mysteries. I’m also working on a new edition of my UFO bibliography, due out in 2000. How did you first come to CUFOS? When I was a student at Ohio State, I heard Hynek give a talk in Columbus about the scientific aspects of ufology. So when I was in grad school in Chicago, I certainly contacted the Center to see what was going on and how I could help. Allen Hynek drew everyone to the Center. Mark Rodeghier told me that you and he together moved the Center from the Glenview office to this present Chicago location. Mark and I had to get the Center on better financial footing. The Glenview office was costing too much, and this Chicago location provided easier access for all of us. Shortly after moving here, subscriptions started picking up. We worked on changing IUR. Jerry Clark is the editor, but Mark and I work with production and layout and seeing that it gets to the printer. What other projects or duties are you involved with at the Center? I organized the library here, the books and the journals. I’m involved with writing projects, since I receive a lot of review books and write reviews for IUR. My expertise is as a UFO bibliographer. I fancy I know the literature and its characteristics, though I don’t always approve of it. I like to know who’s writing what, what kinds of things are being written about of UFOs. I drop into the bookstores to see what’s out. I also check the Arcturus Book Catalog for new publications. What do you see happening in the field of ufology, whether good or bad? I hate to sound like a UFO geezer, but "things aren’t the way they used to be!" Public attitude is acceptance, which could be good, but it’s not really because it’s an uncritically accepting, or debunking, attitude. Either you’re a skeptic and nothing can convince you, or you’re permanently accepting of anything. " … it’s true, by golly!" Those of us on the fence are perturbed with an audience which either doesn’t believe at all or believes too much; it doesn’t leave much room for critical thinking. Back in the ‘60’s lots of "closet" ufologists were willing to investigate. Now most scientists need grants for study to keep their jobs going, and ufology is not included in this. Now the literature is New Agey and soft. Fate magazine had some very good articles in the past when Curtis and Mary Fuller were the editors. I’m proud to say I own a full run of Fate from 1948 to the present, and I still subscribe. |
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