United States: Barker and Moseley fake State Department “Straith letter” to Adamski
A letter to contactee George Adamski dated December 6, 1957, on State Department stationery and signed by R. E. Straith of a “Cultural Exchange Committee” was a hoax by ufologists Gray Barker and James W. Moseley; the State Department told Adamski verbally and in writing that it was a forgery.
Background
A letter written to contactee George Adamski on State Department stationery from R. E. Straith of the Cultural Exchange Committee was a hoax concocted by ufologists Gray Barker and James W. Moseley. The letter told Adamski that the State Department knew his claims were true and encouraged his activities. Adamski regularly used the letter to support his claims as factual, even though the State Department told him both verbally and in writing that it was a forgery. Eberhart cites extensive coverage in Saucers, Flying Saucer Review, the Saucerian Bulletin, the APRO Bulletin and NICAP bulletins from 1958, Moseley and Karl T. Pflock's memoir (2002) and Marc Hallet's study of Adamski (2016). The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.