Morris K. Jessup

Morris K. Jessup

Type	Person
Also known as	Morris Jessup, Jessup
On the Timeline	2 events, 1956

Morris Ketchum Jessup (2 March 1900 – April 1959) was an American writer on UFOs. He studied astronomy at the University of Michigan, earning a master's degree, but spent most of his working life as a car-parts salesman and photographer.^[8] His 1955 book The Case for the UFO argued that UFOs deserved serious study, and speculated that they might be driven by anti-gravity or electromagnetism rather than rockets.^[8][7] He is now remembered mainly because of a copy of that book. It reached the U.S. Office of Naval Research covered in strange handwritten notes, and soon afterwards he received letters from a man calling himself "Carlos Allende" (Carl Meredith Allen). Together, the notes and letters launched the legend of the "Philadelphia Experiment".^[5][3] A contractor reproduced the annotated book as the "Varo edition".^[5][1] Jessup died by suicide in Florida in 1959, and his death was later drawn into conspiracy theories.^[8][2]

Early life and education

Jessup was born near Rockville, Indiana, and grew up interested in astronomy.^[8] He earned a bachelor of science in astronomy from the University of Michigan in 1925. While working at the Lamont–Hussey Observatory he received a master of science in 1926.^[8] He began a doctorate in astrophysics but stopped his dissertation work in 1931 and never received the PhD, though he was sometimes called "Dr. Jessup".^[8] The Wikipedia account says he is sometimes wrongly described as having taught astronomy and mathematics at Michigan and Drake University.^[8] Swallowing the Camel notes that he "is sometimes misidentified as an astronomer", and the Skeptic's Dictionary calls him an amateur astronomer.^[2][7]

Expeditions and work

• Brazil, 1923. Jessup took part as a photographer in a U.S. Department of Agriculture expedition to Brazil with the botanist Carl D. LaRue and the plant pathologist James Weir. It studied whether rubber could be grown in the Amazon. Henry Ford later drew on its findings when planning his plantation, Fordlandia.^[8]
• Yucatán and Peru. The UFO historian Jerome Clark reports that Jessup took part in archaeological expeditions to the Yucatán and Peru in the 1920s. Jessup documented a 1930 expedition to Cuzco.^[8] UFO writers have described him as educated in archaeology, but the Wikipedia account says evidence of such training or field work is absent from his résumé.^[8]
• Later jobs. He left astronomy and for the rest of his life worked in jobs unrelated to science.^[8]

UFO books

The Case for the UFO was published by Citadel Press in 1955. In it Jessup speculated that UFOs were "exploratory craft of 'solid' and 'nebulous' character".^[8] He suggested that anti-gravity and electromagnetism would be better than rocket fuel for propelling space vehicles.^[7] He also urged readers to press their political representatives to fund research into unified field theory, for possible use in new kinds of spacecraft drive.^[9] He linked ancient monuments to a prehistoric "superscience", anticipating claims later made by Erich von Däniken.^[8] UFO writers have called him "probably the most original extraterrestrial hypothesiser of the 1950s".^[8]

Three more flying-saucer books followed, all from Citadel Press:^[8]

• UFO and the Bible (1956).
• The UFO Annual (1956).
• The Expanding Case for the UFO (1957), which suggested that transient lunar phenomena were related to UFOs in Earth's skies.

His main scenario came to resemble the Shaver mystery promoted by the editor Raymond A. Palmer, with "good" and "bad" groups of aliens meddling in human affairs. Like many 1950s saucer writers, he drew on the Theosophical mythology of lost continents such as Atlantis, Mu and Lemuria.^[8] His later books did not sell well, and his publisher rejected several further manuscripts.^[8]

The annotated book

A paperback copy of The Case for the UFO arrived anonymously at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Washington. It had been mailed from Seminole, Texas, addressed to a non-existent "Admiral N. Furth", with "Happy Easter" written on the envelope.^[2] Swallowing the Camel dates its arrival to July 1955, and the Wikipedia account to late 1955.^[2][5]

• The notes. Its margins were filled with notes in three shades of blue ink, which seemed to record a debate among three people. Only one, "Jemi", is named. They discussed UFO propulsion and alien races, and worried that Jessup was too close to discovering their technology. There were oblique references to a Philadelphia experiment.^[5]
• The ONR officers. Two ONR officers, Captain Sidney Sherby and Commander George W. Hoover, took a personal interest. Hoover later said he found nothing of substance in the supposed invisibility experiment.^[5] Sherby had become interested in UFOs after one of his best pilots watched a glowing saucer fly in formation with his plane.^[2]
• Jessup at ONR. Jessup was invited to ONR and shown the annotated copy. He noticed that the handwriting resembled that of the letters he had been receiving from Allen.^[5][3] He later handed over those letters. An officer told him the book and notes would be reproduced in a limited edition "for circulation among some of our top people".^[9] Jessup left ONR bewildered.^[9]
• The Varo edition. Hoover discussed the notes with Austin N. Stanton, president of the Varo Manufacturing Corporation of Garland, Texas, an ONR contractor. Varo's office produced mimeographed copies of the book with the notes and Allen's letters, first a dozen and eventually 127.^[5][3] Swallowing the Camel says Sherby sought Jessup's permission in 1957 to print "several hundred".^[2] Jessup received a copy and added his own notes on slips of paper about every ten pages.^[9]

The Allende letters

According to the DE-173 site, Jessup received the first letter from "Carlos Miguel Allende" in Miami on Friday 13 January 1956.^[9] The Wikipedia account also dates the start of the letters to January 1956.^[5] Swallowing the Camel instead says they began months before the book reached ONR.^[2]

• The warning. The first known letter warned Jessup not to investigate UFO levitation, and chided him for urging government research into unified field theory.^[5][2]
• The story. Allen described an experiment at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in October 1943, based on unpublished theories by Albert Einstein and carried out by a scientist named "Franklin Reno". A destroyer escort was made invisible, teleported to Norfolk, Virginia, for several minutes, and then reappeared in Philadelphia. Its crew suffered insanity, intangibility and being "frozen" in place. Allen said he had watched from the merchant ship SS Andrew Furuseth.^[5]
• Corroboration. When Jessup asked for more information, Allen said his memory would have to be recovered. He offered to undergo hypnosis or take sodium pentothal, and pointed to a Philadelphia newspaper article that seems never to have existed.^[5][2]
• Two kinds of aliens. Allen also told Jessup that two races of aliens were active on Earth, the benevolent "LMs" and the hostile "SMs".^[2]

Jessup remained sceptical of Allen's claims and eventually dismissed him as a crank, but he was fascinated by the experiment and tried to find evidence for it.^[2][6] The Obscurantist site says that after the ONR meeting Jessup feared there might be something to the story, and complained of strange coincidences.^[6] In 1983 the writer John Keel claimed that Jessup had personally regarded the Varo edition as a joke, and that everyone who knew Allende knew he had written the notes.^[9]

Twelve years later Allen said he had written all the annotations "to scare the hell out of Jessup".^[5] In 1969 he walked into the Arizona headquarters of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization and called them "the wildest pack of lies I ever wrote", though he later recanted.^[2] The researcher Robert Goerman identified "Allende" as Carl Meredith Allen of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and published his findings in Fate in October 1980.^[2][5] The Navy says no such experiment took place, and the story is widely considered a hoax.^[5][3]

In the 2024 UAP timeline

The UAP timeline published with Michael Shellenberger's 2024 testimony lists the episode under April 1956. It says that the Marine major Darrell L. Ritter, Sherby and Hoover received the annotated copy of Jessup's book.^[10] See the 1956 electrogravitics report for the timeline's other entries from that period.

Death

Jessup tried to make a living from UFO writing but failed. In 1958 his wife left him and he went to New York; friends described him as somewhat unstable. After returning to Florida he was badly hurt in a car accident and recovered slowly, which seems to have deepened his despondency.^[8] He was found dead in his car by a roadside in Dade County, Florida, with a hose running from the exhaust into a rear window.^[8] Swallowing the Camel places the car in a park in Coral Gables.^[2] The death was ruled a suicide. Friends said he had been extremely depressed and had talked about suicide with them for months.^[8] He had written to several people about ending his life, including the radio host Long John Nebel.^[2]

Shortly before, Jessup had told his friend J. Manson Valentine that he had important news about his research, and claimed the Navy had approached him about joining similar projects.^[2] Gray Barker and others promoted the idea that the death was sinister. Ivan T. Sanderson said Jessup had feared for his life.^[2] William Moore and Charles Berlitz's 1979 book The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility linked his death to his knowledge of the experiment. Friends interviewed in the same book thought Allen's bizarre letters may have started Jessup's mental decline.^[8] Swallowing the Camel concludes that the evidence points clearly to suicide, after a year of financial, marital and professional trouble.^[2]

Notes on the earlier version

• "Astronomer". The earlier version called Jessup an American astronomer. He held degrees in astronomy, but the sources read here say he worked mainly as a car-parts salesman and photographer, and that calling him an astronomer is a common mistake.^[8][2]
• Archaeological expeditions. The earlier version said he worked on archaeological expeditions before turning to writing. Jerome Clark reports expeditions to the Yucatán and Peru, and Jessup documented one to Cuzco in 1930. The Wikipedia account notes there is no evidence of archaeological training.^[8]
• Date of the book's arrival. The earlier version said the Office of Naval Research received the annotated book in 1956. The sources read here date its arrival to July or late 1955. Jessup was shown it later, in 1956 or 1957 by different accounts, and the 2024 timeline lists the episode under April 1956.^{[2][5][3][10]}
• Dates of the letters. The earlier version dated the letters to 1955–56. The sources read here date the first one to January 1956, except Swallowing the Camel, which places it earlier.^[5][9][2]
• Date of death. The Wikipedia account of Jessup gives his date of death as 20 April 1959, while its account of the Philadelphia Experiment gives 30 April 1959.^[8][5]
• The reprint. A modern reprint of the Varo edition, listed in the earlier version, could not be checked; the page returned an error.^[4]

On the UAP Timeline

• Varo edition of The Case for the UFO (April 1956) — Navy researchers receive an annotated copy of Morris Jessup's UFO book with strange handwritten notes.
• Allende letters and the Philadelphia Experiment (April 1956) — Morris Jessup receives letters claiming a secret Navy experiment at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

References

Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “Carl Meredith Allen ('Carlos Allende')”, “Philadelphia Experiment”, “Morris K. Jessup”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.