Varo edition of The Case for the UFO
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
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| Date | April 1956 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Military encounters (topic), Government programs (topic), Propulsion & physics (topic) |
| People | Morris K. Jessup, Carl Meredith Allen |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 56 |
| Year | 1956 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1956 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 10 |
The Varo edition is a privately printed 1957 version of Morris K. Jessup's book The Case for the UFO (1955), reproducing the handwritten notes of three anonymous annotators who wrote as if they knew about alien races and a secret 1943 Navy experiment. It was produced for officers of the U.S. Office of Naval Research and became one of the founding documents of the Philadelphia Experiment legend.[1][2]
The annotated copy
In 1955 an envelope postmarked Seminole, Texas, and marked "Happy Easter" reached the Office of Naval Research addressed to its chief. It contained a paperback copy of Jessup's book filled with notes in three shades of blue ink. The annotators, identified as "Mr. A", "Mr. B" and "Jemi", wrote of beings living in space and under the sea and of a Navy experiment in which a ship was made invisible.[1][3]
ONR's interest
The book passed from Major Darrell Ritter to Captain Sidney Sherby and Commander George W. Hoover, ONR's special projects officer, who were intrigued enough to invite Jessup to examine it in 1957. Jessup recognised one set of handwriting as matching letters he had been receiving from "Carlos Miguel Allende". Hoover later said that nothing of substance had come of it, and ONR has said it never made an official study of the book.[1][2][3]
The reprint
Austin N. Stanton, president of the Varo Manufacturing Company of Garland, Texas, a Navy contractor, had the book and notes retyped and mimeographed, reportedly by a high-school student working after school. Accounts suggest about 127 copies were eventually made. In 1973 Gray Barker sold facsimile copies, and the book became sought after by UFO enthusiasts; it has since been reprinted commercially.[1][3][4]
Authorship
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The annotations were traced to Carl Meredith Allen, the real name of "Carlos Allende". In 1969 he said he had written all of them to frighten Jessup, and in a 1978 letter he said he alone had written all three sets. He confessed and recanted several times. According to writer John Keel, Jessup himself regarded the Varo document as a joke. Jessup died, an apparent suicide, in 1959, which fuelled further legends.[2][3][5]
People and topics
- U.S. Navy — The U.S. naval service, whose pilots reported the UAP encounters revealed in 2017.
- Morris K. Jessup — Astronomer and author of The Case for the UFO (1955), linked to the Varo edition and the Philadelphia Experiment.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Office of Naval Research — The U.S. Navy's research funding office.
- Carl Meredith Allen — Letter writer behind the Philadelphia Experiment story and the Varo edition annotations.
- Allende letters and the Philadelphia Experiment — Allende letters and the Philadelphia Experiment
On the Timeline
- Electrogravitics Systems report (1956) (25 February 1956) — A study of electrogravitics, the link between electricity and gravity, is delivered to Wright-Patterson.
- Allende letters and the Philadelphia Experiment (April 1956) — Morris Jessup receives letters claiming a secret Navy experiment at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
See every 1956 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Philadelphia Experiment — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Carl Meredith Allen — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "The Varo edition", DE-173.com · de173.com · archived copy
- "The Case for the UFO: The Varo Edition" (reprint), Past Forward · pastforward.org · archived copy
- "Hoaxes from space: the Philadelphia Experiment, part I", Swallowing the Camel · swallowingthecamel.me · archived copy
- The Varo edition annotations — Obscurantist · obscurantist.com · archived copy
- kevinrandle.blogspot.com · kevinrandle.blogspot.com · archived copy
- kevinrandle.blogspot.com · kevinrandle.blogspot.com · archived copy
- de173.com · de173.com · archived copy
- de173.com · de173.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Philadelphia Experiment — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Thomas Townsend Brown — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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