R I P. Mister UFO by Charles Lear This past Memorial Day, May
thirty first, twenty twenty one, ufo and paranormal researcher Timothy Green Beckley passed
on. He was a colorful character who stood out in a field full of
colorful characters, and while he might not have been the most serious of researchers,
he was part of a circle of legendary characters from the days of Flying
Saucers that included James Moseley, Gray Barker, and John Keel. Records of
Beckley's age at the time of his passing ranged from sixty five to sixty nine.
According to the Internet Movie Database. He was born on March fourth,
nineteen fifty two as Jeremy Stone. In addition to his interest in the paranormal,
he was an actor in and producer of softcore porn and slash horror movies,
and was known to fans as mister Creepo. He wrote and published many
books on the paranormal with a definite sensationalized bent, and was active in the
community up until his death. According to what is believed to be his self
authored bio, Tim Beckley had so many careers that even his own girlfriend didn't
know what he did for a living. Timothy Green. Beckley has been described
as the Hunter Thompson of ufology by the editor of UFO magazine, Nancy Burns.
His bio contains the claims that his life was saved by an invisible force
at the age of three. He started having out of body experiences at the
age of six. He had his first UFO sighting at age ten and had
two more after that. In the course of his life. Beckley grew up
listening to the long John Neville Show, which started in nineteen fifty six and
evolved into the first late night talk show devoted to the paranormal. In his
later years, Beckley was a repeat guest. He was also a guest on
numerous other paranormal television and radio shows, including Coast to Coast AM, UFO
Hunters, and Weird or What with William Shatner. He had his own podcast,
Unraveling the Secrets, and his own YouTube channel, Mister UFO's Secret Files.
Beckley also worked on a podcast with Tim Schwartz called Exploring the Bazaar.
Adding to Beckley's paranormal street cred is the fact that he was on site with
Gray Barker investigating the nineteen sixty six nineteen sixty seven mothman sightings in West Virginia.
In chapter sixteen Barker's nineteen seventy book covering the events, The Silver Bridge,
Barker describes Beckley coming down from New York with Jim Moseley and two others
for a mini monthman convention, some relaxation, and investigation. Summing up their
investigation, Beckley is quoted as saying, I really didn't expect to see the
creature, but after all, we talked with a lot of people who did
see it. Those who are students of the Men in Black phenomenon may be
familiar with what has been described as a photo of an MiB. What they
may not know is the story behind the photo and the fact that Beckley was
the photographer. According to one version of the story from bloggerd Justin Bamforth,
which references Nick Redfern's two thousand and eleven book The Real Men in Black,
in nineteen sixty eight, Mosley and Beckley started getting calls from Mary Robertson,
the wife a prominent ufologist and secretary of the National UFO Conference, John Jack
Robertson, over four days, while her husband was at work, Mary noticed
a suspicious man keeping watch over their apartment building in Jersey City, New Jersey.
He was standing rigidly in the doorway of the building next door. He
wore a black coat, black suit, black hat, and had wrap around
black sunglasses. In addition to the mysterious man, the Robertsons heard strange clicks
on their phone and suspected that someone had gone through Jack's UFO files. After
several calls from Mary, Mosley and Beckley decided to come out and see for
themselves. Mosley was driving and Beckley was manning the camera. As they approached
the spot, they saw the man Mary had described, and Beckley took a
picture of him, as well as a picture of a black Cadillac nearby that
fit in with the MiB mythos. They drove around the corner to park,
and when they walked back to the spot, the man and the Cadillac were
gone. In Redfern's book, Mosley is quoted explaining his thoughts on what they
had seen. The only thing that kind of made sense to me was that
he was a lookout for a bookie joint or some illegal operation. But the
point is to me anyway, not to Tim. I know it had absolutely
nothing to do with the Robertson's or with flying saucers. He might have seen
Tim taking his picture out of the car, and if he was doing something
illegal, that's why he left. According to Bamforth, during a brief conversation
regarding the Cadillac, Beckley agreed that there was no proof that the car belonged
to the man, but Bamforth notes that it is a little strange, perhaps
coincidental, that neither the man nor the vehicle was there when he and Mosley
returned to the scene moments later. With Beckley's passing, uphology is lost.
One of the last of those researchers slashed enthusiasts, such as Barker and Mosley,
who walked on both sides of the line between researcher and sensationalist entertainer while
maintaining a sense of humor. He may not have been the most rigorous of
investigators, but he was certainly one of the most enthusiastic