Dean
Adept Dabbler
Ray Stanford's Project Starlight International:
Two Men Who Were There Divide the Reality from the Legend
In 1977, Daniel H. Harris had a brand new Ph.D. from the highly regarded astronomy program at the University of Arizona. Dr. Harris had also been involved in UFO research for about five years, having been persuaded by Dr. James E. McDonald to take the matter seriously as a scientific problem. Therefore, when Dr. Harris encountered an opportunity for full-time employment in what he thought was a scientifically oriented enterprise focused on UFOs, he jumped at the chance.
Effective September 1, 1977, Ray Stanford hired Dr. Harris as full-time Research Director for Project Starlight International, a UFO research project based in Austin, which was run by Stanford. In a letter sent to Project Starlight supporters at the time, Stanford said, "Dr. Harris is, apparently, the first scientist to ever become employed full-time in a paid UFO research position."
Dr. Harris left Project Starlight 16 months later, and he left the ufological world decades ago-- but Ray Stanford, at least as recently as 2019, has referred favorably to Dr. Harris's involvement in Project Starlight. It is noteworthy, therefore, that Dr. Harris has now issued an 11-page open letter in which he sharply disputes many of Stanford's claims about Project Starlight, and also disputes in detail some of Stanford's favorite UFO-evidence claims -- claims that Stanford has put forward in scientific contexts even during 2021.
I believe that Dr. Harris speaks the truth about Project Starlight, and about the problems with Ray Stanford's UFO-evidence claims. I think I can speak with some authority on these matters, in part because I too was deeply involved in Project Starlight, and my time there partly coincided with Dr. Harris's tenure as Research Director.
From late 1974 until early 1978, I was part of the core group at Project Starlight, heavily involved in activity at the project's rural research site, an editor of the project's Journal of Instrumented UFO Research, etc. In addition, I was a full-time editor for the parent entity, the Association for the Understanding of Man (A.U.M.), the non-profit organization centered on the purported psychic powers of Ray Stanford. While my involvement in these enterprises embarrasses me now, it also gave me an "education" in certain important subjects that can't be learned from books, and that I would not trade for a Ph.D.
I recently spoke with Dr. Harris after having had no contact with him for over 40 years. Although I disagree with Dr. Harris on many matters theological and ufological, I know him to be a person who strives to tell the truth as he knows it, and I believe that he has done so in his open letter.
Therefore, on Mirador, my UFO-centered blog, I have posted images of the complete 11-page open letter. I have also uploaded a PDF of the letter here. I also provide much context based on my own experience at Project Starlight and its parent organization, and on documents from that era, a number of which I included in the article or linked within it.
I believe that Dr. Harris's account, my corroborating account, and the documents are all pertinent to the ongoing efforts by Ray Stanford to place his numerous UFO evidence claims, which I believe to be untrustworthy, before the scientific community and the wider public. Caveat emptor.
The complete article, including images of Dr. Harris's open letter and other documentation, are found at the link below.
Project Starlight International (P.S.I.), Fact and Fiction: Daniel H. Harris, Ph.D., Project Starlight Research Director (1977-1978), releases a strongly worded challenge to Ray Stanford's P.S.I. stories and UFO-evidence claims
Two Men Who Were There Divide the Reality from the Legend
In 1977, Daniel H. Harris had a brand new Ph.D. from the highly regarded astronomy program at the University of Arizona. Dr. Harris had also been involved in UFO research for about five years, having been persuaded by Dr. James E. McDonald to take the matter seriously as a scientific problem. Therefore, when Dr. Harris encountered an opportunity for full-time employment in what he thought was a scientifically oriented enterprise focused on UFOs, he jumped at the chance.
Effective September 1, 1977, Ray Stanford hired Dr. Harris as full-time Research Director for Project Starlight International, a UFO research project based in Austin, which was run by Stanford. In a letter sent to Project Starlight supporters at the time, Stanford said, "Dr. Harris is, apparently, the first scientist to ever become employed full-time in a paid UFO research position."
Dr. Harris left Project Starlight 16 months later, and he left the ufological world decades ago-- but Ray Stanford, at least as recently as 2019, has referred favorably to Dr. Harris's involvement in Project Starlight. It is noteworthy, therefore, that Dr. Harris has now issued an 11-page open letter in which he sharply disputes many of Stanford's claims about Project Starlight, and also disputes in detail some of Stanford's favorite UFO-evidence claims -- claims that Stanford has put forward in scientific contexts even during 2021.
I believe that Dr. Harris speaks the truth about Project Starlight, and about the problems with Ray Stanford's UFO-evidence claims. I think I can speak with some authority on these matters, in part because I too was deeply involved in Project Starlight, and my time there partly coincided with Dr. Harris's tenure as Research Director.
From late 1974 until early 1978, I was part of the core group at Project Starlight, heavily involved in activity at the project's rural research site, an editor of the project's Journal of Instrumented UFO Research, etc. In addition, I was a full-time editor for the parent entity, the Association for the Understanding of Man (A.U.M.), the non-profit organization centered on the purported psychic powers of Ray Stanford. While my involvement in these enterprises embarrasses me now, it also gave me an "education" in certain important subjects that can't be learned from books, and that I would not trade for a Ph.D.
I recently spoke with Dr. Harris after having had no contact with him for over 40 years. Although I disagree with Dr. Harris on many matters theological and ufological, I know him to be a person who strives to tell the truth as he knows it, and I believe that he has done so in his open letter.
Therefore, on Mirador, my UFO-centered blog, I have posted images of the complete 11-page open letter. I have also uploaded a PDF of the letter here. I also provide much context based on my own experience at Project Starlight and its parent organization, and on documents from that era, a number of which I included in the article or linked within it.
I believe that Dr. Harris's account, my corroborating account, and the documents are all pertinent to the ongoing efforts by Ray Stanford to place his numerous UFO evidence claims, which I believe to be untrustworthy, before the scientific community and the wider public. Caveat emptor.
The complete article, including images of Dr. Harris's open letter and other documentation, are found at the link below.
Project Starlight International (P.S.I.), Fact and Fiction: Daniel H. Harris, Ph.D., Project Starlight Research Director (1977-1978), releases a strongly worded challenge to Ray Stanford's P.S.I. stories and UFO-evidence claims
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