Richard H. Hall
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Richard H. Hall (December 25, 1930 – July 17, 2009) was a
Ufologist Ufology, sometimes written UFOlogy ( or ), is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary claims, extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial hypothesis, extrate ...
and proponent of the
extraterrestrial hypothesis The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH; ''synonymous with'' interplanetary aircraft ) proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by intelligent extraterrestrial organisms ( non- ...
to explain
UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...
sightings. A member of the
Authors Guild The Authors Guild is the United States' oldest and largest professional organization for writers and provides advocacy on issues of free expression and copyright protection. Since its founding in 1912 as the Authors League of America, it has coun ...
, he also wrote numerous books and magazine articles dealing with the role of women in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
.


Biography

Hall was born on December 25, 1930, and had a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
from
Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...
in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
. He lived most of his life in the
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
area. John B. Carlson, an astronomer at the
University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
, called Hall "the dean of ufology" and "the last of a breed... e representeda generation of UFO enthusiasts who approached questions of the universe using the scientific method...he was scientific, careful...a researcher." According to Carlson, Hall also rejected what he called "the ding-a-ling fringe f ufology..who approach this more as a belief system or a faith" than a scientific endeavor. Between 1958 & 1969, Hall worked for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (
NICAP The National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) is an unidentified flying object (UFO) research organization active in the United States from 1956 to 1980. Though NICAP no longer operates in its original form, it remains active ...
). He began as executive secretary, and eventually became NICAP's assistant director. In this role Hall was both an eyewitness and participant to much of the early history of the UFO phenomenon in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Working with NICAP director
Donald Keyhoe Donald Edward Keyhoe (June 20, 1897 – November 29, 1988) was an American Marine Corps naval aviator, Donald E(dward) Keyhoe. (April 30, 1998) Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, M ...
, he helped lobby the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
to hold public hearings and investigations into the UFO phenomenon. In 1964 Hall researched, edited, and wrote much of ''The UFO Evidence'', a compendium of UFO incidents from the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s that NICAP considered to be the most persuasive for the belief that UFOs were a "real", physical phenomenon. A copy of ''The UFO Evidence'' was sent to every member of Congress in 1964. Following Keyhoe's ouster as NICAP director in 1969, Hall left NICAP to work as a
technical writer A technical writer is a professional communicator whose task is to convey complex information in simple terms to an audience of the general public or a very select group of readers. Technical writers research and create information through a vari ...
and editor. He continued to investigate UFOs. He served as the director of the
Fund for UFO Research The Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR) was a non-profit UFO research group based in Mount Rainier, Maryland. Founded in 1979, FUFOR stated its goal was to further the scholarly research of UFOs and the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), and to secure t ...
, which provided grant money to researchers investigating UFOs. He was also the editor of the ''MUFON Journal'', the official publication of the
Mutual UFO Network The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) is a US-based non-profit organization composed of civilian volunteers who study reported UFO sightings. It is one of the oldest and largest organizations of its kind, claiming more than 4,000 members worldwide ...
(MUFON), the largest civilian UFO interest group in America today. In 2001 he wrote a sequel to ''The UFO Evidence''; it covered prominent UFO incidents from the mid-1960s through the 1990s. He was also the founder and chief editor of the now-defunct ''Journal of UFO History'', which featured articles on the history and growth of the UFO phenomenon in the United States. Hall was a vocal proponent of the theory that UFOs are
extraterrestrial Extraterrestrial may refer to: Science * Extraterrestrial life, life that occurs outside of Earth and that probably did not originate from Earth Media * ''Extraterrestrial'' (TV program), a program on the National Geographic Channel * '' Extrate ...
spacecraft from an advanced alien civilization, and he was an active member of the now-defunct "UFO Updates" message board and website. In 1964, "high level
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
discussions on what to do if an alien intelligence was discovered in space" took place. As a result,
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
director
John McCone John Alexander McCone (January 4, 1902 – February 14, 1991) was an American businessman and government official who served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1961 to 1965, during the height of the Cold War. Background John A. McCone wa ...
initiated a review of the possibility that UFOs might represent a threat to the United States. CIA agents interviewed Richard Hall, who provided them with data about UFA sightings from NICAP's records. In 1997, the CIA released a report called ''CIA's role in the study of U.F.O.'s 1947-90'' by Gerald K. Haines, which admitted that the agency had routinely lied about the causes of UFO reports for decades, blaming the incidents on weather conditions such as "temperature inversions" or "ice crystals". Instead these sightings were of secret aircraft, such as the
SR-71 The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a retired Range (aeronautics), long-range, high-altitude, Mach number, Mach 3+ military strategy, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Co ...
or U-2 spy planes.
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
winning science writer
William J. Broad William J. Broad (born March 7, 1951) is an American science journalist, author and a Senior Writer at ''The New York Times''. Early life and education Broad was born on March 7, 1951. He earned a master's degree from the University of Wisc ...
wrote about the release of the report in the
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
, quoting Hall:
"It's very significant," said Richard Hall, chairman of the Fund for U.F.O. Research, a group in Washington. "Certainly they've lied about not having any interest in the subject. But I don't know of any other deception like this."
John E. Pike, head of space policy at the
Federation of American Scientists The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1945 by a group of scient ...
, also based in Washington, said the admission raised questions about other Federal cover-ups involving U.F.O.'s. "The flying-saucer community is definitely onto something," in charging that the military is hiding something, Mr. Pike said.
According to Broad, Pike and other aerospace experts accepted much of the government's explanation of the earlier deceptions, while Hall continued to believe that the government was covering up evidence of the extraterrestrial origins of UFOs. To supplement his income as a UFO researcher, Hall worked for many years as an abstractor-indexer for the Congressional Information Service in
Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...
, and he did similar work for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Columbia Telecommunications and the National Council on Aging. Hall also wrote numerous books and magazine articles dealing with the role of women in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, and he maintained a strong interest in Civil War history through his life.


References


Further reading

* Story, Ronald D. (Ed.), ''The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters''. Page 239. New American Library, 2001. *''The UFO Evidence'',
NICAP The National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) is an unidentified flying object (UFO) research organization active in the United States from 1956 to 1980. Though NICAP no longer operates in its original form, it remains active ...
, 1964. ASIN B000GTPDFW *''The UFO Evidence, Volume 2: A Thirty-Year Report'', Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2001. *''Women on the Civil War Battlefront'', University Press of Kansas, 2006. *''Patriots in Disguise: Women Warriors of the Civil War'', Marlowe & Company, 1994. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Richard H. Ufologists 2009 deaths 1930 births Deaths from colorectal cancer in California