American myth-maker (1910-1977). Disabled at a young age after he was hit by a truck, Palmer was a science fiction author. He wrote 99 stories before he made his first sale, but he was soon the editor of a series of sci-fi and fringe science pulp magazines, including "Amazing Stories," "Fate," "Other Worlds," "Flying Saucers," and others. And most importantly, he is primarily responsible for one of the most beloved myths of the modern age...

Palmer is credited with suggesting that flying saucers were extraterrestrial visitors, he promoted many of the earlier UFO sightings, and he even started the stories of a government cover-up of UFO reports. He was partially responsible for the widespread attention given to Richard Shaver's demented tales of the Deros and the Teros in the Hollow Earth, and he either invented or first publicized the men in black.

Translation: without Ray Palmer, there would be no stories about alien abductions. There would be no Close Encounters of any kind. There would be no paranoid government conspiracy theories. There would be no "X-Files". We would not even have Schwa to keep us company on long, dark nights...

Research from "Everything Is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults, and Cover-Ups" by Robert Anton Wilson, published by HarperCollins, 1998, pp. 335-336.

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