Ray Palmer

Early Life and Publishing Career

Raymond Alfred Palmer (August 1, 1910 – August 15, 1977) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A childhood accident left him physically disabled for life, but this did not deter his rise to become one of the most influential figures in American pulp magazine publishing and UFO history.

Palmer sold his first science fiction story in 1930 and founded the Jules Verne Prize Club in 1933. In 1938, Ziff-Davis named him editor of Amazing Stories, the flagship science fiction magazine, and Fantastic Stories in 1939. During his tenure as editor of Amazing Stories (1938–1949), Palmer dramatically transformed the publication. He boosted circulation from 25,000 to over 185,000 copies and wrote much of the content himself under pseudonyms (G.H. Irwin, Frank Patton, A.R. Steber). His aggressive editorial style—colorful, sensational, and often blurring the line between fiction and claimed fact—made Amazing Stories one of the era's most provocative magazines.

The Shaver Mystery and Early Controversy

In 1944, Palmer began promoting the "Shaver Mystery," a series of stories by Richard Sharpe Shaver alleging the existence of underground civilizations, ancient aliens, and insane subterranean inhabitants controlling the hollow Earth. Crucially, Palmer personally endorsed Shaver's claims as factual, not fiction. This stance was controversial within the science fiction community and caught the attention of the FBI, which investigated Palmer's promotion of claims it viewed as potential hoaxes.

The Flying Saucer Era and Kenneth Arnold Connection

Palmer played a pivotal role in bringing Kenneth Arnold's June 24, 1947 sighting to public prominence. Palmer commissioned Arnold and Emil Smith to investigate claims by Harold Dahl and Fred Crisman regarding a doughnut-shaped UFO near Maury Island, Washington. Though the FBI later determined the Maury Island incident was a fabrication (the "evidence" consisted of pumice and scrap metal), Palmer and Arnold collaborated on The Coming of the Saucers (1952), which cemented key elements of UFO folklore: mysterious "men in black" silencing witnesses and a government conspiracy to suppress alien contact evidence.

In 1948, Palmer co-founded Fate magazine with Curtis Fuller. Fate's first issue (Spring 1948) featured Kenneth Arnold's first-hand UFO account as its cover story—an event UFO historians credit as marking the birth of the modern UFO era. The magazine became the flagship publication for paranormal, cryptozoology, and UFO accounts. Palmer sold his interest to Curtis and Mary Fuller in 1955.

Flying Saucers Magazine and Later Work

From 1957 onward, Palmer devoted his energies entirely to UFO publishing. He founded and edited Flying Saucers (originally titled Flying Saucers from Other Worlds, 1957), a monthly devoted to UFO sightings, alien contact narratives, and Shaver Mystery material. Through this magazine and books including The Real UFO Invasion, Palmer maintained a constant platform for extraterrestrial contact claims, government cover-up theories, and fringe paranormal narratives.

Palmer also established Amherst Press and Palmer Publications to distribute occultist and UFO literature, cementing his role as the commercial engine behind American UFO culture in the 1950s–60s.

Legacy and Controversy

Palmer remains a contested figure in UFO historiography. Skeptics and some UFO researchers credit him with deliberately sensationalizing or fabricating accounts to boost magazine sales; supporters see him as a publisher who courageously gave voice to testimonies the mainstream media suppressed. The FBI's declassified files note suspicion that Palmer deliberately created or amplified UFO and Shaver Mystery narratives to fuel public interest and sales. Regardless, his editorial influence on modern UFO discourse—the narrative tropes, the government conspiracy framework, the contactee mythology—is undeniable. Palmer died in Portage, Wisconsin, on August 15, 1977.