Morris K Jessup

Life and career

Born near Rockville, Indiana, Jessup grew up with an interest in astronomy. He earned a bachelor of science degree in astronomy from The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1925 and, while working at the Lamont-Hussey Observatory, received a master of science degree in 1926. Though he began work on his doctorate in astrophysics, he ended his dissertaton work in 1931 and never earned the higher degree. Nevertheless, he was sometimes referred to as "Dr. Jessup." He apparently dropped his career and studies in astronomy and worked for the rest of his life in a variety of jobs unrelated to science, although he is sometimes erroneously described as having been an instructor in astronomy and mathematics at the University of Michigan and Drake University.

Mr. Jessup has been referred to in ufological circles as "probably the most original extraterrestrial hypothesiser of the 1950s", and it has been said of him that he was "educated in astronomy and archeology and had working experience in both." Actual evidence of an educational background in archaeology or archaeological field work is absent from Jessup's resume, but Jerome Clark reports that Jessup took part in archeological expeditions to the Yucatan and Peru in the 1920s. Jessup documented an expedition to Cuzco he took part in during 1930.

Jessup achieved some notoriety with his 1955 book The Case for the UFO, in which he argued that unidentified flying objects (UFOs) represented a mysterious subject worthy of further study. Jessup speculated that UFOs were "exploratory craft of "solid" and "nebulous" character." Jessup also "linked ancient monuments with prehistoric superscience," years before similar claims were made by Erich von Däniken in Chariots of the Gods? and other books.

Jessup wrote three further flying-saucer books, UFOs and the Bible, The UFO Annual (both 1956), and The Expanding Case for the UFO (1957). The latter suggested that transient lunar phenomenon were somehow related to UFOs in the earth's skies. Jessup's main flying-saucer scenario came to resemble that of the Shaver Hoax perpetrated by the science-fiction magazine editor Raymond A. Palmer—namely, that "good" and "bad" groups of space aliens were/are meddling with terrestrial affairs. Like most of the writers on flying saucers and the so-called contactees that emerged during the 1950s, Jessup displayed familiarity with the alternative mythology of human prehistory developed by Helena P. Blavatsky's cult of Theosophy, which included the mythical lost continents of Atlantis, Mu, and Lemuria.

Death

Jessup attempted to make a living writing on the subject of UFOs, but his follow-up books did not sell well and his publisher rejected several other manuscripts. In 1958 his wife left him, and his friends described him as being somewhat unstable when he traveled to New York City. After returning to Florida, he was involved in a serious car accident and was slow to recover, apparently increasing his despondency. On April 19, 1959, Jessup contacted Dr. Manson Valentine and arranged to meet with him the next day, claiming to have made a breakthrough regarding an event known as the Philadelphia Experiment. However, on April 20, 1959, Jessup was found dead in Dade County, Florida, with a hose between the exhaust pipe and a rear window of the vehicle, filling the car with toxic exhaust fumes. The death was ruled a suicide. Some people believed that "The circumstances of Jessup's apparent suicide remain mysterious" and conspiracy theorists contended that it was connected to his knowledge of the "Philadelphia Experiment". Although some friends claimed that he possibly had been driven to suicide by the "Allende Case," other friends said that an extremely depressed Jessup had been discussing suicide with his friends for several months before his act.

Books by Jessup