Very little of my research could have been done without the help of many other people, especially those involved in UFO investigation. Men and women in nearly a dozen countries tipped me off to interesting UFO encounters, or shared their important cases with me, or helped me find out what I wanted to know. I discovered by myself only a few of the hundreds of cases that I have reported.

The list is long. Some of these people are no longer with us, among them Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Mimi Hynek, Jim Lorenzen, Coral Lorenzen, Paul Cerny, Leonard Stringfield, Dr. Gary Levine and Eugene Lundholm in the United States and Cynthia Hind in Zimbabwe.

Gene Lundholm was the very first to help me. Gene, a librarian at the University of Wisconsin in Superior, was most responsible for my getting involved with UFO research. I went to Superior in May 1975 as a reporter to check on a reported UFO landing, and at the time I was a total skeptic on the subject of UFOs. Gene was also a veteran UFO investigator and definitely no kook. He helped me with the story and introduced me to more than sixty people in the Superior-Duluth area who had had UFO experiences, most of them unrelated to the landing incident. I had to admit to myself that none of those sixty to seventy people were kooks either, and when I returned to my office a week later I was convinced UFOs do exist.

I am also particularly indebted to Irene Granchi of Rio de Janeiro. Almost from the beginning, Brazil’s more than unusual UFO encounters have interested me, and Irene was my first contact there. Over the years she informed me of numerous UFO happenings and, directly or indirectly, she put me in touch with nearly all the other people I've worked with in Brazil. (In this photo taken in Rio in 1988, Irene is on my left and Cynthia Hind of Zimbabwe is on my right.)

Cynthia Luce has also been invaluable to my research in Brazil. She is an American researcher who's lived in the State of Rio de Janeiro since the 1970s. We worked together on seven field trips, with Cynthia (left) making many of the arrangements, procuring maps and other supplies, interpreting, sharing the driving and enduring the hardships and sometimes limited facilities in the interior.

There are also a number of Brazilian UFO investigators who have given up a great deal of their time to help me. Among them are Húlvio Aleixo, José Jean Alencar, Reginaldo Athayde, Alberto do Carmo, Vera Filizzola, Rogério Freitas, Daniel Rebisso Giese, Vitório Pacaccini and Ubirajara Franco Rodrigues.

Many other Brazilian investigators have also been very helpful, especially A. J. Gevaerd, Thynam Salmeto de Melo, Helio Loyola, Sales Pagannini da Silva, Jackson Felix Pereira, Elianildo da Silva Nascimento, Ricardo Lima e Silva, Alberto Rodrigues de Quieira, Manoel de Freitas, Lourinaldo Souza Queiroz, Ronaldo Rodrigues de Farias, Romero Chaves, Marcio Miranda Furtado, Marcos Malvezzi Leal, Pablo Ramires Sales Nascimento, Ricardo Varela, Mário Rangel and Rubens Junqueira Villela.

Some Brazilians who are not investigators but who took time to help in my research include Pedro Alves, Dr. Auxiliadora da Silva Maia, José Marcelo Pereira, Maria Conceição Pontes, Alberto Ferreira da Silva, José Humberto dos Santos, Aldo Alvares and Marina Helena Pimental Hodgkin.

I also wish to salute four women that I first met as interpreters and who became good friends: Monica Carneiro, Ana Teresa Britto Luna, Angela Hadade and Graça Faria.

Brazilians aren’t the only ones who have helped me. Others include:

Jane Thomas Guma, formerly of Buenos Aires, Argentina and now living in Glendale, Arizona.

Eduardo Ficarotti and Guillermo Aldunati of Rosário, Argentina.

Manuel de la Torre of La Paz, Bolivia.

John Musgrave of Edmundton, Canada.

Bob Diemert of Carmen, Manitoba, Canada.

Grant Cameron, Ed Barker and Chris Rutkowski of Winnipeg, Canada.

Harvey Cooke of Gisborne, New Zealand.

Robin Chase of Brockville, Ontario, Canada.

Dr. Mário Duessel, José Manuel Garcia and Kenneth Ukrow of Santiago, Chile.

Aderito (Del) De Leon of Manila, Philippines.

Freddy Badillo and Manuel Cruz of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

Wilson Sosa of Betances, Puerto Rico.

Jorge Martin of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

José Antônio Torre of Lima, Peru.

Mario Rodriguez, formerly of Montevideo, Uruguay and now living in Miami.

Juan Manuel of Montevideo.

Among the Americans are Walt Andrus, former international director of the Mutual UFO Network, and John F. Schuessler, the current MUFON director. John has been a friend since the mid-1970s and has been particularly helpful all through the years.

Other Americans, most but not all of them involved in UFO research, include Dr. Jacques Vallee, Dr. John Warren, Dr. James Harder, Dr. Leo Sprinkle, Dr. Frank Salisbury, Dr. Willard Armstrong, Dr. Richard Haines, Dr. Peter Van Arsdale, Dr. John Derr, Dr. Paul Johnson, Dr. Alvin Lawson, Dr. Ron Westrum, Dr. Franklin Ruehl, Dr. Harley Rutledge, Dr. Theodore Spickler, Dr. Willy Smith, Dr. David Jacobs, Philip Imbrogno, Charles Huffer, Ted Bloecher, Joe Brill, Charles Tucker, Shirley Fickett, Robert Todd, Wayne Laporte, John Timmerman, Jerry Black, Lucius Farish, Stanton Friedman, George Fawcett, Brent Raynes, Frank Zahour, Todd Zechel, Gary Stemm and Wendelle Stevens.

I particularly want to thank Garry Camoli and my niece Ginny LeBleu for helping me work my way out of my computer and web design problems.

It is very possible that I have overlooked some people, and to them I apologize.

I am especially grateful to my wife Faith (with me at right), who is my best friend and toughest critic. She has been very supportive of my research through the years and has been enormously helpful in reviewing and critiquing virtually everything I have written.

Finally, I am most grateful to all the men, women and children who have shared their UFO experiences with me.

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