THE GRAY BARKER UFO COLLECTION

West Virginia's newest UFO collection features native son Gray Barker.

Tiny Clarksburg, West Virginia, (population 18,000) is now permanent home to one
of the country's largest collections of personal UFO memorabilia. Housed in a
room of the 1839 antebellum Waldomore mansion, one of two buildings that make up
the Clarksburg-Harrison public library system, the Gray Barker UFO Collection
consists of 30 government surplus file drawers chock-full of correspondence and
case histories spanning more than three decades of native-son Barker's
controversial career. The collection includes some 300 books along with 75
groups of magazines and journals, many written by Barker (above). The editor of
early newsletters like "The Saucerian" and "Flying Saucer Magazine," Barker's
most enduring contributions to UFO literature were the paranoia-laced "They Knew
Too Much About Flying Saucers" (1956) and "Men in Black: The Secret Terror Among
Us" (1979).

Barker, who died in 1984 at the age of 59, first began investigating UFOs in
1952, beginning with the local Flatwoods Monster case, a close encounter with a
demonic humanoid. His correspondents read like a Who's Who of American UFOlogy,
including such pioneering luminaries as contactee George Adamski and retired
Marine Major Donald Keyhoe.

Collection organizer Ruth Yeager, confessing her own interest in the paranormal,
says the files are characterized by Barker's "forbearance for the ridiculous."
One cabinet bears an old bumper sticker: "Flying Saucers Are Real--The Air
Force Doesn't Exist!"

So far, the UFO treasure trove, purchased for $2,000, has had a September
opening and drew a crowd at a UFO forum last December.

Historians and other interested parties should preregister with John Nesbitt or
librarian Linda Cornett at (304) 624-6512 before viewing the collection.