From: UFO UpDates - Toronto <post.nul>
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:45:00 -0400
Archived: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:45:00 -0400
Subject: Remembering A Great UFO Believer




Source: CanWest.Com - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

http://tinyurl.com/cdjhfy

April 17, 2009


Remembering A Great UFO Believer
By T.W. Paterson
Special to The Citizen

I'm forever amazed at what one can find by surfing the Internet.
It can cut both ways, however. I'm often amazed (not to mention
frustrated) when subjects that strike me as being obvious
haven't caught the attention of those invisible, robotic search
engines.

When a recent overhaul of my ever-growing library/archives
turned up a copy of Canadian UFO Report, Volume 1, Number 1, it
put me in mind of the late John Magor. Out of curiosity, I ran
his name by Google (which wondered if I really didn't mean the
British PM, John Magor?) and found several listings for his
books.

The onetime publisher of the Cowichan Leader chose early
retirement to take up the full-time journalistic investigation
of UFOs in the late 1960s. (That's Unidentified Flying Objects -
- Flying Saucers -- to the uninitiated.) John wrote three books:
Aliens Above, Always; Our UFO Visitors and Pagans In My Blood,
as well as publishing the short-lived magazine, UFO Report.

I didn't really know John although I spoke with him on the phone
from time to time, and often saw him in the vicinity of the post
office as both of us went about our business. By the mid-80s, I
could see, even at a distance, that he was having health
problems. This became even more apparent to me when he showed up
in my print shop one morning and asked to speak with my
assistant of the day.

I called her to the front and returned to my work. But when
quite some time passed and she didn't return to her paste-up
table, I went in search. It turned out that John was there to
interview her about a UFO sighting she and her boyfriend had
experienced some years before that had been so vivid and so
memory-etching, she had described it to me and to friends.

Somehow, word of her experience had reached John Magor and he,
avid researcher to the end, was there, in my shop, in mid-
morning and, dare I say it, in mid-production schedule, to
interview Linda. And she had been too polite to suggest that he
consider another time and venue.

Well, I've taken an interest in UFOs myself over the years. I'd
subscribed to John's UFO magazine.

But for him to appear unannounced in my workplace, years later,
armed with a tape recorder, on UFO business, did not work for me
and I suggested, politely, that he make some other arrangement
with Linda.

I don't write of this now to make light of John Magor, but to
illustrate how, even in his final years of failing health, when
he found it more and more difficult even to get about, he
doggedly followed his pursuit of information on anything related
to the unexplained phenomena of aerial sightings, not just in
the Cowichan Valley, but around the world. I always found him to
be pleasant, intelligent and dedicated, qualities that I respect
in anyone. But not necessarily in my print shop in the midst of
production!

But to get back to my mint copy of the first issue of Canadian
UFO Report. I know I have succeeding copies, too, but they have
yet to turn up in my ongoing library overhaul, a project that
just seems to keep on going.

John Magor introduced his new publication in January 1969 thus:
"A list compiled by Brian Cannon, of Winnipeg, director of the
Canadian Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, shows that in
Europe and the Americas, without counting Asian countries, there
are more than 100 organizations and periodicals devoted to the
serious and single purpose of studying unidentified flying
objects. If we add to these the countless individuals who are
scientifically interested and the countless words given to the
subject in public media, we begin to have some small idea of the
impact of the UFO mystery..."

It was his belief, one for which he said he would offer
scientific evidence in succeeding issues, that Canada's
geological and/or geographical conditions made it "specially
favorable to UFO operations. Is it because of our proximity to
the North Pole where there is minimum interference from the Van
Allen radiation belt? Is it because of the country's enormous
mineral content or is it because the Canadian terrain has some
feature that invites UFO inspection?

"Of course we do not know. But we do suggest that our polar
relationship is of definite significance... We feel that in
Canada we are in a unique position to explore those who are
exploring us."

Obviously, John believed UFOs to be of intelligent origin; in
fact, he admitted "only one bias, namely that we are believers.
There is so much evidence pointing to the existence of UFOs that
the hardest task must lie to those who would discredit them."

He exhorted readers to join his efforts and those of his
associates to "bring official recognition" to UFOs.

Forty years have passed since publication of that first issue of
his magazine. You rarely read or hear of UFOs in the mainstream
media these days. It's as if they have fallen off the radar, so
to speak. Are "they" still out there? Around the world, there
are tens of thousands or more who share the late John Magor's
belief that we are not alone in the universe. As for me, well, I
like to keep an open mind.

But not on company time, if you don't mind.

For more T.W. Paterson: www.cowichanchronicles.com



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