Philip J. Klass

Philip J. Klass

Philip Julian Klass (November 8, 1919 – August 9, 2005) was an American journalist and UFO researcher, known for his skepticism regarding UFOs. In the ufological and skeptical communities, Klass tends to inspire strongly polarized appraisals. Klass has been called the "Sherlock Holmes of UFOlogy". In a 1999 interview, fellow debunker Gary Posner wrote that despite some recent health problems, the 80 year-old "Klass's mind — and pen — remain razor sharp, to the delight of his grateful followers and to the constant vexation (or worse) of his legions of detractors." In contrast, ufologist Jerome Clark wrote in 2003 that Klass was "an obsessed crank who contributed little to the UFO debate except noise, strange rhetoric, pseudoscientific speculation, and character assassination."

Longtime ufologist James W. Moseley illustrated the ambivalence many UFO researchers feel about Klass. On the one hand, Moseley argued that Klass was sincere in his motives, and that his work ultimately benefited the field of Ufology. In his memoirs, Moseley contended that when pressed, most leading ufologists would admit that Klass knew the subject and the people involved, and was welcomed, or at least pleasantly tolerated at UFO meetings. However, Moseley also wrote that he and Klass "have had and continue to have intense doctrinal and factual disagreements, and there are things about Phil's 'style', like his attack on, that I do not admire or agree with."