The Varo Edition

In Jessup’s first book entitled “The Case for the UFO,” he put forth the idea that his readers should pressure their political representatives to demand research into the unified field theory, for possible application to new kinds of space-ship drive, such as antigravitational. This tidbit sparked Carl Allen’s interest in Jessup, whereupon he started writing to Jessup in January of 1956.

Late in 1955 a copy of Mr. Jessup’s book, “The Case for the UFO” was mailed to Admiral N. Furth, Chief of the Office of Naval Research, with a mysterious “HAPPY EASTER” written on the manila envelope. The envelope was postmarked “Seminole, Texas.” [1]

Major Darrell L. Ritter took interest in the strange book and brought it to the attention of Captain Sidney Sherby (ONR Officer) and Commander George W. Hoover (ONR Special Projects Officer.)

When examined, the book contained several hundred notes written by three different people in three different colors of ink (blue, blue-violet, and blue-green.) The comments were written on the top, bottom, and edges of the printed text, and referenced underlined passages in the book.

The Varo edition contained close to two hundred retyped (by Miss Michael Ann Dunn), mimeographed pages including the Carl M. Allen letters, and a special three page introduction written by the Office of Naval Research. It was printed on standard letter size (8.5″x11″) paper and bound with plastic covers. [3]

Eventually there were approximately 127 copies produced and circulated and some copies ended up in the hands of the general public. The book instantly became the object of greatest value to any UFO buff. Gray Barker, publisher of UFO-related materials, produced and sold some facsimile copies of the Varo Edition in 1973.

“The genesis of the Philadelphia Experiment myth dates back to 1955 with the publication of The Case for UFO’s… The Office of Naval Research never conducted an official study of the manuscript… and we do not have even a file copy of the annotated book.” – Betty W. Shirley, Head of Research and Public Inquiries Section / Dept. of the Navy Office of Information.

In 1969 Varo corporate President Austin Stanton was visited by Carl Allen. Carl demanded a copy of what he referred to as “his book” and a small payment to assure that Varo would not be further bothered by him. [4] He referred to it as “his book” because as it turns out he solely wrote all three sets of comments.

“Enclosed is a book I Co-authored with professor Morris J. Jessup…. 24 Years ago… and so this book I helped to write (alone by myself with no ‘Mr. or Mr. B.’)…” – Carl Allen’s letter to his parents, Mar 30, 1978. [5]

Of interest here is Austin Stanton had retired from Varo in 1967, yet Carl Allen states he visited him in 1969. Where or how did Carl find him if he was no longer at Varo?

“Austin N. Stanton, who died November 27, 1994, at the age of 91 following a brief illness. Austin Stanton was the inventor of microcircuitry–the precursor to the computer age. In 1945, he founded Varo Corp. in an old building on his farm in Garland, TX, with about $800 in capital. The building was converted into a laboratory, and his young, small staff began work on the design for a revolutionary power conversion unit for military aircraft. They also developed tiny power supplies, microcircuitry, and precision timing devices for space vehicles. Varo conceived and developed the first light-amplifying, night-vision telescope, first electronic inverters, and the first microcircuits. Microcircuitry led to the development of integrated circuits, which brought about the computer age. Varo was the only producer and supplier of microcircuitry for more than 5 years. Their microcircuit transmitter was donated to the Smithsonian Institution, where it was placed on display. When Mr. Stanton retired as chairman of the board of Varo in 1967, he had parlayed his $800 investment into a successful $60 million per year international business. He also provided advice and assistance to Texas Instruments Co. in the microelectronics field. Since 1967 Mr. Stanton has been actively involved in developing advanced technology. He was chairman of the board of the Keller Corp. and Methacoal Corp., both research and development companies and leaders in various phases of the alternative fuels, power and energy, electric generation, and waste utilization fields. With Leonard J. Keller, an expert in engineering, he developed Ambient Energy Corp, and built the first Ambient Energy Home, a model of affordable, all- electric energy homes. In 1990 he coinvented the cleanest, most efficient, and least costly coal-based electric generating plant in the world. He earned approximately 40 patents during his lifetime and was actively involved in technology development until his recent illness. Mr. Stanton was for many years a personal friend and associate of Wernher von Braun, the principal scientist of space-age technology. He provided valuable assistance to Von Braun and was the first to propose the commercialization of space. He made presentations on the subject at the first international conference on space utilization.” – Ralph M. Hall [6]

During my research I found out that this was a Common practice of Carl Allen. He had annotated books, and mailed them to people such as Carl Segan. Bob Warth has boxes of letters and “annotated” books by Carl on file at Pursuit. Joel Carpenter while looking through the Condon archives (Colorado University UFO Project) stated to me;

“In it was a large manila envelope, which contained a large stack of postcards and a copy of “Flying Saucers: The Startling Evidence of the Invasion From Outer Space” by Coral and Jim Lorenzen. I flipped through the book and noticed that it had been heavily annotated and underlined in ball-point pen in many places. One chapter in particular was heavily overwritten. I looked closer. It was a chapter about electromagnetic propulsion. And inside the front cover was an autograph. Carlos Miguel Allende. …oh my God, Allende was writing to the Condon Project! The postcards were all in the same vein – microscopically handwritten notes on UFO propulsion, the Navy’s involvement with UFOs, theories that the ONR had solved the UFO problem long ago and Condon’s people should contact ONR to save time, etc. Most of the cards were addressed to Dr Low, not Condon, and they had postmarks, in his style, from all over the map – some in Minnesota, some Texas, some Mexico. The style and handwriting was unmistakably his” – Joel Carpenter [7]

People continue to “forget” to publish these facts as it lessens the whole mystery of the Varo Edition.

Vincent Gaddis

In 1965, Vincent H. Gaddis’s Published one of the early accounts of the Philadelphia Experiment in his book “Invisible Horizons: True Mysteries of the Sea” He sums up the Varo Edition by saying;

“There was certainly something in the notes and letters that justified the time and cost of producing the Varo edition. What was it?” – Vincent H. Gaddis

If the Varo Edition was just a hoax, why did the ONR officers go to the trouble of copying and circulating the book? Did it contain information that only the Navy could fully appreciate? Or was it just more “disinformation”?

In 1979 Larry Kusche (author The Bermuda Triangle Mystery—Solved (1975), and a founding member of CSICOP ~ Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) located some former ONR officials, one of whom, Jack G. Smith, told him: “In the 1950s many engineers and scientists had not yet made up their minds about the reality of UFOs. Many of those at Varo were interested in UFOs basically as a lunchtime hobby… Because the annotations were such a jumble that no one could make any sense of them, Stanton [the president of Varo] hired a high school girl [Miss Michael Ann Dunn] to type them after school. Copies were mimeographed and sent to various scientists and Navy officials, and the eventual conclusion of all concerned, including the men at ONR, was that the annotations made no sense at all.” [8]

“Morris K. Jessup personally regarded the Varo document as a joke. He openly scoffed at it… here is a very important point that you and all the others have mangled for years: VARO WAS BEHIND THE “HOAX”, NOT ALLENDE OR ANYONE ELSE. Jessup, Sanderson, Santesson, myself and everyone else knew that Allende had written the annotations. Allende admitted on many occasions to many people. One set of notations was written in his handwriting. The other set was probably written with his other hand and thus disguised. The introduction of the Varo document tried to make a bigger mystery out of the whole thing.” ~ John A. Keel[9]

Actual Introduction to the Varo edition of M. K. Jessup’s Case for the UFO

Notations that imply intimate knowledge of UFOs, their means of motion, their origin, background, history, and habits of beings occupying UFOs provide an interesting subject for investigation. Such notations were found in a copy of the paperback edition of M.K. Jessups “Case for the UFO”. Because of the importance which we attach to the possibility of discovering clues to the nature of gravity, no possible item, however disreputable from the point of view of classical science, should be overlooked.

The annotated copy, addressed to Admiral N. Furth, Chief, Office of Naval Research, Washington 25, D.C, came in a manila envelope postmarked Seminole, Texas, 1955. Written across the face of the envelope in ink was “Happy Easter.” In July or August of that year the book appeared in the incoming correspondence of Major Darrell L. Ritter, U.S.M.C. Aeronautical Project Officer in ONR. When Captain Sidney Sherby reported aboard at ONR he obtained the book from Major Ritter. Captain Sherby and Commander George W. Hoover, Special Projects Officer, ONR indicated direct interest in some of the material therein.

Varo Mfg. Co, Garland, Texas, offered to re-publish the book together with all notations in a very limited edition as a prelude to consideration of further pursuit of this unconventional material.

Miss Michael Ann Dunn has undertaken the task of rewriting this book including all notes, interjections, underscoring, and etc. By form, position, color, and footnotes as much of the meaning and relationships of the original annotated copy is retained as possible. No attempt has been made, with ultraviolet light or other methods, to read material which has been crossed out by one of the correspondents.

It appears that these notes were written by three persons. The use of three distinct colors of ink — blue, blue-violet, and blue-green — and the difference in handwriting lead to this conclusion. Hereafter they will be referred to as Mr. A, Mr. B, and Jemi.

It was assumed that the third person was Jemi because of the direct use of “Jemi” in salutations and references to that name by Mr. A and Mr. B throughout the book. There are many, some of which appear on pages 2, 81, 122, 126, and 162 in the original book. It is possible, of course, that it is merely a salutation.

It is possible that two of these men are twins. There are two references to this word. They appear on page 6 and page 81 of the original book. The assumption that Mr. A is one of the twins may be correct. On page 81, Mr. A has written and then marked through “… and I Do Not know How this came to Pass, Jemi.” Then he has written, “I remember, My twin…”. On page 6 he writes in an apparent answer to Mr. B, “No, My twin…” We cannot be sure of the other twin.

It is probable that these men are Gypsies. In the closing pages of the book Mr. B says, “… only a Gypsy will tell another of that Catastrophe. and we are a discredited people, ages ago. Hah! Yet, man wonders where “we” come from… “ On page 130 Mr. A says, “… ours is way of life, time proven & happy. We have nothing, own nothing except our music & philosophy & are happy.” On page 76 Mr. B says, “Show this to a Brother Gypsy…”. On page158 the reference to the word “we” by Mr. A could refer to the “discredited people”. Charles G. Leland in his book “English Gipsies and Their Language” states that the Gypsies call each other brother and sister, and are not in the habit of admitting to their fellowship people of a different blood and with whom they have no sympathy. This could explain the usage of the term in the closing notes “My Dear Brothers” and perhaps the repeated reference to “vain humankind”.

This book was apparently passed through the hands of these men several or many times. This conclusion is drawn from the fact that there are discussions between two or all three of the men, questions answered, and places where parts of a note have been marked through, underlined, or added to by one or both of the other men. Some have been deleted by marking through.

Shortly after the publication of his book, Mr. Jessup received a letter from a Carlos Miguel Allende. Mr. Jessup said that he “had felt from the first that this man was the one who mailed the book to the Navy…” Consideration of the handwriting, style, content, and phraseology of both the notes and letter show a distinct possibility that the letter was written by Mr. A. This conclusion comes from the notes by Mr. A on pages 130, 117, and 150. These references to Farraday, Hob-nail or cleated shoes, and catching fire are nearly the same as the ones in the letter.

The letter was received by Mr. Jessup in Miami, on Friday January 13, 1956. It was postmarked Gainesville, Texas, and mailed in an envelope of the Turner Hotel, Gainesville. It is copied as nearly verbatim as possible.

Mr. Jessup received a second letter from Mr. Allende postmarked Du Bois, Pennsylvania, May 25, 1956. Due to peculiar spelling and other idiosyncrasies there can be little doubt that Mr. A and Carlos Allende are the same person.

These men have been careless in their spelling, capitalization, punctuation and sentence structure; though consistency indicates adherence to custom, perhaps dictated by their original language. The notes are arranged as close to the original as possible. In cases where a word or group of words could not be deciphered footnotes were used.

It might seem that the underscore in the book was in the form of a code or that if read separately that it would have a meaning of its own. Superficial examination has failed to disclose such a code. The underscored text usually refer to the notes by the same man.

The distinction between the original book and the handwritten additions to it is made by the use of red and black type. Black type indicates the type of the original book. Red type indicates any addition made in handwriting by Mr. A, Mr. B, or Jemi to the original.

The placement of the notes indicates the paragraph to which they refer, or to their precise position in the book.

The page numbers of the original book are denoted in parenthesis. The matter on the page numbered follows the number. The page numbers of this edition appear at the bottom of each page.

It has been necessary to disregard the italics of the original.

It might be helpful for you to know a little about the nature of the notes before you begin reading this book. The notes refer to two types of people living in space. Specifically the “stasis neutral” and undersea are mentioned as habitats. They seem to live in both interchangeably. The building of undersea cities is mentioned. Many different kinds of ships are used as transportation. These two peoples, races or whatever they may be called, are referred to over and over again. They are called L-M’s and S-M’s. The L-M’s seem to be peaceful; the S-M’s are not. It seems that the annotations are inclined toward the L-M’s as they speak more kindly of them than the S-M’s.

Terms such as: mothership, home-ship, dead-ship, Great ark, great bombardment, great return, great war, little-men, force-fields, deep-freezes, undersea building, measure markers, scout ships, magnetic and gravity fields, sheets of diamond, cosmic rays, force cutters, undersea explorers, inlay work, clear-talk, telepathing, burning “coat”, nodes, vortice, magnetic “net”, and many others are used quite naturally by these men. They explain how, why, and what happens to people, ships and planes that have disappeared. They explain the origin of odd storms and clouds, objects falling from the sky, strange marks and footprints, and other things which we have not solved.

These men seem to feel that it is too late for man to obtain space flight. They feel that mankind could not cope with “those mind wrecking conditions that space and sea contain” for mankind is too egotistical, values too much the material, wars over mere parcels of this planet, is too filled with jealousy, and lacks true brotherhood.

How much truth is there in this? That cannot be answered. It is evident that these men provide some very intriguing explanations; explanations that may be worth consideration.

(End of Introduction)

Michael Ann Dunn In Memoriam

Michael Ann Dunn 1939~2007

She was born Michael Ann Dunn on December 4, 1939 and began her life at 1222 East Waco Avenue in Dallas, TX. She taught first grade and became a successful businesswoman. When Michael Ann died March 28, 2007 in a Texas hospice at the age of 67, she was survived by her husband of 47 years, two sons, her mother and stepfather, two brothers and two sisters, and four grandchilren. Out of respect and privacy for the family, her married name will not be revealed and family members will not be identified.

“Miss Michael Ann Dunn has undertaken the task of rewriting this book including all notes, interjections, underscoring, and etc. By form, position, color, and footnotes as much of the meaning and relationships of the original annotated copy is retained as possible…” With these words, our young Miss Michael Ann Dunn was given the elaborate task of producing a mimeographed edition of the original annotated paperback copy of Morris K. Jessup’s Case for the UFO, with two letters Jessup received from Carl Meredith Allen (alias Carlos Allende) attached. To accomplish this, she would have copied the entire text of Jessup’s Case for the UFO onto stencils, which were run off in black ink. Then the annotations were run off, in their proper place on the pages, in red.

This schoolgirl, in creating this annotated facsimile at the behest of Austin Stanton, president of the Varo Manufacturing Company of Garland, Texas, launched a mystery that would eventually spawn two movies, several books and television documentaries, and dozens of magazine articles and websites. It would become a mystery that would be exaggerated out of all proportion by the tragic suicide of Jessup in 1959. Global interest (media and otherwise) in this story continues to this day.

There must be interesting memories and recollections of how Miss Michael Ann Dunn came to this task for Austin Stanton, how she felt about things at the time, how long it took, and the atmosphere at Varo surrounding the creation of this document. Did she have any sense of what she was doing and why?

How did Michael Ann feel about her role with Varo in the years that followed? Did she have any idea that she had become an integral part of a widespread and persistent legend since she was identified by name in the Introduction of this Varo edition? Did she ever know that she had become an elusive mystery in her own right? [10]

[1] “The Philadelphia Experiment” by Bill Moore & Charles Berlitz, Pg 63

[2] “Invisible Horizons: True Mysteries of the Sea” by Vincent H. Gaddis, Pg 214

[3] “Invisible Horizons: True Mysteries of the Sea” by Vincent H. Gaddis, Pg 211-212

[4] “The Philadelphia Experiment” by Bill Moore & Charles Berlitz, Pg 127

[5] “Alias Carlos Allende” by Robert A. Goerman, Published in FATE magazine, Pg. 74

[6] Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 40 (Friday, March 3, 1995)

[7] Email from Joel Carpenter received October 18, 1997 11:46AM

[8] The Skeptical Inquirer, Fall 1979, page 60

[9] Letter from John A. Keel to Robert A Goerman dated August 10th, 1983

[10] “Michael Ann Dunn In Memoriam” by Robert A Goerman