UFO News Article: “UFO researcher Jessup remains a big mystery”

22 October 2006

(The Des Moines Register, Iowa)

Source: Newspapers.com

“The M.K. Jessup story, including his mysterious death, is absolutely spooky.

The man who once lived in Iowa is an icon of the unexplained, a major figure in paranormal fields, especially unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. He even coined the word UFOlogy (u-fol-ogy).

Jessup, who taught in Des Moines, is forever linked to the Philadelphia Experiment, a bizarre incident that has never been fully explained despite countless articles and books.

…

Morris Ketchum Jessup was born in Rockville, Ind., but little is known about his early life.

Upon graduating from high school, Jessup immediately went into the Navy, serving in 1918-19, and then enrolling at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, also in 1919.

With time out for travel, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in science in 1926 and earned a master’s degree the next year. He studied for a doctorate degree but did not graduate.

Jessup became fascinated with astronomy and astrophysics, and a circuitous route brought him to Des Moines. In 1932, he became a professor at Drake University.

…

In the 1940s and 1950s, Jessup, who had left Iowa, took a particular interest in the new field of UFOs — flying saucers. With a move to Washington, D.C., in the 1950s, Jessup began writing his first book in 1954. ‘The Case for the UFO’ was published in 1955 and had moderate success, followed by ‘UFO and the Bible’ (1956) and ‘The UFO Annual’ (1956).

His last book was ‘The Expanding Case for the UFO’ (1957).

On the evening of April 20, 1959, Jessup was found moments from death, slumped over the wheel of his station wagon in a Dade County park near his Florida home. A hose attached to the car’s exhaust pipe had filled the car’s interior with carbon monoxide. No suicide note was ever found, and no autopsy was performed.

Jessup reportedly was working on a new book about the Philadelphia Experiment. Was Jessup silenced — murdered because he knew too much? The controversy continues.”

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4861868/the_des_moines_register/

Wikipedia article: “Morris K. Jessup”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_K._Jessup

Morris K. Jessup, U.S. Astronomer & UFO Researcher

(wp.com/borderlandsciences.org photo)