Edwards, Frank (Allyn) (1908-1967)

Journalist, broadcaster, and author who publicized anomalous mysteries, bizarre events, and flying saucers (UFOs ). Born August 4, 1908, in Mattoon, Illinois, Edwards became a golf professional and then a technical adviser in a shipyard before beginning a radio career with KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1924. Starting in 1925 he worked for WHAS and WLAP in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a news analyst for the Mutual Broadcasting System from 1942 to 1952. Between 1949 and 1954 he was a White House correspondent. From 1955 to 1959 and from 1961 to 1962 he was a commentator for WTTV in Indianapolis; from 1964, for WXLW; and from 1965, for WLWI-TV. He subsequently lectured at Butler University on broadcast journalism.

In the Radio Daily poll of 1953, he was cited, along with Edward R. Murrow and Lowell Thomas, as one of the nation's top broadcasters. His "Strange to Relate" column was widely syndicated throughout the world, and he was a contributing editor to Fate magazine for a decade beginning in 1957. He was also a member of the Board of Governors of NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena ) from 1957 until his death on June 23, 1967.

Edwards is most remembered for the many popular books in which he compiled brief accounts of extraordinary and paranormal events. Beginning with Strange World in 1954, he produced a series of popular books featuring short summaries of numerous anomalous occurrences, a format that served him well for the next decade. In the mid-1960s he wrote two popular books on flying saucers that rode the wave of public interest but were considered disasters by the UFO community for their numerous factual errors.

Sources:

Clark, Jerome. The Emergence of a Phenomenon: UFOs from the Beginning through 1959. Vol. 2 of The UFO Encyclopedia. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1992.

Edwards, Frank. Flying Saucers Here and Now. New York: Lyle Stuart, 1967.

——. Flying Saucers—Serious Business. New York: Lyle Stuart, 1966.

——. My First Ten Million Sponsors. New York: Ballantine Books, 1956.

——. Strange World. New York: Lyle Stuart, 1964.

——. Stranger Than Science. New York: Lyle Stuart, 1959.

——. Strangest of All. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1958.