Jerome Clark

Jerome Clark (born November 27, 1946) is an American writer and researcher specializing in unidentified flying objects (UFOs/UAPs) and paranormal phenomena. Raised in Canby, Minnesota, he studied history and political science at South Dakota State University and Moorhead State University. Clark has edited FATE magazine, International UFO Reporter, and Journal of UFO Studies, the only peer-reviewed ufology publication, and served on the board of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS). Widely regarded as ufology's leading historian, his seminal work is The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning (1991, multi-volume; 3rd ed. 2018), praised for its thorough, balanced research. The abridged The UFO Book (1997) won the 1998 Benjamin Franklin Award. Other key publications include Strange and Unexplained Phenomena, Hidden Realms, Lost Civilizations, and Beings from Other Worlds, and Extraordinary Encounters. Clark advocates cautious agnosticism, favoring cases with physical evidence or radar confirmation, and leans toward the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis while emphasizing documentable phenomena.