Robert Spencer Carr

Robert Spencer Carr (March 26, 1909 – April 28, 1994) was an American science fiction author and UFO conspiracy theorist. A child prodigy, he published his first story in Weird Tales at age 15 and achieved success with the novel The Rampant Age at 17, leading to a Hollywood contract. Without formal advanced degrees, he was often called 'Professor' or 'Dr. Carr' in UFO circles. In the 1950s, he was a NICAP member involved in investigations like the 1965 Brooksville UFO occupant case. Gaining prominence in 1974 near retirement from the University of South Florida, Carr claimed two flying saucers and alien bodies from the 1948 Aztec, New Mexico crash were stored in 'Hangar 18' at Wright-Patterson AFB, including autopsy details witnessed by a nurse. He promoted 'Operation Lure' to contact aliens via drive-in theaters. These assertions, denied by the Air Force and likened to his fiction like The Fortec Conspiracy, drew media attention and inspired the 1980 film Hangar 18. Carr's son later described him as a habitual liar fabricating tales.