Philip J. Imbrogno; Academic Fraud and Stolen Valor
Several years ago I left active research in the UFO field, in a large part because of my disgust in dealing with liars, fraudulent hoaxers, and so many in the field who refused to use their God-given common sense. I have always been proud of my ability to at least try to use my common sense and to detect when someone tries to “put one over on me,” but I have been taken in the past. Of course, doing my radio broadcasts, technically, mean’s I never actually divorced myself totally from the paranormal field, but I keep telling myself that “it’s radio, that is different!” Well, not really.
With the breaking of the fraudulent credential scandal involving UFO and paranormal researcher and writer Philip J. Imbrogno, I felt myself taking this very personally. I should have known better, because I was made aware of the matter at the very beginning.
I have a forum on The Paracast called The Dark Matters Radio forum, which was a very generous “gift” from forum host and long-time UFO researcher Mr. Gene Steinberg. I have been there a number of years now, and I have made available to the forum users many of my earlier radio programs and research that my wife and I conducted over the years. The Paracast is a forum where both skeptics and UFO-friendly people hang out, and although there are occasional clashes among the various users, The Paracast is a very civil and enlightened forum where cases and theories are often discussed in great depth.
Now, as a forum operator I, as a rule, do not interject myself into most discussions or threads unless I feel I have something to contribute of merit. While that is true, there have been several occasions where I did get into several heated discussions with skeptic Lance Moody. Lance has been around paranormal forums for a number of years, and I must admit that I had a bad taste in my mouth concerning Lance, because I have witnessed him personally insult some of the more friendly UFO users, not only on The Paracast but other forums as well. And very recently, he and I clashed when he entered the Dark Matters Forum addressing in negative terms, a show I had scheduled but not yet broadcast. So, it was reasonable, in my mind at least, that I was very skeptical when Lance wrote me several notes asking for my opinion concerning well known author and researcher Philip Imbrogno.
Now, before I go on, let us discuss Imbrogno.
I have known Imbrogno, not well, but knew him, for many years. His book (along with J. A. Hynek and Bob Pratt) on the Hudson Valley UFO wave is considered a classic today. Back in the early years of UFO Magazine, which was founded and published by my wife, we often carried articles by Imbrogno. One series that immediately comes to mind is the infamous case of the Indian Point Nuclear Power plant, where the facility was over-flown, reportedly, by a huge, unknown object. We carried all of these articles in UFO and always assumed there was never any reason to suspect anything out of kilter with Imbrogno. He was considered one of the steady and stable UFO researchers on the scene for decades! My contact with Imbrogno always involved UFO material or cases; we never really developed a personal friendship … but let me say this now … I considered him a friend and I believed he was above reproach.
Lance contacted me after a recent interview I conducted with both Imbrogno and his co-author Rosemary Guiley. Following are the notes from Lance, which of course I saved.
5-2-2011
Hi Don,
I thought I would bring you up to speed on something I have been looking into. Gene is aware of this and I am just trying to figure out what to do with the information. For the moment, I would appreciate it if we kept this private but I would love to hear your insight and any advice you might have. I know you have dealt with this kind of thing before.
In short, it appears that Dr. Phil Imbrogno is not all he claims to be. My letters and data inquires below will show you what I mean.
Thanks,
Lance
What Lance refers to is the information derived from MIT. Imbrogno claimed on his latest book’s website that he received a Ph.D. from MIT.
Several years ago I left active research in the UFO field, in a large part because of my disgust in dealing with liars, fraudulent hoaxers, and so many in the field who refused to use their God-given common sense. I have always been proud of my ability to at least try to use my common sense and to detect when someone tries to “put one over on me,” but I have been taken in the past. Of course, doing my radio broadcasts, technically, mean’s I never actually divorced myself totally from the paranormal field, but I keep telling myself that “it’s radio, that is different!” Well, not really.
With the breaking of the fraudulent credential scandal involving UFO and paranormal researcher and writer Philip J. Imbrogno, I felt myself taking this very personally. I should have known better, because I was made aware of the matter at the very beginning.
I have a forum on The Paracast called The Dark Matters Radio forum, which was a very generous “gift” from forum host and long-time UFO researcher Mr. Gene Steinberg. I have been there a number of years now, and I have made available to the forum users many of my earlier radio programs and research that my wife and I conducted over the years. The Paracast is a forum where both skeptics and UFO-friendly people hang out, and although there are occasional clashes among the various users, The Paracast is a very civil and enlightened forum where cases and theories are often discussed in great depth.
Now, as a forum operator I, as a rule, do not interject myself into most discussions or threads unless I feel I have something to contribute of merit. While that is true, there have been several occasions where I did get into several heated discussions with skeptic Lance Moody. Lance has been around paranormal forums for a number of years, and I must admit that I had a bad taste in my mouth concerning Lance, because I have witnessed him personally insult some of the more friendly UFO users, not only on The Paracast but other forums as well. And very recently, he and I clashed when he entered the Dark Matters Forum addressing in negative terms, a show I had scheduled but not yet broadcast. So, it was reasonable, in my mind at least, that I was very skeptical when Lance wrote me several notes asking for my opinion concerning well known author and researcher Philip Imbrogno.
Now, before I go on, let us discuss Imbrogno.
I have known Imbrogno, not well, but knew him, for many years. His book (along with J. A. Hynek and Bob Pratt) on the Hudson Valley UFO wave is considered a classic today. Back in the early years of UFO Magazine, which was founded and published by my wife, we often carried articles by Imbrogno. One series that immediately comes to mind is the infamous case of the Indian Point Nuclear Power plant, where the facility was over-flown, reportedly, by a huge, unknown object. We carried all of these articles in UFO and always assumed there was never any reason to suspect anything out of kilter with Imbrogno. He was considered one of the steady and stable UFO researchers on the scene for decades! My contact with Imbrogno always involved UFO material or cases; we never really developed a personal friendship … but let me say this now … I considered him a friend and I believed he was above reproach.
Lance contacted me after a recent interview I conducted with both Imbrogno and his co-author Rosemary Guiley. Following are the notes from Lance, which of course I saved.
5-2-2011
Hi Don,
I thought I would bring you up to speed on something I have been looking into. Gene is aware of this and I am just trying to figure out what to do with the information. For the moment, I would appreciate it if we kept this private but I would love to hear your insight and any advice you might have. I know you have dealt with this kind of thing before.
In short, it appears that Dr. Phil Imbrogno is not all he claims to be. My letters and data inquires below will show you what I mean.
Thanks,
Lance
What Lance refers to is the information derived from MIT. Imbrogno claimed on his latest book’s website that he received a Ph.D. from MIT.