July
2009
Richard Hall 1930-2009
Mr. Richard Hall, Veteran UFO researcher, passed away after a battle with cancer this past Friday morning. I had met and communicated with Mr. Hall a fair bit in my earlier days of UFO research, and always found him to be generous and open with his findings and information. I wanted to tell this story of first meeting him.
Many years ago I gave a lecture in Washington DC, in which I related what was then a very unpopular view among the UFO community. That the experiencer phenomena and possibly the UFO subject was a very toxic one, and that there seemed to be a connection with focus of intent preceeding the experience. I presented cases I’d investigated where people’s lives had been utterly torn apart by the subject and it’s involvement with them.
This was to me, the equivalent of throwing myself to the dogs. I was standing before a lot of people, and telling them that the “space brother” and “little green/gray men” scenario was likely nothing but a mask of something else…and that something else might be inherently negative.
A couple of women in the back of the hall stood up and walked out. Later my wife told me they muttered “we don’t have to sit and listen to this.”
While the talk was seemingly well received (rather shockingly so to me) you always wonder if people are only being nice, or whether you truly got your point across in a cohesive way. As I left the podium, the conference organizer gave a Jeff Ritzmann apologist comment of some sort. Clearly, despite how well I thought it went I ruffled plenty of people.
As the rest of the speakers and myself entered a post-conference dinner, Dick Hall walked up out of the crowd directly at me. “Holy shit”, I thought, “Dick Hall was there in the audience?” Mr. Hall was one of my first influences in this field, and he was for me, UFO royalty. (Although I’m sure he’d scoff at that title.) I have to say, I swallowed a lump in my throat as I saw him walking up to me.
“Jeff, my name is Dick Hall” he said in that sort of high-pitched yet wizened voice.
“Yes sir, I certainly know who you are, and it’s a pleasure sir.” I said, not quite believing this.
Dick clearly saw my nervousness and smiled, “Jeff I just wanted to congratulate you on your talk, well done.”
I of course was completely no good after that. I’m not usually so struck by anyone in UFOlogy, but this was a man I never thought I’d have the opportunity to meet. Then all of a sudden, there he is, and not only that, but making a point to speak to me.
He’ll never know how his very simple words effected me that day. It gave me encouragement, beyond what anyone in this field ever has - to speak my mind and feelings honestly and openly about this relationship with the unknown. When I get sick of death of all this, the infighting, name-calling stagnated nonsense we call the UFO community, I remember there’s been people like Dick Hall in this longer than any of us. He will continue to be in my mind one of the most kind and upstanding human beings I have ever met in this field, not to mention the toughest to hang inside it as long as he did.
When I dropped out of UFOLogy I trashed most of my books and files, but I always hung onto the copy he gave me of “Uninvited Guests”. Later Mr. Hall became increasingly disgusted with the UFO subject and it’s players (not unlike me and a hell of a lot of others). I had sadly not spoken or seen him in some years.
Knowing Mr. Hall’s longevity in this subject, one can only imagine the desire he had for answers. As I recently said on Paratopia, I don’t know that there’s ever going to be definitive answers to this UFO mystery - until your heart beats it’s last, and the answers finally come in some kind of bizarre cosmic reward for even asking the question to begin with.
Just maybe, Mr. Dick Hall finally has his answers.
Rest in Peace sir.
~Jeff Ritzmann
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