Phil Imbrogno gone from field - he faked his educational credentials

Aww this sucks big time! I just started reading "Ultraterrestrial Contact" and was actually looking forward to any future books he was supposed to be coming out with including one of a girl whose family were all abducted by aliens. She supposedly keeps in contact with them and has information and so on. So much for that

I owe Kandinsky a big apology. I gave him the business for comparing Imbrogno with Dean in the thread he mentioned. Ironically, I cited Imbrogno's education as one reason. I was wrong. He called this some months back. Crow goes good with Tabasco.

reply to post by trainedobserver
No harm, no foul.

Drop by and make some more posts...help raise the bar.

Originally posted by davidbiedny
... the work of actual verification and corroboration as to their credentials - and when someone tries to do this - like what I did with Bassett, Horn, Greer, the time traveling dentist dickhead (name evades me, thank goodness), and the truly vile Bill Knell - derision from the "true believers" was usually the result. ...

I have always wondered if Greer was all he claimed to be. Bassett is a total unknown. One person who has totally avoided this problem by never claiming any real academic credentials is Hoagland.

Hopefully more doubt, questioning, and checking will result but who knows. Things like this happen all the time and are forgotten as soon as someone has another spooky story to tell.

Is it known for certain if Dolan is a "Rhodes Scholar Finalist" and "Oxford" student?



As for me,......I am an *Esteemed* (to me) H. S. (High School) -D-merit us.

Originally posted by simone50m
Is it known for certain if Dolan is a "Rhodes Scholar Finalist" and "Oxford" student?

I believe he is, but what does it mean? He has a legit M.A. in History.. A "Rhodes Scholar Finalist" means he made the first cut, but was not selected a Rhodes Scholar. He studied ay Oxford, but did not finish a degree. He likes to intimate that he is a "scholar" based on this. It's fine as far as it goes, but you have to ask yourself, "How far does it really go?" Lots of people have Masters Degrees, including myself, but that doesn't make me an expert in Ufology.

Stanton Friedman does the same thing. Based on a Masters Degree he claims to be a "nuclear physicist." Jimmy Carter claimed the same thing based on going to the Navy's nuclear power school, the same school high school graduate enlisted Machinst Mates go to, but with a little more math. Lots of people thought he over-stepped his claim, so he subtly changed it to "nuclear engineer" which was still stretching the truth. Carter took some Navy-taught courses after his bachelor's degree.

On the other hand, to someone with a peanut farmer background, he rose above. To the scholarly communities in these fields, none of these guys is 100% legit because they never finished their PhD's. That's the union card and they don't have it. However, if the public buys into it, then they're home free.

Kevin Randle is another example. He says he has a PhD. It's from a correspondence school that got into severe trouble with the Federal government as a diploma mill federal employees used to increase their "qualifications." So much trouble that they no longer offer a PhD. Randle says he worked hard for his PhD and resents the idea that his degree is not considered legitimate in some circles. I'm sure he DID work hard, but the plain fact is that his PhD is not in the same league as those earned by folks who endure a much more comprehensive and much longer academic program from recognized reputable universities. I'm sorry, but it just is not the same.

Greer has a legitimate M.D. and Salla has a 'legitimate' PhD, but they're both nut cases. Friedman, Randle and Dolan have "less" education than the first two, but their feet are on the ground--mostly. The issue here is the fakes, including people like Dan Burisch, Kenneth Reed, and (sadly, in my view) Bob Lazar.

Did anyone else wonder about Imbrogno's credentials? When I first read he had attended MIT, I wondered what person would be teaching HS after getting a degree from that prestigious school. I also felt uncomfortable with all the Djinn info he and Rosemary Ellen Guiley put forth. Something just didn't feel right there. Dave

It occurrs to me, that, if a Ufologist is saying things that a majority of people like, (tantalizing scifi sounding stuff, even though it might be scary too) and this Personage is widely liked, then people in ufology are generally never going to view with a Detective's eyes.

reply to post by simone50m

It occurrs to me, that, if a Ufologist is saying things that a majority of people like, (tantalizing scifi sounding stuff, even though it might be scary too) and this Personage is widely liked, then people in ufology are generally never going to view with a Detective's eyes.

Hiya Simone, I agree with you on that. The field of ufology is mostly a human creation...good and bad. This is the best way to explain why so many people trust and respect Greer, Bob Dean, Salla, Moulton-Howe and others like them. Even Cliff Stone still gets a pass from a lot of people! Project Camelot couldn't exist without people's will-to-believe and Lloyd Pye needs mentioning too...all these people have made money and gained attention from lying and presenting an interest in a 'grand mystery.'

A regular theme in ufological circles is blind faith and forgiveness above common sense. This means that every hustler and fraud in the business has a pack of defenders. 'Errrr we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.' is the rallying cry of these people. 'Okay, he lied once or twice, but it doesn't mean it was all lies. Maybe he was hiding the Truth to protect himself?' This is another familiar excuse given to the BS sellers by the defenders.

The recent Hopkins/Jacobs ruckus was a great example of ufology's finest kicking the crap out of the players and ignoring the ball altogether.

In spite of over 30 years of fantasy, Imbrogno will have defenders. Some big-name researchers who have cited him in their own research will remain silent. It'd be great if he drafted an article to explain how he got carried away with all the fantasy...even better if he sheds light on what else he fabricated.

Where did Imbrogno make his announcement? Did he give his version of events?
At least he had the dignity to bow out I'll give him that. He could have gone the sociopath route like Jacobs did.

reply to post by hitechlolife
I'm not so sure that he's finished with the field just yet. It's possible he's just regrouping. Ellen-Guiley posted a statement on their collaborative website that can be interpreted any which way...

Source

To add some balance, the guys at Paratopia have a different take on the issue and suggest Imbrogno deserves some more time to make his case. The latest show is a right click save as.

Don Ecker's about to wade in too.

According to the Paratopia website, Imbrogno e-mailed Jeremy Vaeni with his side of the story. For whatever reason, Vaeni cannot talk about it at the moment. It sounds to me like Imbrogno will tell his story to sympathetic ears only.

I read at the Cryptomundo site that some guys are claiming to have 2 dead Bigfoots but that they just can't release the proof right now.

But soon.

Real soon now.

Maybe it's that sort of thing?

Lance

Originally posted by Standingstones
According to the Paratopia website, Imbrogno e-mailed Jeremy Vaeni with his side of the story. For whatever reason, Vaeni cannot talk about it at the moment. It sounds to me like Imbrogno will tell his story to sympathetic ears only.

Well, wasn't it the Paratopia guys who helped publicize the Hopkins/Jacobs saga? And rightly so. But if they were all for "truth" then...

Here is the way the Djinn site USED to read (before I started my inquiry) There are many nuggets to be mined here, I suggest. I just went after the low hanging fruit:


PHILIP J. IMBROGNO

Philip J. Imbrogno is a science educator and a leading expert on ufology and the stone chambers of New York. With Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Bob Pratt, he co-authored the best-selling Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings (Ballantine Books, 1986), still in print (Llewellyn). His book Interdimensional Universe: The New Science of UFOs, Paranormal Phenomena and Otherdimensional Beings (Llewellyn) has remained on the Amazon.com list of top 25 best-selling UFO books since its publication in July 2008. He is also the author of Files From the Edge (2010) and Ultraterrestrial Contact: A Paranormal Investigator’s Explorations into the Hidden Abduction Expidemic (2010), both from Llewellyn. In addition, he has written hundreds of articles.

Imbrogno’s original research of the stone chambers in upstate New York showed that the chambers were not colonial root cellars, but possibly of Druid origin. As a result, the state of New York changed its tourist literature on the stone chambers and on Balanced Rock, a boulder resting on several smaller stones. Imbrogno’s research is documented in Celtic Mysteries: Windows to Another Dimension in America’s Northeast (formerly Celtic Mysteries in New England), co-authored with Marianne Horrigan, republished by Llewellyn in 2000.

Imbrogno holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in physics, astronomy and chemistry from the University of Texas and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2010 he was awarded a Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry from MIT. He is a staff member of the McCarthy Observatory in New Milford, Connecticut, and is a founder and former director of the Astronomical Society Of Greenwich, and former director of the Bowman Observatory.

He lectures and makes numerous media appearances on television and radio. His media appearances include high-profile television programs such as Oprah, Geraldo, and Regis and Kathy Live; network news shows such as Dateline NBC; major TV and cable networks, including Fox, PBS, the History Channel and HBO, and numerous radio programs, including Coast to Coast AM, the largest syndicated night-time talk show.

He has written articles for science and general interest publications, and writes an astronomy column for 13 Connecticut newspapers.

MAJOR MEDIA

The New York Times
Oprah Winfrey
NBC Today Show
Geraldo
Regis Philbin and Kathy Lee Live
Morton Downey, Jr.
The UFO Hunters, History Channel
UFO Files, History Channel
UFOs: What’s Going On, HBO
The Ten Best UFO Cases, NBC Dateline (on-camera guest appearance plus assistance in writing the show)
That’s Incredible UFO Live, NBC
The UFO Mystery, The Learning Channel
Creepy Canada (contributed material for the show and wrote a segment on the Hudson Valley UFO wave and the stone chambers)
Major news programs on UFOs on NBC, CBS and ABC and local affiliates
Consultant, Paragators, Canadian television show
Consultant, script writer and on-camera expert for two shows on the Hudson Valley UFO sightings for the TV series Unsolved Mysteries
Co-author with John G. Fuller, Into the Unknown: A Close Look into the Paranormal (FOX network special 1985)
Writer and contributor of The Reading Rainbow (PBS), 1999
Numerous radio shows, including Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and George Knapp, and the X-Zone with Rob McConnell.
PUBLISHED AND FORTHCOMING BOOKS

The Vengeful Djinn: Unveiling the Hidden Agenda of Genies. Co-authored with Rosemary Ellen Guiley. Llewellyn, 2011.
Multidimensional Portals: Windows to another Reality. Co-authored with Rosemary Ellen Guiley. Llewellyn, 2011.
Untraterrestrial Contact: A Paranormal Investigator’s Explorations into the Hidden Abduction Epidemic. Llewellyn, 2010.
Files from the Edge: A Paranormal Investigator’s Ezplorations into High Strangeness. Llewellyn Publications, 2010.
Interdimensional Universe: The New Science of UFOs, Paranormal Phenomena and Otherdimensional Beings. Llewellyn Publications, 2008. On the Amazon.com top 25 best- sellers in UFO books since its release in July.
Celtic Mysteries: Windows to Another Dimension in America’s Northeast. Co-authored with Marianne Horrigan. Llewellyn, 2000. Previously titled Celtic Mysteries in New England. Parkview, Cosimo, 2000.
Contact of the Fifth Kind. Co-authored with Marianne Horrigan. Llewellyn, 1997. Revised and updated by Philip J. Imbrogno as Ultraterrestrial Contact. Llewellyn, 2010.
Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings. Co-authored with Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Bob Pratt. Ballantine Books, 1986. Revised edition Llewellyn Publications, 1998.
ARTICLES AND COLUMNS

Columnist on astronomy since 1983 in 13 Connecticut newspapers including the Greenwich Time, The Stamford Advocate, The Waterbury Republican and the Norwalk Hour.
Articles published in Earth, Astronomy, Scientific American, and The New York Daily News.
“Imaging Scientific Satellites using your Home Computer,” published in Earth in May 1992; voted one of the top ten technical articles of the year by Princeton University.
“The Scientific Method,” The Book of Knowledge Encyclopedia, (Scholastic Books, 2002, plus ideas for projects and experiments (2003)
Numerous articles for general interest and UFO publications, among them:
UFO Universe, Fate Magazine, UFO Magazine, MUFON Journal, The UFO Reporter: Journal for the Center for UFO Studies, Westchester Spotlight Magazine, Parade Magazine

Originally posted by The GUT
Well, wasn't it the Paratopia guys who helped publicize the Hopkins/Jacobs saga? And rightly so. But if they were all for "truth" then...

And we are all for that. However, we haven't established for ourselves what the real story is here yet. When I know, I'll say what I think as usual, and I'm sure Jer will too. At this point the only thing I can say is it doesn't look very good (my opinion). That's a given right? But, there may be circumstances and nuance I'm not aware of, and so ultimately until I find out some things concretely, I'll stay off the Imbrogno lynch mob.

One of the big issues I find in all this is, IF in fact his educational background is untrue - how, after his decades in this field is it just now being found out? I find that extremely strange and out of place. In this volatile field, I just don't see how this couldn't have been looked at before now and discovered.

I was really doing my best not to chime in on this thread, but I'll briefly say this so as history doesn't get rewritten accidentally by short term memories or on purpose by debunkers:

When we took on the Jacobs/Woods thing, we provided the same confidentiality with him (and his cohort "Elizabeth") as we are providing Phil. Jacobs emailed his side of the story--but only after we promised to keep it confidential. What he said in the email made not a shred of sense to us, but we kept quiet. What he eventually went public with was basically the same thing as the email.

We furthermore kept--and continue to keep--confidential correspondences with "Elizabeth."

So the notion that we're treating Phil differently is untrue. In fact, Jacobs had 2 years to keep his silence. I'd give Phil 2 months.

All of that said, I'm not siding with anyone. All I'm saying is that what he told me makes sense and the reason for confidentiality--which he asked me for at the end of the explanation, not as a condition of receiving one, I might add--also makes sense. (It makes short term sense, though, not eternal sense. We do need public answers. I suspect that since he has two books scheduled for release despite his leaving the field, there's an impetus to give them.)

Just because it makes sense doesn't mean he's telling the truth, of course. We shall see. All I'm asking for is that you think before you trip over yourselves trying to destroy a man because some debunker most of you have never heard of tells you he knows what's what. He could be lying. He could be exaggerating. He could be misinterpreting the fruits of his investigation. He could be completely correct. That last one is an option, but clearly not the only one.

Incidentally, Jeff just called to tell me he posted a response as I'm finishing typing this. So don't think I'm piling on. It's a coincidence and this will be my only post here, because what else is there to say?

Oh. Except: Hi, Dave!

Originally posted by jritzmann
...One of the big issues I find in all this is, IF in fact his educational background is untrue - how, after his decades in this field is it just now being found out? I find that extremely strange and out of place. In this volatile field, I just don't see how this couldn't have been looked at before now and discovered.

I was wondering the same thing: In a ofttimes cutthroat field like ufology full of seasoned researchers, if true, how could it have slipped through the cracks?

Thanks for weighing in, Jeff, and yes, I do believe you will speak your mind when it's made up. The crying shame I see is that the tide has been turning and many folk have started to see the gaping holes traditional ufology has either looked over--or left out--and that could promise great things in our attempt to understand the phenomena.

So it's painful too see a proponent of lets call it an extradimensional theory unmasked as an apparent fraud. Two steps forward, one step back.

reply to post by lancemoody
I also noticed the changes today, he's really cut back on the educational mustard.

In the UK, teachers are required to be degree-educated in their subject with exceptions made for people with unqualified teacher-status in the independent sector. If an unqualified teacher can show equivalent subject knowledge and experience, they can be fast-tracked to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) without a degree.

It's a reasonable approach, tried and tested, and I wonder if similar options were available in the US? This could account for Imbrogno's apparent lack of qualifications whilst he maintained employment as an educator.

I had doubts after reading Night Seige and checking him out. Claims of ancient structures in New York go against everything I know. The point where I ruled him out as credible was a Don Ecker interview from 2009/10. He described recording a tape of Betty Andreasson and going home to find the tape had paranormally changed into a recording of sci-fi theme tunes.

When he later did the rounds of podcasts, he was relating the story of visiting Saudi and a cousin of the Prince of Saudi was telling him all about secret off-world missions to battle Djinn. It stank to high heaven. He then reinforced the doubts by claiming a high-up Intel veteran had checked his record, discovered Imbrogno had a top secret clearance and proceeded to tell him even more about these covert operations to capture Djinn technology.

A trip to Saudi Arabia would be easy for him to verify. Even at the time, I couldn't understand why nobody 'in the field' questioned how a high-school teacher could have a security clearance some 30 years after leaving the military.

Originally posted by jritzmann

Originally posted by The GUT
Well, wasn't it the Paratopia guys who helped publicize the Hopkins/Jacobs saga? And rightly so. But if they were all for "truth" then...

And we are all for that. However, we haven't established for ourselves what the real story is here yet. When I know, I'll say what I think as usual, and I'm sure Jer will too. At this point the only thing I can say is it doesn't look very good (my opinion). That's a given right? But, there may be circumstances and nuance I'm not aware of, and so ultimately until I find out some things concretely, I'll stay off the Imbrogno lynch mob.

One of the big issues I find in all this is, IF in fact his educational background is untrue - how, after his decades in this field is it just now being found out? I find that extremely strange and out of place. In this volatile field, I just don't see how this couldn't have been looked at before now and discovered.

Jeff,

Hi. I'm surprised that the fact his credentials haven't been investigated until now surprises you at all. You know there is absence of critical thinking and reasoned analysis when it comes to almost everything in this field. I think a lot of people suspected that many of Imbrogno's claims were fraudulent over the years, but even people that care about truth in the field still aren't going to formally investigate their suspicions.

To Lance's credit, he routinely exposes fraudulent claims by simply making the extra effort that not many people will make. I bet there will be no explanatory statement from Phil because he knows that it too will be exposed.

I know you guys say that you don't play favorites, and I don't think you are in this case, but look at all the bull# you let slide with Whitley Strieber without ever commenting. He's been promoting frauds, hoaxes, and his own narcissistic fantasies (the IRS is messing with me, Hollywood blacklists, etc) for years, but he gets a pass because he's one of your heroes and has a more fluid and sophisticated perspective on the phenomenon than most of the other fools in the field? You mentioned the recent resurfacing of the "drones" hoax and deservedly called out LMH, who's another narcissistic fraud of course, but you have to know Whitley has also been in her corner for years. We all give passes to our idols in life to a point, just call it what it is though.