October 15, 2025 • 9 mins
by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear In the late 1960s, Dr. J. Allen Hynek was a key figure in getting members of the scientific community to take flying saucers/UFOs seriously. He was a prominent astronomer who was involved in the mystery at the very beginning as a consultant for the Air Force’s investigation, which operated for most of its existence as Project Blue Book until its termination in 1969. He was born in Chicago in 1910 and worked and lived in Ohio from 1935 until he became chair of the astronomy department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, in 1960. In 1973, he founded the Center for UFO Studies, which was based in Chicago. Then, in 1984, after spending his entire life in the Midwest, he rather suddenly moved with his family from Chicago to Scottsdale, Arizona. In this blog, we’ll explore what was going on behind the scenes. Read more →
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Speaker 1 (00:24):
Doctor j. Allen Heinick and the International Center for UFO
Research by Charles Lear in the late nineteen sixties. Doctor j.
Allen Heinick was a key figure in getting members of
the scientific community to take flying Saucers slash UFOs seriously.
He was a prominent astronomer who was involved in the
mystery at the very beginning as a consultant for the
(00:46):
Air Force's investigation, which operated for most of its existence
as Project Bluebook until its termination in nineteen sixty nine.
He was born in Chicago in nineteen ten and worked
and lived in Ohio from nineteen thirty five until he
became chair of the astronomy department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois,
(01:07):
in nineteen sixty. In nineteen seventy three, he founded the
Center for UFO Studies, which was based in Chicago. Then,
in nineteen eighty four, after spending his entire life in
the Midwest, he rather suddenly moved with his family from
Chicago to Scottsdale, Arizona. In this blog will explore what
was going on behind the scenes. In nineteen seventy two,
(01:31):
Heine's first book, The UFO Experience, was published. In it
who presents his vision of the UFO Research Center. If
funds were no object and I were directing a UFO institute,
I would personally train an adequate number of full time investigators,
and then when a particularly interesting UFO report came along,
(01:51):
assigned two investigators to bird dog the case until every
bit but potentially available data was obtained. In his twenty
seventeen biography of Heinech, The Close Encounters Man, Mark O'Connell
quotes Heinech telling a Chicago Tribune reporter that the reason
he and his wife Mimi had moved to Arizona was
(02:11):
because Chicago is a hotbed of inertia. While this may
have been part of the reason, it seems his main
motivation was the opportunity to realize his dream of a
well funded UFO research center. O'Connell goes into this, but
Jacques Filet, a long time friend and associate of heinis
describes the circumstances in much more detail. Filet wrote about
(02:35):
Heinich's move in a journal kept during the period that
was published in twenty sixteen as Forbidden Science, Volume three.
The first entry addressing this is headed spring Hill ten
November nineteen eighty four. There he wrote, Alan told us
his new center was now duly established in Scottsdale, with
a backield wealthy Englishman Jeffrey k, a pro Israeli business
(02:59):
man who maintains homes in three countries. He explains that
Kay had only provided start up funds and intended the
fund the center through publishing in film projects, starting with
a biopic on Heinech written by John Fuller. According to him,
Heinich talked about spending two million dollars a year, but
mister K will not provide that kind of cash. Al
(03:22):
Heinech came to meet Kay comes out in entries up
to December fifteenth, nineteen eighty six. It seems the driving
forces for the center, where a pair of gold mining
entrepreneurs Valet identifies as Tina and Brian O'Connell gives their
last names as Kowit and Myers, respectively. They had known
Kay for several years as a potential investor. Tina Kowait,
(03:46):
a former Chicago deputy sheriff who had been interested in
psychic research, became interested in UFOs after meeting Ed Slade
in Las Vegas, who told her he was a former agent.
According to Valet, Slade told her that the US had
captured flying saucers, one of which was being held at
Nellis Air Force Base and their occupants. He would later
(04:09):
tell her he was a contactee and show her a
scar as proof. Slade and Jules Glazer, Kay's financial adviser,
shared an interest in collecting old share certificates, and it
was arranged that Kay and Slade would meet. Faley notes
that Kay long refused to meet with Slade. Once they
did meet, Kay was fascinated by the man's brilliant conversation.
(04:33):
After this, Ka, Kowit, and Glazer started making plans to
establish a UFO research center. Koate suggested inviting Heinig to
join their effort, which would be based in Scottsdale. Kay agreed,
and Kowate then went to Heinich with the proposal that
he moved there, saying, presumably these are Valet's words. A
(04:53):
multi millionaire from Monaco begs you to join him in
solving the UFO problem. He pledges his support. Heinig jumped
at the chance and bought a house from Glazier, who
was taking care of the business aspects of getting the
center started. Kay offered the use of a duplexy on
in Phoenix for the base of operations. It seems Heinech
(05:15):
was a bit hasty, and Valay wrote in his journal,
Alan himself now feels he may have rushed a bit
too fast to set up his new center in Arizona
under pressure from the fair Tina. Besides the iffness of
the finances, the people involved were far from being a
scientific minded researcher, investigators Heinich had surrounded himself with throughout
(05:37):
his time with Cuphos, which was now attached to the
center in Scottsdale. Boulet provides some insight into Glazier, whom
he met at a meeting after being invited to Scottsdale
to discuss lending his name to the project. He describes
wincing and Heinich saying nothing. As Kowate said, Glazer jumped
at the idea of Eufology as a money making up
(06:00):
when he saw the Meyer photographs from Switzerland. As for
insight into Kowit and Myers, they show up in the
Zamfretta case, the twenty fourteen book We Just Looked At
by Reno di Stefano. The book was about an Italian
security guard, Piero Porcinano, Zamfretta, who reported with corroborating evidence
(06:21):
multible abductions in contact with creatures about ten feet tall
with hairy green skin, yellow triangular eyes, and red veins
across the forehead. Under hypnosis. He said they gave him
a glass spear with a gold pyramid inside and told
him to give it to Heinich. It was described variously
as a communication device, homing beacon, and doomsday machine. According
(06:46):
to Di Stefano, he and Zamfretta were invited by Wendell
Stevens to the First World Congress of Eupology in Tucson, Arizona,
in nineteen ninety one, which was after Hanik's death. There
they met Kowait Myers, who said they were CEO and President,
respectively of the International Center for UFO Research, and were
(07:07):
the spiritual heirs of Heinech. They made a point of
wanting to speak to Di Stefano and Zampretta in private.
When they got together, Coiton Myers told them that there
were other cases where people were abducted and given spheares.
They said they were able to obtain two of them
and needed a third, in Di Stefano's words, to carry
(07:28):
out a project on a global scale. After Zamfretta told
them he needed to think about it and went back
to his home in Genoa, Italy, Coiton Myers went so
far as to fly to Genoa to press the matter.
They made a formal proposal that involved Zamfretta being flown
to Arizona in a private plane. He was to stay
(07:48):
there while the three spears were united. They said that
this would reveal a hidden alien message. Fistefano says that
Zamfreta replied once again that he' tapped to think about it,
but seemed to really mean I'd like to, but I can't.
It seems that Heinich lost patience with his new partners
and their approach to the UFO subject, and Valet wrote this.
(08:12):
Allan told me that q Phos from Chicago had sent
a sternly worded letter to Tina and Brian forbidding them
from using Heineck's name in connection with their work. This
saddened Allan, who gave Tina credit for bringing him to
the freedom of Arizona, although he no longer wants to
be associated with Jeffrey k. Unfortunately, in the midst of
(08:34):
all this, Heinich was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and a
brain tumor was discovered as well. He died on April
twenty seventh, nineteen eighty six. Excerpts from Forbidden Science were
sourced from a blog by Keith Basterfield titled why did
j Ellen Heinech move to Scottsdale, posted October eighth, twenty seventeen,
(08:55):
on the blogspot dot com site Unidentified Anomalist Phenomena Scientific Research.
Charles Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators,
available in its second edition at Amazon dot com.
Doctor j. Allen Heinick and the International Center for UFO
Research by Charles Lear in the late nineteen sixties. Doctor j.
Allen Heinick was a key figure in getting members of
the scientific community to take flying Saucers slash UFOs seriously.
He was a prominent astronomer who was involved in the
mystery at the very beginning as a consultant for the
(00:46):
Air Force's investigation, which operated for most of its existence
as Project Bluebook until its termination in nineteen sixty nine.
He was born in Chicago in nineteen ten and worked
and lived in Ohio from nineteen thirty five until he
became chair of the astronomy department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois,
(01:07):
in nineteen sixty. In nineteen seventy three, he founded the
Center for UFO Studies, which was based in Chicago. Then,
in nineteen eighty four, after spending his entire life in
the Midwest, he rather suddenly moved with his family from
Chicago to Scottsdale, Arizona. In this blog will explore what
was going on behind the scenes. In nineteen seventy two,
(01:31):
Heine's first book, The UFO Experience, was published. In it
who presents his vision of the UFO Research Center. If
funds were no object and I were directing a UFO institute,
I would personally train an adequate number of full time investigators,
and then when a particularly interesting UFO report came along,
(01:51):
assigned two investigators to bird dog the case until every
bit but potentially available data was obtained. In his twenty
seventeen biography of Heinech, The Close Encounters Man, Mark O'Connell
quotes Heinech telling a Chicago Tribune reporter that the reason
he and his wife Mimi had moved to Arizona was
(02:11):
because Chicago is a hotbed of inertia. While this may
have been part of the reason, it seems his main
motivation was the opportunity to realize his dream of a
well funded UFO research center. O'Connell goes into this, but
Jacques Filet, a long time friend and associate of heinis
describes the circumstances in much more detail. Filet wrote about
(02:35):
Heinich's move in a journal kept during the period that
was published in twenty sixteen as Forbidden Science, Volume three.
The first entry addressing this is headed spring Hill ten
November nineteen eighty four. There he wrote, Alan told us
his new center was now duly established in Scottsdale, with
a backield wealthy Englishman Jeffrey k, a pro Israeli business
(02:59):
man who maintains homes in three countries. He explains that
Kay had only provided start up funds and intended the
fund the center through publishing in film projects, starting with
a biopic on Heinech written by John Fuller. According to him,
Heinich talked about spending two million dollars a year, but
mister K will not provide that kind of cash. Al
(03:22):
Heinech came to meet Kay comes out in entries up
to December fifteenth, nineteen eighty six. It seems the driving
forces for the center, where a pair of gold mining
entrepreneurs Valet identifies as Tina and Brian O'Connell gives their
last names as Kowit and Myers, respectively. They had known
Kay for several years as a potential investor. Tina Kowait,
(03:46):
a former Chicago deputy sheriff who had been interested in
psychic research, became interested in UFOs after meeting Ed Slade
in Las Vegas, who told her he was a former agent.
According to Valet, Slade told her that the US had
captured flying saucers, one of which was being held at
Nellis Air Force Base and their occupants. He would later
(04:09):
tell her he was a contactee and show her a
scar as proof. Slade and Jules Glazer, Kay's financial adviser,
shared an interest in collecting old share certificates, and it
was arranged that Kay and Slade would meet. Faley notes
that Kay long refused to meet with Slade. Once they
did meet, Kay was fascinated by the man's brilliant conversation.
(04:33):
After this, Ka, Kowit, and Glazer started making plans to
establish a UFO research center. Koate suggested inviting Heinig to
join their effort, which would be based in Scottsdale. Kay agreed,
and Kowate then went to Heinich with the proposal that
he moved there, saying, presumably these are Valet's words. A
(04:53):
multi millionaire from Monaco begs you to join him in
solving the UFO problem. He pledges his support. Heinig jumped
at the chance and bought a house from Glazier, who
was taking care of the business aspects of getting the
center started. Kay offered the use of a duplexy on
in Phoenix for the base of operations. It seems Heinech
(05:15):
was a bit hasty, and Valay wrote in his journal,
Alan himself now feels he may have rushed a bit
too fast to set up his new center in Arizona
under pressure from the fair Tina. Besides the iffness of
the finances, the people involved were far from being a
scientific minded researcher, investigators Heinich had surrounded himself with throughout
(05:37):
his time with Cuphos, which was now attached to the
center in Scottsdale. Boulet provides some insight into Glazier, whom
he met at a meeting after being invited to Scottsdale
to discuss lending his name to the project. He describes
wincing and Heinich saying nothing. As Kowate said, Glazer jumped
at the idea of Eufology as a money making up
(06:00):
when he saw the Meyer photographs from Switzerland. As for
insight into Kowit and Myers, they show up in the
Zamfretta case, the twenty fourteen book We Just Looked At
by Reno di Stefano. The book was about an Italian
security guard, Piero Porcinano, Zamfretta, who reported with corroborating evidence
(06:21):
multible abductions in contact with creatures about ten feet tall
with hairy green skin, yellow triangular eyes, and red veins
across the forehead. Under hypnosis. He said they gave him
a glass spear with a gold pyramid inside and told
him to give it to Heinich. It was described variously
as a communication device, homing beacon, and doomsday machine. According
(06:46):
to Di Stefano, he and Zamfretta were invited by Wendell
Stevens to the First World Congress of Eupology in Tucson, Arizona,
in nineteen ninety one, which was after Hanik's death. There
they met Kowait Myers, who said they were CEO and President,
respectively of the International Center for UFO Research, and were
(07:07):
the spiritual heirs of Heinech. They made a point of
wanting to speak to Di Stefano and Zampretta in private.
When they got together, Coiton Myers told them that there
were other cases where people were abducted and given spheares.
They said they were able to obtain two of them
and needed a third, in Di Stefano's words, to carry
(07:28):
out a project on a global scale. After Zamfretta told
them he needed to think about it and went back
to his home in Genoa, Italy, Coiton Myers went so
far as to fly to Genoa to press the matter.
They made a formal proposal that involved Zamfretta being flown
to Arizona in a private plane. He was to stay
(07:48):
there while the three spears were united. They said that
this would reveal a hidden alien message. Fistefano says that
Zamfreta replied once again that he' tapped to think about it,
but seemed to really mean I'd like to, but I can't.
It seems that Heinich lost patience with his new partners
and their approach to the UFO subject, and Valet wrote this.
(08:12):
Allan told me that q Phos from Chicago had sent
a sternly worded letter to Tina and Brian forbidding them
from using Heineck's name in connection with their work. This
saddened Allan, who gave Tina credit for bringing him to
the freedom of Arizona, although he no longer wants to
be associated with Jeffrey k. Unfortunately, in the midst of
(08:34):
all this, Heinich was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and a
brain tumor was discovered as well. He died on April
twenty seventh, nineteen eighty six. Excerpts from Forbidden Science were
sourced from a blog by Keith Basterfield titled why did
j Ellen Heinech move to Scottsdale, posted October eighth, twenty seventeen,
(08:55):
on the blogspot dot com site Unidentified Anomalist Phenomena Scientific Research.
Charles Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators,
available in its second edition at Amazon dot com.
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