Gray Barker's book, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers
This document is Serial 403 of the FBI Headquarters case file 62-HQ-83894, released by the U.S. Department of War/FBI. According to the releasing agency, the overall 62-HQ-83894 case file compiles investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968, including high-profile incident accounts, photographic evidence from sites such as Oak Ridge, TN, and technical propulsion proposals. This particular serial reproduces the dust-jacket text of Gray Barker's book 'They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers,' issued by University Books, Inc. The jacket describes Barker, a Clarksburg, West Virginia film-booking businessman, and his account of leading flying-saucer researchers who were allegedly 'silenced' — visited by three men in dark suits — after challenging official government denials. It states Barker's interest began in 1952 after an alleged saucer landing near his West Virginia home, and notes he publishes the periodical 'The Saucerian.' The releasing agency notes this complete case file includes several newly declassified pages with only minor redactions, versus a more redacted version on the FBI Vault.
Focus
Archive-highlighted excerpt · page 2 · Jul 6, 2026
Description
A page from the FBI Headquarters UFO/flying disc case file 62-HQ-83894 (Serial 403), consisting of a promotional book jacket for Gray Barker's book 'They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers,' published by University Books, Inc. of New York. The item is part of a broader declassified FBI case file on Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs.
Claims
The FBI's 62-HQ-83894 file documents UFO and flying-disc reports between June 1947 and July 1968.
85%This posted version is the complete case file with newly declassified pages and only minor redactions, versus a more redacted FBI Vault version.
70%The FBI case file includes photographic evidence from sites such as Oak Ridge, TN, and technical propulsion proposals.
60%An astonishing flying saucer allegedly landed near Barker's West Virginia home in 1952.
20%Leading civilian flying-saucer researchers who challenged official denials were 'silenced' one by one.
15%Three unidentified men in dark suits visited saucer researchers, reducing them to silence.
15%Leading flying-saucer researchers who challenged official denials that saucers come from outer space have been 'silenced' one by one.
15%An astonishing flying saucer allegedly landed near Gray Barker's West Virginia home in 1952.
15%Three men in dark suits visited these researchers and said something that reduced them to silence.
12%
Events
Dec 31, 1951
Alleged flying saucer landing near Barker's West Virginia home
Barker states one of the most astonishing saucers allegedly landed near his home in 1952, prompting his investigation.
May 7, 2026
FBI file public release
Release of the complete 62-HQ-83894 case file with newly declassified pages per the source page.
Dec 31, 1951
Alleged flying saucer landing near Barker's home
According to the jacket text, one of the most astonishing saucers allegedly landed near Gray Barker's West Virginia home in 1952, sparking his investigations.
—
FBI case file 62-HQ-83894 documentation period
Per the releasing agency, the case file documents UFO and flying disc reports from June 1947 to July 1968.
May 7, 2026
Release of declassified file
The FBI/Department of War posted this complete case file with newly declassified pages.
Dates mentioned
Keywords
Entities
Organizations
People
Topics
Programs
Extracted text (OCR)
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$3.50
They Knew Too Much About
Flying Saucers
by GRAY BARKER
One by one, the leading figures among flying
saucer researchers, who have challenged the government deniaJ that saucers come from outer space, have
been silenced.
Outwardly, nothing seems co have happened co
these men. They are srilJ alive, still living where they
used ro. Bur they no longer publish saucer research
material and they will not talk about saucers or why
they no longer will speak of them.
Three men in dark suits have visited these saucer
researchers. Nobody knows what they said, but it was
enough to reduce their bearers to silence.
Perhaps the silenced men know who the three
dark-dad visitors are, but they won't c.alk. about chis
either. And nobody else seems co know who these
men are. They might be government agencs, they
might even be men from outer space, or they might
have muscled into a situation fraught with many
possibilities.
This is pan of the crue story rold by an otherwise
prosaic and successful Oarksburg, West Virginia,
business man, Gray Barker, whose busy film booking
and buying agency in Clarksburg News Building
scarcely seems co be the place to give forth this story
stranger than chat of any of the pictures chat Mr.
Barker is booking.
Mr. Barker never was interested in flying saucers
until 1952 when one of the most astonishing ones
allegedly landed near his home in West Virginia and
he investigated the story and found the shaken and
fearful eye wicnesses convincing enough to go on
with further investigations.
Then, after severaJ years of close contaa with the
leading men in the .field, he found them suddenly
silenced, one by one.
Who they are, what they were doing when they
were silenced, Mr. Barker's astonishing theories of
what they had discovered chat impelled ochers co
silence them, is cold in his book.
H. G. Rhawn, publisher and owner of the daily
Clarksburg News, the author's home town paper, has
authorized University Books to publish a letter from
him which, while carefully disclaiming any credence
in flying saucers, concludes that when so sober and
successful a business man as Mr. Barker finds the
.field imponanr enough, flying saucers deserve serious
investigation.
The,y Knew Too Much About Flying Sa11cers is a
( continued on back flap)
JACKET BY GROPPER ASSOCIATES, INC.
GRAY BARKER
(continued from front flap )
behind-the-scenes chronicle of civilian saucer research.
It is an immensely readable book. We suggesc you do
not pick it up if you have work to do, for you wiJJ
be unable to put it down until you reach the amazing
climax.
Mr. Barker cells the Story in such a straightforward
and documentary manner that the reader's first moment of incredulity will give way to conviction as be
is acquainted, page-by-page, with the terrifying inside faces.
A six-footer, handsome, and with a warm, infectious laugh, Mr. Barker retains in his voice just a
trace of the accent of the West Vitginia farming
country where be grew up, somewhat belying the rich
and varied career he has crammed into his thirty
years. He has been head of an English deparanent in
a Maryland school system, an audio-visual education
consultant for a large school supplier, theatre manager and morion picrure projection technician. Begun
as a hobby, saucer research has taken more and more
of his time as be has realized the Stark reality behind
the mystery.
Finding time for bis literary career between details
of operating his business, he publishes The Saucerian,
a flying saucer periodical, and contributes co educational journals and morion picture technical magazines.
UNIVERSITY BOOKS, INC
404 Fourth Avenue
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New York 16, N. Y.
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