Letter to Matthias Morey Ripoll.The UFO Chronicles of the Balearic Islands

Published in european oil company No. 95

Dear Matthias:

I haven’t liked you or even known you for decades. I am an idiot.

But when your colleague Luis of seven years at the Mallorca Defense Agency told me the news on November 14, with a curt “RIP Mathias Morey”, my reaction was very bad. This is almost always the case. Because like I said, I’m an idiot. scolded him for the poor taste of the joke.

But doubts were planted, so I wrote to you, but you didn’t reply to me. normal. After getting no response (and suspicion growing), I went to mutual friends to confirm that the news was a low-brow joke. I publicly apologize to your partner Louis.

Over the next 24 hours, I corresponded with each other, I went to the list of anomalies, I posted ads on my social networks… I even scolded my informant for his questionable sense of humor. In response, he sent me a screenshot of a statement issued by the Mallorca Defense Agency expressing condolences on your death. But I refuse to believe it.

Unfortunately, today, Vincent Juan Ballester Olmos proved to me that I was wrong. “Matthias Morey Ripoll died last Sunday, November 13, at the age of 56.”

I am ashamed of myself today because for years I viewed you as an “enemy” without even knowing you.

You have been one of the pillars of the Anomaly Foundation, and therefore of “scientific” Ufology. Our generation of “field ufologists” were taught to hate it. Just like in the same family, those who are passionate about UFOs cannot have cousins, brothers, nephews, uncles, sons-in-law or brothers-in-law. They have different ideas and are one family.

I insist that when I think of my position against you on cases and things without knowing you, I feel ashamed of myself, just to find you on the opposite side of my opinion on this phenomenon… Card Mae Domenech and her sister, you know what I’m talking about, were witnesses. How stupid we are.

You are not my friend. I have never seen you in my life. I’ve never held your hand. In fact, my first “direct” contact with you occurred on January 30, 2021.

On that historic day, the unusualist mailing list worked wonders for us, opponents of UFO theory, to reconcile over the decades and focus on what unites us rather than what divides us. The results are very rich. Although not everyone explains it the same way. (european oil company Issue 93. pages 64 to 66). In fact, my reflection on “The Disillusionment of Ufology” elicited an angry response from Outlier magazine. But it doesn’t matter, she means it.

That day was the first time in my life that I had the opportunity to interact with you, even remotely. You are one of less than 20 people who show up for the appointment. In fact, you were the moderator of a meeting between “armchair ufologists” and “hiking ufologists.” You make me fall in love. This sentence is not nonsense at all. Unfortunately I never told you…

From the first minute, you managed to put a smile on the face of all the attendees who came into the meeting on the defensive…some because they were gullible, some because they were skeptical. Ease any tension that may exist. This is the proof of great wisdom. Once again I was wrong.

It seemed great to me that at this virtual meeting, for the first time in years, sectors that had been bitterly at odds for decades (and some still are) were having a conversation. Focus on the things that unite us rather than the things that divide us. Most of all, I’m fascinated by your sense of humor and knowledge of ufology.

i know your job UFO Notebook, although I admit that I never read them with interest due to my biases. I mean, I started doing it after that meeting. But I did read a good chunk of your bibliography this year. In fact, in my next book (which, coincidentally, will be published three days after your death), I repeatedly quote from several of your works as a historian of American ufology. I’d love to know what you think of him, but that’s no longer possible.

You were very kind in responding to my progress in this research and asking you about specific cases, such as the famous Ottomans, and while I appreciate the work currently being printed, I would also like to do so publicly.

Even if it’s too late, thank you for your irresistible sense of humor that contributes to comforting a community like the UFO community, where we often allow ourselves to be swayed by emotion rather than common sense.

Wishing you a pleasant journey and sending my deepest and most sincere condolences to the family and friends left behind.

Manuel Cabral