Mysterious UFO Death Not So Mysterious
D.M. Duncan over at The Keyhoe Report has done some good gumshoe work regarding the (formerly) strange death of Dr. Robert I. Sarbacher. This relatively unknown scientist, who worked for the U.S. government in the late 1940s, sent a now famous letter to UFO researcher William Steinman in 1983 which was published in his 1986 book UFO Crash At Aztec. The letter read, in part:
About the only thing I remember at this time is that certain materials reported to have come from flying saucer crashes were extremely light and very tough. I am sure our laboratories analyzed them very carefully.
There were reports that instruments or people operating these machines were also of very light weight, sufficient to withstand the tremendous deceleration and acceleration associated with their machinery. I remember in talking with some of the people at the office that I got the impression these “aliens” were constructed like certain insects we have observed on earth, wherein because of the low mass the inertial forces involved in operation of these instruments would be quite low.
I still do not know why the high order of classification has been given and why the denial of the existence of these devices.
This is of course strong stuff, and the famous letter entered UFO legend until Whitley Strieber read Steinman’s book and decided to contact Sarbacher.
Duncan takes Whitley Strieber to task for his claims regarding Sarbacher’s death, as Strieber indicated he might himself be responsible for the scientist’s untimely demise. This continues a thread begun on April 1st at the Keyhoe Report regarding other inconsistencies in Strieber’s writings and recollections about Sarbacher.
Strieber wrote in his book Breakthrough that he had talked with Sarbacher in 1986 and sent him a package by UPS, but that the UPS told him that the package was undeliverable as Sarbacher had fallen off of his boat and drowned before they could deliver the mail to him. Later, Strieber went on to speculate on his website that his contact may have caused the elderly scientist’s death, because someone in power didn’t want him to talk.
Now Duncan finds that Dr. Sarbacher died in the hospital of a heart attack brought on by emphysema. He also contacted Sarbacher’s son, who gave him this information, but also offered that his father had been heavily involved in developing missiles that could chase UFOs and get pictures and film footage of them. This sounds almost as weird as Strieber’s MIB-like story.
Of course, since Duncan only contacted his witness by email, there is no way to conclusively prove that he was communicating with the real Robert Sarbacher, Jr., but the guy certainly came up with a lot of detailed personal information about his father that can be checked.
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May 07 2008 
May 8th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Well it’s interesting to note that Strieber claimed that Sarbacher died by falling from a yacht, and the man did have a yacht for a time. Maybe it was an easy assumption considering where the man lived and that he should be of above average income because of his previous work for the government. But still, it’s interesting.
And we should take as much cautious with Strieber’s claims as with this supposedly son of Sarbacher. For starters, what’s the man age? Reading through his writings you get the impresion that he’s no older than 20 —I assume not a lot of middle-age men refrain from using “LOL” on every other paragraph— Sarbacher was born in 1907, and although a having a son at senior age is not uncommon, it still kind of intriguing.
Also, the man claims his dad had “an IQ of 230″. Say what?? A person with a score of 144 is considered a genius, so that’s almost as saying Sarbacher was an alien himself!!
May 8th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
RPJ,
I wondered about those details as well. That’s why I put the caveat about the supposed Sarbacher Jr’s identity at the end of the post.
About the yacht: How did the UPS hear about the accident? Why would they tell a stranger (Steiber) such a detail?
Duncan should be confronted with these questions as he has questioned Strieber.
May 8th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
RPJ
Marilyn Vos Savant gives hers as 228. Was Dr. Sarbacher’s IQ “really” that high? Who knows? He told his son that it was around 230. He does appear to have been a child prodigy.
However old Robert sounds to you, Robert Jr. is in his early 40s, confirmed before I ever made contact with him via email.
Robert Jr. used both names of his sister without me mentioning them to him, when I asked him about her name change, and those names are not easy to find. Go ahead and try Googling them without knowing what they already are, if you don’t think so. Even then, knowing what they are, you will get hardly anything.
Robert Sr. was married 5 times, the last time in 1984.
He was quite the ladies man, not the stereotypical laboratory nerd. He was sociable and a good dancer.
That he would have a son later on in life than most is perfectly consistent with the rest of his behavior.
I believe the fact that Sarbacher had a yacht was already known and in the record even before Whitley wrote Communion. It either came out through Stanton or Steinman, or someone else, I’m not exactly sure. But the information was already there, and Stanton did confirm to me that he spoke to Whitley. So that doesn’t bolster Whitley’s claims in the least. Particularly if Whitley is coopting other people’s experiences and stories and remembering them as personal events in his own life, to which he then adds a stylistic flourish.
May 8th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I put a comment on the Keyhoe Report site, and Mr. Duncan answered already.
May 8th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I thank you for your response Mr. Duncan. I hope some day you will be able to meet this fellow in person so more about this mysterious business is unraveled.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Chupacabras can swim I bet.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Are you kidding me Drew?? what do you think the wings are for?
May 9th, 2008 at 9:40 am
One must remember that Streiber’s previous career before becoming involved in all matters UFO, was as a best-selling author of horror novels.
Even as I read Communion, back when it came out, and was pulled into the compelling narrative, even as I was forming the opinion that -something- happened to Streiber over the years, in the back of my mind, there was the little voice that said, “He’s a novelist. Even if these experiences contain a kernel of truth, it is likely that he is embellishing them, whether consciously or unconsciously.”
As the years have passed, and the stories have grown more complex and mythic in scope surrounding Streiber, that little voice has gotten louder and more insistent.
What bothers me the most is that Streiber himself seems to believe everything he writes, whether it is truth or fiction, which makes me question his mental health.
Whatever the answer, that Streiber is telling the absolute, verifiable truth (unlikely), that he is telling the truth as he sees and experiences it (likely), or that he is telling an embellished truth wrapped in fiction (also likely), or some combination of the above, the fact is that he has made quite a bit of money by selling his abduction stories as truth, and has turned himself into a household name, something that, even when he was a best-selling novelist, he couldn’t do by selling straight up fiction.
I rather miss the novelist, myself. I thought and still think that he is gifted in crafting a complex, interesting narrative, with plot twists and believable characters, but he seems more interested in his own celebrity now , than in writing fiction as such.
I think he is a rather tragic figure.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
To quote Robert Eringer (of catching Ira Einhorn fame):
And those voices are real!
May 9th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Helgrade, haven’t you read the latest books by Strieber? They are both novels —granted, UFO-oriented, but novels nonetheless.