Fred Lee Crisman (July 22, 1919 – December 10, 1975) was a fighter pilot and later educator from Tacoma, Washington known for claims of paranormal events and ties to 20th century conspiracies. In 1946, Crisman claimed to have battled with non-humans in caves during the second World War. The following year, he attempted to convince two early flying saucer witnesses that lava rocks were in fact debris dropped from a flying saucer. In 1968, Crisman was subpoenaed by a New Orleans grand jury in the prosecution of a local man for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy—a prosecution that would later be dramatized in 1991 Oliver Stone film JFK. Conspiracy authors consider Crisman "a nexus point for a number of conspiracies and cover-ups from the late 1940s until [his] death in 1975". Early life Crisman was born on July 22, 1919, the only child of Fred Crisman and Eva Pitchers, both of Iowa. In 1933, he and his family moved to Vale, Oregon; His father ran a hotel there. In 1939, Crisman graduated from Vale Union High School. After briefly attending Eastern Oregon College for a time during 1939–40, Crisman left to work as a brakeman for the Union Pacific Railroad. Military career On May 26, 1942, Crisman enlisted in the army, serving as a fighter pilot in the Pacific theater. Crisman reportedly flew 211 combat missions. He was wounded twice, and he was shot down on two occasions. Crisman left the Army Air Force on February 19, 1946. Relationship with Ray Palmer and Amazing Stories In 1946–47, pulp magazine Amazing Stories was an outlet for fantasy, science-fiction, and fringe claims. The May 1946 issue, for example, included purportedly-true fringe adventures by Richard Sharpe Shaver, the fiction of Dorothy & John de Courcy written in the style of Shaver, a defense of the religions of Tibet by Millen Cooke, the fiction of Robert Moore Williams, an allegedly-true eyewitness account of unidentified objects in the skies by Dirk Wylie, and other genre-blurring texts. Promotion of the Shaver mystery In June 1946, Amazing Story published a pseudonymous letter by Crisman in which he claimed to have battled "mysterious and evil" underground creatures to free himself from a cave in Burma during World War II. Wrote Crisman: I flew my last combat mission on May 26 [1945] when I was shot up over Bassein and ditched my ship in Ramaree Roads off