Probe Report, The.
The Official Publication of NUFOR (Southwest) / National UFO Research / Journal of UFO Investigation.
Other titles: Probe
1981--1983 Quarterly
Bristol, England.
Language: English.
Editor: Ian M. Mrzyglod.
Succeeded by: BUFORA Report
1/1, 1980-4/2, October 1983.
£1.60 a year (4 issues), 20 pp.

In introducing itself to its readers, the journal said that it aimed at a more scientific and balanced approach to UFOs, contrasted with the common compilations of "page upon page of newspaper cuttings." It was to focus its efforts on Wiltshire and surrounding areas, in contract to the National UFO Research generally which had its own quarterly journal (Target). It carried the usual reprise of UFO sightings, reports of the weekly gatherings of the group's members on Cradle Hill, Warminster, to await saucer appearances: it was to be "an extension to the investigatory work carried out by the PROBE team. It is seen as a means to publish the results of intensive investigations undertaken in the Westcountry and also for the publishing of work carried out by organisations elsewhere in the UK." This approach failed to attract the necessary subscription base, mainly because of the journals "very sceptical stance" and "scathing" attacks on "slack investigation and uncritical UFO theorising."

"Being rational doesn't sell magazines and books, particularly in this field, as those who wish to be entertained by UFO stories and tales of the mysterious want just that. We could not, and would not offer that without being sceptical when necessary, and that kills the interest dead. Maybe it was a brave direction to follow, or maybe it was a direction that the public awareness of UFOs is not ready for. Whatever it was, it was a direction that PROBE as a team believed in and still do."

The last issue was vol. 4, no. 2, October 1983, and the journal appeared thereafter as BUFORA Report, with the same editor, whose subscription was included in the BUFORA (British UFO Research Association, Ltd.) membership dues of £12.50. The journal is to be distinguished from Probe (Rhose Island) and Probe the Unknown (Burbank, California), q.v.