Raymond Alfred Palmer (August 1, 1910 – August 15, 1977) was an American author and magazine editor. Influential in the first wave of science fiction fandom, his first fiction stories were published in 1935. Ziff Davis named him editor of the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories in 1938 and editor of its sister publication, Fantastic Stories, in 1939. He began promoting the "Shaver Mystery", a series of stories about ancient aliens, lost civilizations, and underground inhabitants, in 1944. He claimed the stories were true, which caused a deep rift in science fiction fandom and readership. On the orders of the magazine's owners, he ended the Shaver Mystery in 1948. Palmer established his own publishing house in 1947. After leaving Ziff Davis in 1949, he began publishing the magazines Fate, Other Worlds Science Stories, Mystic (later renamed Search), and Flying Saucers, among others. He wrote a short autobiography titled Martian Diary, co-wrote The Coming of the Saucers with Kenneth Arnold, edited Richard Sharpe Shaver's The Hidden World, and republished the original edition of the spiritualist work, Oahspe: A New Bible. Palmer frequently pushed fringe beliefs and conspiracy theories, and was investigated by the FBI at least once. He was linked to an inquiry into the publication of pornographic paperback books, but his involvement was tangential at best. Raymond Palmer's editing of Amazing Stories has a mixed legacy, primarily due to his promotion of the Shaver Mystery. His editing of Other Worlds Science Stories has been praised, and he is an important early figure in the history of the flying saucer and New Age movements.
Early life Raymond Alfred Palmer was born August 1, 1910, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His parents were Roy and Helen (née Steber) Palmer. His father was of Irish ancestry who had held jobs as an electrician, machinist, and timekeeper at a marble company. He became a firefighter in 1911. The Palmer family were Ulster Protestants who emigrated from Northern Ireland. According to Palmer family lore, the Pricketts (as they were then known) were driven out of Northern Ireland by Catholics. Once in the United States, the family converted to Catholicism. His mother was from northern Wisconsin, the daughter of German Lutheran immigrants. Roy Clarence Palmer was an alcoholic whose excessive drinking left the family impoverished. He also physically beat his wife. The Palmers lived a peripatetic existence, moving to a new home almost every year from 1912 to 1921. Ray's sister Evelyn was born in 1917, and his brother David in 1918. The family moved into the home of Ray's paternal grandparents in 1920 after Helen Palmer's health declined severely. When Palmer was seven years old, he ran out into traffic. His leg was caught in the spokes of a passing truck, and he was spun around and beaten against the pavement until it came to a stop. The accident badly broke several of his vertebrae. Roy Palmer refused to have his son taken to a hospital, probably because the family could not pay. A social worker visited a few days later, and took Ray to a hospital. According to Ray's friend, Frances Hamling, Ray became infected with Pott's disease (tuberculosis of the spine), and by the age of nine could no longer stand or walk.
Palmer underwent a spinal column bone graft performed by Dr. Frederick J. Gaenslen. Pott's disease is often accompanied by kyphosis (hunchback), and Gaenslen's standard recuperative treatment required the patient to be in the prone position in a Bradford frame (a full-body metal rectangle with a canvas sleeve) for up to a year. Palmer's graft became infected, and he was given morphine for the pain. Combination of illnesses and trauma stunted Ray's growth, and as an adult he stood just slightly over 4 feet (1.2 m) tall. He spent most of the next five years prone in a Bradford frame. Palmer's mother died of peritonitis and pneumonia on January 26, 1923, and Palmer blamed his father for his disability. As he grew older, he became embittered, isolated, stubborn, and plagued by an inferiority complex. He was embarrassed by his hunchback, and worried that he would never lead a normal life. Ray's paternal grandparents moved in with the family to care for the children. Roy Palmer remarried in 1924. His new wife, Mathilda, was 14 years his junior. In 1928, Mathilda gave birth to Ray's half-brother, Robert. Ray delivered newspaper to make money, and his father seized the income to make Ray pay for "room and board". During his convalescence, Ray was largely educated by a tutor provided by the Milwaukee public school system. He read on a wide range of topics, sometimes as many as 15 books a day. It was during this period that he became a fan of Ancient Egyptian history and science fiction. Palmer recovered enough to begin attending Washington High School in February 1924. He left in June 1925, most likely due to a relapse in health. He spent two more years bedridden. At the age of 16, Palmer enrolled at St. Anne's School, a Catholic school in Milwaukee. After completing the ninth grade, he dropped out. Palmer began reading Amazing Stories magazine after discovering its first issue in the spring of 1926. He wrote his first science fiction story, "The Time Ray of Jandra", in high school. His English teacher was so impressed, she read it aloud to her class. Roy Palmer moved his family once again in 1929.
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