Bill Murphy is a retired quality engineer and college teacher who has been interested in UFOs ever since reading Edward Ruppelt’s Report on Unidentified Flying Objects and attending a lecture by Dr. J. Allen Hynek in the late 1960s. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in history from Michigan State University, attending on a General Motors scholarship. He was an Honors College member, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Phi Eta Sigma, and on the MSU Freshman Basketball team. He received his M.A. in ancient history from MSU. Murphy was A.E.R. Boak Fellow at the University of Michigan and subsequently held teaching fellowships. He passed his doctoral preliminary exams in ancient North Mediterranean history, with credits in ancient art and archaeology. Returning to his Lansing, Michigan, hometown, Murphy joined Lansing Community College’s humanities department as an adjunct faculty member, teaching its world civilizations courses for 17 years. At Lansing, Murphy’s focus turned to ancient Egypt, and he developed and taught courses in archaeology and ancient Egyptian history.
Murphy’s business career includes 30 years at General Motors. Hiring in as an hourly process worker and later as quality practitioner/trainer/facilitator, he moved to salaried positions in education and training, senior project engineer, and finally senior data analyst and associate dean of its Quality College. He subsequently was a data analyst at Chrysler. Murphy then worked at Linear Mold AMS, serving as quality manager for its plastics operations and helping the organization through an ISO/TS Quality certification before retirement in 2016.
Murphy’s professional and other affiliations have included officerships for the Central Michigan society of the Archaeological Institute of America and two Michigan sections of the American Society for Quality. He was a Mutual UFO Network field investigator, co-state section director and newsletter editor, co-state director and newsletter editor; and is an associate member of the Society for Scientific Exploration. He is also an assistant news editor at Anomalist.com. Since 2016, he has reviewed more than 10,000 online articles, blog items, podcasts, book reviews, and academic papers in ufology and archaeology. He was honored to produce the 30,000th post at The Anomalist on February 12, 2023.
Murphy has authored two self-published works on ancient Egyptian and ancient history for his college courses, and designed, developed, and/or delivered over 70 academic and business-related courses. He has created articles and translations for the International UFO Reporter and Journal of Scientific Exploration, participant books for quality-related courses, and articles for several state MUFON newsletters. He participates in UFO-related efforts for universities, appears as a guest on podcasts and interviews, and makes presentations for groups ranging from preschool to retirement communities. While most of his current work comprises various facets of the UFO subject, he has also presented on ancient topics, world butterflies, and oriental rugs. He lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Dr. Linda Murphy, who holds a PhD in electrical and computer engineering as well as similar positions in MUFON.