FT270


Held over four days (22–25 July) within the pleasant confines of the Denver, Colorado, Marriott Tech-Centre, the 41st symposium of the Mutual UFO Network was – as it always is – a Mecca for those who adhere to the notion that sightings of, and encounters with, UFOs are firm evidence that aliens walk among us. Indeed, MUFON makes very few bones about the theory that ‘they’ are here. And, largely, the roughly 400 attendees were in full agreement.

In other words, this isn’t UnConvent­ion, where you’re more likely to hear Jonathan Downes trumpeting about Tulpas, Dr Dave Clarke holding forth on Ghost-Lights, or Ian Ridpath taking a rationalist axe to the Rendlesham encounter. But, if you like your UFOs saucer-shaped and piloted by unsmiling little grey fellows, then this is the event for you. So if you weren’t able to attend, what did you miss?

Certainly one of the most eagerly anticipated lectures of the weekend was that of Richard Dolan, author of the planned three-volume series UFOs and the National Security State (two down, one to go). Whereas Roswell, Area 51 and alien abductions were all once guaranteed to get the ufological faithful foaming at the mouth, today it’s Disclosure. And that’s right: if you want to please the crowd, you’d better spell it with a capital ‘D’.

The notion that ‘the Government’ is finally going to tell us the ‘truth’ about UFOs has been rapidly gaining mom­entum in the last few years, not least due to the vocal interventions of Steven Greer, of the Disclosure Project, and the Paradigm Research Group’s Stephen Bassett – both of whom believe that revel­ations concerning an ET presence on our world may soon be forth­coming. Of course, such claims have been made for decades and none has ever resulted in any meaningful revel­ations. But let’s give Rich the benefit of the doubt.

Dolan’s talk was fluent, thoughtful, carefully delivered and avoided sens­ationalism. It was focused not so much on when or how Disclosure might come, but what life might be like for all of us afterwards. He has a new book out shortly on this very subject, entitled A.D., After Disclosure: The People’s Guide to Life after Contact, which he has written with Bryce Zabel, co-creator of the short-lived 1990s science fiction television series, Dark Skies.

Dolan sees both good and bad in the future: on the positive side, he noted that if alien technology really is in the hands of the American elite, then its release into the public domain may well serve to end our reliance on fossil fuels. Similarly, major advances in medicine and biotechnology could lead to ‘super longevity’. He cautioned, however, that the United States of today seems to be drifting towards a state of near-fascism, and there are powerful players who have a lot to lose if oil becomes redundant, and who might not want the world radically rearranged as a result of overnight cosmic revelations. The battle for Disclosure is being fought right now, Dolan emphasised.

The audience loved it: they cheered and clapped, hoping that they – unlike every single ufologist who has come before them – will finally receive validat­ion for their cherished extra­terrestrial hypothesis.
Kevin Randle is a well-known figure in ufology, a firm believer that aliens met their deaths at Roswell, New Mexico, in the summer of 1947, and the author or co-author of several books on the most famous UFO case. He’s also someone – unlike many in the field – possessed of a fine sense of humour and a capacity to talk about things other than UFOs and alien life. Yes, really!

No doubt, there were many who thought that Randle was going to reel off case after case in supp­ort of the notion that ET has had the misfort­une to crash and burn on dozens of occasions. Well, it didn’t quite go like that. Randle may be a champ­ion of Roswell, but there are other well-known cases for which he has no time at all. His paper was focused to a great extent on the UFO ‘crash-retrieval’ investigations of Leonard H Stringfield, who wrote a number of reports on the subject and who died in 1994. Randle was careful to note that he considered Stringfield to be “an honourable man”, but he had major reservations about some of the cases that Stringfield highlighted and published.

Of a UFO crash said to have occurred in Mexico in 1948 or 1950, depending on whom you ask, and to which Stringfield gave much space in his reports, Randle noted that, after having delved deeply into the story for himself: “We now have what I believe to be a solid answer for this case – which is, simply, it didn’t happen. Len started this pro­cess by publishing his information about it and I ended it for him.” Ouch.

Randle also cut down the story of a UFO crash in Cape Girardeau, Miss­ouri, in 1941 – a tale that has been repeated in numerous publications, including those of Stringfield: “The problem for me is simply this: if there had been this crash in 1941, then the military would have been aware of the possibility of interplanetary travel. That means they would have been better prepared for the Roswell crash. That argues against the extraterrestrial nature of this case.” That was two down. And there were several more to go, including the famous story of a reported UFO crash at the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen in 1952. Randle’s verdict: nothing but a hoax.

I asked one crystal-carrying audience member, who was leafing through the Symposium Proceedings, what she thought of Randle’s revelations: “Well, I like his Roswell research,” she replied, somewhat icily – a sure sign that being told some long-celebrated crashed UFO events simply didn’t occur was clearly not what she wanted to hear at all.

Stanton Friedman, a near-perm­anent and undeniably legendary fixture on the UFO lecture circuit, was on hand to deliver a powerful presentation that castigated certain well-known figures. Friedman’s paper began: “In the first six months of 2010 there was a comparatively huge amount of serious media coverage about aliens and life in outer space. The coverage was the result of many different comments by a number of very high profile scientists such as world famous theoretical astrophysic­ist Dr Stephen Hawking, astronomers such as Dr Frank Drake, Dr Paul Davies, Lord Martin Rees, [and] Dr Seth Shostak.”

Friedman couldn’t let it pass with respect to the above: “There were a number of dismissive remarks about UFOs, but no sensible discussion concerning the extensive evidence that Earth is being visited by extraterrestrials.”

Thus, it was time for Stan to redress the balance, which he did time and again: “There is no doubt that the fine minds in astrophysics have really fouled up when it comes to educating the public and the media, and themselves, about life in outer space. They have not had the courage to dig into the mountain of evidence available nor confront the realistic consequences of their claims.”

As he reached the finish-line, Friedman brought it all back home, addressing his audience on a matter close to their hearts: “One reason they have been getting away with this nonsense is our failure to hold their feet to the fire of reason to show that the emperors have no clothes and to put the facts out in the open.”

Also on hand were Linda Howe and John Burroughs: the former is well-known within ufology for her extensive writings on the cattle-mutilation controversy; Burroughs, meanwhile, was one of the key US Air Force players in the December 1980 encounters with – well, something – at Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk. Their joint presentation offered a new slant on the affair; one which had far less to do with aliens, and much more to do with time-travellers from our distant future who, on that fateful night in the woods, may have come back as part of some vital mission to prevent the future extinction of the Human Race. Apparently, things aren’t looking too good for us in the centuries ahead. Which apparently explains why what’s left of us is hell-bent on coming back and securing some good old 20th- and 21st-century DNA, eggs and sperm to beef-up the dwindling species.

Howe asked the mind-boggling quest­ions: “If we humans became conscious of the time manipulation efforts, would our consciousness change the future to survival or to extinction? Does the UFO phenomenon keep us dumb and blind to prevent our interference in their efforts to unravel past, present and future?” Buggered if I know!

As for my own presentation on Crop Circles, I wondered how an American audience would react to a presentation that suggested a large number of British circles were not the handiwork of black-eyed, emotionless midgets from beyond the Solar System, but the products of skilled artists of a very human kind. Surprisingly, there was a total lack of animosity and hostility to what I had to say, particularly when I succ­eeded in getting across the message that labelling these people as mere ‘hoaxers’ is to totally misunderstand what drives and motivates them to do the things they do.

On the matter of MUFON’s field-investigations and online files, Terry Groff, a MUFON Deputy Director of Investigations, gave a workshop presentation on the organisation’s Case Management System, which is designed to allow efficient access to the latest sighting reports, case studies, and ongoing investigations. As Groff noted, teaching field investigators not just how to investigate reports, but the process by which their data need to be carefully prepared and electronic­ally archived, is a vital component of MUFON’s activities in the Internet age.

Other presentations included those of Michael Schratt, who dazzled the audience with stories and imagery of advanced military aircraft that might very well be mistaken for UFOs; John Greenewald, keeper of The Black Vault website, who delved into the world of Freedom of Inform­ation, official secrecy, and Project Blue Book; George Filer, who spoke about his own UFO encounter while serving with the US military in 1962; Kathleen F Marden, the niece of none other than Betty Hill, who argued that some abduction cases continued to defy easy explanation; and Marc D’Antonio, whose presentation was entitled “Drawn in Stone: Cosmic Hints of the Petroglyphs”.

When it was all over that sunny Sunday afternoon – the stage dismantled, the vendors packed up – I sat down with a cold Heineken, chatted with a group who were engaged in a deep and dark discussion of the Men in Black, and wondered if Disclosure really was right around the corner. Or would we all be back next year for more of the same?