The UFO book that seems to be gathering interest and momentum at the moment is ‘UFOs TODAY – 70 Years of Lies, Misinformation and Government Cover-Up’ so I have taken this opportunity to interview the book’s author, Irena Scott PhD.  2017 will see the 70th anniversary of flying saucers and debate has raged on ever since and there seems no sign of it stopping anytime soon.

PM: Please tell us something about your background. Who is Irena Scott PhD?

I have a PhD, have had a professorship and have worked in scientific research for most of my life. My life began on an Ohio farm. We lived under quite primitive conditions, such as farming with horses. This background enables me to consider things from both a heartland farmer and a scientific viewpoint. Despite our lack of books and media, I became interested in astronomy at a very young age. I worked my way through college with an astronomy major, but found that I couldn’t be employed in that field because it was male-only in those days (which also enabled me to see scientists as less logical than normally presented). So, I went into one of the closest fields that females were allowed in, satellite photography. I worked at the Aerospace Center in St. Louis, Missouri, where they sent me to six months of cartography school, which was equal to a master’s degree. I later transferred to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Washington D.C. in the field of photointerpretation and photogrammetry. Here I received some of the highest clearances in the government and learned not only about this field, but also government secrecy and cover-up, and now think the government has much more ability to cover-up than people expect.

Later I married and moved to Nevada, because my husband had a position there after a previous position that included working in Area 51. I began working for the University of Nevada, earned free tuition, and later transferred and received a PhD from the University of Missouri School of Veterinary Medicine in physiology (a combination of chemistry and biology). After doing post-doctoral research at Cornell University, I became an Assistant Professor at St. Bonaventure University. Other positions included research and teaching at The Ohio State University, the University of Missouri, and at Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle). I have also been a volunteer astronomer at the former Ohio State University Radio Observatory, been stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB), and have taken flying lessons.

I have a variety of publications including books, research published in scientific journals, and in newspapers and magazines–such as having been a correspondent for Popular Mechanics magazine with byline articles and photographs in the science and technology sections. My listings as a scientist include: Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in the Midwest, and Who’s Who in Frontier Science and Technology. One of my recent books, Uncle: My Journey with John Purdue published by the Purdue University Press, is on a historical subject.

In the 1990s, I joined several UFO groups. I served on the MUFON Board of Directors (1993 to 2000), was a MUFON consultant in physiology and astronomy and a field investigator for both MUFON and the Center for UFO Studies. I co-edited eight MUFON symposium proceedings, have been a State Section Director for Ohio MUFON, was a founding member of the Mid-Ohio Research Associates (MORA) and its journal editor, and have published UFO material in books and magazines–including scientific journals. As an investigator, I conducted many studies and in these I met numerous fascinating people with amazing accounts.

PM: How and when did you first become interested in the UFO phenomenon?

I have always slightly paid attention to the subject because of a number of events that happened in my family from an early time. For one example, an aunt in West Virginia would write letters to my mother describing UFO events. Some events happened even before we had heard of UFOs–in one case, an aunt in West Virginia talked about small glowing objects that sometimes flew through their house. However my parents were conservative, Middle–American, farmers and did not allow us to even speak about the subject, thus, any interest was repressed. This made me a little sensitive to the idea of government cover-up, also.

I was also quite fortunate in the places I lived – such as Ohio, Nevada, and Washington DC – have been heavily involved in the UFO scene. For example, in Ohio are WPAFB and Battelle where the best-known studies took place. The DIA has been important in UFO study and some think that is the agency that began to investigate UFOs after Project Blue Book was closed.

PM: Have you ever had a personal UFO sighting at all?

Several events have drawn my attention. For one, I sometimes visited people who lived in the Davis Mountains in Texas that overlooked Marfa, which is known for the Marfa Lights. One night I saw and videotaped for about half an hour a large bright light over the town of Marfa that would turn on and off. Later I called the airport and they had nothing to report, but they would have been closed that late at night.

In another instance, while living in Missouri, my Mother in Ohio called to ask if I had just heard a strange sound. I thought this was quite odd and asked if my parents had just developed dementia. Later when I moved back to Ohio, I found information about this October 11, 1973 event. Not only had there been a strange noise, but a sudden wave of UFO reports happening at the same time. With the help of the State of Ohio seismologist Mike Hansen, I studied the noise. It was extremely widespread and much larger than a sonic boom or similar event. I was able to publish information about this sound in a peer-reviewed scientific journal (“Investigation of a Sound Heard over a Wide Area,” Ohio Journal Science 87(2), 1987: 11). I still don’t know what caused the sound. I also wondered why my parents had the strange mental reaction to it and wondered if others did.

PM: Has being an academic helped you in your research of the UFO phenomenon?

Yes, for example a Battelle co-worker and I were the first to show smoking gun evidence that UFO materials research may have taken place there. I also make some smoking gun discoveries while working in other places, for example at the DIA and at WPAFB. Being in the scientific field has made this possible. I worked in several of the institutions that were the most involved in UFO research, the DIA, Battelle, and WPAFB.

Being an academic has helped me in other ways. For example, I have been able to publish pieces about UFOs in scientific journals, and think this helps to establish the credibility of UFO study. I’ve spent much time interviewing not only witnesses, but people at random. In one case, after a sighting had been reported in the newspapers, I began to interview other people in that general location and published the results, “Survey of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Reports in Delaware County, Ohio.” Ohio Journal of Science 87.1 (1987): 24-26. One impressive result was that there appeared to be many more possible sightings than reports. Unfortunately, because of the difficulty of reporting these events, UFOlogy has been slow to advance and is still the subject of ridicule.

In addition, having training in statistics and experimental methods, I am able to evaluate the scientific experiments that have been done. It has helped me in interviewing witnesses, because I can ask questions that might be useful in scientific understanding. It makes me more aware of what might be called hard evidence and how to collect it, also.

PM: Could you explain how your new book UFOs TODAY first came about.

I joined several UFO groups in the 1990s and began to investigate sightings. I also became an editor of such publications as the MUFON symposium proceedings, and a local publication, the Ohio UFO Notebook. My field investigations gave me more of a perspective on UFOlogy than I would have from simply reading books. I discovered that the sightings that contained the most detail, often did not necessarily match the general idea of flying saucers as disc shaped craft. There were all kinds of unusual sightings, which along with my childhood exposure to the subject, made me think that the phenomena is much more complex than generally presented. I reported on many of these odd instances, thus, I already had them written up. Later the idea of writing a book struck me.

PM: Whilst compiling your research for your new book is there any one piece of evidence that for you really stands out?

Some of the most amazing to me have been ones that included interaction and ones such as lengthy events where authorities were notified, came, and even took part in the sightings. The authorities were often as mystified as the observers. For example, one sighting near Logan, Ohio, was of objects above a cornfield. These would blink on and off and move around. They were interactive with people. One followed a car. Authorities were notified, the event was reported on newscasts and TV, and police and other people came out to watch. Airplanes began to fly over in a grid pattern, although no one knew where they came from–the agency didn’t contact anyone. The objects remained interactive and one flew up to an airplane. A second sighting occurred the very night after another investigator and I had interviewed the witnesses.

Others have been abduction events, such as several that were linked with the October 11, 1973, sound that I investigated.

Dr. Irena Scott

(Credit: Irena Scott/Philip Mantle)

PM: What do you say to those that remain skeptical with regards to the UFO subject?

The term UFO carries considerable baggage. People generally link it with little green or gray men in space ships, or even the Loch Ness Monster. People ask each other whether they believe in it. This is because in general the idea is associated with alien visitation; people are asking whether they believe UFOs come from space. However the phenomena actually consists of many credible empirical observations such as of balls of light that can change to different forms; objects that appear and disappear, go through walls, merge and separate; and groups of lights that come together to form humanoid appearing entities. Others include objects of incredible size and speed, poltergeist-like activity, large and small UFOs, magnetic and radiation effects, abduction phenomena, thought control, and telepathy, for a few. Because of this, the phenomenon often doesn’t fit the profile of pilots and space ships, but of something vastly different from us. Such observations suggest that this data also might be investigated using different paradigms than our nuts and bolts ideas of space ships, such as by using quantum mechanical theories, or the idea that the phenomena might not be molecular as we are, or other ideas. I think new ways and different paradigms of science are needed to study it.

Another reason for the skepticism is that government has deliberately created it. Not only does it cover up, but it appears to use brainwashing techniques that produce skepticism rather than scientific examination. For example, there is some evidence that in even the very earliest reports some form of cover-up may have been active. The government has manipulated the results scientific studies, such as the one done by Battelle, to show that they found noting when in fact they did. In other cases it has set up panels that purported to scientifically examine the subject, but instead used them to debunk the phenomena, such as those of Robertson and Condon. It has actively set up debunking campaigns to plant outlandish UFO claims in the media to make UFO reports sound ridiculous. The Condon Report summary cautioned teachers to discourage any interest of pupils in UFOs, because such study would be harmful to their development. So if UFOs do not exist, how would an interest in them harm pupils and why should pupils be brainwashed? Why expend large amounts of money to lie and cover-up the phenomena, if it doesn’t exist. Such activities would certainly help the UFO phenomena by causing people to not take it seriously, thus helping it to hide its activities. In addition, UFO phenomena may be quite complex, thus one even wonders exactly what governments are covering up.

PM: In your opinion, how do we keep moving forward with UFO research?

I think numerous observations indicate this important phenomenon is much more complex that just space ships. I think it would be well to have statisticians go over the best UFO event data with the best developments in statistics to see what treads, or even significant results, can be found. I also think that as knowledge of people’s family trees and genetic studies are improving that one might search to see if there are any genetic similarities in people having sightings. Also people may not really understand what the phenomena is and that it might be much more complex that space ships from other worlds. Thus, I think that examining it for proof that we have visitors from space, or studying the propulsion systems and that sort of thing may not be as valuable as thought. For example, in both scientific experiments and in many reports there are mental aspects that are very difficult to understand. I think people need ways to study this element. I also think that people are interpreting the phenomena using Newtonian physics ideas, but need to study the possibility that the quantum theory elements may be involved in the phenomena. Other methods might be those of Dr. Harley Rutledge, who set up a study area with observing stations in an area of many sightings. His design may have resulted in the best scientific study ever done. He was even able to examine interactive behavior. Moreover, numerous reports have shown that the phenomenon is interactive, or even seems to put on a show, but witnesses in general are not directly contacted. This should also be studied.

END.

One of the most controversial aspects of this book has of course been the testimony of former US Deputy Sheriff Charles Forgus (deceased).  He claims that he was a witness to the UFO crash at Roswell in 1947. There is no way this can be verified of course and his testimony is simply being put into the public domain for further scrutiny. In my opinion the author is to be congratulated on treating such possibly controversial testimony in an open and honest way. Obviously efforts are continuing to try and obtain more information about Charles Forgus and his testimony with a variety of researchers involved and organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. It will be interesting to see what they uncover.

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband to the queen of England, is a UFO aficionado. His UFO interests are not only included in a biography, author Philip Eade writes in his foreword that the idea for the biography came about when he was considering writing a book about prominent ufologists in the period after World War II. The biography is titled, Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II, and proves to be a great read.

In a story in The Daily Beast, they highlighted 12 of the most “juicy bits” of the biography. Regarding the UFO “bits,” they wrote:

During the course of that research, Eade discovered not only that Prince Philip was a subscriber to the magazine Flying Saucer Review, but that he once sent his equerry, Sir Peter Horsley, “to meet an extraterrestrial humanoid at a house in Ealing.” Eade writes, “A number of witnesses were invited to Buckingham Palace to discuss their experiences, as Horsley later explained, to ‘put them on the spot’ and to test their honesty in the presence of royalty, a method as effective as any truth serum.” Horsley was on the prince’s staff from 1952 to 1955 before climbing to great heights in the Royal Air Force. When Horsley published his memoirs in 1997, a senior official at the Ministry of Defence commented, “How unfortunate that the public will learn that the man who had his finger on the button of Strike Command was seeing little green men.”

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, June 2012.

(Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Although it may seem surprising that a member of the royal family would have an interest in UFOs, Prince Philip is not the first. In fact his uncle, Lord Mountbatten, had similar interests. In a biography by Philip Ziegler in 1985, he wrote that Mountbatten had admittedly “far-fetched” ideas about the origins of the mysterious phenomenon. Ziegler explained this idea in his book:

[We were] both convinced that they come from another planet but we mutually and independently came to the conclusion that they were not ‘aeroplanes’ with silly little almost human pilots but are themselves the actual inhabitants: Martians, Venusians, Jupiterians or what have you. Why should life in another planet with entirely different conditions in any way resemble life on our planet? Their inhabitants might be ‘gaseous’ or circular or very large. They certainly don’t breathe, they may not have to eat and I doubt if they have babies—bits of their great discs may break away and grow into a new creature. The fact that they can hover and accelerate away from the earth’s gravity again and even revolve round a V2 in America (as reported by their head scientist) shows that they are far ahead of us. If they really come over in a big way that may settle the capitalist-communist war. If the human race wishes to survive they may have to band together.

Lord Mountbatten (Credit: Allan Warren)

In 1955 Lord Mountbatten investigated a UFO incident in his own back yard, literally, that put his theory to the test. In Timothy Good’s book, Above Top Secret, there is a report written by Mountbatten on his investigation of a sighting on the grounds of his Broadlands Estates in Romsey, Hampshire. Frederick Briggs, a retired British Army Sergeant, was working as a bricklayer on the grounds, when he says he saw a large craft that looked like a child’s top hovering over a field. He says a column came down from the center of the craft, and there appeared to be a humanoid figure descending with the pillar.

Mountbatten states in his report that he personally interviewed Mr. Briggs. He reported that Briggs “did not give the impression of being the sort of man who would be subject to hallucinations, or would in any way invent such a story.”

In an interview with Nick Pope, a man who led official investigations into UFOs for Britain’s Ministry of Defence, I asked about the royal family’s interest in UFOs. Pope was reticent to speak on the subject, stating:

Um… yeah this is a kind of difficult area for me to enter. Of course, even though I have left the Ministry of Defence, I am still bound by the official secrets act, and it binds me for life. Yes, I know that some members of the royal family have an interest in UFOs, Crop Circles, and the unexplained generally, because of my security oath this isn’t an area that I can really discuss in any great detail I am afraid.

I told him that his answer was sort of fun, and he laughed and said, yes you can infer from that what you will. It begs the question, is the queen herself also a UFO buff, or does she shrug off her husband’s interests as spouses are prone to do?

A version of this story was first posted in the Huffington Post, but I discovered that I had neglected to post it here at OpenMinds.tv. I discovered that when I was looking for this story in relation to a recent talk I did that was featured in The Sun, a UK newspaper.

In this interview, Chuck shares his discoveries and lets us in on how all of this attention on his work came about.

The Mutual UFO Network’s chief photo expert, Marc D’Antonio, says he was on a US Navy submarine when they tracked a very fast moving object in the ocean. Subsequent responses from Navy personnel lead D’Antonio to believe the Navy has a secret program regarding Unidentified Submerged Objects (USOs).

USOs are the underwater equivalent to UFOs. Although much less popular, there are famous USO cases Ufologists often reference.

One of the most interesting USO stories, for me, is that of my friend D’Antonio’s. I have heard it several times in his company, and I believe we talked about it on one of his many appearances on the Open Minds UFO Radio podcast.

Marc D’Antonio in Hulett, Wyoming.

(Credit: John Chapple/The Sun)

D’Antonio, beside being an astronomer and photo expert — among other professional exploits — is also a model maker. He has had several government contracts to build models, many requiring a Top Secret clearance. Among these contracts have been projects with the Navy.

D’Antonio says he was once invited to take a ride in a nuclear submarine and at one point things got weird. Although D’Antonio has told the story before, it has not been featured in the mainstream media until recently. D’Antonio and I both gave presentations at the recent Devils Tower UFO Rendezvous in Hulett, Wyoming, and Emma Parry from the UK’s The Sun was there to write about it.

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Shawn Halliwell checks his sonar system during a battle drill aboard the strategic missile submarine USS Maryland, Feb. 16, 2009.

(Credit: US Department of Defense/Gerry J. Gilmore)

She has written several stories stemming from the event, one of them on D’Antonio’s USO encounter. Here is what she wrote on D’Antonio’s recollection of the USO during his Devils Tower lecture:

“I was sitting there zoning out a little because I was sea sick and all of a sudden the sonar kid shouts ‘fast mover, fast mover’ and I’m jolted awake – thinking ‘What’s happening? Is it a torpedo?’

“The executive officer comes out and the operator shows him the path of the object and the officer says ‘How fast is that going?’

“And the kid said ‘several hundred knots’. I start to lean forward to listen in – and the officer said ‘Can you confirm it?’

“So he goes to another sonar machine and confirmed it wasn’t a machine anomaly – it was real. I thought ‘Wow that is incredible’.

“When the sonar guy said ‘What do I do with this?’ the officer said ‘log it and dog it’ – in other words log it and bury it.”

Four years later Marc said he was doing some more contract work for the Navy when he spoke to a senior naval figure about what he saw.

“I asked him ‘Can you tell me about the Fast Mover Programme?'” Marc explained.

“He looked at me and said ‘Sorry Marc I can’t talk about that programme’.

“So he basically confirmed to me that the programme exists – he said everything without seeing anything.

“What that told me was that USOs are common – we even have a programme in place to classify and log and determine the speed of them and it goes into a vault.”

Pretty odd encounter, I believe. I have known D’Antonio for a long time, and he is very careful about what he says. He is known for his skeptical perspective, as any good scientist should have. So, for me, his claims go a long way.

Some readers may respond with “Duh! Of course the Navy tracks USOs!” Others may feel like D’Antonio’s claims are too sensational to be believed. All I can say is that I trust D’Antonio, for whatever that is worth.

Watch Marc D’Antonio and his friend and colleague, special effects guru Doug Trumbell, talk about their UFO project at the International UFO Congress here.

Hanging on the wall near the British government’s UFO Desk was what one of the men who occupied that desk called “the most spectacular UFO photo ever sent to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).” The photo has since disappeared, but the story of how the picture was obtained, and what it showed, has not.

Nick Pope ran the MoD’s UFO project from 1991 to 1994. When he was first assigned to the position, he was not excited about it. He felt the issue was ridiculous and he was not looking forward to having to deal with a bunch of UFO nuts. However, over the years, Pope found there were credible cases of incredible things, and began to see there was something truly mysterious about the phenomenon. One of the cases that lead him to this conclusion had to do with a photo that was made into a poster that he found hung in the office near his desk when he began working the UFO desk.

A recreation of the Calvine UFO photo poster.

(Credit: Channel 5)

“I first came across this story in 1991, when I joined the UFO project,” writes Pope on his website. “A poster-sized enlargement of the best  photo was prominently displayed on the office wall.”

“The X-Files first aired in the UK in 1994 and I acquired the same nickname (Spooky) as Fox Mulder, for obvious reasons,” Nick continues. “Mulder famously had his ‘I want to believe’ UFO poster on his office wall and though uncaptioned, I suppose this was my equivalent.”

The photo showed a picture of a large diamond shaped craft with a jet in the background. When he asked about the photo, Pope was told that they had officially determined the image was real. They estimated the craft to have been 25 meters (over 80 feet) in diameter.

However, if asked, they were instructed to answer, “no definite conclusion had been reached regarding the large diamond-shaped object.”

Pope learned that the object had been photographed on August 4, 1990. Two people had been walking near the town of Calvine in Scotland when they spotted the large diamond-shaped object. They described the object as looking metallic. It sat in one position, hovering silently for several minutes before taking off vertically at, as Pope writes, “a massive speed.”

During the sighting, the witnesses also saw a military aircraft that they thought might be a harrier jet, but they were unsure whether the jet was escorting the craft, chasing it, or whether the jet pilot was even aware of the diamond-shaped UFO.

The witnesses had taken several photographs and sent them to the Scottish Daily Record newspaper. The paper contacted the MoD, and the MoD was somehow able to convince the paper to hand over the photographs along with the negatives.

” The photos were then sent to the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) who then sent them on to imagery analysts at JARIC (Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre). Yet at the time, MoD hadn’t even publicly acknowledged that there was any intelligence interest in UFOs at all,” Pope explains.

“We implied and sometimes stated that we didn’t ‘investigate’ UFOs, but merely ‘examined sightings to see if anything reported was of any defence interest’ – as if the two were somehow different!”

Pope say the MoD was actually very interested in these cases, but often less interested in where the craft came from than what they could learn from it. They had hoped to identify some sort of technology they would be able to appropriate.

Nick Pope, former MOD UFO investigator, at the International UFO Congress.

(Credit: Peter Beste/Open Minds)

Either way, the Calvine UFO photos impressed the UFO desk investigators enough that they hung the poster in the office.

“At one particularly surreal briefing on the UFO phenomenon my DIS opposite number indicated the photo and pointed his finger to the right: ‘It’s not the Americans’, he said, before pointing to the left and saying ‘and it’s not the Russians.’ There was a pause, before he concluded ‘and that only leaves …’ – his voice trailed off and he didn’t complete the sentence, but his finger was pointing directly upwards,” recalls Pope.

The office where the UFO desk was located also housed other non-UFO related projects.

Pope says the reaction of some colleagues who came to visit unaware of the UFO program had amusing reactions to the poster.

Pope writes, “You’d have this surreal moment when they’d stop mid-sentence, stare at it, point and say ‘what the hell’s that?’ – this wasn’t the archetypal distant, blurred UFO photo. This was up close and personal, reach out and you can touch it stuff. ‘I don’t know what it is, but it’s not one of ours’ was our stock answer to the inevitable question.”

Eventually, around 1994, Pope says his superior determined the craft was a secret American aircraft or drone. Pope says they had already asked the U.S. if the craft or something similar of theirs was being tested over the UK, and were told they were not. Pope believes his boss had decided to support a potential cover-up by the Americans and the MoD and removed the poster. It was never to be seen again.

Although Pope has discussed these photographs in the media and has posted an article on his website, no one has come forward to claim they took the photos. Nor has anyone at the Scottish Daily Record come forth to discuss any involvement. The case remains a mystery.

You can read more about this sighting and Pope’s work at www.NickPope.net. He can also be heard on several episode of Open Minds UFO Radio.

A new UFO video submitted to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) shows bright objects flying around the night sky. In a similar video recently taken in Arizona, it was speculated the objects were drones. However, this witness does not believe drones to be responsible for this sighting.

Screenshot of UFO video from Great Britain of lights in the sky.

(Credit: MUFON)

According to the report, the video was taken on September 18, 2017. The report was submitted the same day. The witness was walking the dogs when the lights were spotted. At first the witness thought the lights may be drones or a helicopter. However, the witness felt differently after watching the objects “manoeuvre effortlessly through the sky.”

Screenshot of UFO video from Great Britain of lights in the sky.

(Credit: MUFON)

The full report, verbatim, reads:

While walking dogs at night outside back of house I noticed two strange lights flying around in the night sky. At first I thought helicopters or drones but the more I watched I don’t think this is the case. They didn’t look too far away, maybe a mile or so and seemed to manoeuvre effortlessly through the sky. After watching for a few minutes I went for my phone and recorded them. After recording I went inside to put dogs in and when came back out they were gone.

Map of Livingston, where the UFO video was captured.

(Credit: MUFON)

While the objects do seem odd, and must have been quite a sight, they could still be drones. As mentioned in relation to another recent sighting, drone technology continues to improve, and flying them at high speed through twists and turns has become a burgeoning sport. Check out the video of a drone racing championship in the UK below.

Take a look at the video, which can be downloaded here, and let us know what you think.

From the Phoenix Lights to the Mogollon Monster, Arizona has long been known as a mecca for the strange. According to the Mutual UFO Network’s reporting archives, Arizona ranked as one of the top three states in the country for UFO sightings per capita in 2013. Arguably, one of the most concentrated areas of reported anomalous activity is centered in Yavapai and Coconino counties. This area was first inhabited by indigenous tribes including the Anasazi, Hohokam, and the Sinagua, all of whom were deeply rooted in the belief that their ancestors came from the stars. Petroglyphs dot the canyon walls, hinting that visitors from other worlds had wandered amongst them and many locals maintain the belief that otherworldly visitors remain attracted to this unique area.

Sedona, a small city located within this region, has roughly ten thousand residents and attracts more than four million tourists annually. Some come solely for the natural beauty of the unique red-colored sandstone formations while others come to explore the mystical and spiritual implications of the area. Known for its vortices (sites where the energy of an area is allegedly magnified), metaphysical bookstores, crystal shops, and aura readers, the city openly embraces its eclectic personality. In fact, these traits, combined with the abundance of UFO sightings, have prompted many paranormal researchers and enthusiasts to relocate here permanently.

Just outside of Sedona down a long, rough, dirt road winding through the desert lays an expansive ranch that currently sits quietly deserted. The weeds are overgrown and the ground is parched. In the distance you can hear the eerie squeak of the windmill slowly turning. The gate towards the main ranch house is closed and a small sign indicates that trespassing is illegal as the property is owned by the United States government, specifically the U.S. Forest Service. Hiking trails line the outside of the perimeter, though they seldom see many visitors. But the ranch wasn’t always this way and there are some who firmly believe that this serene piece of land isn’t as quiet as we’re led to believe. 

Bradshaw Ranch

In 1945, Bob Bradshaw, a budding photographer and actor, moved to Oak Creek Canyon to alleviate seasonal allergies. Soon after he opened a Kodak licensed photography shop and quickly established himself as a pillar in the community. It was during this time that Hollywood gained significant interest in using the majestic red rocks as a backdrop in Westerns, television programs, and commercials. Bradshaw became integral in their productions.

Part of a western set used in commercial shoots at the Bradshaw Ranch.

(Credit: Sedona Monthly)

In 1960, Bradshaw acquired a large parcel of land covering 140-acres. At the time, the only remaining structure was an old adobe house. He quickly put to use his Hollywood contacts and utilized the ranch as a filming destination. According to ADayintheWest.com, the tour company operated by the Bradshaws, Bob worked on twenty-eight films, nineteen television shows, and seventy-seven commercials during his lifetime, and the ranch itself hosted five films, two television series, and numerous commercials. An old western town movie set was erected on the grounds during filming of the 1967 Elvis Presley film Stay Away Joe, and remained a fixture of the property until the 1986. Bitter Creek, as the town was known, was rebuilt in the mid 1990s. It was during this time when John Bradshaw took over management of the land and utilized it as a dude-ranch: a tourist destination for horseback rides, cookouts, and jeep tours. Bradshaw Ranch wasn’t all Hollywood glamour though; it hosts an obscure history that revealed itself suddenly, though for those involved, not unexpectedly. 

Strange Anomalies Plague the Bradshaw Family:

Dirt road leading to the ranch.

It was in 1992 that Bob Bradshaw Jr.’s wife Linda, along with several of her sons, began to catalog unusual activity on the property. It began slowly with sightings of unusual lights in the clear desert sky and escalated into tales of Bigfoot, UFOs, extraterrestrial beings, dinosaurs, and strange creatures. The experiences she reported, along with other witnesses, border on the strange side, even for the UFO community.

Linda firmly believed that the ranch was home to what she referred to as a light portal. She inferred that whatever the anomalous and strange activity occurring was due to an inter-dimensional window to which creatures benign and benevolent could freely travel from one dimension to another. This is not a new notion however; in 1975 the interdimensional hypothesis (IDH) was presented as a favorable theory by Jacques Vallée in his collaboration with Dr. J. Allen Hynek, The Edge of Reality: A Progress Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. IDH states that UFOs and related paranormal phenomena are not visitations from other planets, but from other dimensions that coexist as separate entities alongside our own.

In 1995, Linda, along with her close friend and UFO researcher Tom Dongo, published a book filled with their alleged encounters and photographs they claim are otherworldly beings, strange flying craft, and unexplained light anomalies. Merging Dimensions: The Opening Portals of Sedona was a book they thought would change the world, but they were both disappointed and frustrated that it released to little fanfare.

One encounter Linda described was that of being woken by one of her sons, who was in the company of a woman and her daughter, in the early hours of the morning. She alleges that at approximately 2:45 a.m. her son and the woman not only spotted an unidentified craft but had an encounter with extraterrestrial beings as well. She describes:

Strolling past the window were four short-statured aliens wearing tight-fitting one-piece uniforms of a light tan color. They were what are typically called the Zeta Reticuli (also known as the Grays), only these appeared to be a bit more ashen-colored, almost white. Once the beings were out of sight and the witnesses recomposed themselves, the three of them jumped into their car and sped to the house where I was sleeping. I remember so vividly how my son vigorously shook my arm to wake me up. I can still hear the trepidation in his voice as he said, “Mom, wake up. They’re here!” I raised up and said, “Who’s here?” He exclaimed, “The aliens, Mom.”

The encounter further evolved when Linda saw one of the beings outside, and resolved to investigate further the following day. Small unexplained footprints were spotted in the dirt and the evidence was documented via her son’s video camera. If the story is to be believed, the strangest turn occurred when the witnesses spotted what they referred to as a dinosaur in one of the washes. Two of the witnesses described a dusty-colored, five foot, lizard-like dinosaur that stood erect, while the other two only made it in time to see a long tail vanishing into the bushes. In future encounters, they would discover large reptilian-like prints on a reoccurring basis.

The strange sightings persisted, and Linda continued to document to the best of her ability. She would take photographs in random areas to see if things would develop on film that she could sense but were invisible to the naked eye. The photos were taken on 35mm film and developed at a local photo processing center. She amassed a large collection of photos of light anomalies, what she believed to be alien beings, as well as various unidentified craft. She also captured and had interactions with a Bigfoot she referred to as “Big Girl” and believed that she was in the company of young offspring as well.

As a self-described animal lover, Linda became increasingly agitated that some of her dogs and horses were falling ill with tumors and other maladies the vet could not rationally explain. She was also disturbed to discover that someone or something had torn the manes off several of her horses. She was perplexed, stating, “Her lovely, long golden mane was missing. The mare’s mane was not cut off evenly. It looked as if it had been torn off, resulting in extremely jagged edges.” She surmised that it could not be the work of humans, but what ripped the hair and the purpose of the action remains a mystery to this day.

The unusual activity on the ranch continued to be an almost everyday occurrence until the late 1990s when it seemed to stall quite suddenly.

Rumors of a Cover-Up

On September 22, 2000 in a USDA Forest Service Release, Bill Kusner, spokesperson for Keep Sedona Beautiful, alluded to the government’s interest in the property. He stated,

These public purchases will serve to preserve the spectacular open landscape well known throughout the world, to provide opportunities for additional access for recreation, and to protect archaeological resources. Keep Sedona Beautiful is hopeful that a $3.5 million appropriation in FY 2001 will allow for the purchase of 90 acres in Yavapai County locally known as the Bradshaw Ranch.

US Forest Service sign at Bradshaw Ranch.

(Credit: Cottonwood Hotel)

After years of property tax hikes and the government’s pressing interest in the property, the ranch became another parcel of federal land, acquired by the U.S. Forest Service. In May of 2003, the Bradshaw’s vacated the property.

Conspiracy theorists were quick to dismiss Kusner’s words, and insinuated that the ranch was really purchased in order to conceal the powerful inter-dimensional portal alleged to exist on the property. Others speculate that it was a tactical maneuver to conceal a top-secret military base and an even larger extraterrestrial cover-up.

There have been rumors for decades of the existence of top-secret underground bases and an elaborate tunnel system, which some suggest is used by both extraterrestrials and the U.S. military. They vary in location, and some believe there to be entrances at a large cement plant in Jerome, beneath Bradshaw Ranch, and in various canyon areas around Sedona. Numerous reports of hikers encountering and being threatened by heavily armed soldiers with no visible insignias on their uniforms have strengthened this opinion in believers. UFO researcher Tom Dongo expands on these ideas in his book Mysterious Sedona: Year 2000 edition:

A machine gun, usually an M-16 (or in some cases semi-automatic pistols) is then leveled at the hikers. By the tone of the voice of the “soldiers” the hiker(s) is left with no doubt that he will be shot on the spot if he does not turn around, retrace his steps, and rapidly leave the area . . . every single one of these gunpoint encounters has taken place along the route of the probable tunnel system.

Those looking for hard evidence of these claims won’t find it. There are plenty of stories of suspicious activity, missing persons, and aliens and UFOs spotted in conjunction with soldiers, but no substantiated evidence exists to prove these theories. Military activity in the area could very well be routine training exercises and those hikers asked to turn around may be done for their own safety.

The Ranch Today

There are a variety of researchers and authors who supplement their time by providing UFO and vortex tours in the area. Several of these tours include a visit to Bradshaw Ranch for those hoping to catch something out of the ordinary. Tourists can venture out with Sedona resident Jocelyn Buckner, who wrote a guide specifically focused on the ranch. She urges visitors to respect the fence-line and claims, “There’s no reason to trespass. Invite the ‘unseen others’ to visit you. You will hear, see, or feel them if you remain open.”

The most reported “sightings” during these tours are photos of “orbs.” The orbs are not visible to the eye, but show up on photographs often looking as if they are attracted to certain individuals. The orb phenomenon is an extremely controversial topic with proponents offering up the “it’s not dust” mantra. Opponents and many professional photo analysts surmise that the majority of objects referred to as orbs have very simple, terrestrial explanations. Objects appearing in the circle of confusion, or the point where the lens of a camera cannot focus, and dust, moisture, and other particles in the area can form this optical illusion.

The ranch continues to attract international recognition as a paranormal hotspot through various television programs, books, and websites. In April of 2013, Discovery Channel’s Uncovering Aliens filmed multiple segments at the ranch. During filming, self-described extraterrestrial contactee Steven Jones alleges that he experienced his own bout of the unknown. While an interview was being conducted with Dongo, Jones had wandered off on his own, past the properties windmill above the fence-line on the hill. Jones returned thirty-or-so minutes later, interrupting the crew, flustered, asking the time and yelling for everyone to look at his wristwatch. It had stopped. He recounted that he had heard unusual voices or odd whispers coming from somewhere around him, experienced a brief period of missing time, and visually pointed out the electrical disturbance of his watch. The experience was not aired on television, and we can only speculate as to what really happened when Jones was alone in the desert.

Conclusion

Bradshaw Ranch is set to remain an enigma. The likelihood that any serious investigation could take place, akin to the in-depth scientific endeavors of the National Institute for Discovery Sciences (NIDS) at Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, is slim. The U.S. Forest Service maintains a strict no trespassing policy in order to protect the historic and anthropological landmarks on the land.

This small piece, as well as the expansive canyons surrounding Sedona, will continue to be shroud in mystery and attract the curious and likeminded. Its residents will continue to defend their experiences and beliefs wholeheartedly and unapologetically. If you do take a trip out to Bradshaw, you may not see anything mysterious, but there is a calm quiet, an eerie breeze, and maybe, locals will tell you, something watching unseen in the distance.

This story originally appeared in the last issue of Open Minds Magazine.

Steven Spielberg is really into UFOs. This is not too hard to imagine given movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET: The Extraterrestrial and his mini-series Taken, among others. In a recent interview with journalist Lee Speigel, I discovered that he also lent a helping hand in a 1970s effort get the United Nations to investigate UFOs.

Devils Tower National Monument. The location of a UFO rendezvous in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

(Credit: Alejandro Rojas)

Lee Speigel

I am currently in Hulett, Wyoming, where I can see Devils Tower National Monument, which was popularized by the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Tomorrow, I will be doing a talk about Spielberg and his history of interest in the UFO phenomena at the Devils Tower UFO Rendezvous which commemorate the 40th anniversary of the movie. In my talk I will be playing a clip of Speigel describing a meeting with Spielberg who was interested in his effort to display the best UFO evidence at a general session of the United Nations.

Speigel was a young New Yorker at the time who had just put together a record album documentary on UFOs. He realized there were a lot of credible people talking about UFOs and pitched the project to CBS Inc., who liked the idea and sent him around the country to interview these people. Among those he interviewed were scientists, politicians, law enforcement and an astronaut, Gordon Cooper, who relayed his personal UFO experience.

Dr. Wernher von Braun and Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper during the MR-3 (Freedom 7) mission on May 5, 1961, which put the first American, Alan Shepard, in space.

(image credit: NASA)

A couple years after producing his record, Speigel heard about an effort to get the United Nations to officially look into the UFO issue. The effort was initiate by Grenada’s Prime minister, Sir Eric Gairy. He decided that what the effort needed was a presentation with the likes of the credible people he had in his record. So, with the confidence of a young New Yorker, he contacted the ambassadors to Granada and offered his services. The government of Granada liked his idea and the event planning began.

Two of the people Speigel enlisted for his presentation were Dr. J.Allen Hynek and Dr. Jacques Vallee. Hynek was a well-known astronomer who acted as a consultant to the U.S. Air Force’s official public UFO investigations from their inception in 1947 to their end in 1969. He then went on to form his own civilian UFO investigation organization, and is arguably the father of modern civilian UFO research. The later, Vallee was a student of his at Northwestern University, and went on to become an author and UFO researcher as well.

Hyenk and Vallee also played important roles in the conception of the movie Close Encounter of the Third Kind. Hynek actually developed the Close Encounters UFO sighting categorization system, and was a consultant for Spielberg on the movie. Vallee, being French, was the inspiration for one of the lead characters in the movie, Claude Lacombe, played by French director Francois Truffaut.

J. Allen Hynek can be seen in a scene towards the end of the Close Encounters movie.

(Credit: Columbia Pictures)

“It was amazing,” says Speigel. “One day I got a call from Spielberg’s publicist to see if I wanted to go out to Hollywood to meet with Steven, Dr. Hynek and Dr. Vallee.”

Speigel’s first response was, “Why do you want me there?”

He didn’t think anyone knew who he was. He was told that Spielberg had heard of his upcoming U.N. presentation and he wanted to talk to the group and offer his assistance.

Speigel says the three men did meet with Spielberg to talk UFOs. Understandably, he says it was an amazing experience. At the end of the meeting, Spielberg said his office would help with anything they needed, and Speigel says they did provide some graphics and information that was incorporated in the U.N. presentation.

So what happened with the U.N. and UFOs? Well, on November 27, 1978, Speigel, Hynek, Vallee, Gairy, Cooper and other credible witnesses and researchers did put on a presentation that included photos and video.

As a result, the U.N. passed a decision on UFOs, which holds less weight than a resolution, but is official none the less.

Their decision included this verbiage: “The General Assembly invites interested member states to take appropriate steps to coordinate on a national level scientific research and investigation into extraterrestrial life, including unidentified flying objects, and to inform the secretary-general of the observations, research and evaluation of such activities.”

Meeting at the UN on UFOs. Clockwise from left: astronaut Gordon Cooper, astronomer Jacques Vallee, astronomer/astrophysicist Claude Poher, astronomer J. Allen Hynek, Grenada Prime Minister Sir Eric Gairy, UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, Morton Gleisner of the Special Political Committee, Lee Speigel, researcher Len Stringfield, and University of Colorado psychologist David Saunders 

(Credit: Lee Speigel)

The U.N. was to follow up on Granada’s UFO request the following year, but by then Granada had undergone a coup that unseated Gairy and the subject was dropped.

You can read more about the U.N. event at Lee Speigel’s website, and on various interviews on the Open Minds UFO Radio Podcast. It is also part of my presentation on Official Government UFO Agencies seen below.

New unidentified signals from deep space have been detected by the Breakthrough Listen project, an attempt to detect evidence of an extraterrestrial civilization. Similar signals have been detected before, but more signals than ever were recorded recently, and, according to the Breakthrough Listen project, an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization has not been ruled out as a potential source.

The type of signals recently observed are called fast radio bursts (FRBs). They are extremely short bursts, but also extremely bright. Most of the FRBs detected thus far have been singular events, which is not so mysterious. Scientists often discover mysterious radio transmissions, but they are typically due to cosmic events. What makes the newly discovered signals mysterious is that they repeat, unlike a cosmic event which sends out one large signal when the event takes place.

FRB 121102 was discovered on November 2, 2012, giving it its name. In 2015, it was found that FRB 121102 repeats, then in 2016 it was traced back to a galaxy billions of light years away. However, scientists know of nothing in that area which would be creating a repeating signal.

On August 26 of this year, scientists with Breakthrough Listen used the Green Bank Telescope to observe FRB 121102. They recorded ten 30-minutes scans and detected 15 bursts. This may not sound like much, but up until this point there had been less than two dozen FRBs recorded.

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Radio Telescope (GBT) focuses 2.3 acres of radio light. It is 485ft tall, nearly as tall as the nearby mountains and much taller than pine trees in the national forest. The telescope is in a valley of the Allegheny mountains to shield the observations from radio interference.

(Credit: National Radio Astronomy Observatory)

So what could these FRBs be?

“Several explanations for FRBs have been suggested,” explains a recent article in Newsweek. “One is a cataclysmic event, such as a neutron star collapsing into a black hole. But such an event would produce only one burst and therefore does not explain the repeating pattern of FRB 121102. Another possible explanation is that they are coming from a young, highly magnetized neutron star, but so far nothing like this has been detected in this region of space.”

After acknowledging the mystery of the discovery, Newsweek goes on to conclude, “Despite widespread speculation, the possibility of the signals coming from an advanced alien civilization has been largely ruled out.”

Of course, not everyone agrees. A recent article in New Scientist covers some ideas scientists have come up with which would include potential alien sources for the signals.

Breakthrough Listen is part of what is called the Breakthrough Initiative. It is financed by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. While Musk, Bezos and Bigelow have decided to spend their fortunes on building spacecraft and/or habitats for humans to get to and inhabit space, Milner has decided to look for aliens.

Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking announcing the $100 million Breakthrough Initiative in London in 2015.

(Photo via Breakthrough Initiative)

There are thee parts to the Breakthrough Initiative. The first two announced were Listen and Message. The first aimed at listening for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations, much like what the SETI Institute is known for. The second, Breakthrough Message, entailed a $1 million prize for the creation of messages to send to space. However, the messages will not be sent, probably because Stephen Hawking, an associate of the initiative, has expressed concern about what will happen if aliens find out we are here.

The third, Breakthrough Starshot, plans to send hundreds of tiny spaceships to the closest star system, Alpha Centauri, to look for signs of life. These spacecraft would largely consist of sails that are pushed along by lasers here on Earth. Once they reach their destination, the little spacecraft will have a few hours to record video and whatever other telemetry they will be able to obtain. The data will then be sent back to earth via lasers. However, because we are talking about such vast distances, the data will take four years to reach Earth, even at the speed of light.

Artist depiction of Breakthrough Startshot.

(Credit: Breakthrough Initiatives)

Coincidentally, or not, the New Scientist article explains that this type of spacecraft could be responsible for the FRBs.

The article posits:

…maybe they are using these powerful radio beams to power light sails, which push spacecraft along by bouncing light off a large, reflective sheet. A sail that requires a beam as powerful as an FRB would be much bigger than any we’ve ever considered making on Earth. Such an alien light sail could carry almost a million tonnes – in contrast, the International Space Station only weighs about 420 tonnes.

If there were many extraterrestrial civilizations with colossal alien cruise ships, there could be many powerful radio beams sweeping through the sky, each following the path of a sail. When the beam’s path intersects with the Earth’s, we’d see a bright but fleeting burst of radio waves.

The Breakthrough Initiative’s press release includes this bit of speculation In their recent announcement on this latest discovery. According to the Breakthrough Initiative press release, “Possible explanations for FRBs range from outbursts from rotating neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields, to more speculative ideas that they are directed energy sources used by extraterrestrial civilizations to power spacecraft.”

So, in the end, we can not be sure what is causing the FRBs, but an alien civilization is not being ruled out. At least not by everyone, especially the Breakthrough Initiative.

A technical summary of Breakthrough Listen’s discovery has been releases in an Astronomer’s Telegram, and will be released in further detail in an upcoming article in a scientific journal.

Open Minds UFO Radio: Alejandro and Martin discuss the latest UFO news, including the recent detection of mysterious signals from space and humanity’s plans for Mars. No special guest in this episode, besides the always special ufo news presenter Martin Willis of Podcast UFO. Martin and Alejandro talk at length about some of their favorite topics that have recently made headlines and/or were featured articles on OpenMinds.tv. This includes the discovery of signals from space by an organization searching for intelligent extraterrestrial life. Signals that some scientists speculate could be the result of advanced extraterrestrial technology. We also discuss Mars, Alejandro’s visit to the set of the National Geographic Channel’s Mars TV show set, and current plans to get humans to Mars within the next 10 years!

Chris Rutkowski is a science writer and UFO researcher. He has authored several books on UFOs and has also taught courses on the subject. Next month Rutkowski will begin teaching his latest UFO course for the continuing education program for the St. James-Assiniboia School Division in Winnipeg.

UFOs are still somewhat of a taboo topic and often met with ridicule in the world of academia, so UFO courses are few and far between. However, ridicule is something Rutkowski combats well with a well developed sense of humor. And, being a science writer, Rutkowski also understand how to bring credibility to a topic that is often misunderstood.

“I often get asked, ‘What is really going on? And where do I get good information?,’” says Rutkowski. “Such courses are a way to educate the public about a very confusing subject.”

Although the public’s curiosity is healthy when it comes to UFOs, it was Rutkowski’s relationship with the St. James-Assiniboia School Division that helped get the course created.

“I have been teaching courses on writing for several years. They asked me if I had ideas about other courses I could do and I suggested a course on UFOs,” explained Rutkowski. “Because my latest book came out a few months ago and is about a major UFO case in our area, and because it’s been getting a lot of attention, they knew about it and thought it would make a good special interest class.”

Rutkowski’s latest book, co-authored with Stan Michalak, is titled When They Appeared. It is about a famous alleged UFO encounter in 1967 near Falcon Lake, which is a bit less than 100 miles east of Winnipeg. According to the book’s description, the incident was the most investigated UFO event in Canada’s history.

The story is very odd. On May 20, 1967, Stefan Michalak, father of the co-author, says he came across a strange craft. It had some sort of vents on the side. It took off and in the process injured Stefan, who suffered from burns on his chest in the pattern of the vents on the craft.

Stefan Michalak’s sketch of the strange craft he encountered.

Stefan Michalak was treated at a hospital for burns to his chest and stomach that later turned into raised sores on a grid-like pattern.

The news soon got ahold of the story and it became a media sensation.

“It just flipped our lives over,” Stan recently told CBC News. “It took several years before it finally died down.”

Rutkowski’s UFO class will be held at John Taylor Collegiate.

(Credit: John Taylor Collegiate)

I asked Rutkowski if he felt teaching the public about UFOs was important. He replied, “Yes, in that there is a real thirst from the public for information about UFOs beyond tabloid news.”

As a science writer, and someone who takes the UFO phenomenon seriously, I also asked what approach Rutkowski takes in presenting the course material.

“I include some discussion on critical thinking and how to evaluate UFO reports and claims,” Rutkowski replied. “I do acknowledge that there is much we don’t know, but that there is much we do.”

If you live in the Winnipeg area, you can register for Rutkowki’s UFO course, which starts September 25, 2017,  at www.localcourses.com, and you can find the book at the publisher’s website, McNallyRobinson.com. To find out more about his work, you can follow Rutkowski’s UFO Blog at uforum.blogspot.com.

A hiker in Portugal took some photos of an odd object recently. The witness submitted the photos and report to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) yesterday. According to the report, the sighting took place on August 20, 2017.

Picture submitted by witness. Click to enlarge.

(Credit: MUFON)

Second picture submitted by witness. Click to enlarge.

(Credit: MUFON)

The witness says the object appeared to be the size of a helicopter. The witness described it as an “irregular sphere” in the title of the report, and as a spherical object in the description. However, the odd shape that can be seen in the photos is difficult to describe.

Close-up of object in first picture.

Close-up of object in second picture.

The witness wrote, verbatim:

I was hiking on the mountain and taking pictures when I observed a spherical object the size of a helicopter. It flew silently and too fast, so I immediately started shooting. While doing this I lost the visual reference of the object. When I returned to look at the sky in search of the first object appeared a second object at the same speed and following the same path. The objects traveled from SE to NW at a speed of over 300 km / h, at an altitude of 100m to 200m and at a distance of less than 3km from the observation point.

Map of area submitted by witness. Click to enlarge.

(Credit: MUFON)

Mylar balloons can look odd floating around and are often reported as UFOs. However, they are typically a regular shape and smooth. Could this one be a half deflated balloon? If so, it would not have been as large as a helicopter as the witness describes, and it does look to be rather large in the photo.

The marker shows the location of Vila Real, the area the witness says the sighting took place.

(Credit: Google Maps)

The vast majority of UFO sightings turn out to be mundane objects, but once in awhile there are sightings that are much more difficult to explain. MUFON conducts investigations on sightings submitted to their website, and if they share their conclusions, we will let you all know. Meanwhile, others will likely chime in and we will try to keep you up to date with any discoveries. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the object in the comments below.

A witness in Arizona submitted a video to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) of lights dancing around the night sky. The video is very impressive, but the lights are most likely drones.

Screen shot from UFO video submitted to MUFON.

(Credit: MUFON)

The witness submitted the video on September 10, 2017, indicating the sighting had taken place on the evening of September 3. The witness wrote that the UFOs were witnessed while driving in the Oro Valley, a suburb of Phoenix. The witness stopped the car to take a look and film the objects.

Marker indicates approximate location of witness. The objects were likely around the park at the bottom of this image.

(Credit: Google Maps)

The witness described the objects as “3 balls of light with glimmer of red and blue hovering, flying near tangerine rd and copper spring dr.”

The witness stated the objects were seen for about 10 minutes. The video lasts almost 2 minutes, and can be downloaded here.

The park where drones were most likely launched.

(Credit: Google Maps)

The lights dance around the sky, and the video is impressive, but so are modern day drones. Another giveaway is that the objects seem to launch from a park in the distance.

Drone technology has come a long way. In fact, drone racing has become a popular sport. Drone racers can don a virtual reality goggles and view the race first person. It is like a real-life video game. Check out this great video below of drone racing from GoPro. The drones are very maneuverable, and because Phoenix enjoys great weather, it is a hot spot for nighttime drone racing.

 { http://www.openminds.tv/ }

A witness in Arizona submitted a video to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) of lights dancing around the night sky. The video is very impressive, but the lights are most likely drones.

Screen shot from UFO video submitted to MUFON.

(Credit: MUFON)

The witness submitted the video on September 10, 2017, indicating the sighting had taken place on the evening of September 3. The witness wrote that the UFOs were witnessed while driving in the Oro Valley, a suburb of Phoenix. The witness stopped the car to take a look and film the objects.

Marker indicates approximate location of witness. The objects were likely around the park at the bottom of this image.

(Credit: Google Maps)

The witness described the objects as “3 balls of light with glimmer of red and blue hovering, flying near tangerine rd and copper spring dr.”

The witness stated the objects were seen for about 10 minutes. The video lasts almost 2 minutes, and can be downloaded here.

The park where drones were most likely launched.

(Credit: Google Maps)

The lights dance around the sky, and the video is impressive, but so are modern day drones. Another giveaway is that the objects seem to launch from a park in the distance.

Drone technology has come a long way. In fact, drone racing has become a popular sport. Drone racers can don a virtual reality goggles and view the race first person. It is like a real-life video game. Check out this great video below of drone racing from GoPro. The drones are very maneuverable, and because Phoenix enjoys great weather, it is a hot spot for nighttime drone racing.

 { http://www.openminds.tv/ }

On several occasions in 1975, Yugoslav Air Force jets saw a strange multi-colored glowing orb, but every time they tried to investigate, it would outrun their jet fighters. Finally, after failed attempts to get a closer look, and facing ridicule for reporting the incidents, they chose to ignore it.

This is according to General Zvonimir Jurjevic, former commander of the Air Force and Air Defense of Yugoslavia. The story was first revealed in 2011 in a book on the 172 Aviation Regiment, which was lead by Jujevic. He recently discussed the UFO encounters again in an interview with Sputnik International.

According to Jujevic the UFO encounters began in January, 1975 and lasted for several days. Every night, 50 minutes after take off, he would see the object.

Soko J-21 fighter jet. This was the type of aircraft flown at the time of the incidents. The Soko J-21 Jastreb is a single-seat, light attack and reconnaissance aircraft designed in Yugoslavia in the 1960s.

(Credit: Dennis Jarvis/Wikimedia Commons)

“The object looked like a glowing orb, very well visible, maybe ten times lighter than the brightest star at that moment,” Jurjevic told Sputnik International. “Color constantly changed: white, yellow, light red, orange, again white, and so on. It appeared from nowhere, unexpectedly.”

“It was attracting attention on purpose,” Jurjevic speculated.

Jurjevic was not the only one to see the object, many of the pilots in his regiment also reported it. However, it never turned up on radar.

Jurjevic recalls that on January 25, he decided to attempt to get a closer look. However, once he headed towards the object, it took off and was gone. Soon after, Jurjevic devised a better plan to catch the object off guard. He recruited the pilots of three other aircraft to join in him the hunt.

On that night, in late January, Jurjevic and another aircraft took off unannounced. Two other jets took off soon after. They had decided not to inform anyone of their plans, nor discuss it on radio, just in case the object was related to some sort of monitoring of their movements by a foreign country.

“I only just stabilized the flight somewhere over Cetinje, when suddenly the object flashed over Budva, and Lieutenant Machec saw it above Niksic,” Jurjevic recalled. “I ordered Machec to stay in place, and took a course parallel to the Adriatic coast, where I tried to establish at what distance the object was: it turned out that it was at about ten kilometers.”

10 kilometers was as close as Jurjevic could get. The object continued to match his speed and movements to stay the same distance away no matter what Jurjevic tired. Two supersonic Soviet MiG-21s were dispatched to the area from Belgrade. During the entire incident, the object could not be seen on radar, until the MiGs arrived. However, it was no help. The object was able to outmaneuver the MiGs as well.

Soviet MiG-21s

(Credit: U.S. Department of Defense)

Jurjevic was met with a lot of curiosity by his colleagues, but also ridicule. He denied the object was of no danger, and since he did not want to deal with the ridicule, he decided to ignore it from there on out.

UFO blogger Billy Cox got ahold of a translation by Giuliano Marinkovic of the 2011 book in which Jurjevic first told the story. He gave this account of their last encounter with the unusual object.

“People watched me suspiciously and squadron commander approached and told me that 100 people at the apron are watching UFO and that I am only person who can’t see it. I replied loudly so other could hear me that I can’t see anything because I don’t want to see it so everyone should stop commenting and do his job as usual. After appearing above airport, UFO turned off its lights and vanished forever.”

U.S. acquired MiG-21 being tested near Area 51.

(Credit: DOD Defense Intelligence Agency)

Jurjevic told Sputnik International the last encounter was on February 12, 1975.

This story is a great example, and a common one I have heard from military UFO witnesses. Often it is not a grand conspiracy that makes people in the military sweep UFO encounters under the rug. It is ridicule or the uneasiness of being associated with a UFO event.

One retired Navy radar tech told me that he faced a lot of ridicule for reporting UFOs they caught on their ship’s radar. When he asked fellow radar techs if they also observed extremely fast unidentified aircraft on their scopes, sometimes they said they had. When asked why they they did not report them, they said they didn’t want the headache of dealing with the fallout of reporting them.

You hear this same sentiment from commercial airline pilots, police officers and many others. It makes one wonder how many other extraordinary sightings go unreported and investigated.

Open Minds UFO Radio: Rich Hoffman has been investigating the UFO phenomena for over 52 years. He grew up in Dayton, Ohio, the home of Project Blue Book, the US Air Force Project that was in place from 1952 to 1969. At age 15 he appeared on a Phil Donahue show in Dayton and became known as the local UFO expert which quickly propelled him into presenting to associations, churches, and many other organizations and appeared on TV and radio. When the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) first formed, he quickly joined and held numerous positions, including the State Director for Alabama, Director of MUFON Strategic Projects and served on the MUFON Science Review Board’s Top 10 case review committee. Rich is also a member of NARCAP, the Planetary Society, and although he is no longer with MUFON, he continues UFO investigations on his own and with the Scientific Coalition for Ufology (SCU). The later is known for their thorough report on a UFO video captured by Homeland Security in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Rich is an IT professional working for a defense contractor firm supporting the Army Materiel Command HQ located at Redstone Arsenal, in Huntsville, Alabama.

One of Rich’s current projects is the investigation of mysterious balls of lights that appear in Alabama. In this interview, we talk to Rich about this light phenomenon, its history, and Rich’s ongoing investigation.

For more about Rich and the Scientific Coalition for Ufology (SCU), visit: www.ExploreSCU.org

For more about the Cloverdale lights, read his article on OpenMinds.tv: Cloverdale UAP Project: Investigating the “Spooklights” UFO phenomenon in Alabama

{ http://www.openminds.tv/ }

The total eclipse that will be visible in parts of the U.S. is an exciting celestial event. That has people, such as the ones who made today’s Google search animation, thinking about aliens. Many are wondering if UFO sightings will increase, and some have suggested aliens may be coming to check out the event themselves.

Google search animations are always fun, and several have included aliens or UFOs. However, why they decided to use aliens in today’s eclipse animation is anyone’s guess. As you can see above, the aliens are playing bouncy ball with the Moon. Although it is a fun animation, it is not an educational one. This is not how eclipses occur, but if you click on the image from the Google search page, you will find actual facts about eclipses.

What makes today’s total eclipse special is that it can be seen in the U.S., which is great for those of us in this country who might live in areas where there will be a total eclipse, or those who can take some time off and get to one of those areas.

While eclipses are not created by aliens bouncing the Moon in front of the Sun, some do believe aliens are responsible for the Moon. One of the strange anomalies that give people the idea that the Moon is too peculiar to be natural is the incredible coincidence that makes a total eclipse possible.

(Credit: NASA)

An eclipse is created when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, partially blocking its light. Big deal, right? We have all seen a shadow, so that is nothing special. However, the Moon is very small compared to the Sun, so why does it appear to be the same size during a total eclipse? The Sun is actually 400 times larger than the moon. The amazing coincidence is that it is also about 400 times further away as well. This allows it to perfectly block out the sun when it passes in front of it.

This illustration depicts a rare alignment of the Sun and Moon casting a shadow on Earth.
(Credits: NASA)

Because the Moon perfectly covers the Sun, it allows scientists an opportunity to study the Sun’s atmosphere in a manner that would otherwise not be possible.

Although I am not so sure aliens brought the Moon into Earth’s orbit, I got to admit, this is a weird coincidence.

As for UFO sightings, Nick Pope, former UFO researcher for the Ministry of Defense, recently told the Daily Express UFO sightings do increase during an eclipse.

“Past experience suggests there will be an upsurge in UFO sightings during the total eclipse,” Pope explained. “I suspect many of these will turn out to be news helicopters filming the crowds, or drones flown by amateur photographers, and maybe the sightings occur simply because more people are looking at the sky.”

He predicted there will be hundreds of sightings.

Another UFO researcher, Cheryl Costa, examined UFO sighting reports in an ideal eclipse watching location in her recent blog for the Syracuse New Times.

“Any seasoned sky watcher will tell you that the high desert is where you want to be to observe such a celestial event,” Costa wrote. “For this specific solar eclipse event, the city of Madras, Oregon, is going to be an ideal place. Madras is positioned close to the centerline of the solar eclipse path of totality. At an elevation of 2,242 feet (683 meters), the high desert environment in August is regularly clear skies.”

In order to estimate the possibility of UFO sightings in the area during the eclipse, she ran some numbers.

“According to the UFO Sighting Desk Reference, from 2001-2015, Oregon ranked No. 13 of all 50 states and the District of Columbia with 3,013 reported UFO sightings,” Costa noted.

However, UFO reports are not the only unusual reports we may get from the eclipse. Of course you had my off-the-wall suggestion the Moon was brought here by aliens, but according to Pope, this may be only the tip of the iceberg.

“Sadly, there’s a dark side – pun intended – to the eclipse,” Pope explained to the Daily Express. “Such events bring out the crazies, and I confidently predict that there will be an upsurge in nutjobbery at the time of the total eclipse. I’ve already seen predictions that the world will end, along with suggestions that we’ll see more sightings of Bigfoot, demons, and all manner of other weird stuff.”

Here at OpenMinds.tv “weird stuff” is our specialty, so stay tuned and we will let you know if we come across any noteworthy “nutjobbery” or legit UFO sightings. Until then, enjoy the eclipse.

{ http://www.openminds.tv/ }

A video was submitted to a UFO investigation organization showing something zipping in front of the camera during a shot of the U.S. capital building on Fox News.

The video was submitted earlier today to the Mutual UFO Network’s (MUFON) UFO reporting database. The witness did not have much to say. The report simply says, verbatim: “It flew infront of the capital building while I was watching Fox News.”

A video and a screenshot from the video were also included. The witness did indicate the sighting took place in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, presumably the city where the witness lives.

Screenshot of video provided by the witness.

(Credit: MUFON)

In the video, the object appears to be cylindrical and shiny. It moves quickly and steadily from the bottom left of the screen to the upper right. The shape of the object might not indicate the true shape and size of whatever passed in from of the camera. The object was likely close to the camera, making it seem very large. Since it was moving so quickly, the object’s shape could also appear more elongated than it actually is.

Closeup of object in video.

In many cases such as this, birds and bugs are mistaken for something more mysterious. Motion blur cause the object to appear elongated and large, like a giant flying saucer. However, often in those cases wings flapping cause the object to look like it has ridges or multiple appendages. That effect cannot be seen in this video. I uploaded a version of the video slowed down to 10%, seen above.

So what is it? I dunno. I suppose it could also be a hoax or maybe a yellow frisbee. Take a look at the video yourself and let us know what you think.

A video was submitted to a UFO investigation organization showing something zipping in front of the camera during a shot of the U.S. capital building on Fox News.

The video was submitted earlier today to the Mutual UFO Network’s (MUFON) UFO reporting database. The witness did not have much to say. The report simply says, verbatim: “It flew infront of the capital building while I was watching Fox News.”

A video and a screenshot from the video were also included. The witness did indicate the sighting took place in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, presumably the city where the witness lives.

Screenshot of video provided by the witness.

(Credit: MUFON)

In the video, the object appears to be cylindrical and shiny. It moves quickly and steadily from the bottom left of the screen to the upper right. The shape of the object might not indicate the true shape and size of whatever passed in from of the camera. The object was likely close to the camera, making it seem very large. Since it was moving so quickly, the object’s shape could also appear more elongated than it actually is.

Closeup of object in video.

In many cases such as this, birds and bugs are mistaken for something more mysterious. Motion blur cause the object to appear elongated and large, like a giant flying saucer. However, often in those cases wings flapping cause the object to look like it has ridges or multiple appendages. That effect cannot be seen in this video. I uploaded a version of the video slowed down to 10%, seen above.

So what is it? I dunno. I suppose it could also be a hoax or maybe a yellow frisbee. Take a look at the video yourself and let us know what you think.

Depiction of triangle UFO at night.

(Credit: OpenMinds.tv)

So perhaps researchers need to take a step back and look into the darkness—into the far more rare cases of nighttime sightings of craft flying completely dark, without any lights. It’s impossible for skeptics to consign such cases to the “Venus Files” if they are solid, unlit objects. These cases also present a more enticing element, which may or may not be warranted—a somewhat sinister aspect as these craft obviously don’t want to be seen as they are cruising silently just over your head.

The subject of “Dark UFOs” came up recently when I interviewed Lorraine M. about her early 1980s sighting in Putnam County, NY, which was the scene of a major flap in the Hudson Valley which lasted several years.

“I was leaving a party with my friends,” Lorraine explained in a detailed email. “It was 1am and we had parked our cars in an elementary school parking lot. There were about six of us, laughing, having fun. I looked up into the sky to take in the beauty of this clear, starlit night when all of a sudden I noticed an area straight up without stars! ‘What the hell?!’ was my first response! I elbowed my boyfriend and pointed to the sky without saying a word. Immediately he elbowed and pointed upward to the next friend, and so on! We all stood there dumbstruck, looking up, amazed at the sight before us.”

This is a great description of the immediate reaction to such a sighting—no words, just each friend nudging one another and pointing successively on down the line. Lorraine explained that there were no streetlights, and the field of stars was very bright that night. The “colossal craft” had no lights or other form of illumination, so “The only way you could see its triangular shape was how it blotted out the stars!”

“We all stood there, staring upward, mouths agape, bewildered… scared yet amazed…It passed over us at a height that it could nick its bottom on the point of the Empire State Building. And its speed was as slow as a balloon in the Macy’s Day Parade. It passed slowly. Creeping along. Then all of a sudden it shot out from view, then reappeared what seemed like ten miles down further and continued its sloth-like pace.

“We ran to our cars! The next day we learned through the local newspaper that others had witnessed this craft as well! I would say that experience far exceeded any party that night!”

Just to further emphasize her story, Lorraine later emailed me this:

“All of this is the darn truth! I’ll never forget it!!”

Book cover to Linda Zimmerman’s Hudson Valley UFOs.

This craft exhibited many of the characteristics described by witnesses during the 1980s flap—triangular, the size of a football field, and the ability to go both incredibly slow and impossibly fast. However, whereas most of the other craft witnessed were often described as being lit up like Christmas trees, this one was flying dark.

Around the same time frame of the late 70s and early 80s, a “black disk” was spotted one night in Brentwood, NY, which is on Long Island. A witness reported to MUFON that she went outside to call her cat in for the night when she looked up and saw “a black disk the size of a stop sign at arm’s length” and about the height of a radio tower. It moved very slowly, diagonally over her house and she had time to observe it from both the back and front yards.

Again, there were no lights, and the shape was only able to be determined by the “sky glow” from the neighborhood lights, as the object was silhouetted against the dark sky. There was one other unusual feature the witness described with this craft—“The bottom didn’t appear smooth, it looked like it had sections that were raised, with sharp edges.” Unlike the previous case, however, where the UFO shot off in the blink of an eye, this black craft just quietly floated out of sight.

Yet another different shape of dark object appeared even earlier in the area, a rectangular craft as described in a 1978 NUFORC report from Avon, Connecticut. This case was also different, as what first drew the attention of the witness was a bright light, which apparently shut off as the witness approached.

“I was driving back to where I was staying that night after dropping off a friend. I was driving up a road in Avon, CT, when I saw a bright light up ahead; I thought this was unusual for this time of night [1 am]. I proceeded up the road and when I got to where the light basically was coming from, there was no light present. I looked around in curiosity and discovered an object the size of a house hovering about fifty feet in the air. There was a half moon and visibility was good, this object was very dark and large, there were no lights on and it made no noise whatsoever.

“I parked my car in the middle of the road and left it running with the lights on, hoping someone would come down the road to witness this as well. I stood still in one spot staring at this object for about 5 minutes, fearing what it would be capable of doing. I looked around and saw a house that had its lights on, so I ran over to it and knocked on the door. I waited for a couple of minutes, but nobody answered.

“I ran back to where my car was and the object was still there. I became so scared I jumped in my car and drove off quickly. As I went to the stop sign at the end of the road, I looked up and the object had followed me all the way down the road. I turned to the left and saw the object was still following me, so I floored the gas and never looked back again.”

As if this case isn’t bizarre enough, there was a final twist.

“It took me over a month to tell anyone else, but eventually I told my parents. We ended up moving to an area right where this event occurred, and a neighbor saw the same thing almost one year to the date later. She described the exact same event I witnessed.”

Depiction of triangle UFO at night.

(Credit: OpenMinds.tv)

What were the chances that this witness would actually move to the location of her intense encounter, and then find a neighbor who saw the same black, unlit object around the same day the following year?

Another black triangle with no lights was seen by at least three men in 1985. It was around midnight when “Jerry” and his friend, “Matt” were driving from Danbury Hospital toward Brewster, NY on Route 84. The sky was overcast, but not completely dark, due to the sky glow from all the street and building lights. Had it been a clear night, the two friends may not have seen the incredible silent object they witnessed, silhouetted against the clouds.

“It was a large solid, black triangle with no visible sign of propulsion,” Jerry told me. “No exhaust, no propellers. It was low enough that the altitude itself was notable and striking as it appeared to be very low relative to the highway for such a large craft. In terms of speed, I would say somewhere around 80 miles an hour. I am guessing that because we were driving on I-84 and the craft stayed ahead of us during the time we were on the highway, but was not pulling away at great speed. There were no lights that I recall and the craft was a triangle, not the V-shape that I know some others have seen. It would have been travelling at well below stall speed for any conventional aircraft of its size.

“We pulled off the highway at Exit 4 (west bound) and pulled into what I believe was an empty lot where a McDonald’s now exists. There was another motorist who had pulled off for the same reason. He was standing outside his car when we pulled in and we spoke briefly. The three of us; my friend, the other motorist and I, all watched the craft head toward Ridgefield [Connecticut]. The time was likely around midnight, but I don’t know the exact time. It was after 10:00 PM because I called the tower at Danbury Airport the next day to see if they had any idea what it was. They said the tower closed at 10:00 so they had no information at all to offer.”

The most startling case I have had involving a dark craft has to be the one sighted by Jim in Howells, NY, in 1995, if for nothing else, the sheer enormity of the object.

Jim was in his twenties and living at his mother’s house. He went to take the garbage out one night, so he turned on the front porch light. This was no ordinary light, as his mother had installed an extremely bright spotlight that did not aim down, it aimed straight ahead, so the angle of its beam went up into the sky, as well. Without that powerful beam of light, Jim never would have seen what passed overhead.

“It was like something out of Battlestar Galactica! It was an enormous, metallic triangle and I could see a lot of detail.”

The craft did not have any lights on, but as it was only at an altitude of a couple of hundred feet, the spotlight illuminated the underside.

Depiction of triangle UFO seen in Illinois.

(Credit: Michael Schratt)

“It wasn’t moving really fast, but it was going along at a good clip. Even so, it took many seconds to pass completely overhead.”

I asked Jim what he would compare the size to: a house, a plane, a football field?

“At least three football fields,” he replied without hesitation.

As he began by making a science fiction spaceship comparison, I mentioned the opening scene of Star Wars where the Imperial Star Destroyer just keeps coming and coming across the screen.

“I never thought of that, but that’s what it was like. It was just enormous.”

“Any sound?” I asked.

“Absolutely silent,” he stated. “Had that spotlight not been on, I don’t think I would have even noticed it.”

I asked what his immediate reaction had been to the sighting, and how it made him feel. In the spirit of a picture being worth a thousand words, rather than trying to describe it, he struck a pose and expression of extreme surprise and amazement. That said it all.

What else is in the skies above us that we don’t notice because it has absolutely no form of illumination? Why are some craft brilliantly lit, clearly wanting to be seen, or at least not caring if they are seen? Can we assume that dark UFOs are rare, or are just the sightings of these craft rare because the conditions have to be just right to see them?

Whatever is going on, these cases present researchers a valuable opportunity to sidestep the numerous excuses for lights in the sky and concentrate on the indisputable facts: for reasons we can only imagine, enormous triangles, disks, and rectangles are in our skies displaying no lights, not wanting to be seen. Based upon the cases with which I have personally dealt, and others I have come across in the MUFON and NUFORC databases, I know I will now be starting a new file labeled “Flying Dark.”

Watch Linda’s presentation on Hudson Valley UFOs here.