The 21st Annual UFO Congress Conference Updates
February 21, 2012 – Tuesday
Fort McDowell Casino and Resort at Fountain Hills, Arizona
The 21st Annual UFO Congress Conference kicked off in the open desert of Arizona this week at the Fort McDowell Resort & Casino in Fountain Hills. This is the second year that the UFO Conference was held in this location, moving from it’s previous long- time home of Nevada. Under new management by a wonderful team who also publishes the magazine, Open Minds. The 21st annual conference proves interesting; with vendors, UFO films, and some of the most influential and knowledgeable speakers in the world.
The first day of the conference began with EBE films shown to a panel of judges that will later this week award a filmmaker for the most informative and best film. One of the films featured was with the well-know personality Dean Haglund, best known as one of the computer-hacking guys on the X-files. The film, “The Truth Is Out There” was produced as a documentary of Haglunds’ travels across the globe looking for truth in a world full of deceptions, cover-ups and just plain ignorance. The whole film was presented very open with the shooting style of a home movie by film director Phil Leirness. Everyone will be waiting with bated breath for the judges determinations on the best films for the February 25th award ceremony.
One of the speakers in The Truth is Out There stated that people do not come forward because of the paperwork, the medical and psychological tests, and all the scrutiny. This leaves people who report UFO activity feeling that they are almost criminal and must be tested and investigated till the subject themselves wears out.
“People just find it easier not to speak up. You do not want to become a UFO investigator – it doesn’t pay, if anything it costs you a lot to get the message out.” But many a brave soul have reported to the National UFO Reporting Center that lets you report via an online form or in conversation with someone through their hotline. To view reports or report one yourself go to: www.unforc.org. The UFO reporting center is now located in Washington on a decommissioned U. S. Air Force ICBM missile base.
A very well-spoken older gentleman in the film The Truth is Out There said, “The American people will have to demand their Government to open the documents.” He had a UFO encounter himself and honestly stated that, “I would not believe in a million years, unless I saw it myself, no priest, no relative would I believe, I had to see it for myself.”
Another abductee, Cynthia Crawford, a UFO sculptor says that she was abducted onto a mothership. She now creates different types of aliens in her work. She does likeness of the Zuma, Greys, Sirians and the Reptilian races. Her work can be seen at: www.etsculptor.com Still from the same film, The Truth is Out There a quick interview with Peter Sterling a harpist who was taken on a mothership and was told that humanity must “activate their DNA as it is the fail-safe method to get to the 5th dimension. He was also told that we might have to “abort the planet for safety reasons”. Peter says that he channels the music that he creates from the angels or aliens that help him.
February 22, 2012 – Wednesday
Maureen Elsberry and Angela – Open Minds Magazine and Conference Co-ordinators
The second day of the festival, the atmosphere was more like a family reunion than a conference with many attendees patting each other on the backs, kisses flying and greetings of deep respect and admiration. I attended the conference with a long-time attendee, Michael Telstarr who was in the past a speaker for the UFO Conference. There are many wonderful and interesting vendors at this UFO Conference. Michael has found one very rare book he has been looking for over 10 years. The book only published in1956 by the author, Barker, called “They Knew Too Much”.
It was a day of speakers with Clifford Clift, Yvonne Smith, Antonia Huneeus and Lee Speigal. The night ended with a “Meet Your Speakers” cocktail party. This was a great opportunity to mingle with the speakers with this event that went on until midnight. There was a great “buzz” around the room with conversations about UFO sightings, the spiritual significance of meeting other beings, the biblical references of UFOs and talk about 2012 being a year of new knowledge coming out for all of humanity.
Michael Telstarr introduced me to Colonel Donald Ware, who I plan to interview later this week. Colonel Ware introduced me to Travis Walton, a well-documented abductee who has agreed to interview with me after all the national writers/interviewers are through with him! This interview will be very interesting as Travis was brought on board a spaceship and lost for 7 whole days; his story hit the national papers as his fellow loggers who was with him on the night of his abduction were investigated for possible murder. Stay tuned to UFO Digest.ca as I report what really happened to Travis Walton the week of his abduction.
This evening I interviewed Mr. Clifford Clift, the international director for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). He spoke this morning on the many archived UFO cases the public has not heard of – until now. A relaxed, grey-haired older gentleman he answered my questions gracefully and carefully.
Mr. Clift joined MUFON in 1995 and was on the board of Directors since 2000. He was appointed International Director in 2010 and stepped down in February 1, 2012. When asked what was the most memorable incident he has ever heard of, he answered, “Well there isn’t just one case, that’s the problem, there’s so many good cases that have exposed the fact that UFOs are definitely extra-terrestrial. Now we average 600 sighting reports a month, probably 80 % -90% of those cases are mundane and something explained by science as a natural occurrence. We have to ascertain which events are significant. The ones that are such cases talk about a bluish green light, craft shape and color. Most cases state that there are no sound generated by the craft. This tells us that we are on to a case that may prove significant.”
Mr. Clift recounted a story of a large mass sighting on a cruise ship! Everyone was mesmerized when they saw it. I said, “I guess the government could not say it was a mass delusion” to which he laughed and said “About 50-70% of the relative cases are found in or around water. A lot of cases are of submerged UFOs. One was reported to actually to damage to a destroyer.
We talked about Shag Harbour an incident in Nova Scotia which is my hometown. Mr. Clift told me “That UFO sighting was witnessed by hundreds of people in 1967 and about 40 people gave actually official reports. This story is phenomenal and was written about by Government of Canada documents.” In the evening of October 4, 1967 a flying object crashed into the water near Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia. The RCMP and Canadian Coast Guard were sent to investigate possible survivors of the crash. When they got there nothing could be found. Fishing boats had gone out to search as well and could not find anything. Mr. Clift also stated, “We need more field investigators in Canada. We do have some but we need more of them.” Go to www.mufon.com to report any sightings in USA or Canada.
This afternoon I will be attending the 4:00 lecture by Travis Walton.