A Skeptic at the 2012 International UFO Congress - Part 2

(Another posting in near-real time from Fort Macdowell, Arizona.)

The sessions began Wednesday morning with Chuck Zukowski talking about the joy of slicing up dead cattle that the aliens have already sliced and diced - that way, he can study their handiwork. He showed some gruesome photos, adding that he always brings his three kids when he investigates a mutilation, so that they can help out. He claims to sometimes detect substantial EMF fields emanating from mutilated cows, and speculates that it is a residual field from some alien device. I am wondering why the field does not dissipate away at the speed of light.

Zukowski explained that his website is www.ufonut.com, because this is what people call him. He said that mutilations seem to follow the cattle of certain ranchers, even if the rancher moves. I would think that what follows a rancher is the propensity to attribute slightly unusual predation patterns to extraterrestrials. He has discovered that mutilations and paranormal events are most common at 37 degrees north latitude, creating a belt of weird stuff running clear across the country. In the Q&A session, the question came up as to whether the aliens might be abducting cattle to create a race of "hybrid fetuses." Chuck thought that might be true. Can this be the explanation for the aliens' bizarre obsession with the nether parts of cattle - the creation of an alien/cattle hybrid? Now that truly bends the mind! If there are any cartoonists reading this, feel free to submit your conception of what a Bovine-Reticulan would look like, so it can be published. And somebody please suggest one reason why the aliens are so keen on breeding with cattle!

Two nice young ladies selling alien art. "Anubis" (right) is 14 years old, and draws the beings she says she sees.

Clifford Clift recently retired, or else was booted, as International Director of MUFON. Because I heard much grumbling about him at last year's MUFON Symposium, I suspect the latter. I saw him in a restaurant last night, and introduced myself. He seemed quite jovial, and frankly relieved to not have to worry about running MUFON any longer.

He began his talk by reviewing some MUFON statistics. About four entity sightings are being reported each month. Diving deeply into MUFON's treasure trove of Golden Oldies, he regaled us with another account of the famous Captain Mantell tragedy of 1948, one from a prison guard who saw a 450-foot wide craft hover right over the prison, and a UFO landing in a Kuwaiti oil field in 1976. Nullius in Verba, Clifford. "Take no one's word for it." That's what separates the science from the pseudo.

Yvonne Smith does hypnotherapy of people who think they have been "abducted" by a UFO. Old-style "abductology" as in Hopkins/Jacobs/Mack isn't completely dead - there is still Yvonne Smith, and Barbara Lamb (who is here, but won't be speaking). Smith showed us lots of drawings made by children of "monsters" and such that come into their bedrooms. Of course, we're sophisticated: we know they're really not "monsters," they're extraterrestrials. At least the 'alien hybrid race' Smith talked about doesn't involve cows.

We learned that the alien implant supposedly removed from one Ron Noel by podiatrist Roger Leir is made up of the 'hardest material ever seen.' If that is true, and can be confirmed (which I doubt), they might just have something. (Note to self: check whether it's legal in California for a podiatrist to do surgery on a person's arm.)

Smith gave tantalizing hints about a supposed 'mass UFO abduction' in 1994 at the posh Hotel del Coronado near San Diego, while the people were attending a UFO conference she organized. I got the feeling she's going to be promoting that as a major UFO case, and I suspect we'll be hearing a lot more about it.

Are these Alien Video Cameras?  No, wait - cameras that took videos of aliens!

Antonio Huneeus spoke on the "Best UFO Cases: from Ancient time to 2012," which covers a whole lot of ground, so I guess it's no surprise that he ran way over time. I felt like I was listening to Erich von Daniken, or maybe even Ancient Aliens on the History Channel. This talk frankly bored me, and I took advantage of the opportunity to nap. In the past Huneeus has written some very sensible and balanced articles, but there was no hint of that circumspection today.

The last speaker of Wednesday, and in my view the most interesting of the day, was UFO journalist Lee Speigel, now with Huffington Post/ AOL News. Speigel cautioned the audience not to "believe everything they read, or see, or hear, about UFOs," and gave several examples showing exactly that. He recounted his own 1973 sighting of a UFO during a flap in North Carolina that he went to investigate for CUFOS and J. Allen Hynek. That's what set him strongly on the UFO path. Concerning the famous 1978 UN UFO kerfluffle involving Sir Eric Gairy, prime minister of Grenada, J. Allen Hynek, Jacques Vallee, and astronaut Gordon Cooper, Speigel explained how he organized it! I knew he was involved (he is in some of the photos), but didn't realize his critical role. He also provided laughs about how, when he did a regular UFO program for NBC radio in New York City, he was forced to go around the city as "the alien," looking vaguely like Marvin the Martian as he trundled across New York City to promote the show.

It was announced that Bruce Maccabee will not be able to speak as scheduled on Friday, owing to illness. So he will be replaced by Stan Romanek, who became famous when he posted on YouTube a video of an alien peeking in his window. The result of that was, of course, that several other people posted even better videos of aliens peeping into their windows. Stan and his wife Lisa will be talking about their new book. Maybe they can even help you take a video of an alien peeping in your window?