Monday, September 28, 2015

Some Photos from the 2015 MUFON Symposium


MUFON, the largest UFO group in the US, held its 2015 International Symposium in Irvine (Orange County), California, September 24-27.  I won't write up a detailed account of the proceedings here - that I will save for my next column in The Skeptical Inquirer (which assuming I make the next column deadline, will be the January issue. That semi-monthly publication schedule seems glacial by the standards of the internet!).







Discussing UFOs with Alejandro Rojas of Open Minds, and Marc D'Antonio, MUFON's chief photo and video analyst. Marc is quite skeptical about that Puerto Rico Infrared UFO video, that I haven't written about yet but is being cited by some analysts as the best evidence ever. (More will come on that subject.)





Paul Hellyer, former Canadian defense minister, who believes every crazy UFO book he reads, and spits it back as if it were solid fact (Day After Roswell, Serpo, 9-11 Conspiracies). With Paola Harris, big-time UFO promoter.




"UFO Witness Theater," a dramatization of reported UFO sightings. With John Ventre (second from left), Lee Speigel (#5), Erica Lukes (#6), Dwight Equitz, (#7), Stanton Friedman (standing).





Me and my good friend, Dwight Equitz of Hangar 1. I told him I had to write some critical stuff about him on my BADUFOS blog, like about the Nazi saucer base in Antarctica. He was cool with that. It's like, I just read the lines they give me.

Equitz on Hangar 1 (credit: Yvan DeFoy).



MUFON announces the recent death of its founder, Walt Andrus, at age 94.

Celebrated "UFO Abductee" Travis Walton, with Debra Harris.
Jaime Maussan, Mexican UFO promoter, stood firm in his defense of the "Roswell Slides." It's not a mummy - it's still a mystery! But Maussan admits that the de-blurring of the placard is correct: it does read "Mummified Body of Two Year Old Boy". Why the "alien" was put on public display, and why does the placard say it's a mummy? No explanation.


A panel on "Making UFOlogy Respectable" - Maussan was actually on this panel (he had to leave early), and nobody even suggested that the best way to accomplish that would be to give the boot to Maussan, Hangar 1, Steven Greer, Billy Meier, Lina Moulton Howe, etc. - the list might get rather long. From left, John Greenewald, Dr. Robert Wood, Stanton Friedman, Lee Speigel, Cheryl Jones, Marc D'Antonio.