Oregon L.O.W.F.I

Archive for the ‘UFO Conferences’ Category

McMinnville, Oregon’s annual UFO Fest in May has speakers Travis Walton and Colin Andrews among the presenters:

McMINNVILLE, Ore.—Tuesday, March 2, 2010—The buzz is building as we get closer to the 11th Annual UFO Festival on May 14 and 15, 2010, hosted by McMenamins Hotel Oregon (3130 NE Evans St., [503] 472-8427 or [888] 472-8427). The festival, set in a small town in the middle of Oregon wine country, explores and celebrates the possibilities of life beyond Earth. We will welcome keynote speaker and author James Clarkson, a well-known UFO investigator; U.K. crop circle expert Colin Andrews; and UFO witness and abductee Travis Walton, on whom the book and Hollywood film “Fire in the Sky” was based. Passes are $10 per event, $15 for two events or $25 for all three events; UFO passes are available beginning March 15 at ufofest.com.

We’re already booked! See you there…

(Also at my blog UFO Proletariat)

At the McMinnville UFO Festival in Oregon last spring, the Bales brothers gave a simple, yet on the edge of your seat presentation about their giant triangle sighting in Idaho. During the Q & A one man chided the brothers for not being more involved in UFO research. He expected them to be sudden experts, with a mission and message of spiritual alien based insight. An astoundingly arrogant and condescending comment to make. After a slight pause, one of the brothers, who looked a bit confused at the comment, simply said “We’re here, aren’t we?”

Peter Davenport, who provides us with a much needed database of UFO reports, is perennially irritated at people who won’t “take ten minutes” to write a UFO report in “black ink on white paper.” His frustration is understandable, but not everyone feels comfortable putting such experiences down on paper. Treating UFO witnesses like stupid school children discourages people from making UFO reports.

I’ve been involved in a few local UFO minded groups through the years. The seeds of such gatherings are simple: people getting together to talk about UFOs. The purpose of these groups is to have people with experiences to share with others, but I’ve found there isn’t much honesty happening in these groups. Because as soon as you have the “leaders” of such groups state what will, and what will not, be accepted, you are being dishonest. Telling witnesses to keep things positive — in other words, don’t talk about the scary, negative parts of your experience — is a type of control. Creating a forum of only what you want to hear, in the form you want to hear it, is being dishonest. It sets up false forums of data; if you are continuously rejecting accounts you don’t like based on your biases, you’re not after genuine UFO experiences.

None of these methods consider the individual’s experience. We listen and decide they’re too negative, or not spiritual enough, or not literate enough, or are too lazy because they won’t write something down, or . . .

And maybe they are some of those things, sometimes. Maybe some witnesses are too lazy or incompetent to write a report. Maybe the witness is still experiencing trauma from their encounter and are stuck, for the time being, in a dark place. Maybe their paranoia and fears, their nervousness and confusion, is part of the process and where they need to be for awhile. Making witnesses feel bad, lazy or stupid — or crazy because they’re depressed or anxious — pushes them away.

All we can expect from people who have decided to come forward in whatever small way with their UFO experience is honesty. Negative, positive, spiritual, literate, sloppy, bad spellers, — doesn’t much matter, if they are being honest.

Notes

BOA interview: Tim Binnall interviews Peter Davenport
http://www.binnallofamerica.com/boaa12.9.9.html

Peter Davenport: National UFO Reporting Center
http://www.nuforc.org

McMinnville, Oregon’s UFO Fest.com: annual UFO Festival in May
http://www.ufofest.com/ufofest07/

The 10th annual UFO Festival in McMinnville, Oregon is coming! It happens in May, and I’ll write more about this as we get closer to the date. Meanwhile, check out the official UFO McMinnville website.

I’ve attended the last two years, and it was great fun both times. Last year I had the honor and pleasure to spend a long lunch with Richard and Karyn Dolan (Richard was the keynote speaker at the Festival.)

You can download my McMinnville, Oregon UFO: Festivals and Hoaxes at Lulu.com.