2014 International UFO Congress

This is a bit late since I’ve been on the road, but here’s a quick wrap-up of this year’s International UFO Congress held in Phoenix.

The conference ran over Valentine’s weekend, bit of a strange choice, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind.  The hard working folks at Open Minds once again did an excellent job and things ran smoothly despite a couple of late speaker cancellations.  This year’s presenters included Stephen Bassett, Ted Peters, Kewaunee Lapseritis, Rob Simone, Aaron Sagers and a host of others.

A few of the lecture highlights included:

David Marler discussing his book “Triangular UFOs: An Estimate of the Situation.”  Marler showed just how far back sightings of triangular UFOs can be traced, countering the skeptical argument that such craft are merely modern military planes.

Jaime Maussan was on hand to present video clips and information gathered while working as a journalist and TV host in Mexico.  Maussan is always a big hit and it’s nice to have an international perspective. 

Mike Clelland’s lecture, “Owls, Synchronicity and the UFO Abductee,” caught a lot of attention from the audience.  Mike shared stories from his personal experiences as well as tales sent to him through his exploration into the strange connection between owls and unidentified aerial objects. 

British researcher Timothy Good was on hand discussing his new book; “Earth: An Alien Enterprise.”  Good is known to many in the field for his classic “Above Top Secret” as well as several other UFO titles.  Good hasn’t made many recent appearances so it was nice to see him at the Congress

George Noory presented a special Q&A session.  Noory never fails to capture the crowd’s attention with his humor and anecdotes from his years hosting Coast to Coast AM.

The EBE awards were presented following the Saturday night banquet.  Stephen Bassett was awarded the “Researcher of the Year” for his work with the Citizen’s Hearings on Disclosure.  Bassett, head of the Paradigm Research Group, is a hard working advocate for disclosure and the award is well deserved.

This year’s lifetime achievement award was given to Dr. Bruce Maccabee.  Maccabee has been active in UFOlogy since the late 1960s and has investigated countless cases including the Gulf Breeze Sightings and the Phoenix Lights.  He is an author and has appeared in numerous UFO related documentaries and shows.

Unfortunately, due to health concerns, Maccabee was not able to be on hand to accept the award and instead, a video recording was played of his acceptance.

The year’s film awards were wrapped up solidly by L.A. Marzulli and Richard Shaw who won both the People’s Choice award and the Best feature film award for their outstanding work on Watchers 7: Physical Evidence.

All in all, another successful conference and as always, it’s nice to catch up with old friends and make new connections. 

Links:

International UFO Congress:  http://ufocongress.com/

Watchers 7:  http://lamarzulli.net/