|
A large crowd, estimated as high as
300-400, filled the Dublin Rotary Club's downtown home building last
Saturday afternoon, January 19.
All were concerned in one way or another
with the recent spate of sightings of unexplained aerial phenomena in
areas around Dublin, and in Erath and Comanche counties.
The meeting was held by MUFON, Mutual UFO
Network, an organization of people dedicated to investigating and
seeking explanations for UFO's, or unidentified flying objects. Some
believe UFO’s to be of extra-terrestrial, outer space origin. MUFON is
based in Bellvue, Colorado.
A large number of UFO sightings on
Tuesday, January 8, were reported in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune,
after which the MUFON organization mobilized for an investigation.
After an Associated Press report over the
following weekend, the sightings were widely reported in newspapers
around the world. A European psychic reportedly had predicted in 2007
that unexplained aerial phenomenon would be observed over Texas
between Christmas and Easter.
CNN's Larry King focused much of his
Friday evening cable television show to the so-called Stephenville
sightings.
MUFON's field investigation was
originally planned to be held in Stephenville. Dublin Rotary Club
members and other civic boosters got involved, however, and
volunteered the Rotary facility, complete with free Dublin Dr Pepper
soft drinks. The MUFON investigation site was then relocated to
Dublin.
There were some who joked that the
"aliens" were in the area seeking the rare Dublin Dr Pepper beverage.
 |
|
SOME
OF THE UFO WITNESSES. More than 50 witnesses crowded the
interview room in the Rotary building in Dublin as they awaited
their turn to be interviewed by MUFON field investigators. Most
had seen the unidentified lights over central Texas during the
previous week. |
Many reporters and photographers, mostly
based in the Metroplex and north Texas area, joined the throng of UFO
witnesses and the curious onlookers at the MUFON meeting. One
television crew was from as far away as San Francisco, California.
Two MUFON executives from Texas, Steve
Hudgeons, Senior Field Investigator from Forth Worth, and Ken Cherry,
the state director, conducted a press conference.
Before the press conference proceeded to
a questions and answer session, Hudgeons asked the UFO witnesses in
the crowd to go to a separate room where a team of MUFON investigators
would interview them.
Approximately 50 witnesses entered in the
interview room where they were provided questionnaires to fill in and
an opportunity to visit with a MUFON investigator.
In an interview prior to the meeting,
Hudgeons described MUFON as a 2,500 member, world-wide organization
with around 800 field investigators and 100 Ph.D scientific
consultants.
Hudgeons noted that they normally receive
10-15 UFO reports each week in Texas, but quickly added, "In the last
three days I have had about a hundred hits of UFO reports that are
being reported, and it’s because of the Stephenville incident. That's
what got us alerted to it. A few people reported in about the
Stephenville thing and said you need to come down and look into it,
and we just started reading the reports and looking into it and making
some phone calls... It's just been ballooning."
Hudgeons voiced concerns that because of
the heavy media attention many witnesses might not show up.
He continued, "I have pulled
investigators from Austin, Waco, one possibly from Abilene, Dallas and
Tarrant County. We're gonna investigate, ask questions of the
witnesses, and see exactly what they saw.
We're not really here to make a
determination on what they saw. We just want to find out what they did
see. And then we'll report back to our headquarters in Colorado. If
there are any follow-ups needed, we'll do follow-ups."
Hudgeons noted that what makes this
sighting more unusual than others is the credibility and the number of
witnesses coming forward.
Both Hudgeons and Ken Cherry described
the local incident as the largest mass UFO sighting since the lights
over Phoenix, Arizona, in 1997.
The MUFON group brought large maps onto
which the location of both the witnesses and the UFO sightings could
be plotted in hopes of triangulating the aerial phenomenon's
locations.
There were some who had photographs or
videos that they believed to show the UFO's.
Sean Kiel, the Kentucky truck driver
whose cell phone photo appeared on the front page of Friday's Fort
Worth Star-Telegram, was there with his cell phone, seeking the person
who had offered a $5,000 reward for a photo of the UFO.
Kiel's photo, however, was taken in the
late afternoon and earlier than most of the other UFO sightings, and
appeared to show an ordinary "sun dog" reflection in the high, thin
clouds.
Quite a few at the meeting seemed to have
less serious motivations. There were several who were wearing aluminum
foil hats of various designs and others wore a variety of
locally-produced T-shirts commerating the UFO sightings. Some held up
humorous signs, some had decorated pets and many just wanted to see
what was undoubtedly the best free show available in the area. Many
were from the Metroplex and other parts of the state.
After the press conference was concluded
and the witnesses' statements taken, much work will remain for the
MUFON investigators. There will likely be follow-up interviews and
freedom of information requests for military radar logs and aircraft
activity information. A formal report on the investigation's findings
is not expected before April, but could take as long as a year, given
the large number of witnesses.
Regardless of the investigation's
findings, the mass UFO sightings have attracted a great deal of
attention, and will likely earn Stephenville and Dublin prominent
mention in the annals of UFO enthusiasts.
For any who did not attend the meeting
and may yet wish to report their observations, visit
www.mufon.com/reportufo.htm or call (888) 817-2220. |
