southern Wisconsin, and only from southern Wisconsin. The ones who DIDN'T show up were the aliens. But the rain did (see the incoming storm, right)I got there on Friday afternoon, and got a chance to look around. Benson's hideaway is a pleasant place. Across the lake is a Boy Scout camp, and Kettle Moraine State Forest. This pic is looking up the valley, to the north. It's pretty much all boonies there, and the result is an incredibly peaceful atmosphere - a sense of communion with nature, and of being away from the hustle and bustle of urbania.
I knew immediately that I was in the right place when I saw the sign at the waterfront, UFO Headquarters (see sign in the picture at left).
After I arrived, I stepped inside and got to talking with some of the people there. I also got a great look at the place and immediately felt right at home. I saw pictures of grays, posters and newsclippings of recent UFO sightings, and other info on UFO abductions. Several people there described sightings and encounters. A couple of people even told me about a sighting that had occurred there a couple of days before - a pretty big honkin' ball of light.
The view from the restaurant looks across the lake, and I was told that much of the action is off to the east, over the state forest. It is a beautiful view and a wonderful place for a UFO sighting.
That evening, I met Sam Maranto and Tim Whiteagle, two of the speakers, together with heir spouses. We; had dinner there and got a chance to talk for a while. I learned a lot about MUFON politics that I was not familiar with - and it reminds me of why I am not involved in the inner workings of national HQ. I guess, just like in the day job, I'm just not political enough... :-)
After dinner, we set up camp for the evening and I soon got to chat with Bill Burt, John Hoppe and spouses. John and Jenny Hoppe founded the UFO Wisconsin website and investigative organization. Bill Burt is the state director of ICAR (International Center for Alien Research). Bill and John are quite enthusiastic about deciding and implementing the next step in abduction research, and we agreed that ICAR is probably a big part of that next step.
These were pretty beefy topics for a quiet evening around the campfire. And God must have been listening - responding with a sudden downpour that sent us scurrying under the tarp. Not sure whether that meant approval or otherwise... :-)
Next morning - which actually started rather slowly, when the water failed in the wash room, thus no showers for awile - it was off to Benson's to set up for the conference.
Setting up was quick. "Craig's rapid-deployment kit" - a wheeled suitcase with the essentials of laptop, charger, projector, outlet strip, extension cords laser pointer and batteries - came in ever-handy. I guess after a few presentations, you tend to get a package together, especially after a few scrambles for rechargers, laser pointers, etc.Sam was up first at the podium, so the pic at right shows Sam putting the final touches on his talk, getting his powerpoint ready to put onto my laptop, and getting his DVD, with several pretty interesting video clips, out to go into my laptop.
Sam's talk was a great leadoff - stressing the difference between believers and investigators. I think that, for this venue, the topic was EXTREMELY appropriate.
He talked about the different types of UFOs, the nature of various sightings, physical evidence and abduction. Primarily, though, he talked about the difference between belief, acceptance and skepticism. The biggest point was the difference between debunking and skepticism. And I guess, like him, I find that difference important...
Next up was Tim Whiteagle.
Tim gave a largely impromptu talk, primarily centered around remote-viewing.
I had no idea just how much history he had with the RV saga - project Grill Flame, then project Stargate. He knew a lot of the RV'ers in the group, Ingo Swann, Lynn Buchanan, and others. And my understanding is that Tim is quite the remote viewer, himself.
One of the truly fascinating things Tim mentioned in his talk - once you can remote view, the Universe holds no secrets. That's both encouraging, and spooky to think about. And I will leave it at that.
The third speaker was from the Kettle Moraine Paranormal Investigation group. Since his website indicates that he wants to keep his personal info under wraps, I will just give his name as Michael.
His talk was on Sleep Paralysis - which is the classic null hypothesis for alien abduction. He covered the basic medical description of it, then went into some of the more spiritual history of the topic - interference and attack by demons, etc.
I will probably have more to say on this later. For now, suffice it to say that it was a nice lead-in to my talk on alien abduction...
Looking at the picture to the right, you can see that the talks were pretty well attended. The crowd at the back was part of the standing-room-only attendance (many centered around the bar, just beyond the archway).
Our workshop was in what was normally the restaurant area - so most of the food-related service at Benson's that evening was around the bar. It was a noisy, impromput and fun venue - and a unique experience for the presenter.
We took an hour break between the talk by the Kettle Moraine folks and mine - which was great. I was starved, as were many others.
The Dundee Lions Club had a burger and brat stand outside, and when I stepped back outside, I noted that several other vendors had joined them, including several of the speakers.
We took an hour break between the talk by the Kettle Moraine folks and mine - which was great. I was starved, as were many others.
The Dundee Lions Club had a burger and brat stand outside, and when I stepped back outside, I noted that several other vendors had joined them, including several of the speakers.
The pic at right is one of the vendor tables, the tarp to the left of them was set up for the burger and brat stand - and after quite a few hours since breakfast, a plate full of burgers and brats tasted great.
This was not the place for vegetarians...
After the supper break came my talk, A Closer Look at UFO Encounters - during which I didn't take any pictures. More stuff coming up on my presentation, however, once I get the audio and video from Bill. But you can click on this link to get to the powerpoint slides, or go to my website: http://www.craigrlang.com/ and go to the events page.
I think my talk was pretty well received, as I got a number of pretty positive comments back about it. I also sold a fair number of copies of The Cosmic Bridge, and The Other Side of the Sky, The Cosmic Bridge Companion after the talk. So I think I must have made a pretty good impression.
My primary point was to stress that we really know very little about close encounters, and the best use of healing skills such as hypnotherapy is to do just that - healing. I think that both skeptics and new-agers can largely agree on that.
In addition, in any UFO gathering, you can usually guess that about 25% to 50% of those there are experiencers. In this case, the number of people who raised their hands, when I asked my usual lead-in survey question, was about 25% or less. I'm not too surprised by that, as it is my understanding that this area is relatively socially conservative. Still, I was not surprised to note that several people had tears in their eyes as I went through the description of the close encounter experience, and the outward indicators. I can usually see one or two experiencers sitting in the front row, riveted to the screen, and this time was no exception.
Then the talks were done.
It was time to adjourn outside, grab the lawn chairs and stake out a place on the lawn near the waterfront. Hopefully, in an hour or so, dark would set in and "They" would put on a show for us.
Well, I think we got a FEW visitors, as witnessed by the little white globe in the picture at right (look toward the upper right, over the heads of the people on the right side of the pic).
Not sure if it was dust in the air, caught by the flash (the null hypothesis for orbs) or it was a visitor checking out what all the fuss was about. But it always makes for another interesting aspect to the mystery...
You can see another of our "orbian visitors" in the picture at right. All in all, I got several good pictures of our translucent friends.Which is good, because our UFOlogical friends didn't show.
My record is still untarnished - I have never had an overt, unambiguous, UFO sighting. While I ahve seen a few stars or black dots behaving badly, none of them were up close and personal. And this time was no exception.
So does Benson's Hideaway attract aliens (and/or hoaxers)? Many say yes to the former, and some to the latter - and I got the chance to interview many who have seen some pretty interesting stuff in the sky there. But at UFODaze 2009, we didn't see anything unambiguously UFOlogical. But we did have a great time. And I wonder if, in a way, that is sufficient.
