A UFO Conference Without Tinfoil Hats?


Call it a New Frontiers Symposium, with the subtitle of “Extraterrestrial Life, Space Exploration, & The Future” and maybe “they” will stay away.

As you work your way along the spectrum of human activities, straying away from the norm, you’re more apt to encounter “personalities” and “characters” than you would at more mainstream events. So I’m less surprised to find an eccentric at a comic book convention than I would at a writer’s conference. Comic book fans are more apt to dress up in outlandish costumes than aspiring writers – but even that isn’t a hard rule.

In his book, Shockingly Close To The Truth, Jim Moseley describes some of the notables who used to show up at the Giant Rock flying saucer conventions held in the Mojave Desert from 1954 through 1974. For example, there were Princess Negonna and Prince Neosom from the planet Tythan. And let’s not forget Connie Menger who claimed to have lived on Venus in a previous life. To borrow an appropriate phrase from Supreme Commander Moseley: Wheee!

Documentary filmmaker Paul Kimball wants to sponsor a more mainstream event with his 2006 New Frontiers Symposium. And I don’t blame him. While everyone is entitled to an opinion, no matter how “out there” it may be, Paul wants to move beyond a Giant Rock kooks-in-the-hot-desert-sun circus and show that ufology, despite its bad press, can be a topic for serious debate.

The symposium will be held in a couple of weeks on Saturday October 14, 2006, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. More info can be found at www.halifaxufo.com/ .

I have seen one of the scheduled speakers, Stanton Friedman, who spoke at Plattsburgh University a while ago. And from I know about the other speakers, it should be an interesting conference.

Just leave your tinfoil hat at the door.