All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S19E05.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: It is the world's
most elite team of UFO hunters.

NICK POPE:
It's this huge network
of investigators

who are not just interested
in UFOs,

but want to do something
about it.

NARRATOR:
For five decades,
the Mutual UFO Network

has gathered detailed evidence

of unexplained aerial phenomena,

strange encounters,
and alleged alien abductions.

TRAVIS TAYLOR:
Out of all the cases
that you've looked at,

have you seen anything
like this?

Not like this,
and I've done over a thousand.

NARRATOR:
And now, they're collaborating

with the United States
government.

JESSICA TOCCO:
MUFON has been very well
received in Congress.

Whether they believe it's a UAP
from another world

or from one our adversaries,

they want to know
what's happening.

NARRATOR:
Could MUFON have
within its vast files

definitive proof
of alien visitation?

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
Here we have an outfit
that has decades worth

of investigation,
and some of their cases

are, in my opinion,
extraterrestrial encounters.

NARRATOR:
There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is
the promise of truth.

It demands
we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is
right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

NARRATOR:
Thousands descend
on the Mile High City

to attend the 53rd International
Symposium on UFOs.

We had a similar case out of
South Carolina last year.

NARRATOR:
At this annual conference,

researchers
from around the world

gather to share and examine

the latest developments
in the study of UFOs.

One resident claimed to have
compiled a list of 110 persons

who had witnessed flying objects

out of the small town
of only 2,000.

NARRATOR:
And it is hosted
by an organization

with the most highly trained
UFO investigators in the world,

MUFON.

MUFON is the acronym
for the Mutual UFO Network.

It's the largest UFO
investigation organization

in the world,

and its mission statement
is the scientific study

of UFOs for the benefit
of mankind.

RON JAMES:
MUFON is a all-volunteer
organization

that's grown to well over
4,000 members worldwide

of field investigators and

people that want to participate
in the quest for the truth.

At the core of MUFON
is an investigative body

that exists to go out
and investigate sightings

that are worthy of investigation
and compile our database.

But over the years, MUFON
has grown into so much more.

We offer kind of a community

for people that care about
the topic.

POPE:
MUFON is the coming together

of people who are not just
interested in UFOs,

but want to do something
about it.

They want to investigate
the cases.

So, it's like this huge,
uh, network

of like-minded people
all around the United States

and indeed the world

brought together by their shared
passion for the subject

and their shared interest in it.

HURD: I became involved
after having been present

for the Phoenix Lights incident

here in Phoenix, Arizona
in 1997.

My interest was captured.

I first joined up with MUFON
after a trip to Roswell

with the family in 2019,

and it got me interested in it.

I had heard of MUFON before,
but I didn't think,

being a nurse,
if I would be useful.

But I called the headquarters
to see about

just attending meetings, and

I became an investigator,
and I've loved it ever since.

RODERICK MARTIN:
I was 12 years old
when I saw my first UFO.

Uh, was outside, and then
I lived in Dallas, Texas.

I saw this little white disk,

uh, kind of just zig-zagging.

So, imagine that seared
into you as a young kid.

As the years roll by,

I noticed that there was
an organization called MUFON,

Mutual UFO Network.

Then I found their website.

Wait a minute,
you can get behind the scenes.

You can become an investigator.

And so I said,
"You know what?

This is what I'm going to do."

NARRATOR:
Having now existed
as an organization

for more than five decades,

MUFON's mission is to
objectively investigate

the hundreds of eyewitness
accounts of UFOs

and other aerial phenomena

that are reported every year
across the globe.

RALPH BLUMENTHAL:
MUFON started in the '60s

as an association
of private citizens

who trained themselves to ask
questions, to go to scenes

where people had reported UFOs

to question people.

They developed a whole protocol.

They had a very
sophisticated methodology

that they used
to document these things,

and they kept records.

NARRATOR:
Started in Quincy, Illinois,

MUFON originally stood for
"The Midwest UFO Network"...

...but by 1973,

the organization had so many
members across the country,

its name was changed
to "The Mutual UFO Network."

The group remained
relatively obscure, however,

until 1980,

when it played a key role

in a sensational UFO case called

the Cash-Landrum Incident.

JAMES:
Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum

are driving through Texas
when they encounter this giant

diamond-shaped object...

...hovering and spewing out
blue flame from the bottom.

They stopped the car
to investigate.

The local environment

is actually being heated
by this object

to the point where
they try to touch their car

and it's hot to the touch.

And then what happens
is they notice

that there's an army
of helicopters,

Chinook helicopters,

seeming to escort this object.

VICKIE LANDRUM: This is Vickie
Landrum from Dayton, Texas.

Now, what makes this unique
is that,

when they get home,
after a couple of days,

they start to show symptoms
of being exposed

to ionized radiation.

DAVID CHILDRESS:
The women all had
their hair fall out,

they develop cancer,
and they blamed

the U.S. government for this.

And this then became
a very well-known court case,

where they were suing the
U.S. government, essentially.

This was reported
in major newspapers

all over the United States.

They couldn't ignore this story.

POPE:
MUFON investigators

got the witness statements,
gathered the evidence,

including things
like medical records,

which were central
to the legal case.

And, although, the witnesses
didn't win their case,

what's important was that
that gets it on the record.

Without MUFON,

it's unlikely that it
would have gone to court.

JAMES:
It helped MUFON
come to the forefront.

It gave us credibility
as a group.

And it was a really
establishing moment for MUFON.

You can click on this,
and you can click on your state

and see if your case
is coming up due soon.

NARRATOR:
40 UFO researchers

have arrived in this
small desert community

for the annual
MUFON Investigator Boot Camp.

This intense,
three-day conference

offers hands on training

in techniques used
to investigate cases

of reported
extraterrestrial visitations.

Stay with your group.

We have five sites.

You guys are gonna go
to the sites,

and you're going to find stuff,

tag it, bag it,
and you're gonna submit it.

MUFON strives to train up
their field investigators

to know photo
and video analysis.

We're expected to know how
to read astronomical charts.

We're expected to know how
to look at flight radar returns.

And that's just
the tip of the iceberg.

POPE:
One of the strengths of MUFON,

is that it
brings together people

with different skill sets.

So, for example, some of them
will be, uh, retired cops.

Also, people who specialize
in imagery analysis.

There are other people
who know all about computers.

So, all the different things

that an organization
investigating UFOs might need,

someone's gonna have
that skill set.

TSOUKALOS:
MUFON has many members
from the military,

from the police force,

lawyers, PhDs, doctors.

Those are highly, highly
educated people.

So, it's serious work

that these investigators
are doing.

POPE:
MUFON is not an organization

of wide-eyed believers.

These are not people who think
everything's an alien spaceship.

MUFON get thousands of cases,

and they investigate,
they analyze,

and they conclude.

And MUFON pride themselves
on trying to adhere

to the scientific method.

TSOUKALOS:
The UFO phenomenon

goes back, in my opinion,
thousands of years.

The day when it becomes
accepted knowledge globally

that we are not alone

and never have been
alone on Earth,

I think that MUFON will be part
of this paradigm shift.

NARRATOR:
For MUFON investigators,

determining the source
of an encounter

is key to identifying
what is truly unexplained.

And often,
the most compelling cases

are those in which eyewitness
accounts can be corroborated

by physical evidence.

NARRATOR:
Former British Ministry
of Defence UFO investigator

Nick Pope
and Dr. Travis Taylor,

who was the chief scientist

for the U.S. government's
UAP Task Force,

have arranged to meet with two
seasoned MUFON researchers,

who investigated
a possible UFO landing here

in the summer of 2022.

I'm really fascinated to see how
MUFON do their investigations.

What resources and capabilities
they can bring

to bear on these investigations.

I find it really intriguing
that at least they've taken on

that role because,
in the United States,

there is no government office

that's set up
to take UFO reports.

With the UAP Task Force,

we only looked at military,
uh, scenarios.

We never looked into civilian
events in detail because

we had no authority to go
and investigate inside

-the walls of the
United States, right?
-Right.

I'm gonna be interested
to look at this case

through the lens of the way

we did things at
the U.K. Ministry of Defence.

We took a very
methodological approach

to these sorts of things.

NARRATOR:
Before proceeding to the site
of the alleged landing...

-Travis Taylor.
-NARRATOR: Travis and Nick
meet up with Robert Spearing

and Jason Albertson,
the MUFON investigators

who conducted the original
enquiry in July 2022.

I'm MUFON's, uh, International
Director of Investigations.

Uh, I have
a forensic background.

And this is Jay Albertson.

He's a field investigator
from Pennsylvania.

I'm also retired military.

I'm a chemical biological
radiological specialist.

So, I guess one
of the biggest questions to me

is, uh, MUFON's become so huge.

How's it funded?
Or is it all volunteer?

Are you guys getting paid
to do this?

-No, everything's volunteer.
-ALBERTSON: No.

That's what I thought.
That's amazing.

MUFON is mostly funded
by its membership,

and we have about 500
field investigators right now

from all walks of life.

Geologists, biologists,
rocket scientists, you name it.

So, what's your process when
someone makes a report to MUFON?

What happens?

When a witness submits a report,

it goes to, uh,
one of five administrators,

and the state director
will then assign it

to a person in that area.

Jay lived in
the general area where

the incident occurred, and

we immediately realized that
this was a case of interest.

So, what happened?

A woman,
about 2:30 in the morning,

-(barking)
-heard her dogs barking.

She saw a white light
coming down

in the field behind her house.

The crickets and the cicadas
had stopped making noise,

which is unusual in
the summertime in Pennsylvania.

ALBERTSON:
The woman was scared
because the dogs

was going crazy,
running back and forth.

And the next morning,
her husband went out

and discovered what we call
a saucer circle

about two yards in diameter.

ALBERTSON:
The pond is to your right,

the impression
is straight ahead.

There's three circles
that are burned in the center.

You have a 14-inch circle,

perfect in the center,
and you have

two 12-inch circles
on the left and right.

And they connect
with the outside impression

that comes down.

TAYLOR:
Circle here,
and here's the big circle.

ALBERTSON:
Yeah, there's another one
right here it looks like.

-TAYLOR: Yeah.
-SPEARING: Could
that be landing gear?

Did the ring look
dug into the ground

or pushed into the ground?

The outer ring, that was pushed
down about a half an inch.

They hadn't mowed

before you got there,
or had they mowed over this?

No, they hadn't mowed at all.

ALBERTSON:
Okay, got it.

All right.

You know, if I were going to
sit here and play the role

of a debunker, right?
I'd look at things trying to

figure this out and say,
"Oh, well,

"I've seen when I've bent
my lawn mower blade,

it cuts
perfect circles like that."

But you couldn't cut
a perfect circle around it

-where you did that.
-No.

I don't know how in the world,

even with a zero-turn
radius mower,

-you couldn't do that.
-ALBERTSON: No.

TAYLOR:
And then if it's
actually depressed,

that means that there's
something that was heavy

-sitting there.
-Yes.

Uh, so I find this
really interesting.

So, when you get
to the location,

is the first thing you do
to go to these circles

because that's what's
been brought to your attention?

And what do you find?

ALBERTSON:
The first thing I did was,
I went to the circle.

I was taking photographs and
getting all my measurements

first, and then,

when I initially was down
on the ground taking samples,

I felt a burning sensation

on the insides of my arms
on certain parts

that I-I just
couldn't understand.

Pain, nausea, headaches,

and me being in the military,
I knew

exactly what that could've been.

And are you worried?
Are you scared? Are you...?

At that point I was 'cause
then I knew exactly...

-TAYLOR: Could be
radiation or...
-I knew it was a flash burn.

It had to have been
a flash burn.

So, do you seek medical help
for that?

Yes. Yes. I went directly
to the hospital.

Yeah, they were initially just
burns, and then they circled.

They initially looked at it, and
they said, "Is this a bug bite?"

And I said, "No."

Right, because,
you know, you've--

-Everyone's been bitten
by bugs before, right?
-Exactly.

You know what that feels like.

And-and you are saying
that was not what happened.

-This is something else.
-Exactly. Yes.

ALBERTSON:
After I talked to the doctor,

he determined that it was
unexplained skin eruption.

What other data
did you collect with this?

When we got the lab results back
from the MUFON lab in Missouri,

the technician there
told us that there were

some heavy elements
within the soil itself.

ALBERTSON:
Yeah, if you look on the back
of the test here,

it states that
where it was coal mining,

toxic metals were present.

Mercury, lead, arsenic, uh,

cadmium, aluminum,
nickel, uranium.

This was all found
in the samples.

The technician there
told us that,

when heavy elements interact

with the residual
EMF field left over

by whatever left the EMF field,
it can become toxic for them.

And we believe that's
what started the blistering

on-on Jay's body.

The other thing
the lab found was that

some of the, uh, vegetation

within the circle had been
burnt from the inside out.

So, I believe, when you add
in that the plant matter

was burned from within,
you have more and more evidence

suggesting that there was
a strong residual EMF field.

TAYLOR:
So, out of all the cases
that you've looked at,

have you seen anything
like this?

Not like this.

I'd say this is one
of the top three cases

I've done, and I've done
over a thousand.

Well, I'll tell you
what I would like to do.

Uh, you guys still have
your investigation kit with you?

-Yes.
-I would like
to go back up there,

and you guys go back through
all the measurements you made,

and we'll get to watch
and see how you did that.

But, at the same time,
we're taking another measurement

that happened a given amount
of time after the event.

And if there are changes,

that'll be very interesting data
that we'll need to know.

-Okay. Let's go.
-Let's do it. Let's go.
-Great.

NARRATOR:
November 7, 2022.

Dr. Travis Taylor and Nick Pope
are in Wapwallopen, Pennsylvania

to see how MUFON investigates
UFO sightings firsthand.

-TAYLOR: Greetings.
-NARRATOR: They arrive
at the home

of Robert and Melissa Skirchak.

The Skirchaks
are looking for answers

as to what occurred on their
property several months earlier.

So, where abouts
did this take place?

ROBERT:
Right behind you
in the grass area.

MELISSA:
Right behind you in
the grass area.

Well, lead the way. Show us.

-So, it was this close
to the house?
-ROBERT: Yes.

Wow.

-Yeah, in this area right here.
-MELISSA: Over here.

I say we-we go back
and get the equipment

out of the vehicle and then
we'll let the MUFON guys

come do their thing again.

NARRATOR:
Nick and Travis are joined

by MUFON field investigators

Jason Albertson
and Robert Spearing.

Jason and Robert
will retest the area

for radioactivity
and collect more soil samples

on the Skirchak property.

The goal is to see
if any lingering effects

from the initial incident
remain.

Jay's gonna check
for residual radiation,

uh, an EMF field,
residual EMF field,

and we're gonna see
if there's anything sub-ground,

metallic underneath.

When we do that,
if it's safe to go back in,

we're gonna do
some soil samples.

-Sure. All right.
-So, let's-let's do it.

Okay.

TAYLOR:
Jason actually has
a pretty good background

for this type of,
uh, investigation.

He's from a military background
doing chemical weapons disposal.

So, he's familiar
with radiation,

electromagnetic fields,

and that type of
scientific measurement...

Now, you remember where it was?

TAYLOR:
...and understanding
those phenomena.

SPEARING:
Just about here.

Now, normal radiation levels
in this area

of Pennsylvania, about
50 to 68 clicks per minute?

Yeah, that sounds about right.

It's pretty much 65 right now,

so I don't see any sort
of dangerous radiation.

Did you find anything
with the metal detector

on your initial search?

Initially, no. Nope.

TAYLOR:
So, uh, Jason,

you said you took samples
outside of the spot?

-Yes.
-So, you took, uh,

-soil samples from the pond,
grass samples...
-Yes.

-...water samples.
-Yes.

Soil samples here and the, uh,
the soil samples near the pond

were not the same or they were
the same as they were here?

-They were different.
-TAYLOR: Okay.

The interesting thing,
though, is

that right here,
just ten, 20 feet away...

-It's different.
-...you have different

minerals in the soil
than you do there,

and you would expect the runoff,
since that's downhill,

it all ought to be the same,

which is odd.

NARRATOR:
Jason and Robert are going
to take fresh samples

of the soil to test it again.

POPE:
Jason, this is where

-you kind of got sick
yourself, right?
-ALBERTSON: Yes.

As soon as I got
down to the ground,

that's when I felt
different spots in my arms

and the insides of my arms.

Yeah, we'll get some grass
in here, too, from this.

All right, and then
we'll get a control sample.

(overlapping chatter)

SPEARING:
Yeah, I'm gonna hold on to this
till it's labeled.

Yeah. All right.

So, we'll take
the control sample.

Yeah. There we go.

So, this then gets labeled,

gets sent back to the lab,

and you maintain
the chain of custody.

TAYLOR:
You've got some initial data.

If it was just
simply something on

the surface,
it's been enough time now,

a lot of that
should've washed away.

So, it might be that you'll
find a different sample

than what you found before.

ALBERTSON:
That's it. We're good.

TAYLOR:
I can't wait to see the results.

NARRATOR:
For Travis and Nick,
the Skirchak case

has shown them the methodical
nature of MUFON investigations.

POPE:
I think MUFON
did a great job here.

I was very impressed
with both the investigators.

Everything I witnessed them
talk about and actually do,

uh, resonated with me in terms
of the sort of thing

that we did in the government.

TAYLOR:
The case here at
the Skirchak residence

is a really interesting one
because there's actually some,

uh, physical evidence left
behind that can be investigated.

And the MUFON guys
did a good job

taking soil samples,
electromagnetic measurements,

gamma ray measurements,
and things of that nature.

This is the type of process
that we're gonna have to

standardize more
if we're ever going to

get to the bottom
of this phenomena.

NARRATOR:
The Skirchak sighting is one

of MUFON's most intriguing
cases of 2022.

But deep in MUFON's files
are a host of other sightings,

many with video evidence...

NARRATOR:
...that cannot be explained.

Gosport, England.

January 9, 2017.

Just before 11:00 p.m.,

residents of this city
see something unusual

in the night sky.

NARRATOR:
Dramatic video is captured

of three lights converging,
separating...

NARRATOR:
...and then reconverging.

For MUFON investigators,

this footage
was particularly exciting.

JAMES:
What makes this video
especially compelling

is that you have the visual
evidence, multiple witnesses,

and it still stands out
as something we can't explain.

That's what we call
the "category three case."

It's the one with the most
potential to be unexplained.

NARRATOR:
On December 31, 2021,

an even stranger video
of an alleged UFO

was sent to MUFON by soldiers
at Tooele Army Depot in Utah.

The soldiers filmed
a strange light

hovering in the sky
for five consecutive nights.

SKYE LaFEVER:
If it were some kind
of a military plane,

we would be able to detect it.

We have our ways of finding out
that this is a military craft.

We can check all the information
in the area.

There was no craft at that time.

What makes this case
so interesting to us

is that, after this happened,

all military personnel
were released from the base.

CHILDRESS:
After the fifth night,

military executives
suddenly showed up.

They interviewed people.

They told everyone
on the base who had seen

these UFOs that
they were dismissed.

They told them also
their clothes and things

had been contaminated
by this UFO.

NARRATOR:
Are the mysterious lights
in these videos

and accounts by witnesses
like the Skirchaks

evidence that extraterrestrials
are visiting our planet?

For now, the answer
remains a mystery.

But each MUFON investigation

is added to their
ever-growing database

in the hope that, one day,
they will provide vital clues.

POPE:
Every time you investigate,

you're adding to the database
of knowledge,

and then you look for trends.

It's those sorts
of little details

that you just store away
until they come up again.

And then maybe
it tells you something

interesting and important.

NARRATOR: While MUFON has
amassed a large inventory

of reports they cannot explain,

there are a few that stand out
as truly astonishing.

One of the most compelling
of all

involved multiple witnesses

who saw not only a craft,

but also alien visitors.

NARRATOR:
A man named Randy Young
has come forward to report

a UFO encounter that happened
almost 50 years earlier,

in 1975.

The story begins
when he was ten years old

at the Miracle Mountains
Boarding School

in Hartshorne, Oklahoma.

YOUNG:
Miracle Mountain was kind of
out in the boonies of Oklahoma.

That day, my brother and I
were out in the sandbox,

and we saw this circular, uh,
shining light that was

probably 2,000 or so feet
up in the air.

It didn't have the movements
of an airplane.

It was just hovering.

And, as it got darker,
this craft got closer.

It had lights that went
through the midsection

all the way around,

and it had this classic,
saucer-type shape.

NARRATOR: For decades,
Randy and his brother

kept their extraordinary
encounter to themselves

for fear of how
it would be received.

You didn't want people thinking
that you're crazy,

you didn't want
to ruin your reputation.

But, in the back of my mind,
that story was always there,

and with all that has been going
on with, um, the government,

the military, jets that are,

you know, tracking these things,

and there's been a lot more talk
about it recently.

I'm like, okay,
if they're talking

this big at this level,
they got to hear this story.

They need to know about
what had happened in Hartshorne

in 1975, and so,
I contacted MUFON.

NARRATOR:
The report reached the desk
of Mindy Tautfest,

the Oklahoma state
MUFON director.

TAUTFEST:
Randy filed an official report
through mufon.com,

and I immediately knew,
after reading it,

that this case could be
a very, very important case

to all of UFO history.

I first reached out to Randy
and interviewed him.

The next person
I spoke to was Philip Buchanan.

Philip was one
of the older children

at the school at the time.

And so, he has one
of the more complete memories

of what transpired there

and the operations
of the school itself.

And then, I spoke
with the teacher via email.

And the teacher described that
some of the kids were hiding

under the beds because
they were very terrified,

and some of the kids
were looking out the window.

They reported
to see shapeshifting

entities out there.

They just said,
"It keeps changing."

JAMES: What Mindy found out
after doing all that work

is that these kids were
recalling the exact same thing.

As these witnesses were telling
their stories years later,

one of the things
Mindy asked them to do

was to actually draw
the UFO that they'd seen.

And the consistency is amazing.

And not only are they
telling the same story,

but they're describing
the same craft.

It shows us that these
old historic cases

still have something to offer.

YOUNG:
I think that, um, we need
an organization like MUFON.

I think we need to have
a database for all these

different incidents,
and I think that

we need to have, um,
as many eyes

and as many investigators
on this as possible.

We need to figure out
what's going on.

TAUTFEST: There's been a lot
of excitement around this story

because there were
a lot of things

that corroborated each other.

We find value
in all UFO reports,

and some of the older ones

serve to validate
some other sightings

that may be in our database.

And so, the older historic cases
really have a lot of value

whenever it comes to ufology.

TSOUKALOS:
This cold case is one
of the most fascinating cases

that MUFON's ever investigated

because students,

they had not spoken
to each other since 1975,

and they all replied
with the same answers,

which indicates
that something happened,

and everybody saw
the same thing.

In the ancient astronaut
opinion,

those stories of UFOs today

are the same stories
that our ancestors

in the remote past
also explored.

Their cell phone cameras

were the walls of caves

and reliefs and carvings

in which they commemorated those

incredibly significant events

that they were eyewitnesses to.

NARRATOR:
Is MUFON's growing database
further evidence

that extraterrestrial beings
have been visiting

our planet
for thousands of years,

as ancient astronaut
theorists suggest?

And if so, what do they want?

Perhaps clues can be found
in MUFON reports

that go beyond UFO sightings

and describe
terrifying encounters.

NARRATOR: Each year,
the Mutual UFO Network

receives approximately
10,000 reports

of UFO phenomena.

While most involve sightings
of strange objects in the sky,

in some cases,
the witness claims

to have come face-to-face
with an alien entity.

A lot of people
that approach MUFON

have these stories of having
these personal encounters

with entities
that they can't explain.

But we found over the years
is that there

is serious validity
to this phenomenon.

KATHLEEN MARDEN:
I believe that worldwide
there are millions of people

who have had these encounters,

but it is very, very difficult
for a lot of people

to come forward.

Maybe they told their family,
maybe they told a good friend,

and they were laughed at.

They feel that they really need

to talk to someone,
but they can't.

NARRATOR:
In 2011, MUFON formed
the Experiencer Resource Team,

a program dedicated
to assisting those who claim

to have been traumatized
by extraterrestrial encounters.

MARDEN:
We receive up to 150 reports
per month from the people

who believe that they have had
a missing time event,

they've had a close encounter
with a craft,

sometimes observed
nonhuman entities,

and we've worked
with members of the military,

we've worked
with medical doctors,

we've worked
with business owners,

credible people
who have a lot to lose.

Oftentimes, they're frightened.

So, they are seeking assistance

in overcoming the fear

and in gaining
a better understanding

of what is occurring.

NARRATOR:
One such encounter
reported to MUFON

was made by trauma nurse
Earl Gray Anderson in 2016,

just weeks after he had joined
MUFON as a field investigator.

Earl was at his home
in Los Angeles when his room was

suddenly illuminated
by a mysterious light.

Our room started
filling with light,

and it was a light
with no source.

It wasn't coming from an object
or a lamp or outside.

And the wall opened up.

I couldn't move.
I was paralyzed.

And that was when
I first started feeling afraid.

I saw these little
diminutive creatures.

You would call them
the Small Grays.

It was almost like watching
a surgical team work.

There were these tubes
that they attached

to the top of my chest,
and I felt like they were

draining blood or-or energy,
life force from me.

I was yelling in my mind,

and I was crying out
for them to stop.

But they were
not listening to me.

They pulled backwards,
out the same way they came in.

The wall, like, seemed to swirl,

almost like
a little galaxy in the room.

And it was back to normal,

except there was
still light in our room.

The light didn't fade for a good
five minutes with no source.

After the experience,

I didn't tell
friends and-and family.

I mean, you're gonna feel
skepticism if somebody says

that, you know, you've just
became a field investigator,

and I'm suddenly saying
that I was visited by ETs.

But it scared
the hell out of me.

It was very, very serious.

NARRATOR:
Earl eventually reached out

to MUFON's
Experiencer Resource Team,

and after sharing his encounter,

he decided to become a member
of the ERT himself.

ANDERSON:
It was very, very helpful
to have someone to listen.

And-and that's what
I find in my own dealings

with experiencers now.

The ERT is MUFON's...

it's-it's like the
compassionate wing of MUFON.

Like social workers
for experiencers.

NARRATOR:
By working closely
with individuals

who claim to have been abducted,

MUFON has compiled
a wide range of data

on the experiencer phenomenon.

TAUTFEST: The data that we
collect is pretty interesting.

And we try to find patterns.

It's really kind of astounding,
whenever you break it down

and look at the
different commonalities

between these different
sightings or abductions.

MARDEN:
Most experiencers have
conscious continuous recall

of being awake.

They become paralyzed.

They have a sense
of an electrical tingling

sensation through their bodies.

They might hear high-pitched
buzzing tones in their heads.

We used to think that abduction
occurred only once,

but after years of research,
we've realized that

individuals are taken
multiple times over a lifetime.

We are gaining
a better understanding

of what is occurring.

NARRATOR:
With the volume
of empirical data

that has been collected
over the years

related to mysterious sightings
and reported encounters,

is it possible
that the organization

could be on the verge
of a major breakthrough

in the UFO phenomenon?

For ancient astronaut theorists,

the answer is a resounding yes.

And they believe it will come
thanks to emerging

cooperative efforts
between MUFON

and the United States
government.

NARRATOR:
UFO enthusiasts
across the nation

tune in to watch as a
Congressional subcommittee holds

a hearing on UFOs
for the first time

in more than 50 years.

Unidentified aerial phenomena
are a potential

national security threat,

and they need
to be treated that way.

NARRATOR:
The last hearing, held in 1968,

was called to discuss
Project Blue Book,

the U.S. government's first
official UFO investigations.

POPE:
By the late '60s,

Project Blue Book had been going
for many years, and

whatever the
U.S. government knew

about UFOs behind the scenes,
this public program

was just considered
by senior military officers

a waste of time and money.

So, they wanted
to get out of the game.

And they got
the answer they wanted.

A recommendation that the
Air Force disengaged from this.

So, we've had decades of playing
the whole thing down,

and now, it's as if
they're putting it out there

in front of us all.

We know that our service members
have encountered

unidentified aerial phenomena.

POPE:
Some absolutely fascinating
information was disclosed.

The briefers presented evidence,

talked about how there
had been near misses

between UAP and military jets.

There was discussion
about how these-these objects

moved with
no visible propulsion.

It looks, uh, reflective
in this video,

somewhat reflective, uh,
and it quickly passes

by cockpit of the,
uh, of the aircraft.

So, this was
absolutely groundbreaking.

NARRATOR:
A major contributor
to the hearing

was Jessica Tocco,

a lobbyist who briefed
committee members

about civilian UFO encounters
on behalf of MUFON.

The Mutual UFO Network
was founded around the time

that Project Blue Book
was disbanded.

So, to work with the government
on this issue,

and that there were
elected officials

who were very interested,

that was groundbreaking
and historic.

NARRATOR:
Many hailed the hearing
as a historic breakthrough,

one that could potentially
usher in a new era of government

cooperation
with civilian UFO research.

When that day comes,
MUFON investigators believe

their large database

will prove vital
to future investigations.

TAUTFEST:
MUFON stands ready to assist

the government
in any way that we can.

We are really at the forefront

of UFO investigation.

JAMES:
We have the world's
largest database

of UFO sightings
and investigations.

Here's the thing, though,
we'll never say,

"Oh, it was definitely
extraterrestrial."

We can't
scientifically prove that.

Now, we can say
that it's unexplained,

and that we don't know
what it was.

We're going after the truth.

TSOUKALOS:
MUFON has amassed
this treasure chest

of investigative reports
of cases

that are very similar

to stories of our ancestors
that say

that they have witnessed
strange events up in the sky.

There is a connection
between the two,

and, usually, the simplest
solution is the correct one.

In my opinion, the suggestion
of extraterrestrials

is the simplest solution

to explain this phenomenon,
this aerial thing that goes on

up in the sky
for thousands of years.

NARRATOR:
From ancient depictions
of disc-shaped objects

and strange figures,

to modern-day video footage
of UFOs

and accounts
of alien abductions,

does evidence exist that,
for thousands of years,

Earth has been visited
by extraterrestrials?

And as the public
becomes more open

to discussing
this incredible possibility,

and sharing
personal experiences,

will we arrive
at a definitive answer?

Perhaps as the evidence
continues to mount,

and more witnesses come forward,

we will finally arrive
at the undeniable truth

that we are not alone.

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