Space and Alien Snowfest

Unidentified flying objects. They’re one of the most mysterious phenomena on Earth, or off. Are they extraterrestrial spacecraft? Secret government plane tests? If you’ve ever wondered about the truth behind UFOs, you may be in luck.

The Space and Alien Snowfest ufology conference is coming to Big Bear Feb. 5-7. The conference features special guests George Noory and producer Tom Danheiser of the Coast to Coast AM radio show, along with Jason Martell, Mike Bara and Linda Moulton Howe, who have each appeared on the History Channel show “Ancient Aliens.” Other guests include ufologists Stanton Friedman, Micah Hanks, Richard Dolan and Chase Kloetzke.



The conference will include panel and audience discussions, as well as presentations from the various guests. The Space and Alien Snowfest will take place at the Big Bear Lake Convention Center at 42900 Big Bear Blvd., Big Bear Lake. Tickets for the whole weekend are $209, or single day tickets are available for $99. Visit www.aliensnowfest.com for more information. Call 909-648-5776 for tickets.

Aliens invade — in an exhibit

Inside the city's GardenWalk center, in the suite formerly occupied by Tommy Bahama, is a new walk-through exhibition called "Encounters: U.F.O. Experience," which organizers call a beginner's course to ufology — the study of visual records and other alleged evidence of unidentified flying objects — that will appeal to both children and adults.

"This is a 101 on UFOs," said Brian Bouquet, a San Juan Capistrano resident who curated the content and created the storyline.

The exhibition, which opened Jan. 1 and is tentatively scheduled to run through May 31, features galleries containing replicas of artifacts related to ufology, as well as videos and informative text, all in about 3,800 square feet.


A vampire squid is among the various alien specimens on display. (Kevin Chang / Weekend)

After passing the entrance, which is highlighted with a replica E.T. from the 1982 classic film, patrons go into a gallery dedicated to the "ancient aliens" hypothesis, which theorized that extraterrestrials visited Earth and influenced early humanity.

Inside, viewers can learn about the mysterious Moai statues on Easter Island, the Nazca Lines in Peru and Pumapunku in Bolivia, where precisely cut stones held together without any mortar has some theorizing that advanced alien technology served as an aid in the construction.


Alien specimens align a wall at the "Encounters: U.F.O. Experience" exhibit. (Kevin Chang / Weekend)

"We don't have even modern cranes that can lift the heavy rocks into those positions," Bouquet said.

The second room, which Bouquet considers the "Area 51 military room," brings viewers into the modern era of ufology, beginning in the 1940s to the 1950s. During that time, the term "flying saucers" came into the general lexicon, and government entities like the military began paying attention to reports of UFO sightings.

Among the displays is information about the Roswell, N.M., incident of 1947 when, some believe, the U.S. military recovered a crashed alien spacecraft and bodies. Replicas of the Roswell Daily Record are among the artifacts, and the different classifications of alien encounters and UFO sightings are described.


News articles of Roswell, New Mexico from 1947. (Kevin Chang / Weekend)

Around the corner is the "sightings gallery," where a video plays UFO eyewitness testimonies. Another video shows footage of spacecrafts and asks viewers to determine if what they are seeing could be real or is a known hoax.

And, particularly for kids, Bouquet said, is the alien body whose "guts" can be touched.

The gallery also includes a room where guests can listen with headphones to real 911 calls — 82 in total — from people reporting UFOs.

The final room is dubbed the "abduction gallery," meant to look like the inside of an alien mothership. It holds preserved species inside jars and attempts to explain ufology from the 1970s to the present day, including some tie-ins to pop culture.

Getting into the abduction gallery involves going past the door marked "Do not enter: Alien autopsy occurring" and walking through a small tunnel where a fog machine offers an eerie feel. The tunnel, Bouquet said, is meant to re-create the feeling of abductees who report seeing a white light and feeling disoriented.

Before exiting the exhibition, viewers can take pictures next to a menacing alien from the "Alien" films.

An "escape room" experience, themed as fleeing from an alien abduction, is expected to open in the coming weeks. It will have a separate admission fee.

"Encounters: U.F.O. Experience" came to Anaheim after runs in Arizona and South Carolina. About 1,000 people have seen it so far in Orange County, and nearly 40,000 viewed it during its three-week run in Arizona, Bouquet said.

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IF YOU GO

What: "Encounters: U.F.O. Experience"

Where: Anaheim GardenWalk, Suite 132, 321 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim

When: 2 to 9 p.m. Sundays and Tuesdays through Thursdays; noon to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Closed Mondays.

Cost: $12 for adults, $8 for children. Children under 8 are free. Audio guides are $2. The exhibition is offering a limited-time Groupon special: two adults for $14.

Information: ufoexhibition.com or (310) 902-5461.

Tim Peake says aliens are REAL and there's 'high chance' of humans discovering extraterrestrial life

08:51, 15 JAN 2016 UPDATED 10:15, 15 JAN 2016 The Mirror
BY JASPER HAMILL
Major Tim says he's confident that we're not alone in the universe and makes an astonishing prediction


It's life Tim, but not as we know it: Peake is a 'firm believer' in extraterrestrial life

Astronaut Tim Peake is set to join a handful of British astronauts who have performed a space walk.

But the Chichester-born spaceman has said that his incredible journey is just one small step in a longer mission which could eventually result in humans discovering life on another planet.

Peake said he was confident scientists would soon crack the "big question" of whether we are alone in the universe.

"There is a high chance we will soon discover there was - or is - life in our solar system," the 43-year-old told Mirror Online.

"I would be very surprised if there wasn't life elsewhere in the universe."

However, the astronaut said he didn't expect little green men to suddenly pop up from the craters of the Red Planet.

"Single cell life forms might be found on Mars," he continued.

Tim also suggested extraterrestrial organisms might be found on the moons of Saturn or Jupiter, some of which are thought to hide vast oceans of water.

He said: "Wherever there is water, there is the possibility of life."

On December 15, the former military test pilot blasted off on a mission to the International Space Station, leaving his wife and two sons back on Earth.

Speaking from Kazakhstan, Tim said his decision to fly into space was "not taken lightly" and had prompted "serious discussions" with his wife.

"There is risk involved and it's not easy," he confessed.

"In the last year, we've seen supply vehicles which haven't made it into orbit.

"It would be unnatural if my family weren't worried about me going into space, but they are very supportive."

In less than a fortnight, Tim will blast off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket to begin his six-month stay on the International Space Station .

Independence Day: Resurgence

Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind's new space defenses be enough?

Storyline

We always knew they were coming back. After 'Independence Day' redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens' advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.

Release Date: 24 June 2016 (USA) (UK)

Philippines 22 June 2016
Argentina 23 June 2016
Brazil 23 June 2016
Colombia 23 June 2016
Denmark 23 June 2016
Hong Kong 23 June 2016
Italy 23 June 2016
Mexico 23 June 2016
Russia 23 June 2016
Singapore 23 June 2016
Bulgaria 24 June 2016
Canada 24 June 2016
UK 24 June 2016
Ireland 24 June 2016
USA 24 June 2016
Belgium 29 June 2016
Sweden 29 June 2016
Netherlands 30 June 2016
Ukraine 30 June 2016
Austria 1 July 2016
Finland 1 July 2016
Norway 1 July 2016
Romania 1 July 2016
France 20 July 2016
Germany 28 July 2016

Trailer

Cast Interview

Have you seen a UFO? You can help with my research

I AM a Brisbane-based researcher and president of UFO Research Queensland, currently documenting the history of sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) in Queensland.

I would welcome hearing from readers who may have had a personal UFO sighting, past or current, or know of such reports from their local area.

I may be contacted by email at info@uforq.asn.au or phone our reporting line on 3376 1780.

Our website is www.uforq.asn.au where you will find a searchable database going back until 1998 and where you may find some UFO reports from your area.

Our complete collection of over 5000 reports from the public since 1956 has not been transferred as yet to digital format that's why it only holds reports until that year.

There is also a list of other Australian UFO sightings, which may also contain some from your local area.

Take a look at http://project1947.com /kbcat/kbmoreintoz.htm for more information.

Sheryl Gottschall

UFO Research Queensland

Possible UFO sighting over Lake Wylie

By Fox 46 Local News

POSTED:JAN 07 2016 11:03PM EST
UPDATED:JAN 07 2016 11:49PM EST
A possible group of 12-15 UFO's were seen above Lake Wylie on Tuesday evening.

A retired U.S. Navy officer says more than a dozen red/orange lights were moving back and forth above the lake. In a report on the National U.F.O. Reporting Center website, he says they circled for 5-8 minutes without a sound.

The National U.F.O. Reporting Center says it has more than 100,000 reports filed of possible U.F.O.'s -- some credible, others not. It believes this report is credible and worth investigation more.

The Center says it is seeing a number of similar cases of red/orange, "fireball-like objects", across the country.

"We can't determine what they are -- that's what makes them so interesting," Director Peter Davenport said. "They're not aircraft, they're not weather balloons, they're not crash dummies, they're not swamp gas -- they're not anything we can point a finger at, which is what makes it so interesting.

"They appear to be something out of the scope of our understanding of events on this planet."

UFO filmed from dash cam over Darwin

Published on 4 Jan 2016
Did we see a UFO on our dash cam? We were leaving a service station in Darwin NT when our dash cam captured a super fast object moving through the sky. We took some screen shots of the video and enhanced them to get a better look at the object which appear at end of the video.

YouTuber Tries Video Editing for the First Time, Accidentally Creates UFO Hoax (Reddit Post - an apology from an idiot)

An Australian YouTuber playing around with video-editing software accidentally created a UFO hoax that was viewed hundreds of thousands of times and sucked in several news outlets. Journalists consulted astronomers and meteorologists, and reported that the unexplained light in the sky was probably ball lightning. Really, it was just a composite someone whipped up in Blender and After Effects.

Over the weekend, Australian National University astronomer Brad Tucker gave the ABC a very plausible and elaborate explanation for the video, trying to make sense of what he was seeing: It had to be a rare combination of an aurora and ball lightning.

"An aurora is when energy from the sun hits the Earth's atmosphere, the energy rubs the Earth's atmosphere with friction and charges the gas," he said. "But the problem is there was no activity from the sun, it was cloudy, we can't see the aurora, so it doesn't really fit."

"The same activity that causes an aurora can actually happen inside our atmosphere if you have a storm with a lot of electrical charge that is rubbing against the gases in our atmosphere, causing it to grow that green or red color," he said.

"Sometimes, if you get a really interesting occurrence, you create something called 'ball lightning.' Normally lightning strikes up and down hitting the ground, but ball lightning is a weird thing where it appears as a ball explosion, sometimes it can even move around in the sky."

It’s a good theory, if you assume the video is real. And Tucker had no reason not to.

"It's probably not Photoshop either,” he said. “Everything kind of fits and it seems right.”

The ABC wasn’t the only news source to pick up the “UFO” video: The Canberra Times and others fell for it, too.

The unintentional hoaxer, “Johnson Thompson,” later released a second video revealing how the whole thing was done: by layering day and night shots of Canberra, then adding sound and lighting effects. Tucker was right about the “aurora” — but it was added in digitally, not caused by energy from an unlikely lightning storm.

He said that he never meant to fool anyone and “didn’t think the video would gain as much attention as it did.”

"I didn't intend for it to be taken seriously, but I made an error in judgement and titled the video as if it was real," he added later on Reddit, in a post called “an apology from an idiot.”

He couldn’t have pulled a better hoax if he’d tried. Not bad for someone who claims he’d just bought After Effects two days before he made the fake video.

Keep Calm And Watch Mac's UFO News

Bizarre 'lightning UFO' caught on camera as crowd gathers to watch New Year's fireworks In Austria

11:35, 4 JAN 2016
BY KARA O'NEILL

Marie Mela, who captured the weird weather phenomenon on camera, is now appealing for other witnesses who might have seen the event.

An Austrian student's video of a UFO-like object captured while lighting New Year's fireworks has gone viral after it was posted online.

Marie Mela from Vienna was enjoying the New Year with friends in the Mostviertel region of Lower Austria, famous for the large number of pear orchards from where schnapps and cider are made.



But she insists that the video on her Facebook post is genuine, and has appealed in her message for anybody else who saw the phenomena to get in touch.

The video shows a group of young people outside with the clinking of champagne glasses, and the sound of the Danube waltz traditionally clearly heard playing as it is a New Year tradition in Austria as people wish each other all the best for 2016.



Alongside somebody lets off a firework, which heads into the sky and as it explodes, a silver white object can be seen framed by clouds and lightning forking in the area.

One girl is seen looking wide-eyed around her, while a man can be heard saying: "Did anybody see that?"

She wrote: "WTF, not sure if this is a UFO over Lower Austria or some bizarre weather phenomenon. Anyone any idea what it is? Did anybody else see this on the New Year?"