On Aug. 16 and 17, a handful of scientists and academics—accompanied by a crowd of several hundred people—descended on the Historic Santa Maria Inn.
Their mission: to discuss and debate the existence of extraterrestrial life, alien or otherwise.
Far from a top-secret military debriefing, the Central Coast Science and UFO Symposium welcomed people from different backgrounds—enthusiast, novice, or skeptic—to partake in two days of presentations, panels, and, of course, Santa Maria-style barbecue.
Scientists and academics from around the world—including hypnotherapist Yvonne Smith and radio show host George Noory—took center stage at the symposium to talk about their most recent findings.
Discussion topics at the symposium ranged from the scientific to the surreal: the physics of UFOs, hypnotherapy and memory regression, crop circles, alien abductions, and even hybrids—not the cars.
“We really want people to open their minds and listen to the research being done [on UFOS] by scientists and researchers,” said Santa Maria resident Alice Leavy, who coordinated the event with her husband, William, and Dr. Roger Leir, an expert on the study of alien implants.
Alice’s interest in UFOs and other unexplained phenomenon began when, as a teenager, she and her mother saw a celestial craft flying in the night sky.
In the 1990s, the Leavys got involved in the Santa Barbara branch of Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), an international civilian UFO research organization. Through MUFON, Alice learned that she was not alone in her experience. Members from around the world have been reporting UFO sightings for decades.
Humans may have been witnessing UFOs and other paranormal activity for thousands of years, but according to the MUFON Web site, mufon.com, the first documented case occurred in 1897 outside of Aurora, Texas. MUFON investigators reported that local townsfolk recalled seeing a “cigar-shaped airship” fall from the sky, killing the pilot and scattering mounds of extraterrestrial debris throughout the area.
Then there’s the infamous Roswell incident involving the recovery of aircraft materials near Roswell, N.M., in 1947—an event that’s become the subject of intense speculation.
The United States military maintains that the recovered materials were the remains of a botched weather balloon experiment. However, many UFO enthusiasts believe the debris to be evidence of a crashed alien craft that was recovered and covered up by the military.
These incidents, along with countless others, were discussed at length at the symposium, which also included personal accounts of close encounters of many kinds.
During a question-and-answer panel with more than a dozen scientists and academics, one Santa Maria resident recounted to a captive audience her experience with otherworldly beings.
Sheila, who asked that her last name not be used in this story, said that she’s twice been “subconsciously taken” by the beings to some kind of spacecraft, where they communicated with her by “downloading images” into her brain.
This all happened in 1994, Sheila said, while she was living on a ranch in Santa Rosa where she witnessed a slew of paranormal events, including bright lights and visits from alien beings.
During one especially frightening incident, Sheila said, “My cows were stupid, they didn’t care what was going on. But my horses were going crazy.”
Out on the ranch, she explained, she also received multiple visits from some unwanted guests.
“There were men in black showing up at my door, threatening me and my grandkids,” she said.
The events took their toll, both physically and mentally, and Sheila was eventually forced to leave.
Ultimately, she ended up in Florida where she met David Icke, a renowned author and expert on paranormal conspiracies, who wrote about the incident in Santa Rosa in his book The Biggest Secret.
The book, Sheila said, really helped her make sense of what happened to her. According to the book, in 1994 the United States government conducted UFO experiments in flight hangers at the Sonoma County Airport.
The airport backed up to the mountains next to Sheila’s ranch property.
Sheila plans to publish a book in the next year or so, covering more of the incident in Santa Rosa, along with other life-alerting experiences, including trips to paranormal hotspots in Peru and Egypt.
“I want my book to help people, because things like this happen all the time to people,” she said.
The UFO symposium coordinator said that she thinks the event helped attendees as well.
“People have told me that they’re just thrilled to have had the symposium here and know that there are other people they can talk to and share their experiences with,” she said.
The truth is, no one ever wants to be alone.
INFOBOX: Look up
For more information about the Central Coast Science and UFO Symposium, visit www.centralcoastsciene-ufosmyposium.com.
Contact Staff Writer Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 21-28, 2008.