Monday, December 16, 2019
Still more media interest in the UFO Archive
The calls keep coming in about my donation of the UFO
archive.
And the media interest keeps ramping up.
Unfortunately, it's like the kids' game
"Whisper." Every time the story is retold, errors creep in!
It's not "a massive trove of government UFO reports," as
the Sun notes:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10549405/government-ufo-reports-available-at-university/
Nor is it "Disclosure of 30,000 government UFO
reports" as Express claims:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1217358/UFO-sighting-disclosure-aliens-government-UFO-reports-University-of-Manitoba-Falcon-Lake/
But the Russians have it more correct:
https://sputniknews.com/science/201912111077544731-canadian-university-receives-giant-trove-of-ufo-files-that-can-shed-light-on-falcon-lake-incident/
And then on Friday, I had a call from a blogger who
wanted to interview me because he had seen the story on Mental Floss, one of my
favourite Fortean zines that is now only online. Their source was the LiveScience article.
Then I was alerted that the story had even made Fox News,
so it was going literally everywhere.
The Winnipeg Free Press carried it as well. It's behind a paywall, so here's an excerpt:
It's not just an uplifting exhibit you can see — you could say it's out of this world.
After more than 40 years of research into unidentified flying objects, Chris Rutkowski has donated to the University of Manitoba his entire collection of files, documents and other materials dealing with the Falcon Lake UFO case.
And, if you go to the university's Archives and Special Collections, you will not only see a display of the material, but for the first time ever you can see some of the artifacts connected to the case, including the shirt Stefan Michalak was wearing when he was chipping away at a quartz formation when he says he suddenly encountered two oval-shaped objects in the air over the provincial park — one which landed.
"I always thought 'what am I going to do with my stuff?'" Rutkowski said recently.
Finally, I started getting notifications that the story about the archived UFO docs even made it into academic circles. The post-secondary news service Academica noted:
The University of Manitoba has announced its receipt of more than 20,000 UFO reports and more than 10,000 UFO-related Canadian Government documents from Canadian Ufologist Chris Rutkowski. “This unique and intriguing historical collection will greatly add to our understanding of the study of UFOs, and will attract students and researchers to study these phenomena for a whole range of reasons,” says UManitoba Head of Archives and Special Collections Shelley Sweeney. “It complements our extensive collection of psychical research and spiritualist archives and puts Winnipeg on the map as the preeminent destination for the study of the paranormal.” UManitoba has also launched a crowdfunding campaign to help digitize the collection.I guess I really do have to give them all the files and books now. The best news: the university's crowdfunding campaign to digitize the UFO files is already almost at 10% of its goal! Oh, and I've already seen some claims that this is proof that Disclosure is happening (even the watered-down "gradual acclimatization process to the alien presence"). But if I am the one releasing the government UFO docs, then that must mean I am part of the secret cabal in charge. Boy, are the Bilderbergs going to be mad at me. You're welcome.
Labels: UFO archive documents files library university Manitoba Canada Winnipeg
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Top Ten UFO News of 2019
Top Ten UFO News in 2019
Following the Tic Tac incident on the USS Nimitz in
2004, radar tapes and other documentation were quickly confiscated by
mysterious military personnel.
“UFO Tourism” is a thing.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellites are giving rise to numerous UFO
reports.
The US Navy admits the Tic Tac videos are ‘real,” but they’re not actually interested
in UFOs.
Tom DeLonge’s TTSA bought Linda Howe’s “metamaterial” UFO artefact
and have contracted with the US Army to test it.
“Storm Area 51” was majorly hyped, and fizzled.
A “blob” seen on radarscopes sent Washington into lockdown.
The US Navy admitted it has redesigned its UFO reporting
guidelines for its personnel.
Longtime UFO spokesman Stanton Friedman passed away.
Project Blue Book became a TV show.
Labels: UFO media journalism news
Tuesday, November 05, 2019
Media Update and the "UFOs in Canada Archive"
I was approached some time ago by an archivist who asked what I was eventually going to do with my huge collection of UFO reports, government documents, books and other paraphernalia.
I replied that I had no idea. I mean, who would want this stuff?
As it turns out, many people.
The Archives for UFO Research (AFU) in Sweden has been collecting UFO docs and publications for many years. In fact, they were the first to ask for copies of my Swamp Gas Journal when I started publishing it several decades ago.
Arthur Bray's UFO library and collection were donated to the University of Ottawa many years ago, and his UFO fonds is a treasure chest of material. His collection includes a lot of material on Wilbert Smith, for example, a mainstay of Canadian UFO lore.
UFO archives are stored here and there, and are invaluable to researchers pursuing studies in the field. Also, it is important to preserve this information, as it constitutes a significant aspect of cultural history that is often ignored but is gradually gaining recognition and importance.
I began working with Shelley Sweeney in the archives on this almost a year ago. It's taken me a while to figure out what can and can't be moved into an archive, how many bins it will take, making sure the documents are all there, etc.
(NB: As I was going through all the files, for some reason, I couldn't find my box of UFO reports from 1995 or 2013. I looked everywhere. All the other years were where they should have been. I have moved a few times during the past 40 years, so I was worried they might have been lost. Fortunately, I did find them, but only after I tore apart that corner of the basement.)
The archives was particularly interested in the Falcon Lake case files, as the case is uniquely Manitoban and Canadian, and involves a story that is part of local history and lore. It seemed to make perfect sense that the files should be preserved and made available to serious researchers.
Lovecraft the cat was very curious about the bins of Falcon Lake documents
So I began working with the archives and the Michalak family to develop a fonds, and it was their idea to announce its creation at a public event. Over the past year, I have shipped about 20 bins of material to archives, with much more to go. It may take years to collect and get everything over there, and as long again for them to catalogue it all.
(Also, they were most interested in being able to digitize the fonds, which can be quite expensive. They suggested creating a crowdfunding project to do this, estimating it would take about $20,000 to start the ball rolling. The ask has now has been made, and you can contribute to this effort.)
Recently, there was some media attention regarding the Stanton Friedman Fonds at the New Brunswick Provincial Archives. I had the good fortune to visit Stan at his home while he was alive, and he gave me a glimpse of his collection. I know better than most how big of a project its preservation will be! It's been described as the largest in the world, and while some dispute that, it is certainly quite large. My own photo (below) from visiting him in his home was used in stories about his files.
The good news is that my own collection is a bit better organized, and nowhere near as large. I have records on more than 20,000 Canadian UFO reports filed since 1989, when I began the annual Canadian UFO Survey. Among those are government and official UFO documents that are not part of the 9,000 that have been made available by Libraries and Archives Canada, so I including those, there may be more than 10,000 official UFO reports and documents in my collection that will donated as well. In addition, I have many boxes and bins of publications and papers on UFOs and related phenomena, such as a few linear feet of my research on geophysical UFOs, several feet of abduction case files (that may be withheld), original manuscripts of my 10 books and accompanying notes, historical UFO files, my files on other heteroclitic Fortean phenomena such as Sasquatch reports, lake monster cases, ghosts, Manitoba hauntings, and general weirdness.
Not to mention my library of books and zines on UFOs and related phenomena.
And now, the event is almost upon me.
It's coincided with a bunch of media appearances and published interviews, with more to come in the next few days.
It's a bittersweet time, with a "piece of myself" being shared with others, and the beginning of a new chapter in my life and passion for knowledge about the world in which I live.
Labels: UFO Falcon Lake Manitoba history Canada archives libraries fonds collection documents reports
