Be careful about delving into the world of UFOs, because you’re not just in danger of stumbling down a rabbit hole, you might find yourself in freefall down a rabbit abyss. But the mainstream media, and soon maybe the U.S. government, is dipping more than a toe into these depths.
Richard OâConnor is looking up.
Nine years ago, OâConnor founded the Jesse A. Marcel Library, a small red building off South Hills Road in Clancy, dedicated to exploring and exposing certain mysteries of the universe: unidentified flying objects (UFOs), crop circles, and alien life and lore.
He named it after his friend and medical colleague Dr. Jesse A. Marcel Jr., and Marcelâs father Maj. Jesse A. Marcel. In 1947, Maj. Marcel, then an Air Force intelligence officer, reportedly investigated the crash of an unidentified flying object in Roswell, New Mexico.
Since 2012, OâConnor has packed the Marcel Library with books and papers documenting extraterrestrial phenomena. Every Tuesday evening, he has hosted meetings of those interested in learning more. Through the library and the Crop Circle Foundation, Inc., he has raised money for research and to build awareness.
Vindicated: rocker and UFO expert Tom DeLonge
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On May 16, the US current affairs digest 60 Minutes put out a sensational tweet trailing its next edition. “After decades of public denial, the Pentagon now admits the existence of unidentified aerial phenomena - or UAP - more commonly known as UFO,” it read. “And the Senate wants answers.”
It was difficult not to hear Orson Welles’ voice in your internal monologue. Harder still to comprehend that the headline actually meant what it said. But yes; the Pentagon really has revealed that there’s strange stuff in the sky that they can’t explain. The admission followed the formation, in 2020, of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security, explained the then-U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, David Norquist.
Itâs difficult to broach the topic of UFOs, or UAPs â unidentified aerial phenomenon, the nomenclature the U.S. government prefers â while resisting the temptation to make jokes, we admit. And thatâs been part of the problem for people who sought to take seriously reports of UFOs and their implications for our country and our planet.
They include journalist Leslie Kean, whose work was highlighted in a New Yorker story earlier this month; political figures like former President Clinton chief of staff John Podesta and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who have studied the issue for decades; as well as airline pilots who over the years have faced censure if they reported mysterious and inexplicable sightings, along with U.S. Navy pilots who feared, in the words of one, sounding âkooky.â