For Literary Journalism I had to interview a UFOlogist. Here's the interview I turned in:
What was your first experience with UFOs or the supernatural?
In early 2005 after we had moved in, I was in this backyard working in the garage. I went to take a [pee] and something materialized in the sky. It was a complete miracle. It was about a block or two away and was the size of an entire block. It had a couple of red lights around the middle and was a cylinder shape, pure black. I couldn’t make out too much detail but the red lights are what caught my attention.
How did the object behave? Did it just hover, or did it do something else?
At first it was completely still but then about a minute after, it rolled up to maybe 10,000 feet in the air. No sounds, no mechanisms to move, nothing. And then it turned completely white and split up into five lights that shot off in different directions. One of them flew right over my house and headed up way into the air. All of the lights disappeared after that.
What time of the night was it and did anyone else see the lights?
My fiancé saw it, my two friends saw it, and it was about 9:30 at night. No, we were not stoned [laughs]. We all saw the exact same thing.
Can you describe the feeling of seeing such a phenomenon? How did the other witnesses react?
Sometimes you see a UFO and it’s really cool and other times you see one and it’s the most petrifying thing you’ve ever seen. When I first saw it I completely froze up. I didn’t know what I was seeing… it just was not something I would expect in my reality. When I called out my fiancé they just stared at it and kept asking “what is that?!” The white light came toward our house so fast we didn’t even have time to react. My heart was pounding so hard you wouldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
After you saw it, did you try to lookup if any planes were in the area? Could it have been a government project?
You know, I hear a lot about that with secret government projects and experiments. I’ll tell you what. If the government really did have classified secret projects, they wouldn’t fly them above a residential area where hundreds of people could see them. And there’s no airport around here, so it wasn’t an airplane. Airplanes don’t split up into lights and move like that anyway.
How many U.F.O.’s have you seen since that first one?
Uhh, over 100.
Have people ever expressed any skepticism of your claims?
I’ll tell you what. People think I’m crazy. I tell them all the time, if you want to see a U.F.O., go in between San Diego and Bakersfield on the 5 and 405 and 101 and just look up in the sky and I’ll guarantee if you sit there for an hour you will see a U.F.O. The entire area has been dubbed “triangle alley” by people because of the amount of U.F.O. activity. But no one really listens to me if I tell them there are U.F.O.s around. They just think I’m high. I don’t even bother telling people anymore. Even when I go to my U.F.O. group, I just sit there and listen to everyone else and don’t say anything. But I’ve learned to accept it.
If there is so much U.F.O. activity in the area why hasn’t the government or someone launched an investigation?
Well, I don’t tell people what I see. Because the minute you start telling people… like that first U.F.O.… they don’t believe anything you say. It doesn’t matter what your story is or what you’ve told them you’ve seen. As soon as you mention “U.F.O.” they look at you like you’re [bleepin’] nuts. It’s probably the same case with anyone else who’s seen them so they probably just don’t talk about them.
How hard is it for you to see these all the time and for people to doubt you?
Well, every single close friend that hangs around me… about a dozen or so people… almost all of them have seen them. But you can’t talk about this stuff in the real world. I mean, that’s why I joined the U.F.O. group. [Sad tone] It’s hard sometimes. I can’t call up my mother and tell her what I’ve seen… I can’t tell my brother… I can’t tell anyone or they think I’m a liar. When you see something like a U.F.O. it’s extremely life-altering. It’s like Richard Dreyfuss in the movie Close Encounters. After I saw that first one I couldn’t stop thinking about it for months. It was always on my mind and I was always on the lookout for more. It was an obsession that wouldn’t go away. But I can’t really share my experiences with the average Joe, so I just keep it between my close friends and U.F.O. group.
Why do you think they’re here?
There’s going to be a time in any type of society where there’s nothing else to do anymore… we’ve advanced so much in technology since the 50s ourselves. We’ve done a lot. When you get to a certain point, what else is there to do? Think of Star Trek… it’s about exploring the “final frontier” since we’ve already checked out most of our own world. We want to explore space and I think alien societies are like that too. They are astronauts. They’re here to observe us. I mean, if you look at the history of U.F.O.s and aliens there’s pictures of flying objects in Renaissance paintings. So they’ve probably been exploring space for a long time and have observed us for years. You know, there are a lot of conspiracy theories about bases on the moon. When the astronauts were going to the moon in the 60s they are on record saying there were UFOs around them all the time. The aliens have definitely been watching us throughout our history.
Have you or your friends ever seen an actual alien?
No, and thank God. I don’t know how I would react to seeing an actual alien. I would probably die from sheer terror. I’ve only seen strange craft and that’s it. It would be the scariest thing to see one.
What would you do if you saw an actual alien?
I would run. I’m not saying this as a joke, but between the end of the summer and the beginning of winter, basically all of the fall, the U.F.O.’s are everywhere. I’m surprised myself that I haven’t seen an alien yet.
Of the 100 U.F.O.’s you have seen, which has been the scariest?
The one that looked like a boomerang was definitely the scariest. [Pointing behind us.] It looked like a futuristic fighter jet and was completely black with tiny white lights all over. I wasn’t the one who saw it first, one of my friends was over and started screaming for us to look out the window. That thing was so massive… it passed right over heads and was the hugest [bleepin’] thing I had ever seen. It was like a Star Destroyer out of Star Wars and it came right at us at a 90* angle. We were just talking about it the other day too. The funny thing is, none of us even remember what it looked like when it passed over us… it was so close to the house but I can’t remember its underbelly, probably because of how scary the experience was. I was in such absolute shock. I literally began to have a panic attack when we went outside and that thing covered the sky above us. It was like someone ripped my heart out. The feeling is overwhelming and it runs over your whole body. If you’ve ever seen videos on YouTube of people reacting to UFOs, a lot of them are completely freaking out and others are just silently in terror. I think anyone would react the same way if they saw such a huge object coming at them.
What do the other UFOs typically look like?
You know how in science fiction films they always show them as, I don’t know, metallic saucer-shaped objects? They don’t ever look anything like that. They’re made out of like black rock or something and most of them are cigar or triangle-shaped. It’s like someone took coal and carved ships out of them. None of them have sound. They are all soundless. They don’t fly like there is a force behind them either. They just seem to glide. Unless you’re looking up you wouldn’t even know they’re there.
Do you think these are controlled by intelligent beings, that they’re remote controlled, or what?
Well, it depends. Different crafts are for different purposes. I think the smaller they get the more remote controlled they are and the larger they get the more likely something is inside, especially the ones that maneuver. Last year, we saw a huge triangle-shaped U.F.O. off in the distance and called one of our U.F.O. group members who lives nearby. He came over and we jumped into our car and followed it. It broke into 20 different ships like that first one I talked about, and I think each of those 20 ships had to have at least one pilot inside. We heard some gun shots after they flew off in different directions, and that night is when the big fires started in California. I mean, I can’t give you an answer. I can only assume. The more you assume the more people think you’re lying though. Until I see a [censored] alien I can’t know for sure if the U.F.O.s are controlled by aliens.
Wait, so are you saying this triangular ship had something to do with the fires last year? Were the ships observing the fire, did they start the fire, or something else?
This was November 14th 2008. I don’t know if anyone remembers, but there were like 10 different fires in Southern California that night. And these fires happened on the same night we saw these ships? The timing was way too convenient since the fires started right after we saw the U.F.O. split up. That’s just [censored] weird. I think the ships might have had something to do with them.
Have you ever tried to record these ships on tape? Wouldn’t it help your cause if you did?
Yeah, it never comes out.
What do you mean?
My camera isn’t good-quality. When I try to record the ships all you see are blurry lights. When the sky is so dark and these things are like black rocks, it’s hard to pick them up on film. You can’t get them… I mean no matter how good your camera is you can’t pick up anything but darkness. You probably need an infrared camera or something. Plus most of the time they’re moving, which makes it hard to keep up with them anyways.
Some people might say that because of your lack of evidence, you might be lying or exaggerating the truth. What would you say to people like that?
Even when someone produces a convincing video it’s never enough to sway most people. They say it’s “Photoshopped” or manipulated or some cheap camera trick. It’s hard enough to get them on tape and just as impossible to convince anyone else what they’re seeing is legit. Even if it is legit people can also say it was an airplane, or a weather balloon, or a ball of lightning. It’s really an experience you have to see in-person to believe, but you know, even when some of my friends see these things around our city they still don’t believe them. One time we were having a party [in my backyard] and we saw a light zooming across the sky. It would stop abruptly, jump all over the place, and just do things nothing made today would be able to do. We all just watched it for a while but my friend Scotty who’s 50 just brushed it off. We would point at it and say “See, it’s a UFO,” but he just kept saying it was an airplane and walked into the garage like it was nothing. So it’s always a battle no matter what. Some people just don’t want to believe in U.F.O.s even when the evidence is right in front of them.
But has anyone ever called you a liar, or even a freak?
When I used to tell people what I was seeing they would say I was on drugs, stoned, drunk, or whatever. I have a very prestigious life to an extent. I’m very credentialed. And that’s another thing too. It’s like, okay, really, why would I make this up? A lot of people know me and what I’ve done in my life and how successful I’ve been and I have no reason to make this [shiz-niz] up. It actually kind of offends me sometimes because it’s like, do I really need flak people about this? Sometimes people will sarcastically say “Hey Tommy have you seen any UFOs around here lately?” and it makes me want to punch their lights out. But that’s just the way it is. I’m only 29 years old but I own three houses, four businesses, and in the short years that I’ve been out of college I’ve done a lot. I’ve employed most of the people I hang around with [laughs]. I am telling the truth and have no reason to lie.
Tell me about your U.F.O. group. What do you discuss and what is the purpose of the group?
I don’t really ever talk. I just joined the group to hear other people talk about their experiences. They’ve all seen U.F.O.s, but like I said before no one has seen any aliens. And usually a professional ufologist shows up and talks about different topics. The meeting we just had, the guy was talking about the gray aliens and the different alien species. According to Philip Schneider there are 57 known alien species and some of them work with the government.
Who is Philip Schneider?
He’s the guy who knew it all. The godfather of the U.F.O. world. He was a head geologist for the government and helped build underground bases for them. He came out in the 80s and 90s and spoke out at U.F.O. conferences about a war the United States fought against the “E.B.E’s” (aliens) in 1969. We dug into one of their bases underground in New Mexico and have been at war with them ever since. The government commissioned him to build human underground bases that could be used if there was ever a threat against humanity, like the theory that the world will end in 2012. The bases are about five miles underground and have miles and miles of wheat fields, corn fields, and other human resources that can hold-up portions of the human race for years. There’s even an underground train that can go up to mach speed from Los Angeles to New York in an hour. All of this is happening underground right now. But they killed him for spilling the government’s secrets.
Who killed him?
There are different factions of the government, and some deal with the U.F.O.s… he was part of one of those factions. The men in black are the ones who really run the government… they control all black projects and get black funding. After a major U.F.O. conference, Schneider was found in his room with a hose wrapped around his neck. They tortured and strangled him. They tried to cover it up too, staging it as a suicide, but there was no way he could have wrapped the hose around his neck like it was. And months before his murder, a truck with men in black shot and wounded him. There were witnesses who saw it too.
Why would someone suddenly begin talking about U.F.O.s if they were going to get killed by the government for doing so?
Oh, he knew he was committing suicide when he came out. He did it to inform the world of the truth and thought his life was a small price to pay. But the government has succeeded once again in making someone who is admitting the truth seem [censored] nuts since now people are just saying he committed suicide and was not actually strangled. And that’s not fair, since it means his life was in vain.
When you were talking about gray aliens and collaboration with the government, why is the government working with aliens? Why is it all so secretive to the point that they have to kill people?
Number one, if we knew there were multiple alien races here who can go at the speed of light and go to multiple planets and that are so advanced that we couldn’t do anything that they do… at that point, no government on this planet is really in control. That would put fear in to everyone.
[Note: Gray aliens are the typical short aliens with black beady eyes that are popular in U.F.O. stories]
So are these aliens “bad” then?
Most of them are malicious. If you ever hear people talk about alien abductions or what Philip Schneider revealed about the government… we’re at war with most of them. We work together with them collectively to further our technology and knowledge but most of all I think they just look at us as ants. And if they want their way in any shape or form they’re going to get their [censored] way. They’ve been working with us for years, probably since we became intelligent, but we’re at war with some of them.
Can you go into any details about a possible prescience of aliens in our history like you mentioned with Renaissance paintings earlier?
U.F.O. hunters found an artifact in Bolivia that looked like a triangle U.F.O. When they dated it, it came out to be -2000 years old. I don’t remember the year exactly but the point of the discovery was that the artifact was older than any known human civilization.
Does this have to do with those panspermia theories about aliens planting life on Earth?
There’s a ton of conspiracy theories that aliens created the Egyptian pyramids and helped to create the human race… that they’ve been around here forever. Some people try and find evidence of that. Some societies have pottery showing objects flying in the sky, saucers, and triangles. And no one can explain what the hell the objects are. There are even some human structures, like a place in Bolivia, where the inside walls of a monument are so heavy no one knows how on Earth the monument could have been constructed at that time. People think the ancient people could have had extraterrestrial help.
Let’s take a step back into “reality” so to speak. Do you honestly believe aliens created the human race and what all these other conspiracy theories are advocating? What do you think these theories could imply about the existence of God?
I don’t think they imply anything about God. People are always trying to find a link between aliens and God. I personally believe God exists and that he created humans on planet Earth. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have done it somewhere else too. He could love the aliens as equally as he loves us. Aliens could have helped the human race along, but I don’t think they planted life on Earth… God did that.
What do you plan to do in the future? Are you going to try to capture them on camera, get the word out to everyone that U.F.O.s exist, or do you just want to keep observing them? Do you even want to observe them or do you wish this wasn’t happening?
Well there’s a fine line between it. There aren’t many people in the world that have seen the stuff I have seen. So with that it’s kind of a blessing. But at the same time, I wish I could go back in time and prevent myself from seeing them because it does get scary at times. One time I was in the backyard smoking and a green light just came right near the back of the pool. I ran inside as fast as I could, shut all the shutters, and turned off all the lights until it went away. It gets stressful, since it’s like something has come to kill you and there are no cops around. Even if they were, they wouldn’t believe your story. But at the same time, it really makes you think about your life. When we’re little we all want to see U.F.O.s but when you see it you don’t know what you asked for. I want there to be awareness of what’s going on in our skies and in our government. I wish I could prove to the world somehow someway that these exist but like I already said the world probably doesn’t want to believe. People just can’t or aren’t willing to deal with the fact of the matter.
Why do you think our first reaction is to always run from these strange phenomena? Why do we fear them? Is it a fear that they’re going to “eat” us, or is it something else?
Well according to Philip Schneider they do eat us.
But what do you think personally? Do we fear them because it is dealing with the unknown and the unpredictable?
I think it’s like animals. Animals know when to be afraid of other organisms like humans and that we are afraid for the same reason, though I don’t know what that reason is. We are just animals when we break it down. It’s just survival instincts. If I see someone walking down the street that I don’t know, I’m cautious of them. If I see a [censored] 100 feet black triangle hovering above me that is black with red lights, the colors of evil, of course I’m going to run for fear that it’s going to kill me. Are minds are conditioned to recognize threats… to recognize evil.
What do you want people to learn from this interview?
That the U.F.O. phenomenon is real and that anyone who is taking a step in learning about it is taking a step forward. I don’t know what’s going on for sure, but something is going on. We need to find out more about these phenomena in the sky and whether the whole government and alien war is going on, which I believe it is. For U.F.O.s to be reported around the world throughout human history you have to know something strange is happening. This topic deserves serious attention since one day we may find ourselves facing an alien threat we can’t handle.