Are large UFO organizations the best place to report a sighting?

image by Markusram

In the past few months there has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding MUFON and a potential conflict of interest and/or interference from one of its largest benefactors. While all of the finger pointing hasn’t resulted in any tangible evidence of impropriety, the situation has brought forward some important questions about how and to whom UFO sightings should be reported. A little over two years ago, in a post about what to do after a UFO sighting, I wrote that reporting UFO sightings to an organization like MUFON or NUFORC was probably the best option. Now, in light of the MUFON controversy, I am not so sure that is the case.

The biggest problem with reporting a sighting to an organization like MUFON is that there is no way to know what agenda is driving the organization. Any group could easily be beholden to a corporate master intent on securing UFO technology for it’s own profit, or could even be a front for a disinformation campaign. Even well meaning groups are sometimes guilty of shutting out others in an attempt to be the first to a discovery. Ultimately, under close enough inspection, faults can be found with almost anyone or any group. With this unfortunate reality, how then can you ensure that your story finds its way to the right people?

First off, there is no reason not to report a sighting to any of the large UFO research organizations. All of the recent controversy has revolved around conjecture and evidence that is at best circumstantial. However, if you want to ensure that as many people as possible have access to information about your sighting, you shouldn’t stop with a report to MUFON and NUFORC. (Note that I said and, not or. There is no reason to to submit a report to both organizations.)

We are currently living in an exciting time where anyone has near instant access to millions of people they can share your experiences with (usually for free). There are countless forum sites dedicated the UFO phenomena where you can share information about your encounter. (Though before posting about your sighting, it is probably best to spend some time reading the forum to see what type of reaction you can expect. Many boards take a very skeptical approach to sightings thanks to the number of hoaxers that troll the internet.) Even sites like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace offer the chance to look for other witnesses or people who may be interested in what you saw. You can even start a blog to share information about your sighting.

While these are all excellent places to share your experience, you need to be conscious about exactly how much information you share. Unfortunately, persons interested in the UFO phenomenon are not usually held in the highest regard by the general public. Additionally, while not necessarily likely, the potential for visits from the government or other MIB style agents should also be considered. You should decide exactly how anonymous you would like to remain and take steps to maintain that level of anonymity. (GlobalVoices maintains a guide on anonymous blogging that is a good starting place for anyone interested in protecting their privacy online.)

Finally, if you are willing to endure the potential negative effects of going public with a UFO sighting, your local news is always an option. Most likely they will blow you off, but if it’s a slow news day, you might just get some local coverage that could potentially bring other witnesses forward. There is even a chance that like the recent Lake Erie sightings and the Stephenville, Texas sightings in 2008, that the national media could bring information about your sighting to a very large audience.

In the end, the best way to make sure that information about a sighting reaches as many people as possible is for the witness to not rely on a single organization (or any organization) to make their report available to the public. The more places a sighting is reported, the less likely that a single rogue group (or simple server failure) is to keep information about a sighting from the public where it is accessible to anyone interested in Ufology.