Professor of Religious Studies Diana Walsh Pasulka discussed her six-year, immersive study of communities of UFO believers that included journeying to a desert in the Southwest and the secret archives of the Vatican, to explore how belief in UFOs is covered up, investigated, engaged, and created. She was driven blindfolded to an alleged UFO crash site with two successful entrepreneurs/scientists, UFO believers, named "Tyler" and "James." Equipped with metal detectors, the three probed the rattlesnake-infested location in New Mexico looking for "artifacts." She said there was rubble six inches deep, and according to Tyler, the government littered the area with aluminum cans to cover-up any remaining evidence. Comparing the artifacts to relics revered in various religions, she said they found pieces that resembled aluminum foil but were something more anomalous.
Pasulka also described her research with Tyler at the secret archive and Observatory at the Vatican (view related images). While there, she examined 18th-century manuscripts related to St. Joseph of Cupertino, a saint famous for his levitations, to make comparisons to unexplained aerial phenomena, and those who'd had ET/UFO contacts. In addition, they looked at materials about a 17th-century Spanish nun, Sister Maria, who was also said to levitate, as well as bi-locate to a spot in America-- in what is now New Mexico.
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For the first time in 50 years, the many facets of an astonishing UFO tale have finally come together regarding an incident in the Whiteshell Forest near Falcon Lake on May 20, 1967. In the latter half, noted UFO researcher Chris Rutkowski discussed the case in detail and provided a comprehensive picture of what became one of the most investigated UFO cases in Canadian history. He was joined by Stan Michalak, the son of the man at the center of the story, offering an inside perspective of what happened to his father, Stefan Michalak. Sometime around noon on that day in '67, Stefan was eating his lunch at the remote lake location, when he was disturbed by a commotion of geese below, Rutkowski recounted. He saw two bright white flying saucers in the sky, one of which proceeded to descend closer and closer to him, landing on a rock outcropping.
Thinking it was an American spacecraft that had gone astray, he eventually went to investigate after a door opened and he heard some high-pitched sounds. When he touched the side of the craft, his gloved hand was burned from the heat, and as he pulled back, the saucer rotated. An exhaust fan was suddenly in front of him, and he was blasted with hot gas in the chest, setting his clothes on fire, and leaving him nauseous. After receiving medical attention, Stefan's condition grew worse as though some toxins had entered his system, Rutkowski recalled, and he suffered from flare-ups over the years. Stan detailed how his father was for a time hounded by the press, as well as interviewed by UFO researchers. The case is significant for its medical evidence, Rutkowski cited, though it remains uncertain whether the craft's origin was human or alien.