Back in October 2015, I attended a rather amusing gathering organised by the UFOlogist group known as Victorian UFO Action (VUFOA). It was touted as the ‘Edge of Reality Conference’.
The actual members of VUFOA were rather ‘earnest’ in their demeanour, and probably a little self important in their matching polo shirts and baseball caps – sharing a certain esprit d’corps as UFO investigators.
I quietly remarked to the friend and colleague who had accompanied me to this event that perhaps I had wasted my life and career becoming a middle ranking public servant. Instead, maybe I too could have become a UFO investigator, just like those people before us.
I found the various speakers to be quite interesting. One, who had flown in from the USA, not only was an expert on UFOs, but also on ghosts (or was it crystals – my memory has faded after 9 years). Another, whose name was known to me as a regular writer for the now defunct Ufologist magazine (which I used to devour regularly), talked about his own encounter with a UFO in 1973.
The star of the show, in my opinion at least, was the VUFOA member who was an expert in lodging Freedom of Information requests on UFOs with the Federal Government (who also had the day job of being an interior decorator). He had, as the chair told us in introduction with a straight face, the Federal Government ‘running scared’.
This chap then proceeded to show us some of the replies he had received from various government functionaries (mostly the RAAF obviously) on his requests, along with his fierce criticisms of the format of reply. I think his contention was either that they did not know what they were talking about, or were hiding something, or that they had revealed more than they had intended to, or that they did not know how to write properly.
My colleague and I sniggered to ourselves. After all, as public servants, we knew all about templates and how to write official government correspondence and decision records.
After indulging in the catered sausage rolls at the lunch (sausage rolls are one of those things I can’t resist), we headed off to a BBQ at another colleague’s home rather than stay for the rest of afternoon.
Much as I don’t regret leaving early, I have occasionally felt a vague hankering to attend more of these Ufology type gatherings, just like sometimes grown ups want to visit the zoo or see a stand up comedian in action.
The dynamically named Victorian UFO Action website, to my chagrin, no longer seems to be operating. This is a shame, as it was at least the most high profile extant UFO group in Victoria, and quite possibly the only such group. [Ufology is not exactly the sort of field of knowledge which is studied in universities or which leads to a successful and profitable career after all – except for that British chap who quit his job in the Ministry of Defence to write books on the subject.]
This led me to doing some google searching on Wednesday. Some of the results I have found result in Facebook pages with such names as VUFOA – The Real Site and VUFOA – Victorian UFO Action – Fraudsters.
The results are bemusing. The latter of the above sites features a copy of the purported cover of a special edition of the Fortean Times in 2016, which features as the main story ‘The VUFOA Scam – A Deep Investigation into the UFO Scam Site VUFOA’. This site also describes them as ‘VUFOnies’.
I am not sure why anyone would devote any time to making up a lot of ad hominem memes attacking the unique individuals who make up the leadership of VUFOA. It suggests someone with a lot of spare time on their hands, and a deeply personal sense of grievance. [I find it hard to understand – in situations where I have had a falling out with people who have deeply wronged me, I tend to just write them off and move on, rather than waste my time plotting revenge.]
In any event, the insinuation is that the people behind VUFOA are lacking in probity.
My own personal impression from that conference in 2015 was that they were pretty full of their own self importance, and rather smug at the niche they seemed to have monopolised in the local flying saucer fanboy community. The sort of self-delusion that leads someone to become a self-important UFO investigator is going to perhaps result in fun, but rarely profit.
Sadly, it appears unlikely that there will be any VUFOA conferences anytime soon. Nor, given that my favourite UFO magazines, the local Ufologist, and the US based Open Minds, have closed down, are there any opportunities to read any updates on these sorts of amusing perspectives.
So I will have to find other topics with which to amuse myself. Happily ‘alternative’ publications Nexus and New Dawn are both still up and running, and I must make an effort to go to the next Nexus conference in June.
Lost For Words! 