STONEFIELD BEACH, Oregon – Vance Buehler was always afraid of what people would think when he told them about spotting UFO’s at Stonefield Beach and other Oregon coastal locations. “I’ve always sensed them (aliens) at a far distance, but never daring to speak of what I know inside.” Today marks the start of UFO “watcher” season along the central Oregon coast, with Buehler pointing to recent sightings of UFO’s “as time to look towards the heavens.”

November 19 is the unofficial start of Oregon’s UFO coastal watch season

Vance Buehler and other UFO “watchers” gathered at Stonefield Friday morning for what they’ve dubbed as “the start of UFO season along coastal Oregon.”

For the past nine years this annual event – that runs from Nov. 19 until after the Geminids meteor showers in early December – is “prime time” for the self-proclaimed “watchers” to just hang out and see what they can see. And, with the recent spotting of UFO’s down the coast in California and more recent encounters up the coast in Alaska, the group is most pleased with themselves and their quest to prove UFO’s are real.

When asked about the “watchers” most recent sighting, Buehler pulls out a silver, hard-bound log book and reads the following: “It was just before dawn Wednesday when we spotted a formation of low flying lights that buzzed by the coast. It’s the usual, dozens of lights. And, then afterwards we all felt a warm breeze off the ocean. It was sort of comforting on a cold and windy morning,” the UFO watcher explained.

Having a “close-encounter” is real for many

Buehler said he remembers feeling numb, as if his feelings were paralyzed when he had his first close encounter at the age of 24. Now, at age 78, Buehler thinks “it’s time.”

“It’s time for sure. This is not a nightmare beyond anything I’ve ever encountered. It’s a coming home of sorts. They (aliens) are coming home, and this is where we are right now in history,” says Buehler while peering out across the Pacific Ocean from his favorite vantage point at Stonefield.

Researchers from nearby Oregon State University in Corvallis have noted something very strange happening recently along the beaches here at Stonefield.

For the past few weeks this region of the central Oregon coast has been dubbed “death on the beach,” as tens of thousands of starfish washed-up dead. Then, sea lions started dying in massive numbers and they too washed up on the beaches. And, today, Nov. 19, there’s thousands of beached and dead jellyfish here at Stonefield and up and down the coast.

Buehler and his band of a dozen or more UFO “watchers” are not surprised.

“Look over at my grandson James who’s sitting right near a massive grouping of dead sea life. You never see such large groups like that. And, note the display along Stonefield, as if the aliens are saying ‘take notice,’ for something new is dawning in their relationship to humans,” added Buehler.

Heinlein predicted “first contact” in the early 21st century

In fact, the late great science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein is famous for saying “Earth is too small a basket for mankind to keep all its eggs in.”
Robert Heinlein has rock star status in the world of science fiction. In fact, Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke were once known as the “Big Three” of science fiction writing and predictions. All three of these top world authors said UFO’s “are real.”

Heinlein said “alien life has been here since the beginning of man’s existence on Earth, and that a visit to cyberspace “is like a visit to the collective consciousness of not only our world, but the aliens who made this cyberspace possible.”

Prior to his death on May 8, 1988, Heinlein was dubbed “the dean of all science fiction writers” because he was not only the most popular, influential and controversial authors of his genre – because he believed UFO’s and aliens were here walking the Earth – but because he set such a high standard for “science and engineering plausibility.”

Because Heinlein was so well respected, the U.S. House and Senate asked him to appear before a special “Joint Committee” investigating both UFO sightings and the author’s theory that aliens were living among Earthlings and doing both good and bad things for mankind.

However, just prior to this special session of Congress to hear what’s what from the world’s leading authority on extraterrestrial life, Heinlein was suddenly stricken in his sleep from reported “emphysema and heart failure.”

After his death, his wife Virginia Heinlein tried to jump start her late husband’s call to the world about UFO’s and alien life both happening now and real on the planet Earth, but with the experts death, so did the same interest that is today capturing the world’s attention when it comes to this recent rash of credible UFO sightings around the world.

At the same time, the mathematician and physicist Story Musgrave noted during his Space Shuttle flight at the age of 61 that looking down on the Earth from space it’s more than highly possible that other life exists out there.

Musgrave spent more than 1,281 hours in space and speaks about alien life not just as a leading scientist but someone who’s had that unique perspective to view our Earth and it’s place in the Galaxy from the Space Shuttle.

Stonefield and other UFO sites call out to those who want to believe

While this remote state park that’s simply called “Stonefield” by UFO fans is one place in Oregon that UFO’s are spotted as common as local seagulls, there’s hundreds of other locations throughout the state and the Pacific Northwest for UFO watchers to check out.

Stonefield sits along the Pacific Ocean and near the coastal rainforest is where, say local UFO experts, “aliens will show themselves.”

Over the years, and especially during the Fall season of late November, Stonefield is the place to “hang out” for college students from nearby Eugene and Corvallis who attend the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.

“We believe, sure. But we want to confirm all this UFO stuff, so we stop at Stonefield for a laugh and hopefully something more,” said one student.

At the same time, the Geminids is one of the best meteor showers of the year in early December.

Buehler said “it never seems to disappoint observers who like to camp out at Stonefield with their telescopes to watch both the Geminids and various UFO’s that seem to streak by on a regular basis.”

In fact, the best time to have a “close encounter” with known UFO visitors is “when the Geminids arrives,” explains a local UFO hunter who asked not to be identified. “They are not usually seen with the naked eye. Yet, when one really looks, they’re there as clear as day.”

The “Geminids” reference by Oregon coast UFO experts is the annual meteor shower that seems to arrive each fall and winter season with bright colored lights in the sky that this UFO hunter dubs as the “alien’s rainbow.”

At the same time, more and more visitors to the central Oregon coast – from Eugene and surrounding areas – are querying locals on the coast about UFO sightings.

“It’s strange but one would expect a tourist to ask about the best seafood place, or where to walk the beach without paying a park fee. But, lately with the rash of UFO sightings in Oregon and just about everywhere else, they want to know where such and such is because of these UFO’s,” says Yachats local Derek Leonard while shaking his head in almost disbelief.

Leonard and other Yachats residents have even thought about marketing coastal “UFO sightings.”

“Well they do a bang-up business over in Roswell, don’t they,” quipped Leonard. “I’m sure we can get our chamber of commerce to gin something up.”

UFO sightings increasing worldwide but still no proof

There have been tens of thousands of various systematic studies of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) over the years. For example, the Air Force “Project Blue Book” studies began in 1952 and ended in 1969 with nearly 13,000 UFO reports collected and analyzed.

The conclusion is there’s “no evidence” of “unidentified” extraterrestrial vehicles. Instead, the Air Force report pointed to “natural phenomena,” such as clouds and weather balloons as the cause for these UFO sightings.

Moreover, NASA’s “Spaceguard” program has an annual funding in the billions to spot and catalog threatening asteroids that may hit the planet and to check out possible UFO’s. The European Space Agency also spends billions searching the skies for dangers from outer space.

Oregon is a state of UFO believers because sightings are a common occurrence

Here in Oregon, there’s such people as Paul Slovic who’s considered a pioneer in something called “risk-perception research.” Slovic is a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon.

One of Slavic’s is “catastrophic potential” that could come from killer asteroids or aliens from outer space. Since the 1970’s, Slovic and his research team have queried people about what risks there are in life. Not surprising, the risk of being hit by space debris or being taken up in a flying saucer is on people’s minds.

In addition, the Oregon coast has long been associated with UFO encounters due to such things as the geologic oddity of rock formations along the coast that some say are makers for UFO visits.

Also, reports from numerous UFO watch groups say “UFO sightings are increasing in the U.S. and worldwide. In addition, close encounter reports “are now as common as local weather reports.”

Various UFO surveys in both the U.S. and Europe this year, point to more than half the people polled as believing in them. “With record numbers of unexplained objects being spotted in the skies over Britain this past Saturday night. There’s a huge majority of us reckon alien life exists somewhere in the universe, even if it has yet to touch down on Earth,” states recent media reports out of England.

While local Oregon coast parks service volunteer Peter Kinney thinks such talk is “poppy-cock,” the senior citizen also notes “there’s always been something strange about Stonefield.”

In fact, Stonefield is perhaps the most secluded and exclusive of the central Oregon coast parks.

There are formally declassified documents at a nearby Newport historic museum points to a period during World War II and then in the late 1950’s when “the U.S. government installed numerous secret look out facilities in the area around Cape Perpetua.”

What’s interesting to local UFO hunters is that one of these “stone” lookout bunkers still sits near the top of Cape Perpetua that looks right down on Stonefield Beach.

When describing Stonefield Beach, locals have lots to say.

“It’s sort of prehistoric. There’s remains of whales, sea lions and the only place that I know of along the coast where you see dozens of wild rabbits that are huge in size,” says Kinney. “And, there are these people who camp out and burn fires amongst the Stonefield rock formations that’s creepy.”

At Stonefield, there are no popular beach spots or shops or restaurants.

“There’s just death on the beach and the place reeks to high heaven. It’s as if someone or something doesn’t want the locals or tourists to visit there,” says coastal resident Mackenzie Ryan.

Moreover, Ryan notes “these strange lights and an eerie glow that seems to light up everything around. You see the light on the drift wood that litters the Stonefield beach, and you see it in the sky over the mountains that sit right behind this beach spot. There’s no place like it.”

Along a grassy hill there sits — in the sea of rocks – what can only be described as mounds of formed and hardened sand. “We can’t explain it. It’s these small mounds and the crazy glow on everything at Stonefield that spooks us at this time of the year.”

Oregon coast served as story location for first X-Files episode

At the same time, there are more and more urban myths about the Oregon coast and UFO sightings. And, the popular TV show and movie series the “X-Files” hasn’t helped to squelch such rumors.

In fact, the X-Files is based on fact along with fiction. The X-Files pointed to crop circles as being commonly cited as “evidence of alien visits.” The program also noted that the discovery of life-supporting water in the form of ice on Mars is proof that alien life exists in our universe.

Moreover, in the pilot for the highly successful X-Files series, Dana Scully is assigned to work with Fox Mulder, who’s an FBI agent that specializes in the paranormal. Together, they travel to the central Oregon coast and Stonefield where Mulder believes several teenagers have been abducted by aliens.

While this sounds farfetched, locals say it actually happened, and will continue to happen now that Nov. 19 has arrived – via the official start of UFO watch season along the Oregon coast.

With so much planet hunting and spotting going on, we are in a showdown to see whether the universe is perhaps chock-full of extraterrestrial life.

Distant starfolk is one thing. Having ET stopovers here on Earth, via UFOs, is another. And that was just the topic du jour here at the 38th Annual International UFO Symposium, subtitled An Estimate of the Situation: The ET Hypothesis, held August 10-12 and sponsored by the Denver-based Mutual UFO Network, Inc., or MUFON for short.

As a yearly affair, the symposium provides a platform for specialists and investigators that delve into UFOs, purported military cover-ups and denials, physical evidence surrounding UFOs, as well as those “high strangeness” encounters with alien visitors.

The MUFON summit brought together more than 500 people – a true gabfest for the flying saucer devotee.

Passion for the truth

James Carrion, MUFON’s International Director, said the organization is fervent about resolving the scientific enigma known as unidentified flying objects.

“To me, it’s all about the truth. I have a passion for the truth,” Carrion told SPACE.com.

Still, after decades of pursuing “the truth” behind UFOs, Carrion admitted that the quest is befuddling. “Why is it always within out of reach…kind of there, but it’s not there?”

A new MUFON initiative being implemented this year is outreach to engage mainstream scientists, Carrion said, to assist in taking a more detailed look at the data. An open letter to the professional scientific community is now being drafted, to be issued before year’s end, he said.

“We have to gain respectability here … so we’re trying to kick-start intellectual curiosity out there,” Carrion added. “We know that there are folks in academia who have an interest, but they don’t know what to do with it.”

The MUFON strategy initially centers on the hypothesis that UFOs are human-manufactured and then evaluate the data amassed to date against that premise, Carrion advised. “If this triggers your intellectual curiosity … help us out,” he said.

Carrion said that MUFON is also forming two research teams: One to dive into the history of “UFOlogy” and government archives, the other to probe into the abduction encounters.

“I’m a skeptical believer,” Carrion pointed out. “I’ve never seen a UFO. But I’ve read enough of our own evidence. There’s something real to this. To me, it’s an issue of what is it?”

Tell it like it is

For nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman, there is no doubt that some UFOs are alien spacecraft. Moreover, the subject of flying saucers, in his view, represents a “Cosmic Watergate” - a colossal government cover-up.

Friedman is a globe-trotting lecturer on UFOs and is the original civilian investigator of the celebrated UFO crash case in Roswell, New Mexico. That out-of-the-blue happening supposedly occurred some 60 years ago, in 1947, involving no less than two crashed saucers, strewn debris and recovered alien bodies, he reported at the MUFON meeting.

“I come on very, very strong. I’m not an apologist UFOlogist…I tell it like it is,” Friedman told SPACE.com. He senses that a “big sea change” is taking place on several fronts.

“My overall impression is that people are more ready to accept [UFO visitation] because the world has changed…space travel being an important part of that,” Friedman noted. “What I’m saying is that the notion that most people don’t believe in UFOs isn’t true.”

Also, the media is giving UFO sightings a much fairer shake than in the past, Friedman suggested, citing not only Roswell coverage, but the reporting of UFO sightings made at O’Hare Airport late last year and more revelation concerning the Phoenix lights saga of March 1997.

“I don’t look for advocacy…I want fairness,” Friedman added. “I feel the world is ready. I’m outspoken, yes. But I try to make it a rule: Fact in hand before mouth in gear.”

Mind-bending finding?

UFOs as visitors from afar would be a simple, easy-to-grasp explanation, suggested George Knapp, an investigative reporter for KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada. But he wonders if there isn’t a mind-bending finding waiting at the bottom of the UFO barrel.

“It seems to stay one or two steps ahead of what we can do…from airships to the saucers, to giant flying triangles…almost teasing, taunting, or inspiring,” Knapp told SPACE.com. Given cutting-edge physics, talk of the multi-verse and parallel universes, along with threshold biological and computer work, there are fundamental paradigm shifts ahead, he said.

“Although we can’t figure out a way to get there…doesn’t mean they can’t figure out a way to get here,” Knapp said. Involved in UFO reporting for some two decades, Knapp said he’s committed to the journalistic credo that the public has a right to know.

“But you know what? Maybe not! It goes against everything in my professional life that I believe. What if it’s not something we should know? That the truth is so unsettling that our social institutions would, in fact, crumble,” Knapp confided.

Knapp underscored the prospect that perhaps we Earthlings live in the middle of some other kind of intelligence. Perhaps our planet is nothing more than a cosmic drive-in theater, he added, and UFOs skim in and out of our skies just to watch goofy movies.

“And if it’s something else - like they live here among us and everything we do is like being in a glass shower - people are going to go crazy. So maybe there is a reason for keeping this secret…and a need for government cover-up which I believe there is,” Knapp said.

Knapp’s on-air investigative work focuses primarily on government corruption and organized crime. But asked about the angle that his next investigative piece on the UFO phenomenon will take, he quickly responded. “Nothing I’m going to tell you about.”