2026 UFO Festival Speaker Topics and Biographies

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Valerie Lofaso: Using Meditation to Connect with ETs
Saturday, 9/5, 9:00 to 10:15 AM

Who are they? Why are they here? What do they want? These are questions that have fascinated humanity for generations. As interest in UFOs, UAPs, and the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence continues to grow, more people are exploring ways to move beyond speculation and seek their own experiences.

One of the most widely discussed approaches is Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind (CE-5), the practice of human-initiated contact through focused intention, meditation, and coherent consciousness. In this presentation, we'll explore the principles behind the CE-5 methodology, the role meditation may play in facilitating non-ordinary states of awareness and connection, and why elevated consciousness is the key to peaceful interaction with non-human intelligences.

Whether you are simply curious, a lifelong experiencer, or actively interested in exploring conscious contact, you will learn practical techniques to help create a calm, respectful, and cooperative environment for potential interaction. Join us as we examine the methods, experiences, and possibilities surrounding one of the most intriguing frontiers of human consciousness and the search for intelligent life beyond Earth.

Ralph Blumenthal: LILAC EYES: BRAZIL'S ALIEN MYSTERY -- THE 1996 VARGINHA CASE

Saturday, 9/5, 10:30 to 11:45 AM

Thirty years ago, a series of strange events exploded the quiet life of Brazil’s southeast coffee-producing city of Varginha. A teacher saw a weird cylindrical craft crash to earth and was quickly chased away by soldiers. A week later three girls walking through a vacant lot were terrified to see a cowering creature with red eyes and brown oily skin that transmitted a haunting message of fear and loss. Soon after, a noted neurosurgeon in a Varginha hospital was called to the bedside of a small nonhuman being with injuries. Brazilian soldiers spirited the entity away, one later dying mysteriously from a scratch. Reports spread that a US Air Force plane had arrived and carried the being away. A new documentary, “Moment of Contact” by filmmaker James Fox, fills in many details, animating Congress to demand more transparency on what are now called UAP – Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena – and the ultimate question: are we alone?

Tom Carey: The Final Truth: Roswell's Deathbed Confessions
Saturday, 9/5, 12:00 to 1:15 PM

In courts of law, so-called “deathbed confessions” or “dying declarations” are accorded special weight and consideration because of the generally held belief that when a person knows that when death is is near, a person will want, in the end, to have his or her

conscience cleared and leave truth as a lasting legacy – no matter how long the truth had

been withheld. Not only in the courtroom, but in the attempts at reconstructing the historical record of

various past events, the “deathbed confission” testimonies of participants in or witnesses to those events are also accorded special weight for the same reasons as in legal proceedings. 

In today’s presentation, Roswell researcher, Tom Carey, will explain how the “deathbed confession” concept was applied to the testimonies of participant and witnesses in the “case” of the 1947 Roswell crash/recovery. In the one-hundred-and-eleven-combined-man-years of research into the Roswell case, the investigative team of Kevin Randle, Don Schmitt and Tom Carey interviewed up to 600 first-hand and second-hand witnesses to the event. Among those, were 30 “deathbeds.” 

Today, Tom will name and discuss his top-five deathbed confessionals plus one more – the most recent “deathbed confession,” which happened just last year (2025).

Kathleen Marden: The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction 65th Anniversary Presentation

Saturday, 9/5, 2:00 to 3:15 PM

Pioneer investigator, social researcher, and scholar Kathleen Marden presents a compelling PowerPoint program on the 1961 UFO abduction of Betty and Barney Hill—the first alleged alien abduction case in the United States to undergo scientific investigation. As the Hills’ niece, trustee of their estate, and family archivist, Kathleen has spent more than forty years conducting a formal investigation into their extraordinary experience. She and her family also witnessed firsthand the physical evidence and the profound emotional impact this anomalous event had on Betty and Barney. This fascinating presentation provides an in-depth examination of the historic case, exploring the chronology of the close encounter, the Hills’ conscious recollections, their period of missing time, the hypnosis sessions conducted to recover additional memories, and the extensive scientific analyses of the physical evidence.

Tim Binnall: Did You See That?! - UFO Sightings on Classic Sitcoms
Saturday, 9/5, 3:30 to 5:00 PM

While the entertainment world is replete with depictions of UFOs in movies and dramatic television, a wholly overlooked genre wherein the phenomenon has been frequently represented to the public is that of the sitcom. In this presentation, we'll revisit the modern-day flying saucer fables featured on classic programs like The Brady Bunch, Golden Girls, and Newhart, which were seen by millions of Americans who undoubtedly had their perspective on the phenomenon unwittingly shaped by the comedic but compelling tales of UFO cover-ups, hoaxes, and genuine sightings experienced by beloved TV characters 

Laird Scranton: Ancient Tutorial on Plasma Energetics

Sunday, 9/6, 9:15 to 10:30 AM

Virtually the sole focus of the ancient symbolic cosmology is on the two creational energies, magnetism and electricity, and on foundational dynamics of plasma energy that support those energies. At around 3200 BC, a group of informed ancient instructors enshrined a full tutorial for us on the nature of the plasma energies, and how those energies come to be distributed. The tutorial utilized natural geographic features of Orkney Island, north of Scotland, along with a series of manmade megalithic sites, illustrating progressive stages of the energies. This tutorial culminated in an objective demonstration of how the energetics actually work, with  a two-way link to the ionosphere (as  NikolaTesla hoped to accomplish), and with plasma energy fed into the controversial Ley Lines of the UK. 

Martin Willis: From Flying Saucers to UAP: The U.S. Government’s Response Since 1947 

Sunday, 9/6, 10:45 AM to 12:00 PM

Since 1947, the United States government’s response to UFOs has shifted between investigation, secrecy, dismissal, and renewed public interest. Podcast UFO host Martin Willis traces this remarkable history, from the early days of flying saucers and Project Blue Book to today’s UAP investigations, whistleblower claims, and Congressional hearings. Drawing upon more than 750 interviews and his firsthand experience attending UAP hearings and other important events, Martin will examine what the government has done, how officials have reacted, what has changed in recent years, and what may still remain hidden. He will also explore where the issue stands today and where the search for transparency and answers may be headed next. 

Journey into Ghosts, UFOs, Cryptids and Urban Legends
Sunday, 9/6, 1:00 to 2:15 PM

Join Jimmy "Mr. Haunted" Petonito as he takes you back to the strange childhood experiences that ignited a lifelong fascination with ghosts, UFOs, cryptids, and the eerie urban legends whispered around campfires and neighborhood streets. Along the way, you'll hear true stories, unsettling encounters, a few laughs, and discover how innocent curiosity can grow into a lifetime of exploring the unexplained. By the end of the presentation, you may find yourself looking over your shoulder... and wondering if those old legends are really just stories after all.

Peter Robbins: UFO Revelations and the Individual: A Fast Ride Through My Fifty Years in Ufology

Sunday, 2:30 to 3:45 PM

In this freewheeling, one-of-a-kind presentation, investigative writer, author, and broadcaster Peter Robbins takes us on a high-speed yet reflective journey through his unlikely life in ufology. We meet his earliest mentors learn of his friendships with Budd Hopkins, Stanton Friedman, John Mack, Timothy Good, Whitley Strieber, Lee Spiegel, Colin Andrews, Charles Hickson, Deb White Kauble (Budd Hopkins’ Intruders), Linda Napolitano (Hopkins’ Witnessed), Travis Walton, among others. Along the way we are introduced to a cast of memorable individuals including actors James Earl Jones, Malcolm McDowell, Kevin McCarthy (“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”), Keir Dullea (Astronaut Dave Bowman in “2001”), arch debunker Philip Klass, singer-songwriter Reg Presley (“Wild Thing”), the Jefferson Star Ship and the Blue Oyster Cult. Robbins reflects on some of his most memorable destinations and unanticipated adventures, this while noting some of the most important lessons he’s learned along the way. The stories he relates range from the truly funny to the genuinely unnerving. PowerPoint illustrated throughout.

Kathleen Marden is a nationally recognized UFO researcher, author, educator, and lecturer with more than four decades of experience in investigation, research, and public education. She earned her B.A. from the University of New Hampshire and completed graduate studies in education at the University of Cincinnati and the University of New Hampshire. A member of the Alpha Kappa Delta sociology honor society, she spent fifteen years as a professional educator, where she designed and implemented model educational programs, supervised and evaluated instructional staff, and taught adult education courses on UFO history and abduction research.

Marden served for ten years as Director of MUFON’s Field Investigator Training Program and another ten years as Director of MUFON’s Experiencer Research Team, playing a central role in shaping modern investigative standards and experiencer research protocols. She is the recipient of the International UFO Congress Lifetime Achievement Award and currently serves as a MUFON lifetime member, benefactor, and research consultant for the Experiencer Resource Team. She also served on the Advisory Board of the Edgar Mitchell Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial and Extraordinary Encounters (FREE) and has participated in four major experiencer research studies involving nearly 5,500 participants.

Her connection to the subject is both professional and deeply personal. On September 20, 1961, at the age of thirteen, she received a phone call from her aunt, Betty Hill, reporting that she and her husband Barney had encountered a “flying saucer” the previous night in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. As a firsthand witness to the physical evidence and emotional aftermath of the encounter, Kathleen Marden possesses unparalleled access to the Hills’ personal histories, psychological profiles, and never-before-published archival materials related to the first scientifically investigated UFO abduction case in U.S. history.

Following Betty Hill’s death in 2004, Marden compiled two permanent archival collections for the Milne Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of New Hampshire Library. These include: The Hills’ Civil Rights Collection, documenting Betty and Barney Hill’s social justice and political activism and The Hills’ UFO Abduction Collection, preserving all primary materials related to their 1961 encounter.

She has conducted extensive research in both physical and digital archives and has engaged in investigative and experimental research across conventional and unconventional domains of UFO studies. Her guiding philosophy remains: “If we allow the taboo to subdue our curiosity, we will not find answers.”

Kathleen Marden is the primary author or coauthor of several influential books in the field. Her international bestseller with nuclear physicist and scientific ufologist Stanton T. Friedman, MSc. (1934–2019) is Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience (2nd edition, 2021). They also coauthored Science Was Wrong (published in Chinese) and Fact, Fiction, and Flying Saucers. Her collaboration with Denise Stoner, The Alien Abduction Files, documents six intergenerational experiencer cases. Her fifth book, Extraterrestrial Contact: What to Do When You’ve Been Abducted, is both a comprehensive research volume and a practical self-help guide for experiencers (published in English and French). Her most recent book, Forbidden Knowledge: A Personal Journey from Alien Abduction to Spiritual Transformation, explores consciousness, contact, and personal transformation.

She has appeared as an on-camera expert in over 65 television and video productions, and on countless radio programs, podcasts, and documentaries worldwide. Kathleen Marden continues to lecture at conferences throughout the United States and internationally. Contact: www.kathleen-marden.com or www.bettybarneyhillufo.com

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Valerie Lofaso is a local talent with deep roots in the community, having grown up in Derry, NH, and now residing in the Seacoast area. She is a multi-faceted professional, with more than a dozen years serving as an Empathic Medium, paranormal investigator, Reiki Master, and Meditation teacher. Valerie is the author of the Tangled Web of Friends series and The Vital Empath, combining her love of writing with her passion for

exploring the paranormal and spiritual world. She continues her work with the Seacoast Paranormal Research Group (SPRG), staying active in the field of paranormal investigation and is the founder of The WYRD Place, “Where Paranormal Meets Personal Growth”, created as a comprehensive online resource for learning about all things strange and unusual and how it can benefit your life. In addition to her professional expertise, Valerie is an Experiencer, with a lifetime of UFO and ET

encounters that began in childhood. When she’s not immersed in her writing or paranormal pursuits, Valerie dedicates her time to supporting fellow empaths and spiritual seekers through one-on-one mentorships, workshops, and classes. For more information, see her website at theWYRDplace.com

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Ralph Blumenthal was a New York Times reporter from 1964-2009 and co-wrote the famous 2017 exposé of the Pentagon's secret UFO unit. He taught summer school at Phillips Exeter Academy from 2010 to 2023. Now he is a Distinguished Lecturer at Baruch College of the City University of New York and contributes articles to The Times and other publications. He is the author of "The Believer: Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the Passion of John Mack", and co-author, with his wife, Deborah, of the children's book, "UFOHS: Mysteries in the Sky."

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Thomas J. Carey, a native Philadelphian, holds degrees from Temple University (B.S. in Business Administration)

and California State University, Sacramento (M.A. in

Anthropology), and also attended the University of Toronto’s Ph.D. Programme in Anthropology for four years.

An Air Force veteran who held a TOP SECRET/CRYPTO

clearance, Tom is now retired. He has been a Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) State Section Director for Southeastern Pennsylvania from 1986 to 1991, a Special Investigator for the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) from 1991 to 2001, and a member of the CUFOS board of directors from 1997 to 2001. Tom

began investigating aspects of the Roswell Incident in 1991 for the Roswell investigative team of Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt, and since 1998 has teamed exclusively with Don Schmitt to continue a proactive investigation of the case.

Tom has authored numerous published articles about the Roswell events of 1947, and has contributed to a number of books on the subject as well. He has appeared as a guest on many radio and TV shows throughout the country, including Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell and

George Noory, Fox and Friends, Comcast Network Friends and Larry King Live! and has contributed to a number of Roswell-related documentaries, on-screen and behind the scenes.

Tom was a consultant and interviewee on the highly acclaimed and rated 2002, two-hour SyFy Channel documentary, The Roswell Crash: Startling New Evidence, the History Channel’s Conspiracy Theory, the Travel Channel’s UFO Witness, the SyFy Channel’s SyFy Investigates and the History Channel’s, UFO Hunters. He was also a featured interviewee on the 20th Century Fox’s Golden Anniversary, re-release DVD of the 1951 sci-fi classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still.

His first Roswell book, co-authored with Don Schmitt in 2007, Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60-Year Cover-Up and its 2009 sequel, Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the Government’s Biggest Cover-Up, were the #1 best-selling UFO books in the world for three years, 2007, 2008 & 2009. These books are still considered to be the best books ever written about the 1947 Roswell crash/recovery. Two books about the secret history of

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, one titled Inside the Real Area 51, also co-authored with Don Schmitt and released in the fall of 2013, reached #1 in Amazon’s “Astronomy & Space Science” category and was also in its “Top 100 Books of the Year” for 2013. Another book, The Children of Roswell, released in 2016, also reached #1 in its category on Amazon. UFO Secrets Inside Wright-Patterson, released in 2019, remains a

best-seller; while Roswell: The Chronological Pictorial, which tells the story of Roswell in pictures, and Roswell: the Ultimate Cold Case CLOSED, both released in 2020, have garnered a lot of interest. Touched by Roswell highlights “Rich & Famous” people who have been personally “touched” in some way or manner by Roswell along the dusty trail of life. Released in 2021, it surprises at the number of famous people who have “crossed paths” with the Roswell. Tom’s and Don’s “final” Roswell book of ten they have co-authored, Witness to Roswell: The 75 th Anniversary Edition, released in 2022, is an updated reprise of their first two Roswell books in honor of the 75 th Anniversary year of the 1947 crash. Their Roswell books have (to date) been published in eight foreign languages.

Tom and his wife of 58 years, Doreen, have two grown children and reside in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.

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Tim Binnall is the senior news editor for Coast to Coast AM as well as the host of the pioneering paranormal podcast Binnall of America. For more than 20 years and over the course of 500+ BoA programs, he has interviewed a vast array of researchers, spanning a wide spectrum of paranormal genres and ranging from bona fide esoteric icons to up-and-coming future players in 'the field.' With Coast to Coast AM, he has spent the last decade chronicling the weird and wondrous events of the world, writing 6,000+ pieces covering every facet of the paranormal and high strangeness. A graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in TV, Radio, and Film from the prestigious Newhouse School of Public Communications, Binnall aims to maintain an outsider's perspective on the paranormal world with a distinct appreciation for its absurdities and a keen interest in the personalities and sociology of esoteric studies.

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Laird Scranton is the author of more than a dozen books and other writings on ancient cosmology and language. These include articles published in the University of Chicago’s Anthropology News academic journal, Temple University’s Encyclopedia of African Religion and the Encyclopedia Britannica. He is featured in John Anthony West’s Magical Egypt documentary series, and in Carmen

Boulter’s documentary The Pyramid Code. Scranton is a frequent guest on a wide range of radio and podcast interview shows including Red Ice Radio in Europe, Art

Bell’s Desert at Midnight, Coast-to-Coast Radio and Beyond Belief with George Noory, and Whitley Strieber’s Dreamland show. He is also a frequent presenter at conferences whose focus is on ancient knowledge. These include Walter Cruttenden’s Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge (CPAK), the A.R.E.’s Ancient Mysteries Conference, Scotty Roberts and John Ward’s Minnesota based Paradigm Symposium, the Fringe New Jersey Conference, and James Swager’s Megalithic Odyssey Symposium, in Marlborough, England. 

Laird’s work is also featured in two books: Forbidden Science (2008) and Lost Secrets of the Gods (2014). He helped co-author Ed Nightingale’s book The Giza Template (2014). Laird’s books include:

The Science of the Dogon (2007), The Cosmological Origins of Myth and Symbol (2010), The Velikovsky Heresies (2012), China’s Cosmological Prehistory (2014)

Point of Origin (2015), The Mystery of Skara Brae (2016)

Seeking the Primordial (2017), Decoding Maori Cosmology (2018), Ganesha: The Scientific Symbolism of a Hindu God (2019), Primal Wisdom of the Ancients (2020), Tracing Orkney’s Origins, The Waters of Life (2023)

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Martin Willis has been fascinated by UFOs since childhood, but a striking sighting in Carmel Valley, California, in 2007 transformed that curiosity into a serious pursuit of answers. While maintaining a healthy skepticism, he approaches the subject with an open mind, scientific curiosity, and a deep respect for the unknown.

In 2011, Martin founded Podcast UFO, one of the longest-running programs devoted to the subject. Since then, he has conducted more than 750 interviews with leading researchers, witnesses, scientists, authors, filmmakers, and government and military figures. Martin is also a frequent speaker and master of ceremonies at UFO conferences and events across the United States and Canada. He remains especially interested in government transparency, astronomy, and the enduring question of whether intelligent life exists beyond Earth.

Outside the UFO field, Martin is a longtime and highly respected antiques and fine art appraiser with more than five decades of experience.

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In the late 1980s, Jimmy Petonito started taking pictures and audio recordings in local cemeteries that were thought to be haunted. In 1992, Jimmy shared his research with Ed and Lorraine Warren. He became part of the New England Society of Psychic Research team as a psychic photographer. Jimmy also taught classes on the paranormal and ghost hunting at his town's high school for ten years. This is where he earned the nickname "Mr. Haunted."

Jimmy has assisted in over 50 exorcisms and has appeared on Sightings, Unsolved Mysteries, ABC's PrimeTime Live, The Travel Channel shock doc The Devil's Road, and Hostage to the Devil on Netflix. He has also been the host of The Haunted Chronicles radio show since 2013. His books include Phantom Messages co-authored with Bill Hall, and his new book Mr.Haunted - Origins, which chronicles his early experiences leading up to becoming an investigator and photographer for Ed and Lorraine Warren , and later, assisting in over 50 exorcisms. Inside you will learn about my true experiences investigating haunted places, haunted houses and haunted people.

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Peter Robbins, Co-producer of the Speaker Series for the Exeter UFO Festival, has been involved in UFO studies for more than forty years, as a researcher, investigator, writer, public speaker, activist, and author. He has lectured extensively both here and abroad on a wide variety of UFO related subjects at venues including Cambridge Hospital, Boston; Imperial College of Science and Technology, London; OUR-J National UFO Conference, Tokyo; Quest International conferences, Leeds England; The Julliard School and the School of Visual Arts, New York City; The National Press Club in Washington; the Universities of Cardiff, Wales; Hallam, Sheffield, Leeds, and Hull in the UK. Cornell University and the University of Arkansas, US. International UFO Congresses, Laughlin, NV and Phoenix AZ; Intruders Foundation conferences and seminars, NYC; MUFON and BUFORA Symposiums, Roswell UFO Festival and Conference, McMinnville Oregon UFO Festival and Conference, and the Outer Limits UFO Conference, Hull England.

Professional credits include research assistant on the United Nations Secretary General’s Report for the Establishment of a UN-UFO Department; Editorial Assistant on Blue Memorandum for Parliament’s 1980 House of Lords Debate on UFOs; Founder and Editor-In-Chief of the groundbreaking website, UFOcity.com (1998-2004); consultant and participant on The SCI FI Channel’s documentary, UFO Invasion At Rendlesham; Event Coordinator for SCI FI’s Alien Abduction Phenomenon: A Symposium promoting Steven Spielberg miniseries, Taken;” planner, researcher and commentator on Ultimate Crop Circles DVD; writer, planner and commentator on the 2 DVD set Ultimate UFO; Founding member of Budd Hopkins’ Intruders foundation and IF Advisory Board member and regular contributor to the IF Bulletin. 

Robbins’ articles have appeared online and in FATE, Phenomena magazine, UFO Truth Magazine, Outer Limits Magazine, Phenomena, UFO Report Japan, and UFO Data Magazine (UK) among other publications. 

He was Public Relations Representative and Conference Coordinator for the City of Roswell, NM. Peter was Associate Producer of the documentary, TRAVIS: The True Story of Travis Walton, and Executive Producer of the documentary, The Extraordinary Life and Suspicious Death of James Forrestal. He is also host of the popular weekly radio program, Meanwhile, Here On Earth on KUNX Digital Broadcasting.

Robbins has appeared as a guest on and been consultant to numerous documentaries and television shows including Ancient Aliens (History Channel), The Real Roswell (Nat Geo Channel), The Early Show (CBS), Britain’s Roswell (History Channel), Lifetime (Canada), Good Day New York, Unsolved Mysteries, The O’Reilly Factor, The Geraldo Show, Coast to Coast AM, The Art Bell Show, Midnight In the Desert, The Alan Colmes Show (NY), The Unexplained With Howard Hughes (London), and numerous BBC Radio affiliates.