World's Top UFO Speakers, Stanton Friedman & Travis Walton, to Appear at South Texas UFO Conference

Jan. 15, 2013 - PRLog -- Stanton Friedman, the world’s top UFO expert, and Travis Walton, whose UFO encounter inspired the Paramount movie Fire in the Sky, are featured speakers at Edinburg’s “Out of This World” Conference & Festival, to be held on Friday, March 15, 2013, at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance, 118 Paseo Del Prado Road. For more information, please visit http://roswellbooks.com/edinburg or EdinburgUFO.com - or call 956-383-4974.

Friedman, a nuclear physicist currently residing in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, is an internationally-recognized advocate of the theory that Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials. He has testified about UFOs before the U.S. Congress. He was the first UFO researcher to uncover the story of the Roswell UFO crash. As a nuclear physicist, he worked on top secret government rocket projects and believes that interstellar travel is possible.  Friedman has personally investigated many of the world’s major UFO cases since the 1950s and has appeared on virtually every important television documentary about UFOs since the 1980s. He has lectured all over the world, including at over 600 colleges and universities. He will present two talks in Edinburg on March 15, “Flying Saucers and Science” at 11 a.m. and “UFOs: Earth’s Cosmic Watergate” at 4 p.m. This will be his first-ever appearance in the Rio Grande Valley area of South Texas.

Travis Walton’s UFO encounter is the world’s best-documented alien abduction story. On November 5, 1975, in plain sight of six other men, Walton was blasted by a beam of blue-green light that emanated from a large UFO that hovered directly overhead. He then disappeared for five days. A lie detector test of Walton’s companions established that they had indeed seen a UFO prior to Walton’s disappearance. Suspecting foul play, police conducted a massive manhunt in the woods where Walton vanished but failed to locate his body. Five days later, Walton suddenly re-appeared, telling an amazing tale of having been taken aboard a UFO, where he saw extraterrestrial beings. His story became the basis for the successful Hollywood movie Fire in the Sky, released by Paramount Studios in 1993. At the Edinburg “Out of This World” event, the motion picture will be shown in its entirety at 4:30 p.m., followed by Mr. Walton’s keynote lecture at 7 p.m. This will be the first time he tells his amazing story in the Rio Grande Valley. He will also have autographed copies of his book, Fire in the Sky, available for sale.

According to Walton’s Web site: “In Fire in the Sky Travis Walton relates in his own words the best documented account of alien abduction yet recorded, the story of his harrowing ordeal at the hands of silent captors and his return to a disbelieving world of hostile interrogators, exploitative press and self-styled ‘debunkers.’ Travis recounts the struggle to get a fair hearing, and confronts his detractors with a stinging rebuttal."

The conference also features a lecture by South Texas UFO researcher Noe Torres, author of Mexico’s Roswell, Aliens in the Forest, The Real Cowboys & Aliens, Ultimate Guide to the Roswell UFO Crash, Fallen Angel, and four other books. Born and raised in Edinburg, Torres has maintained a life-long interest in UFOs that was inspired, in part, by a strange encounter his mother had in Mission in the 1940s. In 2006, he collaborated with California UFO researcher Ruben Uriarte on the book Mexico’s Roswell, which led them to numerous media appearances and conference speaking    engagements around the country. Torres appeared on the History Channel’s “UFO Hunters” television series, and the “Mexico’s Roswell” case was also featured on the History Channel’s “UFO Files” and “UFOs of the 1970s.” Torres has appeared multiple times on “Coast to Coast AM” with George Noory, the Jeff Rense Program, Jerry Pippin’s “UFO Files,” and many other radio programs. At the “Out of This World” event, Torres will talk about “Aliens in the Forest” at 2 p.m.

Also speaking at the conference is Ismael Cuellar, director of the Laredo Paranormal Research Society (LPRS), who will discuss “UFOs Over South Texas,” a review of the group’s latest, amazing research into UFO sightings in Laredo and other parts of South Texas, as well as their research into other paranormal phenomenon. "South Texas is definitely a hot spot right now," Cuellar said. "Maybe we're the new Roswell."

LPRS uses cutting-edge scientific instruments to investigate paranormal phenomena, such as UFOs, mystery orbs, spirit entities, and more. Cuellar and his group speak frequently at conferences, demonstrating the techniques they use for detecting things that cannot normally be seen by human beings.

Also scheduled to appear is veteran UFO investigator Dr. Robert Gross, speaking on “Science and the Paranormal”. Gross, an educator with 23 years of teaching experience, currently resides in McAllen. He holds a doctorate from Penn State University, where his dissertation was awarded a rating of excellent. During his career, he has served as a speaker and writer with more than a dozen articles published in professional journals and lectures presented at local, state, and national conferences.

In 1997, Dr. Gross served on an advisory committee working with the makers of the movie Contact, a film about contact with extraterrestrial life based on the novel by Carl Sagan. In 2007, he appeared in a short, UFO-related film, Andrombulance, filmed in New Mexico. Dr. Gross was a featured speaker at the 2012 Edinburg UFO Conference and the 2012 Laredo UFO Conference. He has also spoken at many other venues regarding his paranormal investigations.

Also speaking at the “Out of This World” event is McAllen resident Stephen Andrasko, who will give a presentation titled “The South Texas X-Files.” A well-known local librarian and public speaker, Andrasko will discuss fascinating UFO encounters that have taken place in the Rio Grande Valley and surrounding areas, including Laredo and Corpus Christi.

In the spring of 2012, an Edinburg resident driving in the vicinity of Moore Air Field suddenly encountered a huge, brightly-illuminated UFO hovering over the roadway ahead of her. In the summer of 1953, McAllen residents stood outside their homes in broad daylight and watched a cluster of six metallic silver disks flying in formation around their city for two hours. In the fall of 1966, eight men digging a caliche pit at the Sam Gonzalez Ranch north of Edinburg were resting in their trailer at night when something came out of the sky, illuminating the entire area around them and burning all of their vehicles and machinery. These and other amazing UFO cases from South Texas will be presented by Andrasko, who is an avid reader of science-fiction and has a deep interest in the subject of extraterrestrial life. He holds a Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of North Texas.

Sponsored by the Edinburg Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library, and Edinburg Arts, the day-long event begins at 9 a.m. and concludes at 8:30 p.m. Admission to the “Out of This World” lecture series starts at $15 per person. Children under 10 are free when accompanied by an adult. The location is the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance, 118 Paseo Del Prado Road. For complete information, visit EdinburgUFO.com or call the Edinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau at 956-383-4974. Information may also be obtained by calling the Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library at 956-383-6246.