As the world now knows, a man named Jeff Peckman is fighting to get an initiative on the November ballot calling for the formation of an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver — which would deal with any problems that might arise should a group of day-tripping ETs decide to stop by. And last Friday, Peckman upped the ante by showing footage (to select members of the press, no photos or recording allowed) of an actual living, breathing alien peeking through a window. But here's the thing...
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The video was just a piece of a much longer video shot by one of Colorado's own, Stan Romanek. And Stan? He's a weird guy. I was fortunate enough to catch a much longer dog-and-pony show he himself did for a standing-room-only crowd on the Auraria campus a few months ago. I'm fairly sure I was the only member of the press in attendance, seeing as how the vast majority of the crowd was drawn from the ranks of the UFO faithful. In short, Stan was preaching to the converted. And I was one of them.
Yes, I believe in UFOs. I believe in alien life. My wife and I have seen (and reported to the Mutual UFO Network) one UFO ourselves — not a spaceship, not an alien, but a truly unidentified flying object, outside Wagon Mound, New Mexico, six or seven years ago — and I have spent time since then hanging with the UFO community, trying to learn.
Which was why I knew Romanek's name. He is, to quote from his own website, www.stanromanek.com, at the center of "the most scientifically documented [case of] human/extraterrestrial encounters in the world. There have been well over 100 individually unique experiences that Stan has encountered since December, 2000 that remain unexplainable. Being abducted is only one of many experiences."
Among the believers, Romanek is a big dog. He's like Wayne Newton in Vegas. The man really packs 'em in. And when he showed the full cut of the alien-peeking-through-a-window video to the faithful? Needless to say, the room went nuts.
But not me. I was just disappointed. It looked so patently fake, so ridiculously cheap and goofy. In the course of the presentation, Stan had laid out so much other evidence that was so much more compelling (including examples of automatic writing, mathematical equations, additional photos and videos of UFOs and more) and plenty that wasn't (recorded phone calls from aliens, photos of aliens in his back yard that looked like nothing more than plaster dime-store garden gnomes, a purchase order for a computer bought for him by mysterious "helpers") that the final reveal — the little squash-headed "alien" blinking and staring into the house — just seemed to me like bullshit icing on a highly questionable birthday cake.
Setting aside any question of whether or not the footage is real or faked, Peckman's recent showing worked out well. It's gotten press all over the planet (and possibly beyond), and Peckman is the one getting all the ink. My question, though, is where's Stan in all this?
Oh, that's right. He's the one holding the video, refusing to post it to the web or allow it to be shown in public, accepting no sort of peer review or criticism beyond a few attempts at having the expurgated footage authenticated by local film experts. The reason? He's in the process of trying to complete (and sell) a documentary about himself: Starseed: The Stan Romanek Story, coming soon to theaters near you.
And to me, this is the most disturbing part. I understand the impulse to try and make a buck off what, if true, would be the biggest news story in history, but seriously? Some things are more important than a dollar. And if this video truly is as real as Romanek and Peckman claim it is, it needs to be released, in toto and immediately, so that everyone can have their look, have their say and make up their own minds as to whether or not "they" really are out there.
