As the year comes to close, 2017 wasn't short on stories in the world of ufology and cryptozoology due to the amazing efforts of journalists, authors, ufologists, podcasters and researchers in these fields. There's simply too many stories to name, and nailing down a select few to cover here isn't easy, but here are some that sparked the interest of the field and this site.
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"Up all night long, and there's something very wrong. ..."
Tom DeLonge's long-awaited announcement of the launching of his To The Stars Academy Of Arts and Science was met with mostly negative feedback from the field. TTA AAS, which consists of former government officials and respected names from the scientific community, aims to make innovative advances in technology and also back DeLonge's fiction and non-fiction film endeavors; none of the aforementioned things promised disclosure, but since the backlash DeLonge claims he has some never-before scene footage to show. If you look past the sketch business model of TTS AAS, and get over the disappointment of FULL DISCLOSURE, which was never really fully promised, just assumed by many in the UFO community with their minds already made up, then TTA AAS can possibly produce some good things, but I wouldn't bet on it being too groundbreaking.
Stones Of The First Encounter
"Stones Of The First Encounter" depicts what possibly could be even more ancient alien visitation and intervention. These Mayan jade stones depict what looks like aliens and spaceships carved into the stones and is some of the best new evidence to support the ancient astronaut theories. There hasn't been much news since the discovery of these stones regarding the validity of them, but let's hope they get verified soon.
Dark energy isn't in the dark anymore
Dark energy ,which is defined as an unknown form of energy that can supposedly permeate through all of space and help expand the universe, will now get more attention via studies from the University of Texas. The telescope at the McDonald Observatory, which is complete with a $40 million face left, will be used to further explore this phenomena and possibly even create a 3-D map of the universe. This increased attention in the study of dark energy COULD mean big things in the future.
This shouldn't surprise us
According to scientists, the Great Pyramid has a great plane-sized void inside. For anyone who is familiar with the ancient astronaut theories, the show "Ancient Aliens" or general Egyptian mythology, this shouldn't come as a shock. Through cosmic-ray imaging, scientists were able to detect the the hidden shape constructed inside according to The Independent. The same project has also found unexplained "heat spots." Let's hope 2018 brings more news on this.
MUFON has a racist problem
When a state MUFON director posted a racist rant on Facebook, and MUFON failed to appropriate act and fully boot John Ventre out, many within the community questioned the tone deafness of the organization and the black eye it would leave on the research field.
"While I am not a MUFON member, and some may think I shouldn't be commenting on this entire debacle, I felt a responsibility as a researcher and as a human being to stand up for what is right," said "Somewhere In The Skies" host Ryan Sprague said in the initial article."Racial intolerance and sexism stems from pure ignorance, and this seems to be a mindset by more than one individual within this particular organization. .... when individuals that represent this extremely visible UFO organization have clear racial agendas, it paints an extremely dark picture of the entire field. "
Incidents like this make it even more OK to be independent of any organization and beliefs associated with it.
Slick Rick
I did a lot of awesome interviews on this site this year, but the one with controversial figure Rick Doty really stirred the pot within the community. Doty, a former retired Special Agent who worked for Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI), is atop the list of conversations regarding government-induced disinformation campaigns. He STILL claims his innocence.
-By MIKE DAMANTE
Also, check out my top 10 albums of the year for chron.com, and if you like that shirt I'm wearing ....