The Archives Of The Impossible conference at Rice University in Houston celebrated some of the biggest names in paranormal academia, UFO history and the massive vault of archives that house the work and notes of Jacques Vallee, Whitley Strieber, Ed May (physicist contracted by CIA during Stargate program) ,Richard Haines (ex-NASA scientist)and others. While the conference was supposed to happen in October of last year, it was delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The conference offered a hybrid virtual and limited in-person attendance, and also served as an initiative coming to fruition after 6 years.
Jacquess Valle talks to Mike Damante at Rice University.
For the past 6-years, graduate students like Timothy Grieve-Carlson and the Department of Religion have been working on archiving thousands of historic materials that range from UFO photos to official highly-classified remote viewing CIA documents. The Woodson Research Center at Rice continues to professionally archive material, and have estimated over 100,000 times are currently ready for viewing.
“I hope it is very important to other universities other than Rice because it was so successful and rational,” Strieber said of the conference.” (It’s) a process of application of careful thinking and evolved ideas to the impossible, and that can be done more and more at more universities because there are many people capable of addressing this at a much higher level of discourse.”
The conference opened up the archives for viewing, but also hosted guest speakers and seminars like the legendary Vallee, Strieber (“Communion”), journalist and author Leslie Kean, author Diana Pasulka (“American Cosmic”) and others from the world of academia.
“We are at the point where the academic community needs to get involved,” Vallee said to punkrockandufos.com. “Many people in the academy worldwide have had long-term interest in the subject they just haven’t had the opportunity to go public, but now that the stigma has been removed, now is the time for researchers to come out and talk openly about their own research and contribute to the debate.”
The event was made possible by the effort of Professor of Religious Studies and author Jeffrey Kripal relationships and collaboration through the years with Vallee, Strieber, and others. Kripal’s credibility in the world of paranormal ranges from the respect and trust of John Mack, George Knapp, Robert Bigelow and countless others.
“I once heard Erik Davis describe Jeffrey Kripal as kind of a bomb shelter, or Captain America’s shield,” Grieve-Carlson said. “He clears a space for intellectual topics and conversations that just couldn’t happen anywhere else, and he does it by absorbing the criticism himself. None of this would happen without Jeff.”
The event had virtual and in-person attendance from all over the world.
“This is an ongoing phenomenon that has gone on for 100s and 100s of years. … coming to a meeting like this is hugely important to meet with other archivists who are trying to preserve the work of lots of people who have put their whole life into this subject,” said Clas Svahn International Director of Sweden’s UFO Svergie. “I hope the science community will see there is an advantage to this as well and gain new knowledge of the world and how it functions.”
While the event showcased heavyweights in the field during their plenary sessions, the conference also shined light on the work, and studies of the graduate students, which was important to show that the paranormal could be studied at the highest level of academia.
“When complete, these Archives of the Impossible will easily constitute one of the largest collections of its kind in the world and almost certainly the largest at an American research university,” Kripal said. “The truth may or may not be out there, as one popular American television series had it, but it is almost certainly in here, somewhere. Please come and help us find it.”
-By MIKE DAMANTE
Check back this week for an interview with Vallee and Strieber.
If you are a fan of academia and paranormal, Mike Damante’s latest book “Punk rock and UFOs: Stranger Than Fiction” features exclusive interviews with Travis Taylor, Leslie Kean, Tom DeLonge, Peter Levenda, Kevin Day, Sean Cahill, Diana Pasulka, Jeffrey Kripal, and the producers of “Unidentified.” Order now.