THE UFO CHRONICLES


nam et ipsa scientia potestas est
- Knowledge is Power -

     AZTEC — UFOs are not typical dinner table conversation for most couples. Scott and Suzanne Ramsey are not most couples.

"He's working on a book, so it is (something we talk about) more," Suzanne Ramsey said. "It's an ongoing pursuit."

Her husband, Scott Ramsey, has spent 20 years researching the alleged UFO crash site in Aztec. He's attended the UFO Symposium in Aztec almost every year, and spoken there a few times.

Next weekend's symposium, held March 23-25, will be the 10th for the annual event. Held at the Aztec Boys and Girls Club, the symposium will start with a dinner on Friday and follow with lectures on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $25; military, EMT and police get in free. For more information, call (505) 334-7657 or visit aztecufo.com

It was Scott Ramsey who convinced Dennis Balthaser, a speaker this year and every other since the symposium began, that something did happen in Aztec.

"I had some reservations about Aztec for many years, but ... it really looks like something did happen in 1948," he said.

A UFO research concentrating on Roswell, Area 51, underground bases and the great pyramids of Giza (though he doesn't necessarily think aliens built the pyramids, they may have provided the technology), Balthaser will speak on "Roswell: Then and Now."

There are some similarities between the two incidents: Both the Roswell and Aztec crashes were reported to have bodies, both were in New Mexico, but the overarching theme, Balthaser, is the biggest similarity.

"It's all part of the UFO program the government has, in not revealing any information they have and lying about it," he said.

For the Ramseys, the aliens were what brought them together, so to speak. Originally from Farmington, Suzanne got interested in the symposium when, about seven years ago, she interviewed several speakers for her radio show.

She was impressed by "the caliber of speakers they were having — highly educated, articulate, knowledgeable people that had done some really good research," she said. " I was really taken by that."

She got involved on the organizational end of things, and eventually met Scott. She had helped put him up to be raffled off as a date for a fund raiser, only to see her own name drawn.

But when she looked at the winning ticket, her name was misspelled. Family and friends had purchased 60 tickets in addition to the five she paid for to ensure she'd end up as his date.

Though the Ramsey's won't be attending this year (they've since moved to North Carolina), their scientific approach to the extraterrestrial subject is what the symposium is all about organizers say.

"Mainstream researchers deal with fact," Katee McClure, who is organizing the symposium, said.

A fund-raising event for the Aztec Library, the symposium is based on an alleged UFO crash in Aztec's Hart Canyon in 1948. In the crash, one of four in the New Mexico area, 16 charred "humanoid" bodies were said to have been found inside a saucer.

"I think (the Aztec crash) has been shrouded in mystery since the beginning," Scott said.

Several agencies, including the FBI, Air Force and CIA, kept files on the case, he said, referring to hundreds of pages of government documents he said he's obtained.

"If the event was written off as a hoax, why were all those government agencies keeping open files on it?" he said.

Eight speakers will appear at the symposium this year, from Farah Yurdozu, a Turkish journalist and medium who covers abductions and close encounters, to Wendelle Stevens, a retired U.S. Air Force officer worked on a documentary about military personnel who say they helped clean up UFO crash sites.

There will also be tours of the crash site and other activities

The overall theme is thoughtful consideration.

"I don't think everything that people see is a UFO," Suzanne Ramsey said. "I think sometimes people get caught up in the fact that it's everything or nothing; it's very polarized. (I think) life is more middle of the road than that."

Labels: 1948, Aztec, Aztec UFO Symposium 07, Flying Saucer, New Mexico, Scott and Suzanne Ramsey, UFO, UFO Symposium