Annual UFO conference lands near Phoenix

The government's massive cover up of the existence of extraterrestrial life can be vexing to believers, but once a year dozens have the opportunity to gather near a Phoenix-area resort where they can discuss the "cosmic Watergate" in peace.

That time arrived with little fanfare Wednesday morning with the opening of the International UFO Congress and, as always, an opportunity for believers to meet with a hypnotherapist to recount their experiences of alien abduction and rehabilitation.

"It gives people the opportunity to talk about their abduction experiences without fear of ridicule," said hypnotherapist Yvonne Smith said.

There will be no ridicule at the We-Ko-Pa Resort near Fort McDowell Casino, said Alejandro Rojas, one of the event organizers, because the International UFO Congress is dedicated to disseminating information about UFO mythology.

The International UFO Congress was established in 1991 and held annual conferences in Laughlin, Nev., until 2011 when it moved to the Phoenix area, Rojas said. The event continues to feature speakers, panels and Smith's popular therapy sessions where survivors can talk openly about their alien encounters.

Smith said many of the people she speaks with have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and are traumatized from the event they experienced.

"Most often people just want to know what happened to them," Smith said. "They ask if they are crazy or if it was all a dream."

Conference attendee Jeanne Madden said she was visited by an "entity" multiple times since 1995.

"It's happened about 15 to 20 times," Madden said. "In 1995, I was taken from my bedroom at night. I remember being on tables and seeing a tractor beam light at the foot of my bed."

"I like to think they were helping me on some level," Madden said, "I believe I have an implant. They shoved an instrument up my nose and stapled something in my head."

Madden said she was frightened after she was first visited because it was "beyond reality" but said that an event such as the conference would have helped her.

"It would've helped having something like this to listen to other people who have similar stories to know you aren't crazy," Madden said.

Everyone told Travis Walton he was crazy after he said he was taken from a wooded area in northern Arizona and held for five days by alien life forms.

"I was hit by a blast of energy," said Walton, author of "Fire in the Sky" and "The Walton Experience".

"I remember being on board the craft and in pain, I didn't know where I was," Walton said. "I saw creatures and flipped out ... In hindsight I realize they were trying to revive me."

Walton described the creatures as being hairless, big-eyed and less than four feet tall. Statues fitting this exact description were littered about the conference.

Those sorts of descriptions are common, as are the government's efforts to cover up the existence of extraterrestrial beings said Stanton Friedman, a nuclear physicist who was selling copies of his books detailing the government's plot.

"Secrets are kept by security clearance and need-to-know basis," Friedman said.

Friedman, 80, said he has been giving lectures and writing books for years because he said the inaccuracies in Project Blue Book, a study by the United States Air Force about UFOs, enraged him and from there he found an interest and a passion for the subject.

Project Blue Book, which was declassified last month, did nothing to quell true believers' convictions at the event on Wednesday as they traipsed through a room full of booths with books detailing the stories of those who had been abducted by aliens and listened intently to speakers.

Derrel Sims recounted his experience with aliens at the conference and said that he, like Walton, saw small creatures with big, black eyes.

Sims, a private investigator, was at a vendor booth filled with paraphernalia of extraterrestrial items that had been removed from people on different occasions.

Sims, a self-described "former CIA employee", said his purpose is to find physical evidence of alleged human and alien contact after he and his son were both visited by "entities".

"I remember seeing a pure white body in my room," Sims said. "It was skinny and spindly. I thought he was going to bump into the wall and he heard me thinking that because he turned around and looked at me."

Sims said his crusade for finding proof truly began when his son was visited when he was 6 years old.

"I was within 18 inches of one once," Sims said. "I am looking for DNA evidence."

Sims said he has encountered various people with credible stories and physical proof, including three NASA employees and a district attorney.

Sims said the district attorney was abducted with his wife at 11:29 p.m. and has three hours of time he cannot account for.

Sims then pulled up a watch he said was the district attorney's at the time of the abduction and showed that the time was frozen on 11:29 p.m..

The watch was also melted from the inside, Sims said.

Sims will be a speaker Thursday at the event where he said he will tell stories and show his evidence.

The International UFO Congress lasts through Sunday, Feb. 22 and has different panels, speakers and films each day.

Registration for the event has ended online, but the vendor booths are free and open to the public.

Details: ufocongress.com