'Woodstock of UFOs' event is bigger than ever in third year

Brett Kelman | The (Palm Springs) Desert Sun

Show Caption Hide Caption UFO enthusiasts look to make 'Contact in the Desert' Thousands took part in "Contact in the Desert," a California UFO conference, to hear from experts and lecturers about aliens.

JOSHUA TREE, Calif. — Bob Dumovitz had driven more than 600 miles, from the mountains of Colorado to the deserts of California, looking for answers.

After darkness fell Thursday, he sat outside his camper, resting in a lounge chair, enveloped in silence. Overhead, the dark sky twinkled, as if every star was giving a knowing wink.

Maybe — just maybe — the answers were up there, Dumovitz said.

"I've been on this Earth for 65 years, and I still don't know who we are or why we are here," he said. "That's why I came."

Dumovitz, a retired construction worker from Mancos, Colo., is one of thousands of UFO enthusiasts who have descended into Southern California's High Desert this weekend for Contact in the Desert, an annual UFO conference.

The four-day event, now in its third year, is one of the largest conventions of its kind in the United States, and the fastest growing. This year, Contact has nearly 50 lecturers and more than 2,000 attendees, with both figures doubling since the event began.

"This is the Woodstock of UFOs," said Marshall Klarfeld, an alien researcher from La Quinta, Calif. who lectured at Contact for the third year in a row. "People come here, and they stay in tents … because they have basic questions. Who are we? Who is God? And where did we come from?"

Klarfeld specializes in the study of the Anunnaki, 9-foot tall extraterrestrials who supposedly helped guide primitive humans to civilization. That might sound a little out there, but theories like this one are the norm at Contact, which is dominated with presentations about a secret history of humanity's ancient alien benefactors.

Paul Andrews, a Los Angeles event coordinator who cofounded Contact, said he started the conference to create a "safe environment" for this kind of discussion. At Contact, researchers don't undercut each other, and conspiracy theorists can share and listen without anyone "snickering," Andrews said.

Contact is held at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center, a cluster of iconic mid-century buildings nestled between the twisty, spiny namesake trees.

(Gallery from August 2014 convention)



Andrews said this spot was chosen, at least in part, because of its long history of UFO sightings.

"We think the likelihood of someone having a sighting, or having an encounter, are higher here than anywhere else," Andrews said.

When Contact began on Friday morning, lectures began at full speed, unraveling the entire course of human history in a matter of minutes. UFO experts immediately started talking about evidence of ancient aliens, crop circles, gigantic secret pyramids and — of course — an extensive government cover-up.

"It's all out there," said Jim Marrs, a renowned author, famous for his books on UFOs and the Kennedy assassination. "And they are hiding it from you."

Other lecturers included Giorgio Tsoukalos, the star of the History Channel's "Ancient Aliens;" Laura Eisenhower, the great-granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower; and Story Musgrave, a veteran NASA astronaut. In the evenings, Contact attendees gather for sky watching and a demonstration by a "UFO caller," which is sort of like a bird caller, only with aliens.

During a series of interviews on Thursday evening, numerous Contact attendees said they were drawn to the event because of the incredible open-mindedness of both the experts and the audience.

Not every attendee ascribed to the same alien theory, but were united by their skepticism of common science, doubt of by-the-book history and distrust of the U.S. government.

For example, Dumovitz, the construction worker from Colorado, believes in Atlantis. One of the neighboring campers insisted the earth was flat. Anywhere else, these ideas would have been met with mockery.

But not here.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.