Mutual UFO Network

MUFON, Inc. was originally established as the Midwest UFO Network on May 31, 1969, in Quincy, Illinois, by Allen R. Utke, Walter H. Andrus, Jr., John F. Schuessler, and others.{{cite news|last=Trares|first=Ryan|title=Have you seen a UFO? Hoosier investigators aim at identifying unexplained|url=http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/local_story/Have-you-seen-a-UFO-Hoosier-in_1349999210/|access-date=October 15, 2012|newspaper=Franklin Daily Journal|date=October 11, 2012|quote=When local residents see something in the sky that they can’t explain, they call the Mutual UFO Network. The nationwide organization receives dozens of similar reports every year of unusual lights in the night sky.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014022924/http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/local_story/Have-you-seen-a-UFO-Hoosier-in_1349999210/|archive-date=October 14, 2012}}{{cite news|last=Trares|first=Ryan|title=Mutual UFO Network investigates sightings|url=http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/oct/15/mutual-ufo-network-investigates-sightings/|access-date=October 15, 2012|newspaper=Evansville Courier & Press|date=October 15, 2012|quote=Most often, the reports can be explained naturally. Refracted light in the sky, electric flashes high in the atmosphere or meteors easily can be mistaken for UFOs. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203075820/http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/oct/15/mutual-ufo-network-investigates-sightings/ | archive-date=December 3, 2012 | url-status=dead}} Most of MUFON's early members were associated with the SKYLOOK newsletter of Stover, Missouri and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), formerly of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. MUFON was renamed the Mutual UFO Network in 1973 because of its expansion to other states and countries.{{cite web|last1=Schuessler|first1=John|title=A Brief History of MUFON|url=https://www.mufon.com/history.html|website=MUFON|publisher=mufon.com|access-date=January 10, 2019}}

In July 2020, MUFON Executive Director Jan Harzan, who at a 2013 symposium claimed to have been visited as a child by a "humming" alien, was arrested in Newport Beach, California, on charges of soliciting sex from a law enforcement detective posing as a 13-year-old girl. In response to the arrest, MUFON leadership reported that Harzan had been "permanently removed" as the organization's Executive Director, and "[Harzan] will no longer serve any role in the organization."{{cite news |last1=Whalen |first1=Andrew |title=UFO Organization Leader Arrested for Allegedly Soliciting Sex From a Detective Posing as Child |url=https://www.newsweek.com/ufo-sightings-mufon-arrest-organization-jan-harzan-arrested-1517779 |access-date=July 19, 2020 |work=Newsweek |publisher=Newsweek |date=July 15, 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Banias |first1=MJ |last2=Merlan |first2=Anna |title=Head of Major UFO Organization Arrested on Child Solicitation Charges |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/head-of-major-ufo-organization-arrested-on-child-solicitation-charges/ |access-date=July 19, 2020 |work=Vice |publisher=Vice Media Group |date=July 14, 2020}}

MUFON is currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, has chapters in every U.S. state, and claims to have over 4,000 members worldwide. It holds an annual international symposium and publishes the monthly MUFON UFO Journal. In 2015, MUFON founded Mutual UFO Network University, an unaccredited online institution which seeks to train members to investigate UFO sightings.

The group claims more than 500 field investigators and specialized teams to investigate possible physical evidence of extraterrestrial craft. The network trains volunteers to interview witnesses, perform research, and draw conclusions from the evidence. Although investigators are not paid, they must pass both an exam based on a 265-page manual, and a background check.{{cite news|last=Olanoff|first=Lynn|title=UFO sightings lead Pa. man to alien sleuth work|url=http://www.njherald.com/story/19821538/ufo-sightings-lead-pa-man-to-alien-sleuth-work|access-date=October 15, 2012|newspaper=New Jersey Herald|date=October 15, 2012|quote=Black triangular objects with three lights are the most commonly seen UFO, not the stereotypical flying saucer shape, Royer said.}} MUFON features a newsroom and case management system on its website.

According to science writer Sharon A. Hill, MUFON's focus is "decidedly unscientific with talks on alien abduction, conspiracy theories, human-ET hybrids, hypnotic regression, and repressed memories", and reflects "a wide range of pseudoscience". MUFON has been the subject of criticism for drifting away from their original "nuts and bolts UFO investigation" into "bizarre conspiracy and exopolitics talk". The organization receives large numbers of UFO reports every year; the qualifications of the amateur volunteers examining the reports, however, have been questioned. Hill wrote that MUFON's idea of scientific researchers "appears to be people who are not scientists or propose fantastic, anti-science tales".{{cite web|last1=Hill|first1=Sharon|title=UFO research is up in the air: Can it be scientific? - Sounds Sciencey|url=http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/ufo_research_is_up_in_the_air|website=Skeptical Inquirer|publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|access-date=December 21, 2016}}{{cite web|last1=Hill|first1=Sharon|title=MUFON to rebrand|url=http://doubtfulnews.com/2016/09/mufon-to-rebrand/|website=Doubtful News|publisher=doubtfulnews.com|access-date=December 21, 2016}}{{cite book|author=William F. Williams|title=Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience: From Alien Abductions to Zone Therapy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vH1EAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT254|date=December 2, 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-95522-9|pages=254–}}

An April 2018 article in Newsweek reported evidence of "anti-immigrant, anti-trans, and anti-Muslim sentiments" among MUFON officials, including MUFON donor J. Z. Knight and former MUFON State Director for Pennsylvania John Ventre, both of whom have publicly expressed racist and/or anti-Semitic views, and are described in the article as "high-tier Inner Circle donors to MUFON". The expressed far-right viewpoints "kicked off a wave of anger and resignations across MUFON", including former MUFON Director of Research Chris Cogswell (who stated, "My internal conscience would not let me continue") and former board member and Washington State Director James Clarkson (who stated, "Remaining in MUFON in any capacity is morally unacceptable.") Erica Lukes, former MUFON State Director for Utah, is also reported in the article as describing MUFON as "an organization unwilling to adequately address sexual harassment".{{cite news|last=Whalen|first=Andrew|title=What If Aliens Met Racists? MUFON Resignations Highlight Internal Divisions in UFO Sightings Organization|url=http://www.newsweek.com/ufo-sightings-mufon-2018-john-ventre-alien-extraterrestrial-905060|access-date=May 7, 2018|newspaper=Newsweek|date=April 29, 2018|quote=Everything this world is was created by Europeans and Americans}}

In 2020, Vice magazine reported that Ken Pfeifer, head of MUFON's Rhode Island chapter, posted racist memes and comments on Facebook during the height of national Black Lives Matter protests.

MUFON has been mentioned in:

• The 2008 Discovery Channel documentary miniseries UFOs Over Earth
  • The 2008 History Channel series UFO Hunters
  • The X-Files series
  • The History Channel's series Ancient Aliens
  • Hangar 1: The UFO Files series
  • 9-1-1: Lone Star series, season 3 episode 6 "The ATX-Files"

• The New York Times article "People Are Seeing U.F.O.s Everywhere, and This Book Proves It"{{cite web |last1=Blumenthal |first1=Ralph |title=People Are Seeing U.F.O.s Everywhere, and This Book Proves It |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/24/science/ufo-sightings-book.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 19, 2018 |language=en |date=April 24, 2017}}
• Forbes article "MUFON, America's UFO Experts, Discuss Roswell And Possible Cover-Ups"{{cite web |last1=Clash |first1=Jim |title=MUFON, America's UFO Experts, Discuss Roswell And Possible Cover-Ups |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2017/01/17/mufon-americas-ufo-experts-discuss-roswell-and-possible-cover-ups/ |work=Forbes |access-date=November 19, 2018 |language=en |date=January 17, 2017}}

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{{sisterlinks|MUFON}}

• {{official website|http://www.mufon.com/}}. See [https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://mufon.com archives] over the years by Internet Archive.
• MUFON UFO Journal [https://web.archive.org/web/20131106124529/http://www.theblackvault.com/encyclopedia/documents/MUFON/Journals archive].

{{UFOs}}

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Category:UFO organizations

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Ohio

Category:Organizations established in 1969

Category:1969 establishments in the United States

Category:UFO culture in the United States

Category:Organizations based in Cincinnati