With just over two months remaining until the beginning of the fifth annual Chehalis Flying Saucer Party, scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13 in downtown Chehalis, event organizers have announced the speakers for what it has dubbed the “Contactee Edition” of the event.
The full schedule for this year’s party was also released.
This year’s speakers include former Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) Washington state director Maurene Morgan, U.S. Army veteran turned history professor and author Bruce Solheim, science educator, author and Universe University Podcast co-host Chris Grant along with filmmaker, local historian and Pacific NorthWEIRD Podcast co-host Vince Ynzunza.
Organizers announced the speakers on June 24 — the 78th anniversary of Kenneth Arnold’s historic 1947 UFO sighting, where he saw nine metallic objects flying in an echelon formation stretching nearly 5 miles between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams while flying near Mineral.
Originally from Idaho, Arnold took off from the Centralia-Chehalis Airport that fateful day and flew into the history books, putting Lewis County on the map as the first incident that kicked off the “Summer of the Saucers” in 1947 where thousands of other sightings were reported nationwide.
However, not only were people seeing objects flying in the sky that couldn’t be explained, but some began to report being contacted by the beings flying them. While still celebrating Arnold’s sighting, this year’s Flying Saucer Party will feature the story of Lewis County’s own first contactee, Samuel Eaton Thompson.
A Centralia resident, Thompson was driving between Morton and Mineral on Tuesday, March 28, 1950, when he said he saw a massive “so-called flying saucer” in a clearing just off of state Route 7. He decided to pull off to investigate, he said.
What he claimed to discover was not only a ship, but the passengers themselves, of which there were more than 40 who all came from Venus, he said. Thompson’s "interesting story” was published in the Saturday, April 1, 1950, edition of The Chronicle for readers to “decide for themselves whether it’s April Foolishness or the ‘straight goods,’ which Mr. Thompson says it is.”
By his own account, the Venusians told Thompson he was “the first person ever contacted on this planet.”
This is why this year’s Flying Saucer Party theme is the “Contactee Edition.”
This year’s speakers
All four speakers will take to the stage at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater on the second day of the Flying Saucer Party Sept. 13. McFiler’s Chehalis Theater is located at 558 N. Market Blvd.
Grant will be speaking first starting at 9:30 a.m., giving a presentation titled “From science to sacrilege: Analyzing the enigma of UFOs and abductions.”
He will discuss both why scientists have been so skeptical of abduction or contact stories, along with why the U.S. government has been so interested in the subject since Arnold’s sighting. Tickets for Grant’s presentation are $15 per person.
Ynzunza will take the stage next at 11 a.m., with his presentation titled “Lewis County: First Contact.”
He will discuss not only Thompson’s 1950 contactee story out in the forests of East Lewis County, but the possibility that his sighting might actually be the first documented contact claim — as it happened two years before George Adamski’s alleged contact, also with visitors from Venus, which allegedly took place in the California desert.
Adamski’s story is widely regarded as the claim that set off the contactee movement in the 1950s. Tickets for Ynzunza’s presentation are $15 per person.
After lunch, Solheim will begin his presentation titled “We are the aliens” beginning at 2 p.m. Having encountered a wide variety of paranormal phenomena going back to when he was a child of Norwegian immigrants growing up in Seattle — including being contacted, he says — he will be discussing the quantum nexus theory.
While new and not recognized by the established scientific community, this theory suggests there may be a connection between all paranormal, supernatural and extraterrestrial occurrences. Tickets for Solheim’s presentation are $15 per person.
The Flying Saucer Party’s final speaker is Morgan, who will be giving a presentation titled “Apocalypse in the Age of Aquarius: Doom or Divine Deliverance,” beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Having been both Washington state’s MUFON director and a member of MUFON’s experiencer research team, Morgan’s presentation will dive into the details of the story of Chris Bledsoe — a self-described “strong believer” in God who claims to not only have been contacted by extraterrestrial beings in 2007, but to have been cured of an illness by them.
Bledsoe’s claims have been investigated by U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. intelligence officials along with scientists, academics and even representatives from the Vatican. Tickets for Morgan’s presentation are $15 per person.
After all four speakers have finished presenting, they will be available for questions during a speaker panel beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for all speakers and the panel can be purchased online or at the door.
Other Flying Saucer Party events
Along with the guest speakers, the fifth annual Chehalis Flying Saucer Party will feature a free UFO art show from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 12 and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 13 at Mint City Coffee Roasting, located at 539 N. Market Blvd.
Also on Sept. 12, the third annual Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest will be held at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater, with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. and tickets costing $10 per person.
Film submissions are still being accepted and the deadline to submit a short film is Aug. 5, and a $300 cash prize for audience choice, along with other trophies, are all up for grabs. For more information including rules for filmmaking and how to submit an entry, visit https://filmfreeway.com/NWFlyingSaucerFilmFest.
Prior to the speakers starting on Sept. 13, the second annual “Dash for Disclosure” 5K fun run will start at 8:30 a.m. outside of the Lewis County Historical Museum, located at 599 NW Front St. Registration is $15 per person, and runners are invited to wear their best alien or science fiction costume.
Also at the museum on Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., over 20 unique vendors selling UFO, alien and other science fiction related merchandise will be open for business, and members of the South Puget Sound Lego Users Group will have their displays set up inside the museum.
At 1 p.m. on Northwest Front Street outside of the Lewis County Historical Museum, the Alien Invasion Costume Parade will once again march with live music performed by The Jacked Lords.
Then, at 1:30 p.m., the Saucer Drop will be held in front of the Lewis County Historical Museum.
Various musical artists will also be performing at the museum throughout the day.
Following the speaker panel at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater at 5:30 p.m., a karaoke costume contest hosted by KJ Wednezdey will kick off at 7 p.m. inside McFiler’s Bar and Restaurant, located at 543 NW Pacific Ave. The karaoke costume contest is free to attend, and all ages until 11 p.m.
The Flying Saucer Party’s final event is the Saturday night movie, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater. This year’s feature film has yet to be announced, but previous Flying Saucer Parties have screened “Mars Attacks” and “Men in Black.”
Prior to the feature film, the audience choice winner from the Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest will also be screened again. Tickets to the Saturday night movie are $5.
Additionally, the Lewis County Historical Museum will feature a new contactee exhibit, and admission to the museum will be free during the Flying Saucer Party.
Also at the museum, Arnold’s granddaughter, Shanelle Marie Arnold, will be available for a meet and greet throughout the day on Sept. 13, along with Solheim when he isn’t speaking at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater.
For those wishing to hear all four speakers and attend events on both days, a VIP package with access to all Flying Saucer Party events, including the film festival, is available for $85. Included in the package is a Flying Saucer Party shirt and poster, stickers, a VIP lanyard and goodie bag.
To purchase tickets to individual speakers or a VIP package, visit https://tinyurl.com/2s3zf3ut.
For more information on the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party, follow it on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/flyingsaucerparty or visit https://www.flyingsaucerparty.org/.
