Post by swamprat on Sept 4, 2012 15:19:01 GMT -6
Interesting article on our new MUFON State Director:
news-press.com
UFOs are Gateway man's passion
Study of the phenomenon is serious science to Fla. director of the Mutual UFO Network.
By Dayna Harpster
Sep. 4, 2012
Morgan Beall knows what reaction his interest in UFOs can provoke. He’s heard it all: “So you’re one of those wack-jobs,” “I heard you chase little green men.” Most TV shows and media reports contain what he calls “the giggle factor.”
So there are people to whom he doesn’t broadcast the fact that he spends time every day on some task for the Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON. But it would be surprising if he didn’t. The 33-year-old Gateway resident is the international organization’s newly appointed state director.
By day, he’s down-to-earth. An environmental consultant who investigates mold, lead, asbestos and more, Beall is a graduate of Frostburg State University in Maryland with a degree in earth science. He starts most mornings at a Crossfit boot camp; evenings are reserved for MUFON and spending time with longtime girlfriend Jordan Marsh, a chef.
MUFON came to life in 1969 as a nonprofit “dedicated, through its volunteers, to resolving the scientific enigma known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs),” according to official statements. The network continues where the Air Force Project Blue Book left off, its 12,618 reports of sightings officially written off as explainable. MUFON chapters are now in every state and 36 other countries.
Beall and other state directors assign creditable reports of sightings to field investigators and see them through, adding them if warranted to MUFON’s CMS, or case management system. Today, MUFON has logged more than 40,000 reports from locations worldwide and counts 3,000 subscribers to its online community.
Although he has been interested in the phenomenon all his life, Beall didn’t meet up with MUFON until seeing information at a convention in 2008 in Tampa. He recognized its symbol woven into episodes of popular TV series “The X-Files” but hadn’t encountered anyone from the group. His rise through leadership ranks from that point on could be called meteoric; he has held at least seven offices of increasing responsibility since then. He’s been state director for about a month.
Teri Lynge, director of the Tampa Bay MUFON chapter, became assistant state director around the same time.
How the unpaid leadership positions are chosen is a bit of a mystery, Lynge said. “I had no idea that I myself was chosen. It just comes down from headquarters,” via email.
However it happened, Beall’s appointment was a great move, said Lynge. “He’s an amazing asset. He has quite a background and lots of years in UFOlogy, and is really well equipped for this position.”
Beall traces his interest back to his great-grandfather and a story he would tell about growing up in either Maryland or Pennsylvania — Beall isn’t sure which.
“He and a bunch of his friends were jumping a fence to go swim in a pond,” Beall said. “And when they got to the water’s edge and started to get in the water, this disc comes out of the water and then up in the air at a high rate of speed. My great-grandfather and his friends ran the other way and never went back to that pond.
“I always figured that if he said it, it must be true.”
But words like “true,” “believe” and “skeptic” are often ones Beall dissects and examines, and won’t be caught giving an opinion about whether or not extraterrestrial beings — or true alien abductions — exist. Is there life on other planets? He cites “The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis” and the Cometa Report, which concluded that about 1 percent of reported UFO sightings are truly unexplained. Did aliens crash at Roswell? “It depends on who you talk to,” he said. “There have been witnesses in the government who have said they’ve seen things.” Alien abductions? “The consensus is that there’s a connection with the reported cases.”
He doesn’t even crack a smile when asked why alleged abductees seem to always mention probes of body orifices. Instead he explains that MUFON more often hears reports of witnesses’ “missing time.”
These are serious questions. And until they can be answered with fact, Beall is content to analyze photos, witness statements, charts of temperature readings and extrapolated data about object sizes culled from photographs. He continues a self-directed study of graphic design, perfecting the website he devised for local and state MUFON use, and helping to guide a mobile iPhone application into being that would work like an Amber alert to distribute reports of UFO sightings.
“It’s not for everyone,” he admitted. “Just because you’re interested in this doesn’t mean it’s all going to be fun. But to me it’s so gratifying because it’s so interesting.”
www.news-press.com/article/20120904/LIFESTYLES/309040017/0/HSFOOTBALL/UFOs-Gateway-man-s-passion?odyssey=nav|head
news-press.com
UFOs are Gateway man's passion
Study of the phenomenon is serious science to Fla. director of the Mutual UFO Network.
By Dayna Harpster
Sep. 4, 2012
Morgan Beall knows what reaction his interest in UFOs can provoke. He’s heard it all: “So you’re one of those wack-jobs,” “I heard you chase little green men.” Most TV shows and media reports contain what he calls “the giggle factor.”
So there are people to whom he doesn’t broadcast the fact that he spends time every day on some task for the Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON. But it would be surprising if he didn’t. The 33-year-old Gateway resident is the international organization’s newly appointed state director.
By day, he’s down-to-earth. An environmental consultant who investigates mold, lead, asbestos and more, Beall is a graduate of Frostburg State University in Maryland with a degree in earth science. He starts most mornings at a Crossfit boot camp; evenings are reserved for MUFON and spending time with longtime girlfriend Jordan Marsh, a chef.
MUFON came to life in 1969 as a nonprofit “dedicated, through its volunteers, to resolving the scientific enigma known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs),” according to official statements. The network continues where the Air Force Project Blue Book left off, its 12,618 reports of sightings officially written off as explainable. MUFON chapters are now in every state and 36 other countries.
Beall and other state directors assign creditable reports of sightings to field investigators and see them through, adding them if warranted to MUFON’s CMS, or case management system. Today, MUFON has logged more than 40,000 reports from locations worldwide and counts 3,000 subscribers to its online community.
Although he has been interested in the phenomenon all his life, Beall didn’t meet up with MUFON until seeing information at a convention in 2008 in Tampa. He recognized its symbol woven into episodes of popular TV series “The X-Files” but hadn’t encountered anyone from the group. His rise through leadership ranks from that point on could be called meteoric; he has held at least seven offices of increasing responsibility since then. He’s been state director for about a month.
Teri Lynge, director of the Tampa Bay MUFON chapter, became assistant state director around the same time.
How the unpaid leadership positions are chosen is a bit of a mystery, Lynge said. “I had no idea that I myself was chosen. It just comes down from headquarters,” via email.
However it happened, Beall’s appointment was a great move, said Lynge. “He’s an amazing asset. He has quite a background and lots of years in UFOlogy, and is really well equipped for this position.”
Beall traces his interest back to his great-grandfather and a story he would tell about growing up in either Maryland or Pennsylvania — Beall isn’t sure which.
“He and a bunch of his friends were jumping a fence to go swim in a pond,” Beall said. “And when they got to the water’s edge and started to get in the water, this disc comes out of the water and then up in the air at a high rate of speed. My great-grandfather and his friends ran the other way and never went back to that pond.
“I always figured that if he said it, it must be true.”
But words like “true,” “believe” and “skeptic” are often ones Beall dissects and examines, and won’t be caught giving an opinion about whether or not extraterrestrial beings — or true alien abductions — exist. Is there life on other planets? He cites “The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis” and the Cometa Report, which concluded that about 1 percent of reported UFO sightings are truly unexplained. Did aliens crash at Roswell? “It depends on who you talk to,” he said. “There have been witnesses in the government who have said they’ve seen things.” Alien abductions? “The consensus is that there’s a connection with the reported cases.”
He doesn’t even crack a smile when asked why alleged abductees seem to always mention probes of body orifices. Instead he explains that MUFON more often hears reports of witnesses’ “missing time.”
These are serious questions. And until they can be answered with fact, Beall is content to analyze photos, witness statements, charts of temperature readings and extrapolated data about object sizes culled from photographs. He continues a self-directed study of graphic design, perfecting the website he devised for local and state MUFON use, and helping to guide a mobile iPhone application into being that would work like an Amber alert to distribute reports of UFO sightings.
“It’s not for everyone,” he admitted. “Just because you’re interested in this doesn’t mean it’s all going to be fun. But to me it’s so gratifying because it’s so interesting.”
www.news-press.com/article/20120904/LIFESTYLES/309040017/0/HSFOOTBALL/UFOs-Gateway-man-s-passion?odyssey=nav|head