For centuries, people have reported encounters
with extraterrestrial beings. Is it…
Hoax or History?
UFO HUNTERS™
On The History Channel®
New York, ny, JAN. 24, 2008 — Are we alone in the universe? The question has always haunted humankind. Incidents involving UFOs and extraterrestrial life have been reported throughout history. UFO HUNTERS™, a new series on The History Channel, follows a group of experts as they subject some of history’s most intriguing UFO accounts, and the evidence surrounding them, to exhaustive scrutiny in an effort to uncover the actual facts. The series is a spinoff from the network’s hit program “UFO HUNTERS” which premiered in 2005. The new HD series UFO HUNTERS premieres Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on The History Channel®.
UFO Hunters Bill Birnes, Pat Uskert, Dr. Ted Acworth, and Jeff Tomlinson are passionate about separating fact from fallacy when it comes to UFO incidents. Each brings a different background and perspective: Bill Birnes is publisher of UFO Magazine, home to one of the world’s largest collections of documentation on UFO incidents. Also from UFO Magazine is investigator Pat Uskert, who became intrigued with the UFO phenomenon after he witnessed a strange metallic object floating over Venice, California. Jeff Tomlinson is the scientific intern with the UFO HUNTERS team. They are joined by Dr. Ted Acworth of MIT, a mechanical engineer and researcher who previously worked for NASA, and brings the discipline of hard science to the team, assisting in the investigations of reported UFO incidents to determine if they are real.
Each week, this group travels to the site of a well-known UFO encounter to explore the event and uncover what really happened. In the course of their investigations, the UFO Hunters examine evidence such as videotapes, audiotapes, witness interviews, and files newly opened under the Freedom of Information Act, then go on location and to the lab to interview, re-construct the events, and investigate. Their journeys take them across North America and Europe in search of the truth about these UFO sightings.
The premiere episode of the new HD series UFO HUNTERS examines an incident that took place two weeks before the now-famous report of a UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico. UFO HUNTERS: THE UFO BEFORE ROSWELL travels back to June 21st, 1947, when Harold Dahl was boating with crew and dog off the coast of Maury Island, Washington, in Puget Sound. They noticed several odd-shaped aircraft dotting the sky. One suddenly began spewing white-hot fragments over the water and onto the beach. The fiery falling debris killed Dahl’s dog and broke his son’s arm. He told the harbor patrol, who in turn reported the incident to the military. A few weeks later, two Air Force intelligence officers from Hamilton Field, California arrived in Tacoma. After conducting interviews, and collecting most of the remaining wreckage, the officers departed McChord Field in the early hours of August 1st. Shortly afterward, the airplane lost communication, and people reported seeing flames in the sky. Two people died in the crash, two others made their way through the darkness to a farmhouse. UFO HUNTERS has located the crash scene and along with an archeologist, comb the debris field, gathering and analyzing the evidence. UFO HUNTERS: THE UFO BEFORE ROSWELL Wednesday at 10:00pm ET/PT.
The following incidents reported by individuals are investigated in the series:
1 - June 1947 – A group of people out boating notice odd-shaped aircraft in the sky overhead – when fiery debris from the objects suddenly rains down on them. U.S. military sent in later to collect evidence are involved in a plane crash. Not long after the boating incident, an unusual aircraft accident is reported in Roswell, New Mexico, raising further questions.
2 - September 1961 – A couple driving on a rural New Hampshire road allege they were abducted, examined, and returned to their car by their captors. Under hypnosis they reveal details of their abduction and the woman draws a map of an unknown solar system. Years later, astronomers discover a solar system closely matching it.
3 - 1980 – A pilot flying his small plane spots an object just below the surface of the water off Catalina Island. He reports that a bright light emanating from the object enveloped his plane and froze his controls, after which he lost consciousness.
4 - August 2007 – Two sleepy villages in eastern Mexico, Valles and Xilitla, report debris falling from the sky, and a 10-foot-diameter fireball was seen to fly back and forth through the sky as if being maneuvered, before crashing to the ground..
5 - Since the 1980s, over 7,000 sightings of strange objects in the sky have been reported in the Hudson Valley region of upstate New York, and the source of a powerful beam of light emanating from the center of a local cemetery has yet to be determined.
Other episodes of UFO HUNTERS will investigate reports of man-made aircraft and spacecraft encountering UFOs while flying, incidents of police encounters with UFOs, various stone formations around the world, such as Stonehenge, that many experts feel are powerful clues into the extraterrestrial world, and a look at the efforts of modern organizations like SETI and NASA, and what they are doing to investigate the presence of extraterrestrial life in the universe
The official minisite, www.history.com/ufohunters will include videos of reported UFO sightings as well as an ongoing web series. Viewers can share their own encounters on the UFO HUNTERS Sightings Map Experience, an interactive application utilizing Google Map technology, to pinpoint personal experiences around the globe. Viewers will be able to browse world-wide encounters as well as add their own stories, photos and videos for others to view and rate. Experts from the series will participate in online chats, and the site will serve as a forum for UFO discussions.
The new HD series UFO HUNTERS is produced by Motion Picture Production, Incorporated, for The History Channel. Executive Producer for The History Channel is Dolores Gavin. Executive producer is Jon Alon Walz. Co-executive producers are Alan LaGarde and Jeff Tober. Supervising producers are Dave Pavoni and Tracy Chaplin. Producers are Autumn Humphreys and Chad Horning.
The History Channel® is a leading cable television networks featuring compelling original, non-fiction specials and series that bring history to life in a powerful and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. The network provides an inviting place where people experience history in new and exciting ways enabling them to connect their lives today to the great lives and events of the past that provide a blueprint for the future. The History Channel has earned four Peabody Awards, three Primetime Emmy® Awards, ten News & Documentary Emmy® Awards and received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's Save Our History® campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History Channel reaches more than 95 million Nielsen subscribers. The website is located at www.History.com. Press Only: For more information and photography, please visit us on the web at www.historychannelpress.com.
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SOCIAL COMMUNITY:
UFO HUNTERS TEAM BIOS:
WILLIAM J. BIRNES
WILLIAM J. BIRNES, the publisher of UFO Magazine, is the star of the new series, UFO Hunters, premiering next Spring on the History Channel. Each week, he and his team of researchers travel to the sites of world-famous UFO events where they use high-tech equipment and cutting-edge investigative techniques to explore the encounter and arrive at answers about what really happened.
Birnes is well-qualified to lead such a team, having written and edited over twenty-five books and encyclopedias in the fields of human behavior, true crime, current affairs, history, psychology, business, computing, and the paranormal. He is the co-author of The Day After Roswell, which was a New York Times bestseller in 1997, and subsequently a documentary on the History Channel. Birnes is a frequent radio and television talk-show guest, having appeared on “Good Morning America,” “Dateline, NBC,” “Entertainment Tonight,” "Coast to Coast AM," "UFOs in Russia," "USOs, Underwater Submersible Objects," and “Black Box UFOs.”
His previous cable feature, The Riverman -- based on the book he co-authored with detective Dr. Robert Keppel about how serial killer Ted Bundy helped police track Green River Killer Gary Ridgway -- was broadcast on A&E in September 2004. Birnes' other cable documentary, on A&E and the History Channel, was The Haunting of the President, based on his and Joel Martin’s book of the same name. His title Black Dahlia Avenger, recently sold to New Line, is currently in development as is his title Life in the Balance by Billy Sinclair at Karmic Studios.
As a television producer, Birnes' first cable feature was When Husbands Cheat for Lifetime Television with Hearst Entertainment Television. Among his books are: Worker in the Light with George Noory, Space Wars with William Scott and Michael Coumatos, The Grisly Business Unit with Robert Keppel, The Killer Next Door with Joel Norris, Signature Killers, Serial Killers with Joel Norris, The McGraw-Hill Personal Computer Programming Encyclopedia, When You are the Headline with Robert Irvine, and Selling at the Top. Birnes is currently completing two criminology textbooks: Signature Killers, with Robert Keppel, Ph.D., and Mass Murderers with John Liebert, M.D.
He holds a law degree and received a Ph.D. from New York University in 1974.
PAT USKERT
PAT USKERT is the star of the new series, UFO Hunters, premiering next Spring on the History Channel. Each week, he and his team members travel to the sites of world-famous UFO encounters to explore the event and uncover what really happened.
Pat was born in Nitra, Czechoslovakia but his family fled the 1968 Russian occupation, moving to the San Francisco, where Pat grew up. He joined the Army after high school and served in the 814th Engineer Co., 130th Engineer Brigade, primarily in Hanau, Germany. Returning to the US when his hitch was up, he finished his education at California State University at San Francisco, receiving a B.A. in English.
Uncertain about what to do next, he worked at an eclectic range of jobs, including cannery worker in Alaska, white water raft guide, English teacher in Japan, and scuba dive master in Philippines.
When he witnessed a strange metallic object floating over Venice, California, Pat became intrigued with the UFO phenomenon and decided to spend the next few years investigating it. His road trip across California exploring UFO sightings and interviewing witnesses became the documentary Visitors: California UFO Wave. It caught the eye of Bill Birnes, publisher of UFO magazine, who offered him a staff position.
Pat brings exemplary research and investigative skills to the team. In addition, Pat's skill at scuba diving has been vital to a number of cases.
TED ACWORTH
TED ACWORTH is the star of the new series, UFO Hunters, premiering next Spring on the History Channel. Each week, he travels with his team members to the site of a world-famous UFO encounter to explore the event and uncover what really happened.
Ted brings a background of hard science to the team. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering Design from Stanford University and an MS and BS from Columbia University. He is currently a researcher at MIT, where he also received an MBA as a Sloan Fellow. Previously he was Director for Research at the Cambridge-MIT Institute, a joint venture between MIT and Cambridge University.
Ted has worked for NASA at their Palo Alto labs, designing and operating a calibration system to test the $700M space telescope before it was launched. He worked with St. Luke's Hospital in New York, developing a digital image processing system which allows doctors to automatically analyze the severity of coronary artery blockages.
He has held teaching positions at Stanford University and Columbia University. He has also been a visiting professor at Shenzhen University in China, where he taught computer based instrumentation as well as courses in western culture and English.
In addition to his expertise in theoretical and practical science, which is invaluable in testing and assessing the evidence collected at UFO sites, Ted is also a licensed pilot and scuba diver.
JEFFREY TOMLINSON
JEFF TOMLINSON is the star of the new series, UFO Hunters, premiering next Spring on the History Channel. Each week, he travels with the team from UFO Magazine to the site of a world-famous UFO encounter to explore the event and uncover what really happened.
Jeff is the intern of the team, and began his education at the University of Hawaii where he studied a wide range of practical and applied science. He is currently finishing up his studies at California State University, East Bay, where he's working toward a Biological Degree in Technologies and Geological Inquiry. His postgraduate plans include research into the increasingly important interdisciplinary field of astrobotany.
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*UPDATE!:
For centuries, people have reported encounters with extraterrestrial beings.
Is it…Hoax or History?
UFO HUNTERS™
On The History Channel®
New HD series premiere Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT
New York, NY, JAN. 28, 2008 — Are we alone in the universe? The question has always haunted humankind. Incidents involving UFOs and extraterrestrial life have been reported throughout history. UFO HUNTERS™, a new HD series on The History Channel, follows a group of experts as they subject some of history’s most intriguing UFO accounts, and the evidence surrounding them, to exhaustive scrutiny in an effort to uncover the actual facts. The series is a spinoff from the network’s hit program “UFO HUNTERS” which premiered in 2005. The new HD series UFO HUNTERS premieres Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on The History Channel®.
UFO Hunters Bill Birnes, Pat Uskert, Dr. Ted Acworth, and Jeff Tomlinson are passionate about separating fact from fallacy when it comes to UFO incidents. Each brings a different background and perspective: Bill Birnes is publisher of UFO Magazine, home to one of the world’s largest collections of documentation on UFO incidents. Also from UFO Magazine is investigator Pat Uskert, who became intrigued with the UFO phenomenon after he witnessed a strange metallic object floating over Venice, California. Jeff Tomlinson is the scientific intern with the UFO HUNTERS team. They are joined by Dr. Ted Acworth of MIT, a mechanical engineer and researcher who previously worked for NASA, and brings the discipline of hard science to the team, assisting in the investigations of reported UFO incidents to determine if they are real.
Each week, the group travels to the site of a well-known UFO incident to explore the event and uncover what really happened. Using history as their guide, the UFO Hunters examine evidence such as videotapes, audiotapes, witness interviews, and files newly opened under the Freedom of Information Act, then go on location and to the lab to interview, re-construct the events, and investigate. Their journeys take them across North America and Europe in search of the truth about these UFO sightings.
UFO HUNTERS examines an incident that took place two weeks before the now-famous report of a UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico. UFO HUNTERS: THE UFO BEFORE ROSWELL travels back to June 21st, 1947, when Harold Dahl was boating with crew and dog off the coast of Maury Island, Washington, in Puget Sound. They noticed several odd-shaped aircraft dotting the sky. One suddenly began spewing white-hot fragments over the water and onto the beach. The fiery falling debris killed Dahl’s dog and broke his son’s arm. He told the harbor patrol, who in turn reported the incident to the military. A few weeks later, two Air Force intelligence officers from Hamilton Field, California arrived in Tacoma. After conducting interviews, and collecting most of the remaining wreckage, the officers departed McChord Field in the early hours of August 1st. Shortly afterward, the airplane lost communication, and people reported seeing flames in the sky. Two people died in the crash, two others made their way through the darkness to a farmhouse. UFO HUNTERS has located the crash scene and along with an archeologist, comb the debris field, gathering and analyzing the evidence. UFO HUNTERS: THE UFO BEFORE ROSWELL premieres Wed., Jan. 30th at 10:00pm ET/PT.
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UFO HUNTERS Episode 2 (USO's) premieres tonight only on The History Channel
In 1990 a pilot directed his small plane towards a huge bright object just below the surface of the water off the City of Avalon on Catalina Island . The object illuminated his plane with a bright light, froze his controls. His next recollection was waking in the hospital with NTSB and LA County Sheriff personnel. His cousin was killed in the crash. The team will use high-tech sidescan sonar and deep sea magnetometers, search and dive for the wreck and analyze the evidence. We’ll also discuss the high frequency of USOs in the Catalina area with several witnesses and expert on the ufology of this region, Preston Dennett.
NEW!
The official minisite, www.history.com/ufohunters has launched and features the UFO HUNTERS Sightings Map Experience, an interactive application utilizing Google Map technology, to pinpoint personal experiences around the globe. Viewers will be able to browse world-wide encounters as well as add their own stories, photos and videos for others to view and rate.
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It's a bird...It's a Plane...It's UFO Hunters!
The History Channel Premiered a new series this month ( February, 6 2008 ) called 'UFO Hunters.'
Their first episode, 'The UFO Before Roswell' was a great opening for this series. Starring Bill Birnes, Pat Uskert, Dr. Ted Acworth, and Jeff Tomlinson, together the team go in search of the truth behind UFO Sightings and claims.
Examining evidence such as video and audio tapes, interviewing witnesses, metal detecting equipment and radar, besides heading into the lab to reconstruct events and possibilities, to be able to debunk - or perhaps, prove situations while investigating.
Starting off with the eye witness reports of a 60 year old case, regarding a sighting of several UFOs off Maury Island, ( in Puget Sound ), and the debris acclaimed to have fallen off one UFO, ( described as 'black slag' ), onto a boat with a Harold Dahl, son, dog and crew aboard, and surrounding water. The team headed off to investigate, and collect information and any samples available to analyze.
Meeting with other UFOLogists, collecting and sharing information and acquiring possible samples, they continue on trying to find some answers to a case that has been open for years.
The series as a whole is very interesting, as they keep the information coming through various sources, theories and possibilities. Never leaving any stone unturned, with their high tech equipment and knowledge of diverse subjects - the search goes on for the truth!
Very insightful and intriguing series - Looking forward to future episodes!
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News Links:
UFO Hunters - Television - Review - New York Times - 2/6/08
TV Review: UFO Hunters (From The History Channel) - 2/9/08
CONTEST: Win Some Unidentified Prizes from UFO Hunters! - 2/10/08
