Udo Wartena contact, Canyon Ferry Lake, Montana (Warren Aston, MUFON 1997)

What was reported

Presented by Warren Aston of Brisbane at the 1997 MUFON Symposium and retold by Hind. In 1940 Udo Wartena, then 37, was diverting water from an old ditch to his gold claim near Canyon Ferry Lake when a humming made him climb higher to look. A disc about 30 m across and 10 m high hovered close by; a circular stairway came down and a pleasant man in grey coveralls, moccasins and a beret shook his hand and asked to take some water. A hose dropped into the ditch and Udo was invited aboard: indirect lighting, a sliding door that closed without visible edges, and a snowy-haired crew who claimed ages of 600 and 900 years and 500 languages and drew hydrogen from water for fuel. They said they mingle among us and would not discuss religion. Told to keep quiet, he did, and died in 1991 aged 89.

What Hind made of it

Hind calls it one of the most fascinating cases at the Symposium and hopes Aston writes a book, but finds the claim that the visitors mingle among us and gather information difficult to accept.

In their words

• Tell no-one, as no-one would believe you; but in years to come, you can tell of your experience.

• The man also made an interesting observation, something which I find difficult to accept.

Cross references

• MUFON 1997 Symposium Proceedings (US$30, MUFON, Seguin, Texas)

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 17 (February 1998 (cover); masthead printed as January 1998), spread 4