Mutual UFO Network - A Light Within The Darkness of Mystery
Steve Bass
July 10, 2008
Organized on May 31, 1969, the Midwest UFO Network, now known as the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), stands at the vanguard of the investigation into and the research of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO´s), alien entities, and abduction experiences. MUFON exists for the scientific study of UFO´s for the benefit of humanity, and as such also provides public education on the UFO phenomenon and its potential impact on society through numerous venues, such as its website at www.MUFON.com. Local and state chapters, as well as MUFON headquarters, host community-based seminars and meetings featuring guest speakers and provide information on current sightings. Not fully appreciated, though, is the attention and training its members and investigators receive for verifying false sightings, misidentified anomalies, and hoaxes.
When an interested party joins MUFON, they enter as a Journal Subscriber. If they express an interest in actively investigating the true nature of the phenomenon and becoming a Field Investigator Trainee (FIT), they begin a training program designed to test their reasoning skills, their research abilities, powers of deduction, and their dedication to the truth.
The training program begins with purchasing a MUFON Field Investigators Manual. Upon completion of the manual, the FIT is given the opportunity to test their skills. Interestingly, the test has little to do with the manual. It is an "open book" test that requires the FIT to utilize other avenues of research into such aspects as meteorology, geology, astronomy, chemistry, interviewing techniques, ethics, and good ole common sense. A score of 80 percent or better is required.
Upon successful completion, the FIT is generally given an informal on-the-job training period, supervised by their State Director or State Section Director. The FIT is granted Field Investigator status upon confirmation by the State Director, who also observes the candidate for integrity or fantasy-prone issues. Prospects that display a lack of integrity or a tendency to exaggerate or develop fanciful stories are quickly separated from MUFON.
Training continues after appointment to Field Investigator status and continues throughout their relationship with MUFON, consisting of courses in ethics, investigation platforms, MUFON´s Case Management System (CMS), and other subjects.
MUFON is a professional organization that believes in proper supervision and appropriate span of control. The new investigator finds themselves under strict supervision from several levels of management, from the State Director to the Regional Director, to the Director of Investigations, and International Director.
As the investigator is assigned cases, they are trained to approach from the standpoint of allowing the witness, who is often emotionally distraught, someone to speak with who understands what they are experiencing. Witness demographics span the range from men to women, young to old, blue collar truck drivers, military personnel, and police officers, to white collar college professors, doctors, and government officials. The investigative goal is to explore every avenue of explanation, from misinterpretations, to weather anomalies, to hoaxes perpetrated by or on the witness. Only after every avenue is exhausted is the sighting labeled as UNKNOWN. Approximately 85% to 90% of sighting cases are explained by natural or manmade phenomenon that has been misidentified. Even then, that leaves an additional 10% to 15% that receive the label of UNKNOWN.
Upon receiving the designation of UNKNOWN, the sighting case is elevated and reviewed by experts in many diverse fields. MUFON has at its disposal a highly impressive worldwide group of specialists from every avenue of research, from abduction investigation and counseling experts to archaeoastronomists, biochemists, medical doctors, to forensic scientists and geneticists, to zoologists.
Becoming a Field Investigator is not for everyone. It takes commitment to learning, to discovering, and sometimes teaching. At times, ridicule can be thrust upon an investigator by those without the understanding, and who are sometimes fearful themselves of the phenomenon or public perception. Today, MUFON stands ready with able bodied, focused, dedicated, and motivated investigators and researchers to help those with nowhere else to go, to find answers to the unimaginable, and to stand as a light within the darkness of mystery.
When an interested party joins MUFON, they enter as a Journal Subscriber. If they express an interest in actively investigating the true nature of the phenomenon and becoming a Field Investigator Trainee (FIT), they begin a training program designed to test their reasoning skills, their research abilities, powers of deduction, and their dedication to the truth.
The training program begins with purchasing a MUFON Field Investigators Manual. Upon completion of the manual, the FIT is given the opportunity to test their skills. Interestingly, the test has little to do with the manual. It is an "open book" test that requires the FIT to utilize other avenues of research into such aspects as meteorology, geology, astronomy, chemistry, interviewing techniques, ethics, and good ole common sense. A score of 80 percent or better is required.
Upon successful completion, the FIT is generally given an informal on-the-job training period, supervised by their State Director or State Section Director. The FIT is granted Field Investigator status upon confirmation by the State Director, who also observes the candidate for integrity or fantasy-prone issues. Prospects that display a lack of integrity or a tendency to exaggerate or develop fanciful stories are quickly separated from MUFON.
Training continues after appointment to Field Investigator status and continues throughout their relationship with MUFON, consisting of courses in ethics, investigation platforms, MUFON´s Case Management System (CMS), and other subjects.
MUFON is a professional organization that believes in proper supervision and appropriate span of control. The new investigator finds themselves under strict supervision from several levels of management, from the State Director to the Regional Director, to the Director of Investigations, and International Director.
As the investigator is assigned cases, they are trained to approach from the standpoint of allowing the witness, who is often emotionally distraught, someone to speak with who understands what they are experiencing. Witness demographics span the range from men to women, young to old, blue collar truck drivers, military personnel, and police officers, to white collar college professors, doctors, and government officials. The investigative goal is to explore every avenue of explanation, from misinterpretations, to weather anomalies, to hoaxes perpetrated by or on the witness. Only after every avenue is exhausted is the sighting labeled as UNKNOWN. Approximately 85% to 90% of sighting cases are explained by natural or manmade phenomenon that has been misidentified. Even then, that leaves an additional 10% to 15% that receive the label of UNKNOWN.
Upon receiving the designation of UNKNOWN, the sighting case is elevated and reviewed by experts in many diverse fields. MUFON has at its disposal a highly impressive worldwide group of specialists from every avenue of research, from abduction investigation and counseling experts to archaeoastronomists, biochemists, medical doctors, to forensic scientists and geneticists, to zoologists.
Becoming a Field Investigator is not for everyone. It takes commitment to learning, to discovering, and sometimes teaching. At times, ridicule can be thrust upon an investigator by those without the understanding, and who are sometimes fearful themselves of the phenomenon or public perception. Today, MUFON stands ready with able bodied, focused, dedicated, and motivated investigators and researchers to help those with nowhere else to go, to find answers to the unimaginable, and to stand as a light within the darkness of mystery.
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