UFO group: Truth will land in 2003

N.C. chapter suggests evidence will force government to 'fess up

Charlotte Observer/November 4, 2002
By Howie Paul Hartnett

Salisbury -- Even with some prompting, the crowd couldn't sing "Happy Birthday" in unison.

Everyone gathered around the cake mumbled the group's odd name.

Even after 13 years of documenting UFO sightings in North Carolina, many people still don't believe the mission of the Mutual UFO Network or MUFON.

But believers will have their day -- and soon, if George Fawcett is correct.

"By the end of the year, you will see something," said the Lincolnton resident and self-described UFO researcher. "Most times we make a prophecy, it never happens. (But) I've never seen so much happen in one year."

Many of the 37 people -- almost all older adults -- who gathered at a Rowan County recreation center Sunday nodded solemnly.

Every three months, network members from across the state meet to discuss UFO conventions, trade information about the latest government coverups and talk about the day when the rest of the world will have its eyes opened.

"We try to open up to the public to make them aware that it's not a joke," said network State Director George Lund.

Fawcett and about a dozen others founded the N.C. chapter in 1989. The group now has about 70 members.

So why is 2003 going to be the year?

With all the sightings and information available on the Internet, the government won't be able to hide the truth much longer, network members say.

But can the average American middle-class consumer, soccer mom, suburbanite handle the truth?

Those in the so-called military-industrial complex don't think so, say network members. That's why despite more than 50 years of what they cite as evidence -- from the Roswell, N.M., crash of a UFO and the alleged recovery of aliens from it to crop circles -- aliens remain only in the movies.

"It could cause mass hysteria depending on how it's revealed," said Charlie Aites, from Statesville.

Sound a little nutty? You're not seeing the big picture, Lund said.

"If (people) think it's nuts, why does the highest level of clearance in the U.S. government deal with UFOs and aliens?" asked Lund, who served in the Army.