Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation

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At the end of May 2019 the world will be treated to the premiere of an important new series on the History Channel called Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation.  By that point, I will have known about it for nearly a year.  Here is what I know.

Why is nobody doing anything about UFOs?

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It all began with the New York Times article.  I was compelled to do some research on Luis Elizondo and To The Stars Academy (TTSA).  I decided the time had come to tell my UFO sighting story to some new people.  Up to that point I had reported the story to MUFON and NUFORC and I had told my closest friends and family.  From time to time I had made throw-away comments to people like, "Yeah, I've seen a UFO," and most people moved on in the conversation without stopping to ask, "Really?  Tell me details," because most people do not want to hear about it.  To the average person, the statement, "I've seen a UFO," might as well be the same as saying, "Elvis is living in my pantry."  It is just crazy talk.

For those who are new to this blog, the ship I saw looks like the illustration on the left.

I have always thought of myself as a credible person.  I try to be truthful.  It is a mantra, a way of life.  There is no occasional lying, when it suits you.  You either are or are not truthful.  It is pretty black and white.  Bearing that in mind I have withheld my sighting story from most people, not because the story is untrue but because most people will have difficulty believing it and will therefore think that I am not truthful, that I am not trustworthy.  I had always thought I would rather keep my mouth shut about aliens than have people think I was a liar or a nut-job.

The Marceau Ship

My attitude changed after reading about what Elizondo and TTSA were trying to do.  At the time I had no idea how far down the rabbit hole I would eventually go.  There was no plan of action other than the spark of an idea that finally there was someone out there who would be interested in my story and who  might have the ability to use the information for the benefit of society.

I sent TTSA a General Inquiry email on June 13, 2018, briefly mentioning that I am a former US Army Reservist and I had a close encounter while on a training exercise in Canada in 1992.  I mentioned that the sighting was witnessed by another soldier and asked if there was any interest in hearing my story.  No response.  It was just like my previous reports to MUFON and NUFORC.  Nobody cares, I thought.  I was just another wacko who sees "little green men."

Just over a month went by before I finally received a response.  It was from the same General Inquiries email address.  It asked:

We have kept your email on file for future reference and a team member from TTSA would like to reach out. Can you please provide a bit more detail on your experience as well as your contact information so that we can pass it along?

The message was not signed by any individual so I was skeptical that this would lead to anything.  But it was a response.  It does not take a genius to recognize that a pattern had been broken.  I should move forward.

I responded with the following message:

Thanks for the response.  It was sometime during the second week of August, 1992 on a Canadian Army base in Gagetown, New Brunswick.  I’m estimating it at August 13^th based on the phase of the moon – it was full that night.

At around 11:20pm an extremely large aircraft rose out of the woods a couple hundred yards to the right of my guard post, deep in a forest, and moved slowly away.  It had no wings or obvious forms of propulsion and no markings or safety lights.  It appeared to be metallic.  It was flat and oval shaped and tapered slightly towards the rear.  There were three large lights or windows in about a 120 degree arc around the front of the vehicle.  It was silent but I could detect a faint white noise which may have been outside most people’s hearing ranges – I hear very high and low tones.  The air was charged with static electricity which made the hair on my arms stand up.

The event was also witnessed by Specialist Michael [REDACTED].  He was posted further away but saw the same thing from his post.  He later recanted his story because other Army Reservists made fun of us.  But I’m sure this has haunted him ever since and he’d likely be willing to talk about it now.  I have not kept in touch with him.  I found him on Facebook recently but he has not responded to a message I sent.

I have written down a more detailed description of the event and the days leading up to it which I would be happy to share.  I would suggest you try to get a hold of [REDACTED] and document his story so that it’s clear he and I did not collude in making the whole thing up, which was essentially what we were accused of by the other soldiers in our unit.

Call or reply with any questions.

I will note, for those who are paying close attention, that there are a couple details of the sighting which I have updated since speaking with the other witness.  He was able to fill me in on his perspective which provided additional insight I had not been previously aware of.  The dates have also changed, since originally reporting the story on MUFON and NUFORC because I found my official orders which had the correct dates of deployment.  More on that, in a future article.

The next day I received another response which read:

Thank you so much for the reply and for sharing your experience. Mr. Luis Elizondo will be in touch with you very soon.

Wow!  Really?  The guy from the Times article?  Be still, my beating heart.  I told my wife.  Her response was something like, "Mmm hmm, we're out of milk."  I went about my day, setting up interviews for candidates for jobs I was trying to fill.  Later I rode my motorcycle out to Ansonia for a doctor's appointment.  I did not check email again that day.

Luis Elizondo and The Producer

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The next day was busy.  I had a lot of interviews to conduct and a million emails to go through.  It was near the end of the workday when I noticed a message from a "Lue G."  I had not read it yet because I did not recognize it as anything from anyone I knew or any business issues I was actively working on.  I was clearing my Inbox of junk, checking each message to make sure it was indeed not junk.  I read the following message:

Greetings Mr. Marceau,

My name is Luis “Lue” Elizondo. I left a voicemail for you earlier. At a time of your convenience, I would love an opportunity to discuss with you your experience in Canada when you were with the U.S. Army.  I have a little experience in this area and would like to learn more details about your observations.

Please feel free to contact me directly at [REDACTED] Best Regards, Lue

This was more than a little forward progress.  For me, this was huge.  I called Lue right away.  I do not remember if we spoke right there and then or if I left a message and he called me back but I do remember our first conversation was lengthy.  It began with Lue thanking me for my service.  I always feel a little awkward when people do that because, while I served during time of war, I was a Reservist who was never deployed other than for training.  I feel like the accolades belong more to the folks who risk their lives in a combat zone.  I am not taking anything away from other Servicemen who do not see combat.  Everyone plays their part and it is nice when they can get some appreciation.  I just feel like, me personally, I do not deserve any atta-boys from anyone.  That is to say, I do not expect it.

Lue went on to assure me that he intended to take my story seriously and I would not be ridiculed.  He told me that this is very common amongst Servicemen and Women and it is why most stories go unreported.  I then gave Lue more details of my sighting.  I think we spoke for about an hour.  He told me I was a "trained observer" and then thanked me and told me I would hear from someone named "[REDACTED]".

My original crude sketch of the ship I saw

I sent Lue some more information along with this crude computer sketch (at right) I had made of the ship I saw, back in the 1990's.

Lue did not say who this person was so I assumed she was part of the office staff and Lue was passing me down to one of his subordinates.  Self-esteem much?  Ya.  Normally I am pretty confident but given the history with this topic, up until then, I was not expecting much.  I could not have been more wrong about this person.

A couple weeks went by and I was again feeling like my story had fallen into a black hole.  Then I received the following email:

I hope you’re having a great week. My name is [REDACTED], I am a producer working with Lue Elizondo on a documentary film for A+E Originals. He gave me your contact information after your recent correspondence and I hope he had also mentioned that I was going to reach out to you. 

If you have a moment, I would appreciate talking with you over the phone about what Lue and I have been working on over the past several months. I know this topic can be sensitive and I would like the chance to talk with you not only about my background, but also about your experience. Hope to hear back from you soon! 

Nice!  A TV producer.  Where is this going?  It was around 6:30pm when I wrote back, telling the Producer I was available right then.  She was available too and she sent me her cell number.  I think I spoke with the Producer for about an hour too.

Like Lue, The Producer wanted to assure me she would take me seriously.  She gave me some credentials so that I would take her seriously.  The Producer had been embedded with the US Army when we took back Mosul from ISIS, as part of Nat Geo’s “Chain of Command,” a documentary series that showcased the global fight against extremism.  That was all she needed to say to earn some instant "street cred" with me.  Now the Producer was working on a production for the History Channel, documenting UFO sightings by US Servicemen.

Uh-oh.  History Channel?  I am not dumping on the History Channel, they do a lot of good work.  But I had some concerns.  Is this going to be some kind of cheesy, dramatic re-enactment thing where the audience is wowed with shock and awe but in the end we feel like we did not learn anything new.  The Producer assured me that this was not the case.  For one thing, she was working on it.  OK, I said, keep talking.

Together with TTSA, the History Channel was putting together a short documentary which would be the most credible and compelling production yet, detailing encounters with alien spaceships.  At the time, nobody was using the name, "Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation."  That would come much later.  She asked if I had heard of the Nimitz Incident.  I had not.  Remember, until I started this blog I was not into UFOlogy whatsoever.  I had more urgent interests like running a business and taking my kids to sports and music practice.  I knew very little about other people's sightings or about Alien Philosophy and UFO Culture.

Having been assured that this was going to be a quality production, I agreed to proceed with a recorded interview at some point in the future.  The Producer thanked me and I told her I was happy and eager to help legitimize this subject.  We then made high-level plans to return to the scene of the crime, so to speak, and do a video shoot in Gagetown, New Brunswick, the following month, in September.

I was very excited that it seemed like things were about to kick into high gear at that point.  I suggested that we go to Gagetown during a full moon because then the audience could see the woods the way I saw them the night of my sighting.  It was dark and scary in the trees but in the clearing where I sat it was bright as day, thanks to the full moon.  The Producer ran it by the team and they liked the idea.  She sent me an appearance release, to look over.

The Producer and everyone else I dealt with was great about setting expectations.  When I told her I was unsure of what to expect she replied:

Totally understand, I know it’s weird. There aren’t a lot of expectations, we just want you to tell us what happened- the truth and that’s it. We’ll probably do and walk and talk with you and Lue, preferably where it happened so we can be in that space. My Associate producer has reached out to the base to see if we can get access.

Lue will ask you questions about that night and go through it step by step with you. We’ll find an appropriate place for us all to be. It’ll also be a very small crew, all of whom I’ve worked with and know well. Good people who care about what we’re doing.

 

It probably won’t take more than a few hours front to back. I’ll make sure to talk with you about this again once I know we’re good to go for the trip. I promise to let you know as soon as possible.

After that, though, the logistics started to get tricky.  The Producer said they had to move things back due to Lue's schedule.  I told her September was going to get dicey for me because, amongst other things, I was considering accepting an offer to teach a few business classes, on the side.  My schedule with Ridgefield One has always been pretty flexible but when you teach a class you need to be there for the class.  Some professors call in, for petty reasons, and expect that a sub will fill in for them.  I do not play that.

Then, The Producer was interested in making contact with Mike, the other witness to my sighting.  At the time I was still unable to find him.  I had tried Facebook, LinkedIn, and countless Google searches.  I looked at my official orders to report to Gagetown, which I had received from the National Records Archive.   They had the names and addresses of everyone I traveled with but the addresses had been redacted.  I visited my old Army Reserve unit in Plattsburgh, New York.  They would not let me in the building.  I tracked down a recently retired First Sargent who is about my age and was the same rank as me when we were in.  He did not know anything about Mike, although he was able to help me pinpoint the part of the base in Gagetown where we had camped.

They were pushing hard to track Mike down.  I redoubled my efforts.  I tried looking through the redacted information on my orders by holding the paper up to a light but since it was a photocopy I could not see through the magic marker.  I tried some new Google Searches - a lot of Google Searches - and finally stumbled onto a lead.  Deep in the recesses of Google, I came upon a link to what I thought may have been the right guy.  Meanwhile, I learned I had a secret weapon, a friend of a friend who was working at the college Mike and I had both attended.  I called this person.  For confidentiality reasons they were not able to volunteer the information I was looking for.  But in a round-about way there was a confirmation that the information I had may not be invalid.

I called Mike's house and left a voice message.  I do not remember my exact words but it was something like, "Hi Mike, my name is David Marceau.  I was in your Army Reserve unit, back in the '90's.  When you have a minute I was hoping to speak with you about our Annual Training in Gagetown," and then I left my phone number.  He did not call back.

Is To The Stars Academy Legit?

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September rolled around and the Producer was off to San Diego to meet with Lue.  I am assuming that they were working on the Nimitz story, since I now know it happened in San Diego.  The Producer put me in touch with her associate producer, David Simpson, who was working on trying to get us onto the base at Gagetown.  He sent me some maps which had more detail than Google Maps does and with the help of the former First Sargent and also from my dad (who was a Sargent in my unit and was there with me at Gagetown) I was able to figure out where the incident had taken place.  That was very exciting because I had looked at Gagetown on Google Maps and Mapquest for decades and had never been able to determine where it was.  Gagetown is huge.  It could take an hour to drive from one end to the other.

I made a new computer sketch of  the spaceship I saw, from overhead, with the ordinance sites we were guarding.

Simpson continued to push for contact with Mike.  I tried him again.  This time Mike picked up.  I explained who I was.  At first he did not remember me.  Then it all started to flood back to him.  The content of that call and its repercussions is lengthy and will take another blog article to detail.  Suffice to say we established contact and Mike agreed to get involved in the project, as long as he could remain anonymous.

Simpson spoke with Mike and I had at least one other phone conversation with Mike.  Meanwhile, the schedule got pushed back further and further.  By the end of September I was thinking this was not going to happen.  I was also reading some negativity about TTSA all around the Web and had some concerns about whether or not this thing was for real.  I began to question, is To The Stars Academy Legit?  Luis Elizondo and The Producer both seemed credible and they were truly working on a project but what was up with these delays?

At the end of October I sent the Producer a message which read:

Hi [REDACTED], 

It's been a while since I've heard from you or David. Is there still interest in including my story in your documentary?

David

The Producer called me to explain the situation.  The project was indeed legitimate.  What seems to have happened was that the Producer's little production turned into a two-hour documentary which then turned into a six-part series.  Still, with all that time to fill they had found so many compelling examples to include in the season that they no longer needed my story.  The Producer left things off with, perhaps in Season II.

Summing things up, while I was a little disappointed that I would not be featured in the documentary, overall I am happy that stories like mine are finally being revealed to the public.  I have wondered for decades, how can I be the only one who knows about this?  Why is nobody doing anything about UFOs?  At last, someone is.  That is good.

I can also say, with confidence, that all the people who are trashing TTSA should be in for a surprise when the series airs in May.  I know that my story is astonishing.  If they were able to find enough other stories to fill six episodes, that were all better than my story, this should be nothing less than amazing.

Here is the full trailer for the series:

*** UPDATED 5/7/2019 ***

The name of the producer I was working with has been removed at her request and replaced with "The Producer."  All other information about her and the upcoming documentary has been published with her approval.

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If you have seen an alien spaceship or any type of unidentified flying object (UFO) contact me using the Contact form on this page.  You may remain anonymous if you want.  I will not ridicule you or try to tell you why you are wrong.  I get it, I saw one too.

Thank you for reading and keep an eye on the sky.