THE NATIONAL UFO REPORTING CENTER
Information and Policies
The National UFO Reporting Center was founded in 1974 by noted UFO investigator Robert J. Gribble. The Center’s primary function over the past five decades has been to receive, record, and to the greatest degree possible, corroborate and document reports from individuals who have been witness to unusual, possibly UFO-related events. Throughout its history, the Center has processed over 180,000 reports, and has distributed its information to thousands of individuals.
The principal means used by the Center to receive sighting reports is this website, which has operated continuously since 1995. Prior to that period, the telephone hotline and the U.S. mail were the primary means of taking reports.
The Center’s independence from all other UFO related organizations, combined with its long standing policy of guaranteed anonymity to callers, has served to make it perhaps the most popular and widely accepted UFO reporting facility anywhere. The website and hotline are well known by law enforcement agencies, FAA ARTCC’s and flight service stations, National Weather Services offices, military facilities, NASA, and many 911 emergency dispatch centers all across the United States and in many parts of Canada. Those entities routinely direct the calls they receive regarding possible UFO sightings to the Center.
One of the Center’s policies, which distinguishes its operations from most other UFO organizations, is that it makes available to the public all of its data in summary form. Detailed information is made available to experienced UFO investigators and researchers.
The National UFO Reporting Center is a Washington State non-profit corporation.
TEAM
Peter Davenport - Director / Board Member
Peter Davenport has been director of NUFORC since 1994. Peter experienced his first UFO sighting over the St. Louis municipal airport in the summer of 1954, and investigated his first UFO case during the summer of 1965 in Exeter, New Hampshire. He has been witness to several subsequent anomalous events, including a dramatic sighting over Baja California in February 1990, and several nighttime sightings over Washington State during 1992.
Peter received his undergraduate education at Stanford, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in both Russian and biology, as well as a translator’s certificate in Russian translation. His graduate education was completed at the University of Washington, where he earned an M.S. in the genetics and biochemistry of fish from the College of Fisheries, as well as an M.B.A. in finance and international business from the Graduate School of Business. Peter has worked as a college instructor, a commercial fisherman, a Russian translator in the Soviet Union, a fisheries observer aboard Soviet fishing vessels, a flight instructor, and was the founder of a Seattle-based biotechnology company. He has previously served as the director of investigations for the Washington Chapter of MUFON. He was a candidate for the Washington State legislature in 1986, and for the U. S. House of Representatives in 1992.
Christian Stepien - CTO / Board Member
Christian Stepien has had a life long interest in UFOs and is an avid student of the phenomenon. Since 1994, he has served as the developer of the National UFO Reporting Center web site, as well as the Center’s database and reporting software. He also coordinates the NUFORC investigation team.
Christian holds a Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. He began his professional career with General Electric in 1981, where he worked in areas including robotics, voice recognition, and vision systems. After taking a three year sabbatical to work as a professional musician, Christian returned to the corporate world where he held positions implementing advanced technology and artificial intelligence at BP and GTE. In 2002 Christian launched Experlogix, a software company focused on advanced configuration technology for sales and manufacturing of complex products. He sold Experlogix in 2019, and today serves in an advisory role on its board of directors.
James Clarkson - Investigator / Board Member
James Clarkson has spent decades working in two worlds: professional criminal investigation and the study of the UFO mystery. Early in his career he served as a plainclothes military police investigator before beginning a 20-year career as a city police officer. During that time he held a variety of roles, including patrol supervisor, detective sergeant, fatal accident team manager, and training officer. After retiring from municipal police service, Clarkson continued his investigative work as a child abuse detective and later completed another decade as a fraud investigator for a Washington State agency.
Alongside his law-enforcement career, Clarkson has been a lifelong researcher of unidentified aerial phenomena and has become known as the “UFO Detective.” He has served as MUFON’s Washington State Director and on its Special Assignments Team, which handles notable or complex cases that require more experienced investigators. James has personally collected thousands of historical case files, documents, and witness accounts, helping preserve important records of UFO sightings and investigations in the United States.
David Marler - Board Member
David Marler is the author of the book Triangular UFOs: An Estimate of the Situation, a detailed study that compiles and analyzes hundreds of reports of triangular-shaped UFOs and traces their historical development. He has actively researched the phenomenon for more than 35 years, and has served in roles at MUFON including Field Investigator, State Section Director, and Illinois State Director. In addition to lecturing on UFO history and research at the university level, David has contributed his expertise to television programs and documentaries produced by the History Channel, Science Channel, Discovery Channel, and the Smithsonian Institution.
Over the years,,David has assembled one of the largest private libraries of UFO materials, including books, journals, newspapers, microfilm, audio recordings, and case files spanning more than 75 years of research. In 2020 he received the world’s largest single historical collection of UFO case files and began a project to digitize them for researchers. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the National UFO Historical Records Center, a non-profit he founded to house and preserve the ever-growing collection.
Investigators
Keith Bickford
Keith Bickford’s interest in UFOs began at age 10, when he was living in San Diego, CA, near the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. He remembers looking up in the sky and seeing a disc-shaped object flying overhead followed by two fighter jets. The event sparked a lifelong curiosity about aerial anomalies. Keith previously served as a MUFON Field Investigator in Oregon, and now focuses on NUFORC reports involving triangular and structured craft. Keith is a retired law enforcement officer with over 30 years of distinguished service in Oregon, where he directed the Oregon Human Trafficking Task Force. There, he coordinated efforts between local, state, and federal agencies, leading to high-profile arrests and improved interagency protocols. He has also led immigration outreach efforts, supervised complex investigations, and conducted training programs for officers and community organizations.
John Budrys
John Budrys is a seasoned UFO investigator and experiencer advocate with decades of personal study in metaphysical and scientific subjects. A certified MUFON Field Investigator since 2017, he was invited to join the Experiencer Resource Team (ERT), and in 2022, became a member of the OPUS Experiencer Support Team (EST). He holds a BA in psychology and worked for several years as a group therapist and counselor before earning an MA with a concentration in international business. He has contributed to scientific research on UFOs in collaboration with LAASU (Latin American Academy of Scientific Ufology). John has spoken with hundreds of experiencers, helping them process often life-altering events. He has appeared on the Unsolved Mysteries podcast and contributed to international UFO research efforts, including papers with the Brazilian UFO group LAASU and research support for Travis Walton case materials.
Ben Hansen
Ben Hansen became fascinated with UFOs when he was 8, saving newspaper clippings and reading every UFO book he could find. He submitted his first report to NUFORC in 2002 after spotting a satellite-sized object doing S-turns over the Caribbean. Since then, Ben has investigated UFOs both as an independent researcher and a TV presenter for cable networks and national news outlets. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and certifications in Criminology from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in Emergency and Disaster Management from Georgetown University where he studied the potential global impacts of an event such as extraterrestrial contact. Ben has decades of experience in criminal investigation and risk assessment. Within ufology, he specializes in cases reported by law enforcement and the aviation community. He is a licensed air and seaplane pilot, commercial drone pilot, certified hang glider, licensed falconer, certified thermographer, and master SCUBA diver.
Lynda Thompson
Lynda Thompson is a veteran UFO/UAP investigator and retired paralegal with decades of experience in legal research, case documentation, and field investigation. She served as a certified F3 Field Investigator, Assistant State Director, and Chief Investigator for MUFON Virginia, where she led complex case investigations and trained new field investigators. Thompson is the Director of Research for Aerospace Research Operations (AEROPS), and she provides independent consulting services to scientists, journalists, engineers, and authors on photographic analysis, case methodology, and experiencer phenomena. Her expertise includes working with individuals reporting contact and abduction events, including military abduction (MiLab) cases, and she is regarded as a trusted advocate for experiencers. She is a member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU) and the SOL Foundation. Her contributions have been cited in books including The Alien Agendas by Richard Dolan and UFO Investigation by Richard R. Lang.
Contact Information
Peter Davenport, Director: [email protected]
Christian Stepien, CTO: [email protected]
Technical support: [email protected]
Media requests: [email protected]
Please note: Sighting reports cannot be accepted by email. File reports here.