10 Extraordinary Questions With… Pat Uskert of UFO Hunters

I was terribly upset when The History Channel cancelled the popular series UFO Hunters.  This fantastic show aired for three wonderful seasons, and then the plug was pulled.  Why?  I don’t know.  (I probably should have asked!)

I miss the show, I miss the guys, and I miss the adventures!  Being the fan that I am, I was so delighted when Pat Uskert (who hosted the show along with Bill Birnes and Kevin Cook) agreed to a round of 10 Extraordinary Questions.  I think that you’ll find his answers to be both entertaining and thought provoking.  Which is just how we like it here at E.I.  Here we go!

Natalina: Hi Pat! Thanks for taking the time to talk to Extraordinary Intelligence! Let’s start by having you tell us a little about yourself. Who is Pat Uskert?

Pat: I’m actually a pretty shy, mellow person, with a tendency for solitude. I never dreamed I would be part of a TV show, in front of the cameras for UFO Hunters. I had hoped to be behind the cameras, helping to produce the show, but executive producers decided I should be in the show. This was a big surprise for me, and explains my frequent “deer in the headlights” look – if anyone noticed.

I excel at putting myself in bizarre situations, and think I kind of do it on purpose, subconsciously. For some reason, I would rather be camping in a snowstorm, than sitting at home in front of TV set. There is something about being too comfortable that makes me feel I’m not really living life.

I’m not too invested in the idea of life after death, so I don’t like to put things off for my “next life” or the next world – I want to live this one fully, and really make sure I understand this world. And one of the things I would like to know, in this life, is whether or not any of these UFO sightings are evidence of contact with another civilization. I figured it is a significant enough question to take a shot at.

Natalina: How would you define the aspects of your worldview that made you suited to working on a show like UFO Hunters?

Pat: I don’t like foggy areas around my reality. I like specifics when I can get them. If my mother says, “let’s go shopping.” I have to ask her “shopping for what?” before agreeing to anything, or else she will burn up my whole day shopping for shoes. I ask questions. I need to know what I am involved in. And this applies to our collective reality. I want to know this reality, this universe, for the short time that I am here. I guess a simpler way to say this is – I’m curious! I want to know things.

So when an American hero like the late astronaut Gordon Cooper tells me that UFOs are real and the government is covering it up, I can’t just turn out the lights and hit the sack. I think about it. I take his expertise and his reputation into account, and I weigh his testimony. When former FAA Division Chief of Accidents and Investigations John Callahan says that UFOs are real and the CIA told him to keep it from the public, I sit up and listen. There is now new information in my reality that needs explaining. Either these people are crazy, or something is going on – and I have to find out what it is.

I find it hard to ignore a statement like that. I’m like “What? Does anybody else find this interesting? ‘Cause I need to find out what the hell is going on.” And I’m sure as hell not going to rely on mainstream journalism to deliver truth for me. The evening news is bought and paid for. There has never been an adequate explanation for why WTC building 7 burned to the ground. The evening news will never discuss the real reasons we are in Iraq and Afghanistan. So I can’t expect them to seriously cover UFOs. Mainstream journalism has failed for me. I don’t trust them. For me, the possibility that people of this caliber – Astronaut Gordon Cooper, FAA Chief John Callahan – are telling the truth, is reason enough to fully investigate this phenomenon. I do it for my own satisfaction.

Natalina: What inspired you to investigate UFOs and Extra Terrestrials specifically?

Pat: There were a couple of things that pushed me in that direction. First was the 2001 Disclosure Project. For those who don’t know, this was a  press conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., in which former military and government people stepped forward and shared that UFOs are a reality.  I saw this as a big event at the time – hard to ignore. There was a lot of testimony that begged to be investigated. And what I found interesting and strange was that this significant event was not covered by mainstream media. I didn’t see it anywhere. There was no follow up. No investigation by journalists. I found this odd. If they had gathered and announced a plan to assassinate the President, that surely would have made the papers.  So why is it, that their collective voice, announcing that the government has knowledge of extraterrestrials, was completely ignored? Certainly, this is a pretty interesting bit of news, right? Even if they were all totally insane, it is still a great story to investigate, don’t you think?

So I felt a strong desire to clear the fog around this. Was it real or was it not? Are these people telling the truth? Shouldn’t someone do something about this? It irritated me. This really started me in my search for answers.

I began to look for quality UFO documentaries. To my surprise there weren’t too many. One film,  Out of the Blue by James Fox made a huge impression me, bolstering my opinion that the UFO phenomenon might be very real. Fox did some pretty amazing things in this film, like interviews with astronauts Gordon Cooper and Edgar Mitchell, who both discuss UFOs as a reality. Anyway, this film in particular caused a shift in me. If this topic was serious to these American heroes, then it was serious enough.

And then, in 2004, I had what I thought was a UFO sighting. Maybe I simply had too many UFOs on the brain. But I was with a good friend and we were both unable to explain it. Whatever it was, it pushed me to finally do something about UFOs. Rather than just sit in the fog and wonder about it, I began to work on a UFO documentary.

Eventually I collaborated with UFO personality David Sereda and completed a kind of documentary. We went to investigate UFO sightings that were being reported in the town of Sonora, up in northern California. The documentary was called “Visitors: California UFO Wave” and was embarrassingly bad. I completely disown it! But this horrible little film plays a huge role in the creation of UFO Hunters, believe it or not.

Natalina: Tell us more about how you came to be involved with UFO Hunters?

Pat: Basically I was co-creator of the original concept that sold the show.  It all evolved out of this dreadful little film.  “Visitors” fell into the hands of Bill and Nancy Birnes at UFO Magazine. They said it was horrible, and we all agreed it was horrible, but they enjoyed watching my manic rambling into the camera. They called me over to their office one day – which happened to be a little sail boat in Marina del Rey – and in their cramped wooden galley, they introduced the idea of collaborating on a TV show, the concept based on “Visitors” – basically me driving around investigating the UFO phenomenon.

Of course I was wary of the whole plan. It just sounded insane. Me…on television. Right. But when I considered that Bill wrote the New York Times bestseller The Day After Roswell, I figure why not go for it? Bill and Nancy struck me as people that make things happen. And sometimes you just have to go for it.

So after months of shooting and editing, Bill began to shop my demo around Hollywood. The process went on for more than a year, almost two, and I was becoming discouraged, and began to feel like a total UFO loser. It was a tough time for me. My family and friends all thought I was nuts, you know, telling people that I am “working with the people at UFO Magazine on a TV show about UFOs”… it just doesn’t sound good to a lot people. Especially, my parents. I mean, I have uncles that are doctors, lawyers, architects, and I’m delving into the UFO dimension. My mother was like “Oh, my son…he’s researching UFOs..where did I go wrong?”  I began to wonder myself.

Anyway, eventually, after almost two years, Bill found a production company very interested in the demo. They had already done a few episodes for History Channel’s UFO Files.  These guys showed the demo to execs at the History Channel who were very excited about it. Soon we were invited to participate in a UFO Files episode, diving for UFO evidence off the coast of Catalina Island. When History saw the episode, they ordered the pilot right away. And there you go. We suddenly had a series.

Natalina: Do you have a favorite episode or moment from the show?

Pat: That’s a tough question. I don’t know. The whole experience was a surreal acid trip for me. Imagine having a normal job, and suddenly finding yourself on TV, investigating UFOs… it was bizarro world… a series of equally surreal moments and episodes. I would say the experience culminated with me on Larry King, an ear-piece in my ear, Larry throwing questions at me, and me wondering how the hell I got there.

My favorite episodes are the ones that stand alone as excellent UFO cases, with fairly good investigations. These are the episodes I will be proud to show my grandchildren, if I ever have any. I like the episodes that have integrity, cases involving high caliber witnesses – former military, expert pilots, etc. Cases like “UFO Dogfights” and the Bentwaters UFO Incident. And of course I loved the Area 51 episode! The whole crew actually hiked to the top of Tikaboo Peak, looking down into Area 51 at sunrise. We each carried over 40 pounds of camera gear, hiking through the night. That was a real adventure, involving real danger.  However, my favorite episode is not the most exciting but, in my eyes, it stands as one of the best UFO cases we covered. This would be the “UFOs Over Edwards” episode.

For those who haven’t seen it, or who haven’t heard of it, this is an event that was kept under wraps for years until it was dug up by UFO investigator Sam Shepherd. He somehow got his hands on the original audio recording of a major UFO event that occurred over Edwards Air Force base in 1965. He did some groundwork and contacted retired flight controller Chuck Sorrells, who eventually told his story.

The original recordings of radar and flight control chatter, reveal that multiple military and civilian radar facilities were detecting strange objects over Edwards. This was corroborated on the ground by tech sergeant Sorrells who was in the flight tower that night. Two military jets were alerted, and both pilots had encounters. One pilot had radar contact with an object at altitude. The second pilot, in a deathbed letter to his wife, described seeing a UFO shoot off into space, and was never able to tell her. Something completely out of the ordinary happened that night, and no one involved was ever able to explain it. Think about it – multiple radar facilities, two military pilots, and the flight controller on duty. The objects in question performed their maneuvers for hours over Edwards.

So what are we to think about this event? Were all of these men and their radar equipment hallucinating? Did each man separately get excited over weather balloons? I would say this is a textbook example of a “UFO event” – whatever that is. And I challenge anyone to consider all the information and explain it. I’d love to hear the explanation, because no one can seem to figure it out.

One thing I learned from these UFO investigations, is that these events are very real to the men and women who experience them. Their lives are forever changed. They never forget the event. It haunts them for the rest of their lives. In most cases, they have long professional careers, are experts in their field, and do not have a history of seeing UFOs. But they have this one event, this one experience that they wrestle with their whole lives.

And when this happens to a group of people, you have corroborating witness testimony. Examining corroborating testimony is a very valuable method for determining real events. We put people in prison based on corroborating eyewitness testimony. We determine reality by assembling multiple perspectives. When you can’t believe your eyes, the first thing you do is ask someone else “Hey, do you see that?” Anyway, that is my favorite episode – “UFOs Over Edwards.”  It is an episode the shows how UFO events happen to serious professionals.

As for my favorite moment – there was a moment Bill and I got into a big argument about alien hybrids, and it was good fun. This episode focused on the lives of two guys, in two different parts of the USA, who are seeing UFOs, and who suspect that they are hybrids.

When people start telling me that they are hybrids it raises a big red flag for me, and I urge them to talk to friends and family, and maybe see a therapist. That’s something you kind of want to iron out, you know. Bill, however, without too much evidence, supported these guys 100%, telling them that they are most likely half alien.

I was very frustrated with him for that. I wanted the show to be objective, scientific.  If they were hybrids, fine. But let’s not make that conclusion until we have something more than testimony, or else UFO Hunters being to look like UFO Dorks. I had to keep our credibility. Producers gave me the green light to yell at Bill. So I did. Fans say that scene was a long time coming.

Nothing against Bill, of course. He is an encyclopedia of UFO knowledge. He is a master of much UFO knowledge. And his book The Day After Roswell is a significant accomplishment. But….and this is my opinion here….his total immersion into the topic for so many years has made him biased toward a UFO reality where aliens walk the earth. Again, just my opinion. Bill once told me he saw an alien in a supermarket, standing in the check-out line. He said the alien looked like a woman, but she had big black eyes. He was dead serious. Make of it what you will.

Natalina: Can you give me a couple of examples of Bill’s theories about Extra-Terrestrials and/or UFOs?

Pat: Bill has some interesting theories on the UFO phenomenon. One of them is the time machine theory. The UFOs and their pilots are us, from another time, probably the future, traveling into the past for reasons we can only guess. I’ll buy that. Why not?

And the other theory Bill rolls with is based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy – that humanity was it its peak tens of thousands of years ago, and we were once part of a huge intergalactic empire. Beings that were much like us, came and went in their spacecraft, doing business on Earth. This empire fell apart, traffic to earth stopped, and pockets of these beings were stranded on earth. Over thousands of years, and through a long ice-age, the descendents of these castaways became what we are today. Occasionally, visitors from other parts of this interstellar federation stop by and visit our little backwater planet – and these are the UFOs of today. These visitors are not too different from us and already know our world, perhaps better than we do.

Natalina: As most people seem to believe at least in the possibility of life beyond our planet, do you believe that there will ever be full Disclosure?

Pat: Some people would argue that disclosure has already occurred. Testimonies have already been given. There are interviews all over the internet and YouTube – very credible people. High ranking military officers have appeared on Larry King and informed audiences around the world of their UFO encounters and the cover-ups around them. So the word is out. I don’t know how much more open the discussion can be. I mean, think about it. Larry King. Prime Time. UFOs. Former military officers. Disclosure has already happened in a way. It’s just not official.

The problem is that no one really cares enough to do anything about it. There is no outcry from the public, no demonstrations in the streets. People just kind of pass the popcorn and change the channel, so things will stay the way they are….for now.

As for official government disclosure, like the President coming on TV and telling the world that aliens are here…. Probably not going to happen. And I say this because, after all these years, it hasn’t already happened.  J. Allen Hynek had hoped for disclosure, too, I’m sure. He spent about 20 years investigating UFO for the US Air Force, and probably hoped for disclosure all the way to his death.  So I’m not holding my breath.

Some people say this is where we are now – that Roswell was the crash of an ET craft, that government agencies and private industries benefited from the reverse engineered technology, and will cover their asses for as long as possible. And it’s pretty easy to do this actually. All they have to do is bury the evidence and wait for everyone involved to die off. And then it’s gone. Oh, and one more thing – turn the topic into a circus, surrounded by a curtain of ridicule, so that no one will want to touch it.

If this is the way it really is, that the secret is buried, sequestered away in some ultra-top-secret vault, and the truth hasn’t come out yet, after all this time, then it will probably never come out. They will bury it for as long as possible, either to control it themselves, or because disclosure would upset the status quo. I don’t think there would be a disclosure unless it was forced out – perhaps forced out by some world calamity or crisis. For example, a world energy crisis where ET technology must be used to save us. Or somehow aliens reveal themselves at a big event, like a UFO landing during the SuperBowl. I have to wonder if people would even then pass the popcorn and change the channel. Or boo the aliens for interrupting the game.

Bottom line about disclosure…. Not enough people care for it to be an issue. People are more worried about their next paycheck.

Natalina: Why do you suppose that there hasn’t been a larger, more unified demand, from people who do care, for Governments to come clean on this topic?

Pat: I think one of the reasons there is no thrust to a disclosure movement, is that there is no clear consensus as to what UFOs are. They could be this. They could be that. We need to know what we are dealing with, for people to get interested.

So first it would be nice to determine what UFOs are. Remember, a consensus hasn’t been reached. Famous UFO researcher Jacques Vallee threw in the towel and walked away from UFO research, his message being “it’s not what we think.” One of the things Vallee believed was that UFOs were not craft, but were more like holograms, being used by a higher intelligence, perhaps God, to evolve our consciousness. I think Carl Jung said something similar, that UFOs were like a mandala for us to look into, to see further into ourselves. Some people theorize they are humans from the future in time machines. Others believe they are angels, or the fiery balls of Satan.

However, most researchers believe an extraterrestrial presence best explains the UFO phenomenon. This was the conclusion of the very thorough French COMETA – a pretty good report, in my opinion. Now, if extraterrestrials really have visited the planet, as people like Edgar Mitchell claim, certain parties will keep it secret for as long as possible. Whoever controls this knowledge, and develops ET technology, has the power.

Fairly standard procedure. Just look at what happens when someone tries to suggest that Lee Harvey Oswald was not a sole assassin, but was part of a larger operation to kill JFK. This is not an unbalanced thing to suggest. An assassination, after all, would best be coordinated by a team. You want look-outs, you want guys watching your back, a few other shooters in case one guy chokes. To think that Oswald acted alone is pretty naïve, actually. But this suggestion is often met with resistance, and you are called a “conspiracy nut.”

Natalina: What role would you say disinformation plays in the lack of public consensus?

Pat: Certain government agencies, or powerful parties, can cover up what they want, for as long as they want, and can obfuscate facts and events for decades, and re-write history. We are talking about a propaganda and disinformation machine here that can pretty much convince you of anything. Remember when Russia was in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, and the Russians were the bad guys?  Remember the Rambo movie, where Rambo was shooting down Russian helicopters? Well, now the US is in Afghanistan, fighting the Taliban, people are shooting at our helicopters, but we are the good guys. Funny how that works.

Did anyone notice after the US bombed Iraq and invaded their country on the basis that “they attacked us,” that President Bush later admitted that there was no connection between Iraq and 9/11? Funny how that happened. We just kind of bombed and invaded a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.  But millions of Americans cheered as we went to war. That’s how good the propaganda apparatus is.

So, now, imagine this same apparatus, telling you UFOs are just a joke, and that all of these military eyewitnesses and whistleblowers are just silly people. Everybody just go back to sleep, please. So this is another possible scenario – That it’s all true. UFO are here. ET craft have crashed in places like Roswell, and a powerful disinformation apparatus is in place to keep it under control.

Natalina: Finally, would you say that there is one piece or group of evidence today that is a “smoking gun” for the existence of ET’s?

Pat: If there was a smoking gun, UFO Hunters would have found it. Bill and I wanted a smoking gun. Producers wanted a smoking gun. History Channel wanted a smoking gun. Everyone wanted a smoking gun. The show would have made history if we could have found one. There was no smoking gun.

The closest thing we have to a smoking gun is the cumulative testimony of hundreds of high caliber witnesses – from aviation, government, and the military.  To ignore the testimony of so many people, to just turn your head the other way and whistle and pretend there is nothing going on – well, it’s just strange to me. To do so, in the face of all the testimony, is to choose ignorance.

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