Donald R. Schmitt
Schmitt is the former co-director of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, where he served as Director of Special Investigations for ten years. Schmitt is the author of dozens of articles about UFOs, as well as the co-author of two best-selling books, UFO Crash at Roswell (Avon, 1991 and Witness to Roswell (New Page, 2007), and The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell (M. Evans, 1994). He is also the author of Roswell: The Chronological Pictorial (Moonset Entertainment Group). Schmitt has led and organized the only three archaeological digs at the Roswell crash/debris field, conducted in 1989, 2002, and 2006.

Yvonne R. Smith
UFO abduction researcher Smith (known in UFO circles as "Hypnotherapist Yvonne") received her hypnotherapy certification in 1990, specializing in cases of post-traumatic stress disorder. Smith has observed that many of her PTSD cases involved subjects with similar patterns of UFO abduction encounters.

Tom Reed
Over two decades of collected evidence solidify the Reed family generational abduction case. The findings have been said to be substantial, and remain as one of the strongest CE-4 cases ever professionally investigated. Thomas and Matthew Reed are the two sons of a prominent Connecticut Politician and attorney who ran the democratic ticket backed by Senator Christopher Dodd. The family of professional's, had reported their earlier encounters in Sheffield Massachusetts, to authorities and those in aerospace groups for decades.

The Reeds file is assigned a CE-4/ 3-star: (Close Encounter of the 4th kind to include physical evidence)" The family's mid and late 1960's, encounters that had seemingly been behind them, surfaced again after the two had become successful professionals, and raising their young Children. In the Brownsburg IN encounter of March 30th 2009, investigators found strong radioactive material and or Hot Spots on the Reed's SUV. Some very powerful Magnetic fields were also present on the vehicle, strong enough to spin a compass form over two feet away. The testing equipment and readings were recorded on camera and have been logged.

These investigations would reveal, trace evidence, witnesses, some damaged instrument panels on the vehicle, and physical markings on Thomas & Matthew Reed. The professionals involved, and who have collectively gone on record over the years, to substantiate the findings in the case include; police officers, the April 2009 Star Team, a Roane County C.C. Detective, MUFON, Doctors, and Attorney Robert Bletchmen, who saw the case was discussed along with others at the United Nations Symposium on Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Human Future which occurred on October 2, 1992, just ten days before NASA was to begin its SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) program.

Chance, Thomas's son, would participate in a serious of complex studies after their school found him to test in the superior range, and at an early age. Test results reflected 127% rank, / 96% tile throughout the US. Doctor Michael Buckner a respected Ph.D. and Director of the Center evaluated Thomas's son; Doctor Buckner would confirm the child exhibited some notable abilities expected by the boy's school. The document and medical record regarding Chance was dated September 15th, 2010. Doctor Buckner was discovered lifeless just eight weeks later on November 12th 2010. These sensitive aptitudes and or abilities are noted by many.

Members of the Reed family have taken and passed a Polygraph test. A few of the drawings sketched in the 1960's and 70's from Thomas have since been displayed in the Roswell UFO museum. The Reeds are a well-respected family. In the City of Bridgeport, CT, a proclamation has appointed October 6th as an adopted local holiday, acknowledging their family's contributions to the area. A bench devoted to their father can also be seen in the City of Milford.

Read about Tomin an article from the The Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Watch Tom and Matt in an interview on FOX news.

Here are just a few of our past UFO Festival speakers:

Budd Hopkins – world-renowned author and pioneer UFO abduction researcher

Dr. Bruce Maccabee – U. S. Navy Research Physicist and author of The UFO/FBI Connection: The Secret History of the Government's Cover-Up

Stanton T. Friedman – Nuclear physicist, UFO researcher and lecturer

Peter Robbins – best-selling author and noted UFO researcher

Dr. Roger Leir – alien implant removal specialist

Peter Davenport – director of the National UFO Reporting Center

Dr. Jesse Marcel, Jr. – the only individual acknowledged by the U.S. government to have handled Roswell wreckage

Dr. David M. Jacobs – noted alien abduction expert and professor at Temple University

Terry Halstead – director of the Trent Case Documentary

Richard Dolan – author of UFOs and the National Security State

Robert Nichol – award-winning director, producer and filmmaker of Star Dreams

Linda Moulton Howe – reporter/editor for Earthfiles.com and investigative reporter for “Coast to Coast AM with George Noory”

Kathleen Marden – UFO researcher and co-author with Stanton Friedman of Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience: The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction (2007)

James Clarkson – well-known UFO investigator

Colin Andrews – U.K. crop circle expert

Travis Walton – UFO witness and abductee on whom the book and Hollywood film Fire in the Sky were based

Robert Salas – UFO sightings at nuclear weapons facilities

Stan Gordon – the nexus between UFO and Bigfoot sightings as well as the 1965 Kecksburg, Pa., crash

Paola Leopizzia> Harris – the 12 Protocols of Exopolitics (i.e., rules for intergalactic policies) as well as the 1945 San Antonio UFO crash