Lisa Davis/NUFOC Feature

By Sean Casteel

For Lisa Davis, the Executive Director of the National UFO Conference, it all started with a trip to the movies—“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”—and was quickly followed by nights spent as a child, pondering questions like, “Who are we? Where are we from? And why are we here?”

“I was not satisfied with the answers I was given,” Davis said. “Once I was old enough to research myself, I started a lifelong quest to understand these questions.”

After what she called “a string of unfortunate incidents,” Davis turned to the Bible for comfort and wisdom, which began to function for her as a funnel for everything she still did not understand. She also started to read UFO literature extensively, including seminal works by Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallee.

“When I searched the Bible and many other ancient texts,” Davis explained, “I found striking coincidences in many of the UFO encounters being reported. There is a strange account in Genesis Chapter Six about fallen angels or ‘Watchers’ coming down to earth, taking women to breed with and creating an offspring called the Nephilim. When I looked into the original text, written in Hebrew, this is where the true nature of the Watchers became evident. It seemed similar in many ways to the abduction phenomenon. Also, if you look at ancient art and petroglyphs, it is clear that there has been an interaction between gods and man since the beginning of recorded history.

“Now, I know what you are thinking,” she continued. “That Lisa is a Christian and accepts the God hypothesis. The answer is yes, but I also believe that several of the other hypotheses surrounding the UFO phenomenon work as a probable answer as well. I have come to broaden my understanding of the UFO phenomenon and try not to pigeonhole it in my belief system. I think it is very important to keep an open mind in this area of research.”

Within the UFO community, Davis feels, speculation runs rampant and theories are built on little more than urban legends or arcane and unproven anecdotal “evidence.” But she remains willing to listen to different trains of thought and to believe in the possibility that the UFO phenomenon exceeds the boundaries of the imagination of even the best-informed experts struggling to learn its secrets.

“There are a few Biblical scholars,” Davis said, “who have taken a deep look inside this phenomenon and come to different assumptions. Demons, for example, are one of the main presumptions. Is it possible it is demonic activity? Absolutely. Is it possible there are other explanations? Absolutely. The jury is still out on the UFO/abduction phenomenon. Until they land on the White House lawn and communicate their agenda, no one can say what this is.”

In response to the often traumatic and emotionally devastating aftermath of an abduction experience, Davis formed an organization called The Foundation For Abduction Research And Support (FFARS) in 1998.

“I cannot stand to see suffering,” she said. “So I put up a website and waited to see what would happen. To my surprise, many people from all walks of life contacted me. I did not claim to be a doctor or a credentialed professional, only someone who cares about their suffering and wants to be a support for them. Then I started networking with others in the field, and if a person needed professional help, I would refer them.”

All of which serves as prologue to Davis’ present role as the Permanent Chairwoman/Executive Director of the National UFO Conference, a job that began for her in 2004 while she was assisting Dr. John Miller with his duties as the residing chairman.

“The conference has been around for over 40 years,” Davis said, “and it basically traveled from city to city, wherever a chairman who was willing to fund the conference would want to hold it. Dr. Miller and I thought it would be a great idea to keep the conference in one city to build up its reputation.”

The NUFOC’s permanent chairman, UFO-community stalwart Jim Moseley, agreed and Hollywood was chosen as the conference’s new home. After seeing how the conference was run, Davis felt she could contribute some important changes. She presented Moseley with a five-year plan to revive the conference. Moseley was sufficiently impressed with Davis’ ambitious program to retire and put her in charge. Davis continues to work hand-in-hand with Miller, who declined the office of executive director himself due to his demanding schedule as an emergency room physician and his ongoing environmental work with the Port of Los Angeles.

“Since taking over the conference,” Davis said, “I have started an LLC [Spell this out maybe? What is an LLC?], hired an assistant, and am in the process of making it a nonprofit organization. It has become a fulltime job for me and I am happy to do it. I think this phenomenon has worldwide implications and I want to be a part of bringing this information to the public in a professional and non-speculative way. I will present the researchers on the front lines and allow them a platform to share their research.”

The news media will have an important function in the public disclosure of the UFO phenomenon, according to Davis.

“Unfortunately,” she said, “when they report on a UFO conference, they almost always show the kookiest person in attendance, wearing the antenna headband and reciting some pathetic cliché like, ‘I believe.’ It can be frustrating, because this categorizes UFO conferences as a circus rather than an important look into a phenomenon worthy of serious evaluation.

“I am trying to get away from this stereotype,” she continued, “and present the UFO phenomenon in a professional and non-sensationalistic manner. There is so much evidence that UFOs are indeed visiting our planet and our airspace that one must have blinders on not to see the big picture. This is my uphill battle—to take the blinders off and allow people to see the big picture. It does not have to be my belief system, but it should open people to a variety of belief systems so that they can come to their own conclusions.”

Meanwhile, along with such lofty goals, there are also the practical aspects of the conference to be dealt with. Extremely low attendance figures for the last several years might be seen as a major obstacle by some, but Davis soldiers on undaunted.

“I believe that if I am going to be responsible for a cause,” she said, “I must do the best job I can. I will put on a quality UFO conference and eventually the reputation and number of attendees will speak for itself. My motto has always been quality over quantity.”

Davis has a great many plans for future conferences as well.

“I have been researching how large companies structure their marketing and PR,” she said. “I was looking at Microsoft’s annual conference online a few days ago and got a lot of great ideas to implement in rebuilding the National UFO Conference. In many ways, I would like to bring the NUFOC into the 21st century. The model on how UFO conferences are run is dated. Also, bringing younger generations into the loop by focusing on awareness with students at major universities.

^{“Another important aspect of the NUFOC is targeting Mexico. The people there are much more open to the UFO phenomenon and have almost triple the sightings that we do here in the U.S. Taking the conference there sometime in the future would be very exciting to me.”}

^{Davis firmly believes that people who have had a sighting or an experience they cannot understand should have a place to ask questions, educate themselves and share thoughts that they may likely have trouble expressing openly.}

^{“I believe that the way people think about UFOs needs to change,” she said. “The giggle factor is in high gear, but there is so much testimony by credible witnesses that there is no need for sensationalism. Anyone who takes the time to look seriously into this phenomenon will see this is no laughing matter.”}

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