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On the Show — Erica Lukes Returns


Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
DSC03254.jpgErica Lukes has an undying passion for the mysteries of the universe, particularly UFO reports and other strange aerial phenomena. Since childhood, she has been fascinated with imagery of how vehicles and beings from space might appear and she pursued this interest quietly but with determination. Due to her already established abilities with singing and some voice-over production, she was approached to perform media broadcasting work. This, coupled with her long-term interest in strange phenomena of nature, led her to take her first steps into radio in 2014 by developing her own programming and interview techniques of known figures in this topic.

UFO reports became her specialty and she joined the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in 2014 as a field investigator. She eventually became its State Director for Utah. Within MUFON, she also became an associate producer for the MUFON Communications Team and a part of the MUFON Experiencer Research Team, having been cited for recognition of this work at both the 2014 and 2015 MUFON Symposia.

In 2014, she was the lead investigator into the American Airlines 434 UFO incident of the same year. The report was notable because of radar and audio data attesting to a large unidentified flying object passing underneath the airliner while in flight. The report was ranked as one of MUFON's "Top Ten" cases for 2014.

Additionally, Erica was a team leader for "Project Orange," a program to study so-called "Balls of Light" phenomenon that have ramification in real-world science in the form of ball lightning and other peculiar luminous phenomena. An offshoot of this was research into the luminous ball phenomena in Hessdalen, Norway where she conducted on-site research with the guidance of Hessdalen scientist Dr. Erling Strand. Hessdalen has been the site of strange luminous light ball sightings since the 1980s.

With her proximity in the state of Utah, Erica has had a persistent interest in the Skinwalker Ranch, a location of regularly reported paranormal activity. She has assembled several decades worth of case reports of mass UFO sightings, alien abduction reports and animal mutilations from her years of field research in and around the ranch. In more recent years, and due to the information mass she has accumulated, she has chosen to specialize in archiving of the UFO topic, finding rare and out-of-print books, periodicals, audio, and video recordings and other ephemera in an effort to create a regional library for use by researchers in the western US. She has recently visited area universities to study their holdings of early UFO researchers and "phenomenologists" like those of the late Dr. Frank Salisbury of the Department of Plant Science at Utah State University. Salisbury contributed important work on UFO reports in Utah with the help of "Junior" Hicks, a well-known UFO investigator.

She is the host of the podcast UFO Classified.

Our guest cohost will be Tim Swartz.

Recording Date (including After The Paracast):
Thursday, April 21 at 1:00 PM Mountain (3:00 PM Eastern)
Post your questions or comments for discussion below:

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Broadcast and Streaming Date:
Sunday, April 24
 
A few questions for Erica:

How can people wanting credible information find it amidst the noise of personality dramas and sensationalized tabloid UFO sleaze?

UFO archival projects - just for saucer nerds? Why is yesterday's news important?

As your perspective has changed, what are a few cases that would now top your lists of UFO treasures and trash?
 
There were a couple of questions I would loved to have asked — had they been allowed. Having heard some of her comments about it elsewhere, you can probably guess what I'm alluding to.
 
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