International UFO Congress draws thousands at conference

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - They're age-old questions: "Are we alone in the universe? Are they here already? Are UFOs always from space?"

The answers may be as far away as the next galaxy or as close as your own backyard.

"Phoenix is so famous for having UFOs, we got to be here."

The International UFO Congress presented by OpenMinds.tv, an Arizona based organization dedicated to the dissemination of information related to UFOs and the search for extraterrestrial life drew thousands of people with their own experiences and encounters.

"I was in Peru the year I saw a UFO. It was just a sight, I glanced over in a direction no one else was looking and saw something in the corner of my eye, looked at it, and then it disappeared behind a hillside," said Pilot Hal Woodruff.

It's a meeting place for experts -- scientists, academics, authors, and researchers -- who talk about everything from UFO sightings, alien abduction, UFO crashes, crop circles and more.

"We need to hear these opinions because there are other things happening, there's a larger context," said Ted Rowe of the National Aviation Recording Center on Anonymous Phenomenon.

"A lot of the careful researchers like to say we don't know what is at the root of the UFO phenomenon, we know there's a mystery. There's some strange objects flying around that seem to demonstrate technology that is far beyond our own," said Alejandro Rojas, event organizer.

Rojas says dozens of sightings are reported in the Phoenix area alone every month. Most are debunked, a few unexplained, the reason perhaps this event holds the Guinness World Record for the largest UFO conference in the world.