Out-of-this-world UFO center now open

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History Channel visits Rio Rancho’s UFO researcher

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RIO RANCHO — An otherworldly event landed at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary on the evening of Oct. 22 as Mayor Gregg Hull and numerous city and county officials were on hand to cut the ribbon on the new National UFO Historical Records Center (NUFOHRC).

The new center, temporarily contained in two large portables at MLK Elementary, represents more than two years of planning and fundraising from the executive director of the new center, David Marler.

“My colleagues and I have spent decades collecting original documentation and various materials. A large percentage of this material is original and military government documents. This is not National Enquirer material we’re talking about,” Marler told the Observer last year.

The NUFOHRC brings a wealth of educational programs designed to develop skills in archival preservation, public history and investigative research. By partnering with RRPS, these programs are now accessible to students and the community, creating a dynamic learning environment that encourages the exploration of historical and scientific subjects.

Marler has been an avid collector of official UFO-related documentation for more than 35 years and has amassed an impressive collection — government documents, original photographs, periodicals, recordings and even movie posters and paraphernalia — that stretches back more than 75 years to a certain event in the New Mexico desert in 1947.

“What we’ve assembled here today is something that has never been assembled before in the history of this country, namely the largest concentration of historical materials on the subject of UFOs ever in the United States. That’s a big statement, but one I stand by,” Marler said. “And one nobody can challenge when you see what we have here.”

At one time, the collection was housed in Marler’s home. Eventually, he built a new wing on his residence for the stacks of boxes that make up his collection. With space quickly filling up, Marler reached out to the city.

“Mayor Hull was fantastic from day one,” he said. “I can usually tell when I meet someone, and they’re not interested in UFOs, or they think I’m a space cadet. I didn’t see the skeptical eyebrow, and Mayor Hull was extremely receptive.”

Hull said he was, in fact, a little skeptical at first, but that quickly changed when he got a good look at the collection.

“When David first contacted my office and said, ‘I want to come talk to you about some records I have ...’ So, in order to see what he had, I had to go to his house, go through his living room, go through his master bedroom and out a door to see all of these records,” said Hull. “But once I got in there and started looking at what he had, there’s no doubt that these are historical records. These records were created by military ... by scientists.”

The MOA runs for five years, with the option to extend, and licenses the center the use of two portable buildings of approximately 1,300 square feet each on the campus of Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School.

One of those portables houses a research room for the center’s volunteers, a display of magnified UFO photos, old movie posters and an open office for Marler. The other portable contains the actual records — more than 30 four-drawer filing cabinets — as well as an area for reading and research.

Speakers at the opening included School Board President Amanda Galbraith, Sandoval County Commissioner David Heil, Hull and, of course, NUFOHRC Executive Director David Marler.

“We seek to elevate the dialogue surrounding the subject [of UFOs] and have a much more mature, data-driven approach towards the subject, devoid of belief or non-belief ... and absent from the wild, unfounded conspiracy theories and beliefs people have about the subject.”

In June 2021, the Unidentified Ariel Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF), a department of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, issued a nine-page report in which they examined 144 UAP sightings by naval pilots between 2004 and 2021. They were unable to identify 143 of the objects sighted.

Since the UAPTF report, interest in UFOs in the United States has risen sharply, according to a New York Times report, which also suggests the stigmas around the subject of UFOs is starting to shift.

Marler took a moment to thank the people who paved the way for this research to be done.

“If the witnesses didn’t come forward, if the investigators didn’t spend the time to go out and interview and document it, we wouldn’t have the archive,” he said. “So, there are a multitude of people who have done the work, and we are here to preserve that.”

Mauler and his UFO Center are still growing.

“Quite literally, as of yesterday, we got another collection that we have to go through and process,” he told the audience.

The newest addition is contained in more than 50 boxes that were transported via SUV from New York by a couple who was in attendance at the ribbon cutting.

“To realize this global collection has ended up here in Rio Rancho is very impressive,” Hull said.

To find out more or to schedule a visit to the NUFOHRC, visit nufohrc.org.