THE ANOMALY RESPONSE NETWORK
DEDICATED TO THE OBJECTIVE STUDY OF ALL FORMS OF UNUSUAL PHENOMENA WWW.ANOMALYRESPONSE.COMInternational UFO Congress (IUFOC)
Fate Magazine convened the first International UFO Congress in Chicago, IL from June 24-26, 1977.¹ It featured several of the early key players: Kenneth Arnold, Betty Hill, Ted Phillips, Jacques Vallée, J. Allen Hynek, Jerome Clark, and the Lorenzens. A proceedings book was published afterwards.²
The second International UFO Congress did not convene until 1991 in Laughlin, NV, organized by the Brown family. Their primary goal was to “research, document and disseminate UFO and related information worldwide.” They expanded the typical UFO conference format from a few days to a full week.³
The following year, they introduced the EBE Awards for UFO films across ten categories. The statuettes were shaped like aliens.⁴
In 2010, the Brown family sold the conference to Open Minds Production who moved the 2011 conference location to Phoenix, AZ. In 2017, it was sold to Out of This World Media and Events Incorporated, and remained an annual conference in Phoenix until COVID canceled the 2020 session. It returned in 2022 at the Wrigleyville Conference Center in Mesa, AZ.⁵ That was the final Congress to date.
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