RON WESTRUM is Professor of Sociology at Eastern Michigan University, where he has taught for 50 years. With a bachelor’s degree in Social Relations from Harvard (Honors 1966) and a Ph.D in Sociology from the University of Chicago (1972), he has specialized in the sociology of science and technology. An expert in the sociology of organizational culture, he developed a widely used “Continuum” to describe information flow in organizations. He was also, for decades, involved with aviation safety, and attended some thirty conferences, including some funded by NATO and the United Nations. He has three books, on organizations and technology, including a book on the Sidewinder missile.

Dr. Westrum has been active in the study of anomalous events, including UFOs, sea-serpents, the history of meteorites, battered children and sexual abuse by priests. He is a former MUFON state director and sociology consultant, and has specialized in studying the reporting process for alien abductions. He was one of the founding members of the Society for Scientific Exploration, which encourages investigation of unusual events.

PRESENTATION
Reporting Abductions: Some Thoughts on Revealed and Hidden Events

Ron Westrum will discuss the reporting of abductions, in which he has been involved for some years. There are huge inconsistencies (e.g. between France and the USA) in what gets reported. Dr. Westrum points out how different "demand conditions" provide what are apparently huge differences in number of events per country. He then examines the issue of portals, brought to mind by Skinwalker Ranch, but actually there are probably large-scale portals as well. Dr. Westrum studied one of these, the Yakima Reservation in Washington state, and speculates about others, such as the San Luis Valley. What is going on?