We are an informal community of people in Columbus, Ohio, paying close attention to the unfolding disclosure of records and information about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). We are not a research institute and we are not a religious order. We are neighbors who think this is one of the more interesting moments in human history and would rather meet it together than alone.
Why this, why now
A process of declassification and disclosure of UAP-related records is underway. Whatever any single batch of files turns out to contain, the broader shift toward open access marks a turning point in the public conversation about these phenomena.
We notice that the loudest voices in that conversation tend to land at extremes — either there is nothing to see here or we already know exactly what this is. Neither sounds true to us. The honest position is that there is enough on the table to take seriously, and far too much still unknown to draw final conclusions.
So we gather to do something simpler and harder: stay curious, stay kind, and keep showing up.
How we approach it
A few commitments we try to live up to:
- Open-minded and non-dogmatic. We hold our hypotheses lightly. We are interested in evidence, in experience, and in the questions that good evidence and good experience together raise.
- Respectful of tradition. Many philosophical and religious traditions have thought carefully about contact with the strange and the more-than-human for a very long time. We want to learn from them, not flatten them.
- Willing to stretch. This moment will ask all of us — secular and religious, scientific and humanistic — to revise some assumptions. We try to do that with grace.
- Take experiencers seriously. People who have had direct contact with the phenomena are not a fringe population to be discarded when their testimony doesn’t fit a preferred theory. They are data.
- Patient with each other. Premature certainty, in any direction, is the failure mode we are most trying to avoid. So is despair. Both are easier than the work.
What we do
Mostly: we get together. We talk. We read. We listen to people who have had unusual experiences. We compare notes on what is being released and what it might mean. We support friends who are processing all of this. We occasionally invite a speaker. We are exploring whether the group wants to take on small projects together.
If a pattern crystallizes that is worth doing more formally, we will. For now we are keeping things lightweight on purpose.
A note on the open letter
Three of us signed the Visible College open letter on the release of UAP files in May 2026. It captures, better than we could on a homepage, the epistemic stance behind this community. If you want a longer read on where we are coming from, start there.
Be patient with yourselves and with one another.
Curiosity is a more reliable guide than fear.