You might think you’ve never had a close encounter with one – which is surprising given the number of column inches the subject has generated over the years, not to mention the books, comics and movies – but all that might change next week.

And no, we’re not specifically talking about unidentified flying objects (UFOs), although that is the subject matter at hand, but the growing number of like-minded people searching for answers to questions that they say natural phenomena cannot explain.

This coming week, the ufology group Exopolitics Denmark is holding an international conference in Copenhagen. It’s open to the public and primarily held in English, and it might just make you change the way you think about the possibility of extraterrestrial lifeforms. The truth isn’t just out there next week – it’s potentially on your doorstep.

Written off, required reading
The members of Exopolitics Denmark have heard it all before: “whackos”, “fringe”, “bollocks” …

Exopolitics board member Roy Stead contends that the group is just looking for answers. Real answers. About UFOs.

“Something is happening,” said Stead. “Even if it is perhaps a terrestrial-based technology that we do not understand, they have been seen by pilots, astronauts, military people. Serious people.”

While both Stead and the Exopolitics Denmark website take the middle ground as being neither believers nor sceptics when it comes to extraterrestrials, he does not discount any possibility.

“This is a scientific phenomenon. Be it alien, one of ours, or both.”

“Even if it is perhaps a terrestrial – based technology that we do not understand they have been seen by pilots, astronauts, military people. Serious people.”

Serious business
Stead noted that while the US and British governments downplay or simply ignore UFO cases, other governments like France and Brazil take the reports seriously. After all, he contends, keeping knowledge about UFOs secret would certainly not be the first case of governments hiding information from the general public.

“Stealth technology was hidden for 30 years,” he said.

As to why governments would hide energy technologies that could revolutionise our very existence on the planet, Stead is very clear.

“The world economy is built on fossil fuel, and they will try to hide something else from us until every last drop is gone,” he contended.

Denmark Exopolitics has about 50 members and its remit is a broad one, encompassing many subjects/topics within the UFO phenomenon and lots of measured, scientific approaches to establishing fact from fiction.

Transparency needed
For example, Frederik Uldall, the founder and head of Danish Exopolitics, is an academic who takes a serious approach to the issues explored by the group.

“There is compelling evidence that there is something more than us out there,” said Uldall.

“We simply want more public access, more coverage, more transparency and we want to see this taken seriously as a subject to be studied.”

Conference coming up
In an effort to bring more information about UFOs and exopolitics home, Exopolitics Denmark is holding its fifth UFO conference on September 26. This year’s event is billed as ‘UFOs and Close Encounters’.

Snead said that although the group may not share the specific views of all of the speakers, who include noted Brazilian ufologist AJ Gevaerd, they are hoping for a spirited “debate about the implications of a contact with potential extraterrestrial visitors”.

Tickets for the event are available at the Exopolitics website, exopolitics.dk, at a cost of 295 kroner.