Pub. Note: I was channel-surfing one recent evening when I landed on the History Channel’s “Ancient Aliens” show, only to see my friend, Scott Schaefer, standing on a beach (at what turned out to be Maury Island) with another fellow named Steve Edmiston (Schaefer’s creative partner). Scott’s the principal of seven successful community news blogs in communities south of Seattle, and the former senior writer for the “Bill Nye The Science Guy” show on PBS and, way before that, at KING-TV’S “Almost Live!” Borrowing from his broadcast background, he and Edmiston produced an award-winning narrative retelling of “The Maury Island Incident” that was the reason for his appearance on the show. Here’s Scott’s synopsis of the backstory:
Steve Edmiston, left, and Scott, center.On Feb. 15, 2020, my creative partner Steve Edmiston and I somehow appeared on an episode of “Ancient Aliens” on the History Channel, talking about what we consider to be the first appearance of a “Man In Black,” associated with a UFO case from a local sighting in Puget Sound on June 21, 1947.
In 2014, we produced “The Maury Island Incident,” an award-winning short film based on declassified FBI documents. This film played at numerous film festivals (including SIFF), and won an award for Best Sci-Fi Short at the International UFO Congress in Arizona.
Somehow, producers from “Ancient Aliens” found us and contacted us last Fall. We spent a day filming with them on Maury Island, in the alleged “debris field” that a local source who knew people involved had tipped us off about.
If you’re not familiar with the story, here’s the abbreviated version:
On the afternoon of June 21, 1947, a man named Harold Dahl was out scavenging for logs in Puget Sound, near Maury Island, when he witnessed six “flying discs” in the sky near/over his boat. One appeared to be failing, and eventually hot molten “slag” fell out of it, injuring his son and killing his dog. The very next morning, a “Man In Black” appeared at Dahl’s house, and, over breakfast at a Tacoma cafe, Harold told him what he had seen, and the man warned him that he’d better not talk about it.
The “Man In Black” in our film was portrayed excellently by Seattle actor Allen Fitzpatrick, with Tony Doupe as Harold Dahl, John Patrick Lowrie as J. Edgar Hoover and David S. Hogan as FBI agent Mitchell.
Of course, producing this film was a cooperative project, with some of the best local talent in the Northwest on board, including my former “Almost Live!” buddy, Mike Boydstun ( DP/editor), line producer Elizabeth Heile, production/art designer Lisa B. Hammond and many more. The executive produced was John White, and the producers were Scott and Laura Beth Peterson, Danny House, as well as Edmiston and myself.
Here’s a trailer for our film: https://youtu.be/FurQ7MEGSTE
For more information about this project, visit https://www.mauryislandincident.com.
To view the film online, visit https://vimeo.com/ondemand/mauryislandincident