Exhibit to Feature Stanton Friedman

[wwkirk]

Exhibit for famed UFO researcher coming to Fredericton this summer

It's going to be unique and very different for the Fredericton Region Museum,' says executive director

Volunteers at the Fredericton Region Museum typically spend hours re-crafting military uniforms and wedding dresses from the 19th century, but for the next five months they'll be designing alien replicas made from chicken wire.

Melynda Jarratt, executive director at the Fredericton Region Museum, is organizing an exhibit to commemorate the life and work of Stanton Friedman, a famed-ufologist and nuclear physicist from Fredericton who died last year.

Jarratt and Friedman became friends in the early 1990s, when Jarratt proposed filming a TV documentary on the UFO researcher.

"He was a very nice man who I was very honoured to have met and got to know," Jarratt said.

Friedman published dozens of papers about UFOs and co-wrote several books on the subject, including one about Barney and Betty Hill, a couple who claimed to have had a close encounter with aliens in 1961 while returning to the U.S. from a visit to Montreal.

Friedman died in May 2019 at Toronto Pearson Airport while on his way back from a speaking engagement in Columbus, Ohio. He was 84.

Making the exhibit a reality
In 2017, Friedman contacted Jarratt about creating a museum with his UFO documents and artifacts.

"I said, 'Stanton that's a big undertaking' … I knew he had enough archival [material] and artifacts, having been to his house, and anybody who has been to Stanton's house knows that is an experience in itself," Jarratt said. "It was a museum."

Jarratt recommended Friedman donate some of his materials to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, which he did — 5 truckloads worth.

"That was the last conversation we had."

After the ufologist died, Jarratt contacted Friedman's daughter, Melissa, about putting together an exhibit in his memory.

Last fall, Jarratt went to a storage facility and collected eight boxes worth of Friedman's documents, audio-visual material, and other items that the provincial archives hadn't already collected.

Volunteers at the museum are designing alien creatures for the Stanton Friedman exhibit. Theses alien replicas are based on drawings by Barney and Betty Hill, a couple who claimed to have had a close encounter with aliens in 1961 while returning to the U.S. from Montreal. (Fredericton Region Museum/Facebook)

"The storage thing was three-quarters filled with boxes of Stanton's things, and included among them are some very odd pieces," Jarratt said.

Nestled in the boxes are dozens of artifacts from Friedman's life, including a Betty and Veronica comic book Friedman was featured in, a set of ping pong balls with his face on it, awards, family photographs and letters from the CIA refusing to talk to Friedman.

There was also a bronze statue of an alien with Converse sneakers from the Mutual UFO Network. The figurine is essentially the Oscar of the UFO world.

"We just started opening up these boxes, and it was just one thing after the other, after the other."

Jarratt said the exhibition is a suitable way to honour Stanton's legacy, a man whose passion for UFOs even led the City of Fredericton to declare Aug. 27, 2007, Stanton Friedman Day.

"Stanton was part of our community and he had very interesting role to play that took him out beyond Fredericton and into worlds beyond … I think he deserves to be honoured in this way."

The Stanton Friedman Exhibit will open in July and run throughout the year.

"It's going to be unique and very different for the Fredericton Region Museum."

 

[wwkirk]

[Video at link]
Stanton Friedman fans over the moon about new UFO exhibit
Exhibit at the Fredericton Region Museum is set to open on June 26 and run for at least 2 years


Stanton Friedman dreamed of starting a UFO museum in Fredericton.

And now that dream isn't too far out.

The Fredericton Region Museum is putting together the Stanton Friedman is out of this World Exhibit to highlight the career of the famed UFO researcher.

"This exhibit is to honour Stanton in every way possible," said Hal Skaarup, vice-president of the Fredericton Region Museum.

Who was he?
A nuclear physicist by training, Friedman devoted his life to researching and investigating UFOs beginning in the late 1960s.

Friedman, who lived in Fredericton, was credited with bringing the 1947 Roswell Incident — the famous incident that gave rise to theories about UFOs and a U.S. military coverup — back into the mainstream conversation.

"How many people from Fredericton had their obituary in the New York Times? How many people from Fredericton became characters in a Betty and Veronica comic book? Not too darn many," said Melynda Jarratt, executive director of the Fredericton Region Museum.

Fredericton Region Museum to showcase work of Stanton Friedman

Friedman was an accomplished writer, publishing dozens of papers about UFOs and writing or co-writing several books.

He was a familiar face in documentaries and made multiple appearances on Larry King Live. He also lectured about UFOs for hundreds of colleges and professional groups across the United States, Canada and many other countries.

Friedman was inducted into the UFO Hall of Fame in Roswell, N.M.

"The guy was famous," Jarratt said. "He's a cultural icon and he's from Fredericton."

Jarratt knew Friedman personally. She said he was an honourable man who had an incredible life.

"He deserves to be treated with respect for the awesome and most extraordinary work he did in researching the UFO experience."

Believe it or not
Friedman's exhibit is set to open June 26 and pay tribute to the local researcher's work.

"It's a fact he did this work, and there is a huge following, whether you believe it or not," said Jarratt.

The exhibit will contain everything under the sun — artifacts, awards, recordings of phone conversations, documents and newspaper clippings about UFO sightings in New Brunswick.

Stanton Friedman is survived by his wife of 44 years, Marilyn. (Submitted/Melissa Friedman)
And of course, large aliens made of papier–mâché and infinity mirrors will be there too, to make the space look a bit more "funky."

The museum started working on the exhibit in January of last year. Jarratt said she's hopeful the exhibit will be around for at least two years for skeptics and believers alike.

"You're a New Brunswicker, Stanton. We love you," Jarratt said.

 

[dr wu]

Well..if one is ever in New Brunswick it would be the place to visit...I suppose.
I had the pleasure (?) to meet Mr Friedman once at a UFO Seminar in Grand Rapids MI. He was the only presenter/writer who was allowed to set up his 'book table' in the back of the lecture room. The others had their spots out in the hall .
At any rate I stopped at his table to meet him and we talked for a minute or two and I asked him his thoughts on Dr Vallee and his ideas that the ufo enigma might be something more exotic than just ET from outer space. He rapidly dismissed those ideas and seemed negative about Dr Vallee and seemed diappointed I wasn't going to get a signed copy of his book.

Later on a few of us met Budd Hopkins in the hall and he spent almost 20 minutes talking to us about the alien abduction syndrome (he was very polite and friendly.). I asked a few related questions about other aspects of the ufo enigma but sadly he didn't seem to know much about those aspects so had no input.

 

[wwkirk]

Later on a few of us met Budd Hopkins in the hall and he spent almost 20 minutes talking to us about the alien abduction syndrome (he was very polite and friendly.). I asked a few related questions about other aspects of the ufo enigma but sadly he didn't seem to know much about those aspects so had no input.

As far as I know, he was a specialist. Your encounter corroborates this.