St. Charles man – named Mars – does marketing for UFO group

ST. CHARLES – That John Mars of St. Charles has a last name the same as a planet was just appropriate for his new title as marketing director for the Mutual UFO Network.

It all happened after he binge-watched the History Channel’s series on Ancient Aliens, Mars said.

“A lot of the information they reference is [from] MUFON,” Mars said. “It’s the largest UFO organization. They have over 80,000 UFO files. They’ve been around 46 years.”

Mars was hooked, and then he went to MUFON’s symposium in California in September, where the guest speaker talked about advanced space propulsion concepts for interstellar travel, how modern physics is revealing the technology of UFOs, and how to make UFO-logy respectable.

“It was blow-away fascinating and exciting,” Mars said.

Mars made a presentation to its board to do its marketing, and the rest is history.

MUFON investigates sightings, promotes research and provides education on UFOs. Its website, www.mufon.com, allows people who believe they have seen UFOs to report them. It also keeps data on sightings. It has a Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The state chapter, Illinois Mutual UFO Network, reported 28 UFO sightings in October.

Sam Maranto, the MUFON state director, said the organization has about 80 members in Illinois.

“It’s not a question of ‘belief’ in UFOs,” Maranto said. “We know, or we investigate. … Any report that comes in, we evaluate. If there is anything supportive, such as photographs or other witnesses, we like to interview them, too, and do an analysis.”

He said studying and documenting UFO sightings is important because it will change how people view their position in the universe – once they get past their resistance.

“This has been documented throughout history, not just the last 60 to 70 years,” Maranto said. “I think it will change everything when people realize we are not the center of everything.”