Terrell Copeland became "Case no. 58105" on The History Channel's new "UFO Hunters" series. There, on national TV, host Bill Birnes declared the Suffolk man to be a "hybrid" - a product of intergalactic breeding who is being prepped for direct contact with his alien relatives.
"That's heavy," Copeland says. "It's not surprising to me, though. After all that's happened these last couple of years, it could be true."
Yes, life has gotten even weirder for Copeland, now 26, since the former Marine became one of several locals who told The Pilot they've seen UFOs over Hampton Roads. Back then, Copeland reported that he'd witnessed a massive triangle-shaped craft hovering over a Suffolk shopping center late one night in 2005.
Copeland now says that close encounter was followed by another sighting last year that he videotaped - an orb of bouncing light that pulses different colors.
Copeland put the video online, and it wasn't long before a mysterious man knocked on his apartment door. Copeland said the man identified himself as a military contractor and began asking personal questions, ultimately asking if Copeland "was ready for the truth" and stating that the government has a "personal relationship with 'ET.' "
After that, Copeland said, he began experiencing what's known in UFO circles as "missing time" - minutes or hours that unaccountably vanish - and episodes of temporary paralysis, when he was awake and aware but couldn't move.
His story wound up drawing the attention of the "UFO Hunters" team. TV types showed up in Suffolk in November, and Copeland became part of an episode called "Alien Contact," which first aired in April.
On the episode, Copeland's video was compared with one taken at Lake Erie by Michael Hill of Cleveland, who said he has not only had multiple UFO encounters but also has been abducted by their occupants. The team called in an expert, but the images were too fuzzy.
Next, Copeland and Hill were ferried to Massachusetts General Hospital for testing, where it was discovered that both have elevated levels of the enzyme creatine kinase, normally associated with muscle injury.
Mere coincidence? Show host Birnes speculated otherwise. Perhaps the men's mutual condition is the result of extraterrestrial contacts that have altered their physiology. Or perhaps they've had numerous encounters because they themselves are unique.
"I've got a funny feeling," Birnes told Copeland during the episode, "that you are being recruited and there is a branch of the government that you're being recruited for - that somehow, some way, you are a hybrid between "ET" and humans."
That announcement startled Birnes' sidekick Pat Uskert, who pulled his boss outside: "How can you conclude that the guy's a hybrid?" Uskert asked Birnes. "I mean, don't you think you're going off the deep end a little bit?"
In the end, the show concluded that there wasn't enough evidence to prove much of anything.
So where does all that leave Copeland? Waiting for "ET."
"I truly believe that's what all of this is leading to - a meeting with a biological entity," he said.
In the meantime, Copeland gets up before dawn most days and heads to work in a warehouse. Nights find him at his computer, chatting with a host of new acquaintances who have tracked him through the Internet. Many tell him they've had similar experiences
The show has earned Copeland a little more respect at home: "I was at a low point before this. I had decided to just stop talking about it. I was losing friends. Family members thought I was losing my mind. But when you've been on TV, it's like, 'Well, maybe he has got something to say.' "
What did Copeland's mother think about her son being branded as an alien hybrid on a national television show?
"I expected her to lose it," he said, "but she didn't. She said there was always something strange about me."
Joanne Kimberlin, (757) 446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com
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"The fact that it is on CNN
"The fact that it is on CNN does give the subject some credibility."
That is the funniest comment I have seen on here in quite some time!!
guess what!! me too!!
I was abducted a few days ago. I took a trip to Mars, then we went to Pluto. After that, we went to another galaxy and had lunch with Elvis and E.T. He's a pretty funny guy once you get to know him.
We're all geing groomed....
Larry King has done a couple of shows about UFO's, one just this week. The fact that it is on CNN does give the subject some credibility. I am naturally suspicious about ideas the media tries to put in our heads. The question is, why do the people in power want us to believe in UFO's? Maybe they just want to guage our gullability factor. I certainly believe that life is capable of evolving elsewhere in the universe. It is also possible that human civilization is way older than recorded history, and that humans created settlements on other planets, perhaps some in our solar system. Let Larry Oprah or Barbara Walters interview the aliens, and I will keep an open mind.
So quick to judge
Our society is so quick to judge, put people down, call them names, and just make hatefull comments. We could all do better if we kept an open mind. But you won't!
Fast movers
But nobody ever reports hearing a sonic boom?
Momma says it all
"She said there was always something strange about me."
That's supposed to be a compliment? I can just imagine his mother saying this while shaking her head. Too funny.
saw bigfoot tracks once
1986 - Sierra Nevada - early Spring - 3 distinct tracks in a patch of snow each approx. 7 feet apart. Each track approx. 18 inches long. Either Charles Barkley was out taking a hippie nature hike or there is more in nature than is easily explained.
With the size of the universe it is foolish to think we are the only intelligent (and I use that term generously) beings out there.
Are UFO's real?
This question makes my head hurt; of course they are real. Everyone has looked at the sky and seen something they can't explain and 99.99999% of the time it's a simple explanation and can be attributed to ignorance. I saw a brilliant flash that grew in intensity for a couple of seconds before it faded quickly; I didn't know what it was, ergo it was a UFO!! A little research and I found what I had seen was an Iridium Flare, a satellite turning into the sun.
The question that should be asked is, "Are these craft being built and piloted by a higher intelligence..."
Carl Sagan said:
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." This claim is lacking even a modicum of proof. Couple that with the desire of some people to believe the outrageous and the all too human talent for self delusion and what you end up with is a story like this.
While there are objects one can't identify in the sky that is not proof of their extraterrestrial origin.
Belgium UFO
In 1989 a triangular shaped UFO appeared over Belgium for several months. It was witnessed by hundreds of people, photographed, and tracked on radar by the Belgium Air Force. The Belgium Air Force even held a press conference and released the radar data to inform the public. You can view the press conference on Youtube. Why can't our government come clean about UFOs?
To Many Sightings
There has been to many sightings by airline pilots and others not to believe that UFOs exist. 1972 on board the USS Coral Sea in the Gulf of Tonkin my division officer came off of the midwatch on the bridge and he told us that the strangest thing happened. They picked up on radar a very fast moving object that was traveling at speeds in access of 3000 mph and was making pure 90 degree turns. Our air group and the other carrier air groups operating in that area had no planes flying. The radar operator using the range finder had a hard time keeping this thing on the radar. The object finally departed the range of the radar as it did the radars on the other carriers operating in the northern part of the Gulf. They all came to the conclusion that it was a UFO and was so entered in the deck log, that date and time. The time was between midnight and 3:30AM when the watch was changed on the bridge. Pilots have seen numerous things when flying their airliners, but the people have always written them off as seeing an illusion. Were they that!!!!
This is sad
Is the pilot in that bad shape that they need to have fake story commercials for some fluff TV show as leads?
UFOs
You just gotta believe!!