By Tim Binnall
The life and work of legendary UFO researcher Stanton Friedman will be celebrated later this year by way of an exhibit at a museum in Canada. The display honoring the famed ufologist, who passed away in May of 2019, is reportedly the brainchild of the Fredericton Region Museum. According to the director of the site, the concept actually arose, in a somewhat roundabout way, from Friedman himself when he called them back in 2017 with the idea of fashioning his research materials into a museum.
"I said, 'Stanton that's a big undertaking,'" recalled Melynda Jarratt, who recounted visiting Friedman's home and seeing an enormous cache of papers and artifacts. "Anybody who has been to Stanton's house knows that is an experience in itself," she said, "it was a museum." In light of the daunting nature of the proposed task, Jarratt instead suggested that he donate the materials to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. He subsequently did just that and the group is currently working on their own project cataloging the proverbial Friedman files.
When the researcher passed away last year, Jarratt remembered her earlier conversation with Friedman and decided that the site should honor the man who had long ago come to call the city of Fredericton his home and had become something of a local celebrity. With help from his daughter, the group was given access to a storage unit that, the museum director said, "was three-quarters filled with boxes of Stanton's things, and included among them are some very odd pieces."
Included among the unique objects retrieved by the museum were an alien-themed award trophy that Friedman had been given by MUFON, an issue of the Betty and Veronica comic book that featured the UFO researcher as a character, and even ping pong balls emblazoned with his face. "We just started opening up these boxes," Jarratt marveled, "and it was just one thing after the other, after the other."
Alongside these very cool artifacts from Friedman's prestigious career, the exhibit will also feature a trio of alien figurines that are being created by volunteers at the museum. The statues are said to be based on accounts from Betty and Barney Hill's chilling and iconic abduction case, which the UFO researcher had written about at length over the years. Workers at the museum will be spending the next five months putting the exhibit together with a public unveiling planned for July, presumably in time for the Roswell anniversary.