Angelia Joined, staff reporter for the Stephenville Empire-Tribune, who broke the story about the Stephenville Lights UFO sightings. She would later lose her job.
On 8 Jan. 2008, one of the most famous UFO sightings happened in a central Texas town called Stephenville. It was the largest UFO incident since the 13 March 1997 Phoenix Lights event. From the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)—one of the largest private UFO investigation organizations—May 2008 reports:
On January 10, 2008, the MUFON Case Management System (CMS) began to receive more than its normal number of sighting reports. In less than seven days the system had received over 100 new sightings in central Texas. The Texas Chapter of MUFON was now faced with a large logistical problem of interviewing over 100 witnesses. After a discussion with Ken Cherry, the Texas State Director, it was decided that an email be sent out to the MUFON Field Investigators located in the cities surrounding the Dublin/ Stephenville area requesting assistance. Texas has over 40 Field Investigators.
An email request was sent to the FIs in Dallas, Ft Worth, Abilene, Waco and Austin, and eight investigators committed themselves to a project that has never been attempted in the history of MUFON—to interview a large number of witnesses at one time.
I contacted Angelia Joiner of the Stephenville Tribune; she was the first reporter to break the story on January 10. Among other matters, we told her of our need for a meeting location. A short time later, a meeting room was donated for our use by the Dublin Dr Pepper Co and the Dublin Rotary Club. MUFON Texas held a meeting on January 19 for witnesses to come forward and make reports. A second meeting was held February 23.
To give you some perspective as to the number of sighting reports received, we need to go to the MUFON online Case Management System (CMS). Since MUFON began computerized record keeping in 1995, 568 sightings have been reported online for the state of Texas, with sightings reported which date back to 1947. (Figure 1.) In contrast, during the short period from November 2007 to March 1, 2008, an estimated 300 new reports were recorded via CMS and in-person reports.
The months of January and February produced 259 sighting reports. On January 8 alone—the day of the most publicized sightings—CMS received a total of 19 sighting reports from across Texas, of which 10 were reports of sightings from the Stephenville-Dublin area. (Figures 2 and 3.) Many of the sighting reports described large lights in the sky coming on and going off in sequence. Descriptions were varied. There were two “official” daylight sightings of large objects. The object was described as gray in color, emitting no sound, and moving at a high rate of speed.
On the same night, nearly 1900 miles to the northwest in Yreka, Calif.—and the surrounding Northern California and Southern Oregon region, there were a number of UFO sightings. I got the assignment and spoke with witnesses, California MUFON investigators and even called Angelia at her newsroom.
That’s how we met.
I wrote the story and kept in touch with Angelia. Friended one another on Facebook. Then, she told me that she had been fired; she alluded that the Empire-Tribune was getting pressure from either the government or military. Angelia said she’d walked into the newsroom and her computer was missing from her desk.
Someone took her work laptop. Remember that.
When editor Sara Vanden Berge informed Angelia that she’d been fired, Berge demanded that all reporter’s field notebooks had to be handed over too.
Berge, Angelia told me, was very insistent.
In the Netflix docuseries Encounters, the first episode is about the Stephenville UFO incidents and Berge is interviewed. Angelia died from Covid on 7 Jan. 2021, a day after Covid had taken her husband, Randell.
Sara Vanden Berge.
Berge was never thrilled with the UFO articles and was unhappy about the coverage; she was embarrassed and worried that these articles would make her look bad. There were rumors Berge was jealous of the attention Angelia received—from TV and radio interviews, talking to Art Bell and Larry King and so on. In fact, it was rumored that Berge was very bitter and all too eager to fire Angelia.
So, I watched that first episode. It brought back a lot of memories, stories, things Angelia had written and told me. It was well done and I’m glad my friend got the credit she deserved.
Watching Berge, however, was sickening. In my opinion, Sara Vanden Berge is a vile, lying manipulative wench. Her final scene was very passable acting, as she reflected on “firing” Angelia.
Angelia Joiner was a damn fine reporter. She took the subject seriously and treated the eyewitnesses with respect. Overall, she was a very decent person.
She was a friend too.
She deserved better.
Be seeing you.
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