Luis Elizondo is the host of History Channel's Unidentified. Prior to that he investigated UFO reports for the Department of Defense as featured in the now legendary New York Times UFO article. Within the UFO Community, or #UFOTwitter, Lue is perhaps the greatest force in Disclosure, #UFOTwitter's effort to push the US Government to admit and reveal its knowledge of UFOs.
I first reached out to Lue after reading that New York Times article. Eventually, he brought my own UFO story to the public with an appearance on Unidentified. Shortly afterwards, he texted me on a Saturday night to tell me he and his wife were watching and enjoying the episode I appeared in. He asked me how my blog was doing. I told him I would love to interview him for it, "Not the typical interview where the interviewer tries to pry secret info about UFOs from you. More on a personal level - who is Lue Elizondo?"
Lue wrote back, "Sure thing!" We had planned to do this the following week but then Hurricane Isaias knocked out power and Internet to my house for over a week. It would take us about another two months to coordinate our schedules.
We spoke on October first of 2020, the latest in many conversations we have had both on the phone and in person. I was in my home office in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Lue called in from his camper, "The Château de Lue," as he calls it, somewhere in Wyoming. He is there with his wife and their dogs, scoping out some land. Here in the New York City area houses are snapped up by City People upon market listing without negotiation. It is an effort to outrun the pandemic. Lue may have similar motivations, though officially he is outrunning the Tax Man. Taxes are lower in Wyoming and the people are friendly, he says.
Lue and I kibitzed momentarily prior to staging my official introduction for YouTube. With respect, I told Lue it was OK if there were questions he did not want to answer. He ponged back declaring no questions were off the table, security issues notwithstanding. He joked it would be acceptable to ask his favorite color. I laughed; a follower had suggested that in jest on Twitter. For the record, it is black - no surprise to anyone who has seen Lue on TV.
My introduction began with heaps of praise. I would not be writing this article right now if Lue had not left government service and went to the New York Times with his assertion that people in the US government know UFOs are real. He deserves great credit for bringing people like me out of seclusion and giving us a platform with which to share our experiences with the world. Lue brushed my accolades aside and spent the next two minutes praising me for coming forward with my story. I appreciated the affirmation.
True to my word, the focus of the interview was:
- Who is Lue Elizondo?
- What does Lue Elizondo Like to do?
- What does Lue Elizondo think?
However, when a UFO blogger and the de facto spokesman for the UFO Community get together on Zoom for an hour and a half, a myriad of subjects will come up, including UFOs. #UFOTwitter wants to know not just what is Lue's favorite color but when will Disclosure happen? Lue's revelations will be published in the follow-up to this article, What does Lue Elizondo Know? For now, I am happy to present:
Who is Lue Elizondo?
"Look in the mirror. I'm you," Lue said. He wants to be viewed like the rest of the world. If Lue were placed on a pedestal he would step down and help someone else up. He is nothing special, so he would say.
There is much that people read into him, who he is, what he is all about. He presents himself as a regular guy, a husband, a dad. Like most dads family is valued above all else. He wants to feed and provide for them, pay for his mortgage, "My children are fundamentally my greatest accomplishment of my life, ever! I will never be able to achieve something that great ever again so for me everything else is frosting on the cake."
Lue has one job: to look over his two daughters, "It's not me, it's," he hesitates for such a brief moment it is nearly imperceptible but just long enough to reveal some emotion. "It's my family." He holds a staturous position in the UFO Community, requiring constant vigilance, "There's been some people in the press who've actually went after my kids to try to get information about me." The apprehension in Lue's voice and body language is palpable.
Here, Lue is haunted by past experiences, efforts stymied by political or religious beliefs of those in power. "A lot of people, you know, let's face it, this rubs up against their philosophical and theological belief system sometimes. And people can be cruel sometimes." Looking out for his family occupies a permanent position at Lue Inc.
The family reciprocates. "It's a conversation we had when I came out. We had a very serious conversation around the table and I told them what I was going to do and that I was resigning from my post in the Department of Defense and I wanted this to be a mutual decision by the family." Everyone was supportive. "My daughters were amazing. They looked me straight in the eye after hearing a half an hour speech, all teary-eyed, leaving the one thing that I loved so much and they said, 'Dad, we're proud of you, we got your back, don't worry about it.'"
Lue is the proud son of a Cuban refugee. His father fled to Miami seeking safety and security after fighting in The Bay of Pigs. Lue is native to the US. He titles himself an "Exile Kid," a status he says would lead him to face a firing squad if he returned to Cuba. This may be friendly hyperbole.
The words and deeds of the Refugee Dad left their mark on the Exile Kid as he matured. "My dad came to this country with a dime, literally a dime in his pocket." Dad would say, "Nothing in life is free, son, you have to work for everything but do not take from anybody." Those have since been guiding principles, ones the son passes on to his own progeny.
When Lue assumed his current role with To The Stars Academy the family followed, trailing him to San Diego. It is a beautiful and interesting place inspiring a kinship with the pioneers who ventured out before him seeking a better life for themselves and their families. California turns out to be an alien land to the Exile kid with frequent earthquakes and abominable fires sending smoke as far as his current location in Wyoming. Sometimes pioneers flee their settlements, seeking safety and security.
Along with his girls, Lue also adores his two German Shepherds. One, "Doesn't have a predatory bone in his body." The other - Lue advises, "Don't come around the Elizondos' late at night, uninvited."
TV show hosts may earn a respectable salary, though most are not driving Rolls-Royces. Lue has probably done well as the host of Unidentified. He tempers this with, "If you're looking to get rich, most people will tell you chasing UFOs is not a way to do it. So I've never expected to make really any money off of it."
Lue does not wear his net worth and cannot be judged on appearance. He is proud of his Blue Collar roots and prefers to maintain that image and lifestyle rather than transitioning into "Mr. Hollywood." When he joined the Army after college he worked two other jobs to make ends meet, while serving full-time. His wife worked too. "I'm not afraid to have dirt under my nails," he says.
No kid has ever said, "When I grow up I want to be that weird UFO Guy." Lue agrees, there is an injurious stigma to his line of work. He accepts this. It is what he signed on for. But he is deeper than the two-dimensional view of him on a TV screen. That person is the same guy camping out with his wife and their dogs in Wyoming right now. If one hates the guy on TV they will hate the guy in the camper. If someone thinks, "'Hey, this kind of quirky guy with the funny goatee on TV, I think I kind of like him,' You're probably going to like having a beer with him."
What does Lue Elizondo like to Do?
Lue is "a cheapskate," his own self-deprecating moniker of frugality. He downplays his purchase of his latest toy, the camper he and his wife are staying in. It is a mid-range model, "The Chevy Malibu," of campers, he says. He pulls it with a humble 1996 Ford F-350 pickup.
Other toys are investments as it were, picked up cheap. He gives them TLC, some attention and elbow grease, and they appreciate. He enjoys his status as, "a gearhead." A self-diagnosed introvert, Lue is content in the garage, "tinkering". He builds cars, boats, and motorcycles. "If it's got an engine, that's right up my alley." He has a Korean War era Jeep, a World War II Jeep, and a Ural, a 2-wheel drive Russian Military motorcycle with a powered sidecar. It is pictured in Season 2, Episode 7 of Unidentified.
The days of racing around on fast bikes are over for Lue. At his age speed has lost its appeal. The Ural takes him from Point A to Point B in a "safe and civilized manner." He compares it more to driving a John Deere tractor than a racing machine. Although, it is still a motorcycle. He has fun on it.
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| Lue's bike in Unidentified S2 E7 |
Given a relaxing scenario of having a drink with a friend, Lue brightens up. He enjoys a nice peaty Islay Scotch. "It's got that pungent smell of where you almost feel like you're eating a piece of Scotland, like a Scottish Sandwich, or something." Lately he has developed a taste for Absinthe. He stresses, the legal kind. There is meaning in the history behind it and how it is distilled. "I'm kind of a traditionalist." Lue appreciates the human effort, the, "Love, caring, pride, into the work by someone," to create something, "Rather than just something generic, that is mass produced. To me, someone who paints me a hand-made painting means more to me than someone spending ten times that amount on some sort of generic print that I can go to the mall and buy."
Once the drinks are poured it is time to eat. "I love cooking. I am absolutely a cook. I admit it." With his military service in the past, today Lue would rather eat a tasty meal than stay in shape. "I'm not a big baker but I love using my cast iron almost exclusively. I take pride in seasoning it and getting that thing, you know, perfect and just cooking a fabulous meal for others to enjoy. It goes back to what we were saying about drinks, it's really the craftsmanship that I appreciate."
The same goes for wrist watches. The brand is not important, "It has to do with the amount of human effort it took to create that time piece. Crafting every gear and knowing that the gear ratios have to be just perfect... it has to be balanced and it has to be synchronized. That's what I appreciate. That's why I like cars. It's poetry in motion to me. It's taking something that has been thrown away and considered garbage and spending a little bit of time, a little bit of effort and attention to now bringing new life into it." There is a recurring theme, "I do the same thing with cooking and pretty much other things that I enjoy."
Dinner at Chez Lue might include, "A fantastic little recipe," for seafood with, "White wine, lemon, butter." He kisses his fingertips and says, "Bellissimo!" The next course may be Italian, possibly pizza from scratch. "Pizzas are super simple if you do your own dough, your own homemade dough, homemade sauce..." He uses fresh basil and "good quality cheese."
It would seem that every hobby is a labor of love with Lue. He does have one simplistic guilty pleasure: playing video games. He owns both of the top game consoles and plays mostly first-person shooter games. He is especially fond of games with a rich storyline. There must also be an endless map he can explore. He plays the entire Borderlands series, Fallout 4, and Portal 2. Strategy and good graphics appeal to him. His wife and daughters play too. They are both partners and rivals.
Music plays a constant soundtrack in Lue's life. "I love music!" He may listen to Classical, Classic rock, Hard-core Industrial, Classic Country, Italian Café. Favorite artist range a narrow contemporaneous band from 70's Easy-Listening legend, Gordon Lightfoot to 90's hard rockers, Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson. "Music tells a story and music is very emotional." Playing now in the F-350's CD player: 90's Punk Rockers, Social Distortion.
Presumably then, Lue would have been thrilled when Pop Punk rocker Tom DeLonge reached out to him with an employment offer at his To The Stars Academy. Apparently not - Lue had no clue who DeLonge was. He knew some of DeLonge's music, Blink-182's hits are ubiquitous, but he was not a follower.
What does Lue Elizondo Think?
Lue values genuity. Others may judge but lack self-judgement. While conscious of this he says everyone has bias, including himself. He loves the spirit of human beings, the positive not the negative. As a new user of social media he is astounded by what "normal people" post online, how strapping-in behind a keyboard empowers some to make statements about others whom they do not know personally, that they would never say face-to-face. "Is that how they really are, or is that just something that is a part of their personality that comes alive when they get on social media? I don't know."
Lue only recently began posting on Twitter, an unofficial induction into #UFOTwitter, "There are some people [in the UFO Community] that are really working hard to get to the bottom of this [UFO phenomenon] and they're using their brains and they're engaging and they're highly intelligent people. I could tell you there's probably about five or six, when I was at AATIP, had I known they were out there and they had applied for a job, I would have hired them to come on to AATIP."
He dismisses accolades towards him and passes the credit to others. He does not know if his approach to reporting information is the right way but, "There are a lot of people doing it wrong." He was diplomatic about naming names. "My mother always told me not to talk ill about people if they're not in front of me." Generally, "Anybody who tries to give you a preconceived narrative, or worse tries to tell you not to listen to somebody else, that's your first sign that they don't know what they're talking about." Lue believes, "Knowledge is power. I think the more people you talk to, the better the situation. If you want to talk to me and then turn around and talk to anybody else, I don't care; I think you should. I think you should try to arm yourself with as much information as possible."
Yes, but who, Lue? "Anybody who's gonna tell you that they know for what these things are, can conjure things up at will and charge money for it - anybody who's going to charge you money to have an encounter..." he hesitates, " with -- a -- UFO... and again, I'm just talking general here - I think you got to be careful with that."
There are a few snake oil salesmen who will immediately come to mind to #UFOTwitter members. "There are some charlatans. There's people out there that have spent twenty years creating a cottage industry for themselves of lies and deception and now that the truth is coming out, they're scrambling. It's all hands on deck, baby. Full information campaign to try to squelch the truth because now, 'My narrative is in trouble.' That's the problem. You never should have had a narrative because you don't know. There are no such things as experts in UFOs, not even in the US government, otherwise we'd all be flying in them right now."
In casual conversation Lue mentions his coworkers at To The Stars Academy using labels like, "my colleague Steve Justice," or "my buddy Tom [DeLonge]." #UFOTwitter knows these people without introduction. Some may call these men Lue's friends.
"'Friend' is an awfully big commitment," he joked, "I don't know if I have any friends." He has a "profound" level of "comradery and respect" for his coworkers. The starkly varied backgrounds of each individual in the organization is fodder for friendly and professional debate. They may not share views on politics or religion but they respect one another. They trust each other. They can speak openly "without fear of reprisal," like Lue has faced in the past.
Yeah, but do you guys hang out after work? Do you meet up for 50 cent wings and five dollar pitchers and watch Monday Night Football at the corner pub? The crew's professional diversity leaves little common ground outside the subject of UFOs. Lue explains that Tom DeLonge is a musician and spends much of his free time rehearsing. In contrast, Lue prefers to work on an engine in his garage. That notwithstanding, Lue has been to Tom's house many times. Jim Semivan, Hal Putoff, Chris Mellon, all the TTSA gang are, "incredibly welcoming and warm." They each have received Lue and his family at their homes as part of their family.
Bonus Content
When Lue was here to interview me at my place last February he picked up on an art piece that hangs in my office. It is artist Tim Kelly's colored pencil sketch of the Grady Twins from The Shining depicted as aliens. I bought it at the Pine Bush UFO Fair last year. Lue asked confirmatively if I had only just recently gotten into the UFO scene. I said yes, only since first engaging with him and the producers of Unidentified. When I interviewed Lue last week I asked him the same thing. "Was this always something that you followed and had a belief?" He said no. "Was there a turning point at which a lightbulb went on and you said, 'Woah! There's something to this.'"
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| The Grady Twins as Aliens |
Lue never had the luxury to think about UFOs prior to becoming involved with the subject, "I was too busy catching and chasing bad guys. It wasn't until I had my... initial meeting with the then director of the former [AATIP] program that I came to the understanding that they really mean that there are UFOs out there. When he says 'UAP' they mean, 'UFOs, Unidentified Flying Objects,' and we're taking this topic very seriously, and at that point it was kind of a slow, gradual realization that we're dealing with something here that really, truly is not some sort of conventional technology. We really don't know what they hell these are but they really are there. I think that was kind of the epiphany for me which occurred in the 2008 timeframe."
I pressed further, "What was that one piece of information that pushed you over the edge?"
"Ooh," Lue shook his head. "It wasn't one. It was many. I got to be careful what I say here but I can guarantee you that 99 percent of your audience right now, if they were to see a couple things that I was privy to..." he shakes his head vigorously from side to side, "There'd be no question in their mind what this is. None! Kind of like your experience, right? You saw something and were like, 'Hey, I don't know what to tell you but that ain't ours.'"
At home, Lue tells his kids to make up their own minds about the UFO Phenomenon. When they ask him a question he tries to give them a straight answer. He arms them with information and then lets them decide what it means.
Somehow, over the course of the conversation we went down the Rabbit Hole and spent over half an hour talking about UFOs and what Lue knows about them. That will be the subject of the companion article to this piece, What does Lue Elizondo know? For this article I really wanted to focus on, Who is Lue Elizondo?
Through all of Lue's successes in moving the Disclosure needle to the right he remains humble about the part he has played. Within the #UFOTwitter crowd Lue is a celebrity. He shakes off the term but it sticks to him. How does someone who spent his first career concertedly out of the public eye remain grounded with this new-found fame?
"Look at yourself in the mirror every day, change your own oil to your car, mow your own lawn, go to a homeless shelter and help serve food. That's how you keep yourself humble. You remind yourself that I am no different than anybody else and I'm steps away from being in your shoes anytime, any day."
Lue credits any success he has achieved to the hard work of other "incredible people" who were smarter and more capable than he is. "I Stand on the shoulders of giants. I rode on the coat tails of great people. That's how I got to where I am."
Some readers will be disappointed I did not pin Lue down on what he knows about government conspiracies, that I did not hold his feet to the fire on this or that.
I had originally planned on leaving that sort of thing to folks like Danny Silva or "UFO Joe" Murgia or UFO Jesus. That is their modus operandi and they are good at it. But despite my intention to keep the conversation on Who is Lue Elizondo, he did drop a few pearls here and there - some may call them bombshells. I will write this up in a follow up article which will go into, What does Lue Elizondo know?
For now, my intention was to show the world the guy I know, the guy who stood in my kitchen and compared notes with me on making pizza from scratch, the guy who stood on my porch and talked about his daughters and his concerns as a dad, the guy who stood in my garage and drooled over my motorcycle while showing me pics on his phone of his bike, the guy who sends me a random text on a Saturday night to tell me his wife liked my episode of Unidentified. That is the Lue I know and the interview I wanted to do.
Thank you for reading and keep an eye on the sky.
Thanks David for the family-centric view on Lue - nice to see a humble connection to the world.
ReplyDeleteThank you for saying. It was fun to do. Lue is a good guy.
ReplyDelete