Russ Estes

Author, Filmmaker, Producer, Investigator

The co-author of UFO books, including the controversial book The Abduction Enigma, Faces of the Visitors, The Spaceships of the Visitors; an illustrated guide to alien spacecraft, all of which he partnered with Kevin Randle on. Estes was a no nonsense investigator not afraid of telling people how it was. Estes used his filmmaking and producing talents in making a thirteen-part documentary on the subject of UFOs. During his travels and investigations, he came to realize there was far more talk than substance being offered. Estes was never afraid to engage a charlatan or to candidly speak his mind. While he was often referred to as a non-believer in UFOs, fact was that Estes was a veteran investigator who did indeed hold a pro-UFO view.

Estes directly confronted UFO snakeoil salesman Sean David Morton on one of many of Morton's bogus educational claims during an episode of The Montel Williams Show, as well as having disproved several other Morton claims. Sadly in January 2005 Estes passed away due to complications from diabetes. While Estes was viewed as a hardened skeptic, truth is that Estes was a UFO proponent. Estes had a side not many in UFO circles knew about - he was a world class award winning artist.-RMIII

" How easy is it to become a guru in this field? Very easy. How easy is it to become a star? My God, is it easy! Anyone can get up there and start blathering about anything and they’re a star. It’s akin to religion, unfortunately. It’s built on a strong belief structure, and the belief structure is more important that the facts, at least to most of these people. " -- Russ Estes in an interview about the UFO field and its acceptance of certain figures.