In 2015, Daniel Alan Jones approached the City of Aurora with Jim Marrs to propose an event to commemorate the Aurora legend. They arrived to find members of the historical planning committee along with the city administrator having just finished a meeting, and all of whom expressed interest in such an event. So, planning began for the following year. Despite many logistical challenges, the first and only Aurora Alien Encounter was held in April of 2016 and featured guest speakers and a screening of an updated version of Jim Marrs’ documentary about Aurora along with tours of the legendary locations. Due to the success of the event, the city was able to erect a city moment the following year in 2017, featuring a stylized city logo as well as a small windmill, disc-shaped spaceship, and an alien pilot welcoming travelers into Aurora.

Throughout the planning stages of the 2016 event, Jones submitted a plan to Marrs for a publication project based upon Marrs’ research into the extraordinary account from 1897. While it was not an urgent priority to complete for the 2016 event, Jones and Marrs initiated plans for this publication in 2017, to be released during what would have been the second event. However, with ongoing logistical difficulties similar to the first event, the second Aurora Alien Encounter, planned for April of 2017, had to be postponed. Unfortunately, Jim Marrs experienced severe health challenges throughout 2017 which he eventually succumbed to a month before the rescheduled event, bringing the overall decision to cancel the Aurora Alien Encounter altogether. Thus, this project also came to a halt with Marrs’ passing.

Eventually, Daniel Alan Jones would explore the project once more a few years later after taking “Ned” (Aurora’s unofficial mascot) on tour to various places and events, and developing the publication into something beyond its initial concept. This revisioning would incorporate not only research by Jim Marrs, but a chronological history of the legend, exploring all the ways in which it had been featured in all forms of multimedia throughout the years, and more recently; major contributions from numerous people, all on an online encyclopedia database of this information, made free and accessible to anyone, and plans for the physical publication to follow. In doing so, Jones’ research into the Aurora legend has been much more of a study in cultural history and folklore, rather than an attempt to prove or disprove its authenticity as a genuine UFO & alien story. Now, all possible sources of research, information, and media about the Aurora legend have been brought together in one place for all to explore and learn from!