Men in Black Birthday Bash Fest Pays Homage to Maury Island's Freaky UFO History

Whether the UFO sighting was real or not, "the only thing that we could do was to throw a big neighborhood party to celebrate it."

by Jas Keimig

On the sunny, clear afternoon of June 21, 1947, Harold Dahl, his 15-year-old son Charles, and their dog were chartering a patrol boat with a two-man crew near the shore on Maury Island. Then, something strange happened.

Dahl and the rest of the boat members reportedly saw six giant donut-shaped silver UFOs hovering about their barge and witnessed the saucers spewing white, sludge-like fiery debris that killed the dog and burned the son. Terrified, the men headed for shore to hide, and the UFOs zoomed back off into the sky. Dahl alleged that the next day, June 22, he was visited at his Tacoma home by a mysterious man in black who took him to a diner and warned him never to speak of what he saw on Maury Island.

This sighting became known as the Maury Island incident, the first in a series of UFO sightings in the summer of 1947 that includes the infamous Roswell crash and the Twin Falls incident. It's also the first recorded interaction between the public and the shadowy "men in black," who would go on to become the subject of pulpy science fiction novels and blockbuster film series. Although Dahl would eventually recant his tale, the story caused a media frenzy, with FBI investigators looking into the incident.

For the past several years, residents of Des Moines have taken this spooky history and run with it, celebrating the area's relationship with aliens and shadowy government organizations. This year, from June 21 to 23, they are hosting the third annual Men in Black Birthday Bash Fest in Des Moines, replete with dance parties, film screenings, and a whole lot of UFO talk.

The genesis for the birthday bash dates back to 2012, when longtime Des Moines resident and lawyer Steve Edmiston and a friend, Terry Donahue, were chatting in a coffee shop about local history. Someone eavesdropping on their conversation butted in and asked if they'd heard about the Maury Island incident — neither of them had. The interjection eventually propelled Edmiston down a rabbit hole of UFO sightings, FBI interference, and hoaxes.

"I just couldn't believe that I'd never heard of it," said Edmiston, who has lived in Des Moines since the late 1980s and whose neighborhood looks out onto Maury Island. "My neighbors and I, our big idea was the only thing that we could do was to throw a big neighborhood party to celebrate it."

On June 21, 2012, Edmiston and his neighbors hosted the very first party/remembrance of the Maury Island incident on the beachfront in Des Moines, telling the eerie story and partying into the evening around a bonfire. Over the years, the party grew and grew in its devotion to UFO ridiculousness — they formed a fictional organization called the Maury Island Incident Historical Society and now host an annual event called Burning Saucer, where they give grandiose speeches and burn an effigy of a flying saucer.

As the (private) party outgrew its britches, Edmiston and his collaborators decided to host a spin-off party for the public that commemorates the day a man in black allegedly arrived at Dahl's home on June 22, 1947.

"The idea that what Harold Dahl said had spun into what is now the Men in Black film franchise and The X-Files — that's all Washington history," said Edmiston, who has researched and written about the Maury Island Incident extensively and also produced a short film about it. "We don't have to get wrapped up in the truth of it because it really is a pop culture phenomenon."

Now in its third year, the Men in Black Birthday Bash (MIBBB) has expanded to three days. On Friday, there will be an MIBBB Film and Dance Party at Harper Studios, featuring curated short films about the occult and alien encounters and, later, a space-themed after-party with BOOTS! go-go dancers. On Saturday, MIBBB implores attendees to don their best black-and-white attire (or dress as the man in black himself) for the official Men in Black Birthday Bash. And finally on Sunday, there will be a MIBBB Debrief at Waterland Arcade with 50 classic arcade games and 40 craft beers to sip on.

Now, did the Maury Island incident and the man in black encounter really happen? Or was it just a hoax constructed to drum up some summer controversy? Edmiston is less interested in the definitive, end-all-be-all "truth" of the matter and conducted his research using actual declassified FBI files and interviews. This celebration is more of a way to bring attention to the important role Maury Island played in UFO mythology.

"There's a component of this that really seems to finally be catching people's attention in the sense of, 'Oh, wait a minute. We should have always known this story and it got lost to history,'" he said. "What he saw, we don't know. But [saying] we shouldn't think about it is wrong. And I think people are taking ownership of that."

The Men in Black Birthday Bash Fest runs from June 21 to 23 in various locations around Des Moines. Get more information over on MIBBB's website.

📸 Featured Image: The third annual Men in Black Birthday Bash in Des Moines commemorates the first "man in black" encounter in 1947, and encourages attendees to dress up. (Photo courtesy of MIBBB.)