Dean of MUFON University and Director of Training
Mindy Tautfest is the Dean of MUFON University, MUFON Director of Training, and a member of the elite STAR Team. She joined MUFON as a member in 2019, became a Field Investigator that year, and served as Oklahoma State Director from 2020-2023. She joined the Experiencer Resource Team in 2022 as a way to further help experiencers process their sometimes-difficult encounters. In 2022, she began work revamping MUFON’s Case Management System which all Field Investigators use to conduct UFO investigations. Her work continued with major updates to the training curriculum found at MUFON’s online learning platform where she was officially named Dean of MUFON University by MUFON’s Executive Director David MacDonald.
My Story
An Oklahoma native, Mindy got her start investigating hauntings in the Sooner State in search of answers to her own mystifying experiences. Mindy has worked as an ICU Nurse with ACLS certification on assignments across the nation and has volunteered her time to Disaster Relief efforts including the Colorado Black Forest Fires, Hurricane Katrina, and the devastating May 3,1999 Moore Tornado.
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In 2016, Mindy suffered a brain aneurysm resulting in a Near Death Experience where she found herself in a place known as the Void. Although traditionally thought of as a separate phenomenon, in a recent study of submitted Experiencer Questionnaires, MUFON’s ERT has discovered that a staggering 55% of UFO Experiencers also reported having a Near Death Experience. This is a little understood statistic, but Mindy’s personal encounter with the Near Death phenomenon combined with years of investigations into UFO encounters, places her in a unique position to understand the underlying connections and after effects seen as a result of these enigmatic events. Her book, Dying To Meet Them, chronicling her incredible journey from NDE to UAP is due out in 2023.
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Mindy has appeared as a guest on numerous podcasts across the United States speaking about UFO sightings, breaking news in Ufology, Near Death Experiences, and High Strangeness in Oklahoma. She has had articles published in the MUFON Journal as well as internationally in Outer Limits Magazine. Her investigation of the 1975 Miracle Mountains Schoolyard Encounter was designated as MUFON’s Top Case of Interest in 2021. This major U.S. schoolyard encounter mimics so many others from around the world including those taking place at the 1966 Australian Westall High School and the 1994 Zimbabwe Ariel School sightings. Mindy presented the incredible findings of her investigation into these unique encounters at the 2022 International MUFON Symposium in Denver, CO and on season 19 of the History Channel's hit TV show Ancient Aliens. Mindy was a featured panelist at the 2023 Alien Con in Pasadena, CA where she represented MUFON and discussed its history of UFO investigations.