Another loss in the world of UFOs was recently announced, just a few days after the tragic accident that took the life of Christopher O’Brien. This time it was Emily Trim, one of the many witnesses of the famous Ariel Ruwa school close encounter, which was closely investigated by the late Dr. John Mack. Naturally the news came as a shock due to Emily’s relatively young age—she was just a little girl in 1994, when she along with several of her schoolmates observed the landing of an unknown object close to their school yard, and allegedly interacted with several non-human entities through non-verbal communication—no official statement from her family has apparently been released, but unconfirmed rumors through the vineyard indicate she was suffering from cancer, which seems to be confirmed by the selfies she continually posted on her Instagram page, showing her wearing short hair (which might be indicative of chemotherapy treatment).
Emily’s incredible life journey served as the focus of the 2022 documentary “Ariel Phenomenon,” directed by Randall Nickerson —who is himself an experiencer and was treated by John Mack, although that is not mentioned in the film (here is Q&A with Randall we conducted shortly after the release of his documentary).
As I wrote in my review of the film, I found it particularly captivating not only because I’ve been interested in the Ariel case ever since I learned about it when I was still in college, but also because I was fortunate enough to attend the UFO conference in which Emily gave her first presentation as an adult, which received a standing ovation from the audience.
Emily was a prolific artist, and she leaves behind a treasure trove of artworks that show her attempt to cope with the trauma she experienced as a young child—and encountering the Other will always be traumatic, because it brings about the shattering of one’s ideas of how the world is supposed to be. Her pieces are mostly abstract and almost psychedelic in nature through the use of garish bright colors, and in the last images she shared on her Instagram page she not only showed an interest in ritual practices through the use of rocks and wooden sticks, but also examples of what Dr. Mario Pazzaglini used to call Asemic ‘alien’ language.
Was she practicing automatic writing techniques in order to attempt a more direct communication with non-human intelligences? Sadly, we might not be able to find these answers. Nor will we be able to learn more about Emily’s evolving impressions on what happened to her and her friends that fateful day of 1994; a case which remains an unsolved mystery, despite some unimpressive attempts to debunk it in recent times, which have only caused arch-skeptics to cut themselves with their own Ockham razor.
Farewell, Emily. May you find the peace and answers you rightfully deserve.
NOTE (02-12-2024): This post originally included an image mistakenly comparing Emily as a grown woman with how old she was when t-he Ariel event took place. The photo of the girl was in fact that of Kayleigh Vandruten, another one of the witnesses. The image has now been updated with a correct photo of Emily (taken directly from the Ariel Phenomenon trailer). We apologize profusely for the mistake, and thank Gideon Reid for pointing it out.
