Dublin and Stephenville were put in the spotlight as Netflix unveiled the series “Encounters” on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
The first episode entitled “Messengers” documents the sightings of lights in the Erath County skies in 2008 and features a lot of familiar faces and places to locals as it details the sightings of unidentified objects which were later confirmed by radar data.
The project, produced by Amblin Entertainment, Boardwalk Pictures and Vice Studio, filmed in the area in 2022 with footage captured halftime at a Dublin Lions game as the Sound of Dublin performed its alien-themed routine of that year. Also visible in the first episode is downtown Dublin, Relax Inn, Woody’s, Granny Clark’s, First National Bank of Dublin, the Dublin Citizen office, archival materials of a meeting at the Dublin Rotary building and more.
Featured on-camera offering their perspectives are locals Steve Allen, Norma Briseno, Kent Crouch, Lee Roy Gaitan, Pat Leatherwood, Lisa Leatherwood, Lee Leatherwood, Sara Vanden Berge and Eddy Weiss.
Archival interviews of Ricky Sorrells and Angelia Joiner are also included.
The polished production features a lot of commentary and vantages but the experience can be surreal for people who know the area as locations are occasionally conflated together in editing and Dublin and Stephenville are presented interchangeably through narration.
The other three episodes present accounts and testimonials of UFO sightings in the UK community of Broad Haven; Fukushima, Japan and Ruwa, Zimbabwe.
“Encounters” debuted on Netflix in the number 1 spot according to Forbes and Collider, but left the top 10 by the end of the week.