The museum recently took over the former Fifth Third Bank building at 4105 Gulf Blvd., celebrating its grand opening on May 15. <\/p>\n
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Ancient artifacts that Metcalfe believes are of alien origin are displayed throughout the space. He said the carbon-dated relics were recovered from an archaeological dig north of Mexico City and range from 5,000 to 45,000 years old, he told Patch. <\/p>\n
It was the early 1990s, when Metcalfe had that first UFO sighting. The U.S. Air Force veteran had already left the military, trading his time in uniform for civilian life. He was working in sales, and his company flew him from Florida to Atlanta for an important meeting. <\/p>\n
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\u201cI was just there for two days and that night I got there, I was witness to a really bright blue light in the sky. I was like, \u2018Wow, what is that?\u2019 It wasn\u2019t moving or anything crazy, just a bright blue, like an LED, light,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The next day, watching the morning news, Metcalfe learned many others had the exact same experience. <\/p>\n
\u201cThousands of people called in for this strange blue light in the sky, and so, it was like, cool, I was part of a mass sighting,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t think much about the sighting in the years that followed. And if you told him when it happened that decades later, at 54, he\u2019d open an alien artifacts museum on the beach, he would have \u201cthought it was a joke,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cNot in a million years,\u201d Metcalfe said. \u201cBut here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Museum of the Unknown (Tiffany Razzano\/Patch) <\/p>\n
About a decade ago, he narrowly missed another sighting, which further fueled his interest in UFOs. He was fishing with buddies at John\u2019s Pass Village when he took a break to cook himself a burger. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came back down there, they were all frantic, \u2018Oh my gosh! We saw three orbs,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
One of the orbs flew over John\u2019s Pass Bridge before moving straight up into the sky, his friends told him. Two others followed. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was, like, \u2018Wow, that\u2019s really cool,\u2019 but I was so upset because I just missed the sighting of a lifetime,\u201d Metcalfe said.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cNow, I see them all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He started his own company, Sharkey\u2019s<\/a>, which offers water sports rentals and glass-bottom, LED-illuminated nighttime kayak tours on local waters. <\/p>\n As his business grew, he moved closer and closer to the waterfront, until finally, in November 2023, he moved into a beach house overlooking the Gulf. It was a longtime goal. <\/p>\n \u201cI finally made it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Metcalfe said he spent hours on his back deck watching the beach and night sky after moving into the home.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that\u2019s what I was doing, night and day, looking at the stars, and \u2026 then those lights, man, they started appearing,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n First came the white orbs. Then others started to appear in the sky, day and night, and he started recording them all. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s one a lot of people like to call the \u2018Tic Tac\u2019 because it\u2019s shaped like a \u2018Tic Tac.\u2019 There\u2019s another one that kind of showed us like it was a computer code,\u201d Metcalfe said. \u201cAnd the portals are some of the most amazing things that I\u2019ve captured \u2026 The portals are something that appear the size of a football field on the ocean, and they\u2019ll spin.\u201d<\/p>\n He began filming the phenomena first with his iPhone 12 before upgrading to an iPhone 16. Today, he has a high-tech infrared camera system aimed toward the water and constantly filming. <\/p>\n He continues to post all of his videos to his YouTube page, UFOwebcam<\/a>, and compiled a book of his sightings. He also submitted many of them to local U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform\u2019s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, which is currently investigating Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. <\/p>\n With the infrared camera in place, he started testing whether the presence of crystals influenced the appearance of the lights. <\/p>\n \u201cYou can see the swarms coming from the ocean. I have over 200 videos of just these,\u201d Metcalfe said. \u201cThey come towards my house. I mean, millions of them. I\u2019ve got to the point where I can communicate with them. Not only are they lights, they respond to me; they transform. They\u2019ve transformed in what we think is a scarab, which is a beetle \u2026 and they transform into many things.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cI get them to blink. I can kind of get them to gather in some way.\u201d <\/p>\n Metcalfe\u2019s fascination with the sightings led him to connecting with others in the UFO community, both locally and around the world. <\/p>\n This is how he met Arturo Hernandez, who leads the dig near Mexico City, in February. Curious, Metcalfe purchased a relic from the archaeologist. <\/p>\n \u201cI was just blown away, like, \u2018Wow, these are so cool,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then I just kept buying and buying and buying.\u201d <\/p>\n Metcalfe also introduced the artifacts to his friend, local entrepreneur Robert Czyszczon, who quickly became fascinated by them.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he started buying. Eventually we realized, we were supporting the dig site and supporting [Hernandez] to pay his people and stuff, and we wanted to keep helping him,\u201d Metcalfe said. <\/p>\n At one point, Metcalfe had 13 relics in his home. He used them similar to the crystals, trying to draw UFOs to his deck. Eventually, his fianc\u00e9e grew nervous about the pieces. <\/p>\n \u201cI brought them all there and I was like, \u2018Wait, I can\u2019t have all this stuff here.\u2019 And my fianc\u00e9e was like, I don\u2019t want that in our room,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI had half my upstairs with just relics, and we got a couple cats, and they\u2019re just jumping around these pieces. I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh my God. They\u2019re going to knock one over.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Metcalfe contemplated putting the pieces in storage when he came up with the idea for a museum. He reached out to Czyszczon, who owns several properties along the beach, including the former bank building that the Museum of the Unknown<\/a> currently calls home. <\/p>\n Both businessmen have the relics they\u2019ve purchased on display in the museum, Metcalfe said. <\/p>\n All proceeds from ticket sales will fund the Mexico dig site. Tickets are $35 for adults, free for those 5 and under, and $25 for seniors, active military members, and children 6 to 17.<\/p>\n Metcalfe is eager to share these findings with as many people as he can, both tourists and locals. <\/p>\n \u201cI want people to open their eyes. We want to share that there\u2019s more out there,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n He\u2019s also convinced the aliens are visiting with an important message for humanity.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that they\u2019re trying to communicate. It\u2019s an urgency type of message, and it\u2019s a warning, I think, is what it is,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re past the tipping point, that’s what they\u2019re feeling. The oceans have been acidic and coral reefs are dying and warming up, the South American anomaly, the glaciers are melting. I mean, look how freaking hot it is. There\u2019s no hiding it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.<\/a><\/p>\nDave Metcalfe, owner of the Museum of the Unknown in St. Pete Beach, shows one of the hundreds of videos he’s taken of unexplained lights, what he believes are UFOS, seen from the back deck of his home on the Gulf. (Tiffany Razzano\/Patch) <\/p>\n
Some of the relics displayed at the Museum of the Unnown in St. Pete Beach. (Tiffany Razzano\/Patch) <\/p>\n
Dave Metcalfe, one of the founders of the Museum of the Unknown, shines a black light on some relics displayed in a dark room at the museum. He doesn’t know the materials these pieces are made of. (Tiffany Razzano\/Patch) <\/p>\n