Lawrence Cardenas, The Dearborn Inn and The Saucer Life

I'm not particularly interested in UFOs so much as I am with the so-called abductees and sightings. As with ghosts, I believe what I see and nobody has ever photographed or recorded video of a believable spectre. Within the realm of Unidentified Flying Objects there's quite a lot of weird things going on in the sky. Most of which I believe originates within the United States government in conjunction with the CIA. Ditto with similar law enforcement and spy agencies in other countries. I italicize law enforcement because I believe that such organizations are operating not only illegally but in the service of evil. Which is not to be confused with Satanism, or any other bosh concepts - though the participants may have such inclinations - so much as nefarious "idealism" beyond both the law and the general moral conscript of human goodwill wherever it resides in sparse pockets of the population.

As for Laura Mundo, if she wasn't a local phenomenon I would have zero inclination towards her work. Though, before I purchased a pile of mementos from her relative's estate it was a dormant fascination which stopped at the trivially benign she was and is interesting and I did nothing with that information. Finding her ephemera makes it a bit more personal. Plus, I put out a very limited free "newspaper" every month about local metro Detroit history - mostly relegated to the defunct Nankin Township; though I see no real separation between Inkster, Westland, Dearborn or Canton in terms of that historical geographic designation - and she is excellent fodder to keep my interest piqued in the project.

The colorized newspaper photograph above and the clipping below about Lawrence Cardenas' flying saucer sighting in 1954 directly relates to Laura Mundo in several ways: 1. She was a personal friend of Cardenas. 2. He relayed his encounter to Laura's very receptive UFO group. 3. Her ex-husband Otto Marxer once worked at the Dearborn Inn where Cardenas was heading to on the morning of the sighting and we can assume that he was a former co-worker of the man as well. Although the article states that Cardenas was a cook, a mention in the October 15, 1954 issue of The Vimana, the official publication of the Detroit Flying Saucer Club, states that he was Chief Steward of the Laundry at the Dearborn Inn.

Detroit Free Press, November 28, 1954

The story is recalled and highlighted in the podcast The Saucer Life episode Laura Mundo and the Father's Plan (approx. 28:30 in). A show that I have mentioned a time or two that I have no affiliation to. Which would be evident to anybody who has encountered its professionalism and then ventured into my scattered retchings spilled across the blog-o-sphere and social media.

Laura wrote about the incident in her booklet Flying Saucer: Up-Day! and some in the UFO community out-of-hand discredited the story due to their personal friendship. The Detroit Free Press also ran the aforementioned and showcased piece where Sgt. Howard Whaley of the Michigan State Police subjected Cardenas to the Keeler polygraph test concerning his sighting and determined that he was not only lying but didn't have confidence in the story that he had relayed.

His friendship with Laura Mundo likely started with his employment at the Dearborn Inn where Otto Marxer was a chef before opening his own eastery. The photo standalone below documents his employment there in 1938 which correlates with her "having known him (Cardenas) personally for 15 years" as 16 years had elapsed between the stories. See, isn't documentation fun?!

Detroit Free Press, March 2, 1938