What’s with the UFO outside Treasure Island?

Published 10:30 am Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Maybe you’ve noticed; there’s a UFO on Vashon Highway Southwest, seated regally in front of Treasure Island.

The artist behind the mythical saucer is Matt Beursken, an island artist known around the community for eye-catching designs like his iconic troll costume or his elaborate Dia de Los Muertos ensemble.

Beursken’s newest shiny, attention-commanding creation is just one of several UFOs the artist has crafted. It’s a nod towards the 1947 Maury Island incident, when two men, Harold Dahl and Fred Crisman, reported seeing several donut-shaped unidentified aircraft flying above Maury Island, dropping debris.

“I liked the story, and I liked to kind of perpetuate that history, so I just decided I would make the thing that the island was sort of famous for, these flying saucers,” Beursken said.

While the incident is often regarded as a hoax, chatter about the merit behind the two men’s claims, as well as ongoing sightings of UFOs, still linger on Vashon.

Beursken first learned about the incident after moving to Maury in 2017, into his home overlooking Puget Sound, near where Dahl claimed debris resembling lava rocks hit his boat while patrolling the bay.

Inspired by the story, Beursken thought it would be fun to create a flying saucer every Halloween to display outside of his home, and even created one for Vashon’s Strawberry Festival a few years ago.

He brings the saucers to Treasure Island to be sold after Halloween and has already had one purchased.

Beursken has made three UFOs himself and renovated an additional one he found on the island. He says the UFO’s have only gotten better over the years.

He created his first one using empty gallon milk jugs, wrapped in chicken wire, covered in Christmas lights, which he humbly said looked “pretty good” outside his home.

Beursken says his newest creation is much more elaborate and took him about a month to finish. The body of the saucer was made using fiberglass — Beursken’s first time using the material — and then spray-painted in silver paint. Along the edge of the body, creating a kind of circular orb, Beursken nailed in metal flashing, a material often used in home construction.

Found objects like the door of an old microwave, a spray-painted glass bowl, and a disco bowl cover the body of the UFO, with a model alien under a see-through dome taking center stage.

Before expanding into sculpture making, Beursken says he was primarily a costume maker. While working at Progressive Insurance for almost two decades, he entered their annual costume contest — and won — nearly every year.

“Costumes were my main thing, but you know I could wear them maybe once at Halloween and that was it,” Beursken said.

Years ago, when he began selling at the Fremont Sunday market in Seattle, he created wire tree sculptures adorned with beads. Beursken says he started to bring to life whatever caught his eye, seeing something and thinking, “Oh, I can make that.”

Beursken brought in the UFO to Treasure Island a month ago, and he says it’s been getting attention ever since.

“There’s definitely been interest,” Beursken said. “It’s a big draw, people see it, and they come in.”

The UFO is priced higher than previous ones, at $1,495, because it was more elaborate and time-consuming to create.

Beursken’s UFO has not yet been sold and is available for purchase at Treasure Island.