David Wilcock was an American author, lecturer and online broadcaster who became one of the best-known figures in the New Age wing of the UFO disclosure movement. Through best-selling books, long-running Gaia television series and his own channels, he promoted claims of telepathic contact with extraterrestrials, a coming spiritual "ascension," and a hidden secret space program. He passed away in Colorado on April 20, 2026, at age 53.

Born in New York State in 1973, Wilcock earned a psychology degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 1995. A 2004 book with Wynn Free, The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?, explored the idea that he was the reincarnation of the American psychic, a belief some of his followers came to hold. His later books, The Source Field Investigations, The Synchronicity Key, The Ascension Mysteries and Awakening in the Dream, reached wide audiences, and he was a regular guest on the History Channel's Ancient Aliens.

His largest platform was the streaming network Gaia, where he hosted Wisdom Teachings and Cosmic Disclosure, a 2015-2018 series featuring Corey Goode, who claimed to have served in secret space programs. He also made the documentaries Above Majestic and The Cosmic Secret and, by 2023, held the title of director of advanced technology at Stavatti Aerospace. Critics and former associates challenged his record. In 2020 Vice reported on his paid online "mystery school" and his claims that the coronavirus was tied to an "Illuminati Deep State" and that a catastrophic pole shift was coming, and predictions of imminent mass ascension and disclosure that he made over many years did not come to pass. Filmmaker Darcy Weir's documentary Dark Alliance examined his partnership with Goode, and a former Gaia producer described him as charming but egotistical.

After his passing, his family said there was no foul play, and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna posted condolences. Online speculation tied his passing to stories about missing scientists, but officials and his family gave no support for that claim.

Wilcock's significance in the UAP record is as a central figure in the commercial, spiritually oriented side of disclosure culture, whose following, unfulfilled predictions and partnerships became a case study in the movement's tensions between belief, entertainment and evidence.