CLASSIC UFO CASES AND PHOTOGRAPHS CLASSIC UFO CASES AND PHOTOGRAPHS By Larry Robinson This report is of cases and photos where the page author has clearly identified the cause of the sighting. Updated 03/12/2020 Prehistoric: Bayan Kara Ula, China: In 1938, diagrams were made of circular carved stones, called Dropa Stones. The stones are said by some to contain writing from 12000 years ago. They have a hole in the center and a slot on one side of the hole. Spiral grooves are engraved running from the center to the edge. This author recognized them as grindstones. June 24, 1947; Mt. Rainier WA: A possibility that makes sense has now surfaced in this case. Some propeller driven predecessors to the RB-49 flying wing were being tested in that area at the time. They were boomerang-shaped, with vertical fins at the wingtips. There was a very short fuselage in the center, only slightly longer than the wing. Four pusher propellers provided thrust. The plane was the XB-35. One problem: There were only two built. But a plane might have been towing test dummies. Arnold's distance and speed estimates don't jibe. Because of this, another theory says that the objects were geese. It is also noteworthy how close Arnold's description came to the Horton HO-229 World War II jet fighter. July 2 1947; Roswell NM (One of many reported dates and places): This is obvious, considering the military purpose at the time. A Mogul balloon crashed near Roswell. This balloon was secret until the 1980s, because it was to be used to monitor Soviet nuclear testing with high-flying microphones. An initial cover story was a "flying disc" crash. Then, the RaWin corner reflector weather balloon was substituted as an explanation to satisfy the press. Since the Mogul balloon was made from RaWin balloon parts, it was a logical explanation. May 11, 1950; McMinnville OR: This appeared to be a strong case, until the following discrepancies appeared: The reported time-of-day the photos were taken is in doubt. (GSW, Brookesmith) This page author now has copies of six different photos, each purported to be one of the original two pictures taken by Trent: (Monochrome) A tilted disc seen from a bottom angle with the pole barely visible. (PHOTO 1 - ubiquitous) (Monochrome) A tilted disc seen edge-on with a slanting pole on top. (PHOTO 2 - ubiquitous) (Color) A tilted disc seen edge-on with a bubble dome on top. The sky is dark blue at the top and yellow near the horizon, and the foliage has grown compared to the first 2 photos. The structure of the garage door track is seen from a different angle compared to any of the previous photos. The position of the disk is much lower than in photos #1 and #2, and it is larger. (World Atlas of UFOs, John Spencer) (Color) The disc in the same position as in photo #3, but with an orange sky and almost black foliage. (UFO - The Complete Sightings, Peter Brookesmith) (Monochrome) A tilted disc seen from a bottom angle with a bubble dome on top, the sky has a dark band across it. The structure of the garage door track is seen from a different angle compared to any of the previous photos. The disk is in a position similar to the one in Photo #3, and the foliage matches photo #3. (Alien Contact - The first fifty years, Jenny Randles - USA release only) (Color) A disk on edge, near the horizon. The sky is cyan and the foliage is bright green. (UFO-II, CD-ROM) (Monochrome) A disc in the same position as in photo #1, but with the camera pointing more to the left. This photo has been shown to be just a different cropping of Photo #1. (UFOs Explained, Philip J Klass - appears in only the paperback edition. The hardback edition has the correct Photo #2.) The Trents were known to local authorities as "repeat sighters." (Brookesmith) The photometry results also match the case where the sun has just risen, and is behind the farmhouse. Bright clouds in the sky produce the shadows on the garage, and they also light up the bottom surface of the object in photo #1. This makes the photometry consistent with a model hung from the electric line. If monofilament fishing line had been used, even the GSW system would not detect it, for it matches anything behind it. The object in photos #1 and #2 looks suspiciously like the top of a pressure cooker the page author's grandmother used to have. It had a handle that was raised up from one side to unlock it. The top had several concentric raised circles, each on top of the other. The bottom was flat except for a rim around the edge. It has been suggested that the object in photos #1 and #2 is a side-view-mirror from the truck in the photo. A specular bottom surface could produce some very interesting photometry results. The object in photos #1 and #2 also looks suspiciously like the record balancing disk on this 1949 Dual record changer (photo to right). The object in photos #3, #4, and #5 looks like a Chrysler hubcap. Dual 1000 record changer from the 1940s. Could the Trent UFO be its record balancing disk? August 25-30, 1951; Lubbock TX: There are two different effects here. Most of the visual sightings were of flocks of birds. The page author has seen this himself in 1990. Examination of the photographs discloses a very faint image in the black background of a choir and a structure standing behind the rows of lights. I think these were flash pictures attempted beyond the effective range of the flashgun used, and that the photographer took advantage of the publicity to make some money on shots that were ruined. This effect is most evident in the John Spencer World Atlas of UFOs May 7, 1952; Barra Da Tijuca Brazil: Photo #4 is the widely published and tested one, but it's Photo #5 that reveals the hoaxed nature of the photos. It shows the disk lighted from the bottom. That is a physical impossibility unless the photographer took the pictures from above the object. Since the photographer was on the ground in these shots, the object had to have been added by montage. The photos were claimed to be a series of shots of the same object. Hence, Photo #5 disqualifies all of the others as hoaxes too. July 2, 1952; Tremonton UT: Delbert Newhouse took an 8mm movie of a group of white objects that were milling about near the Great Salt Lake. But the interesting part is that similar objects are also visible in the background in the portions of the film where he was filming his family. Nobody seems to have noticed them then. All of these objects are almost certainly seagulls. July 14, 1952; Holloman Air Force Base, NM: This is obviously a time exposure of a TV screen with cartoons on. The page author can clearly see the image of one of his favorite 1950s cartoon characters, Fauntleroy Fox. Several other drawings, and a man's face, are superimposed. A reason for this shot may be suggestions in photography magazines and books at the time. They suggested photographing a TV screen to check the accuracy of the shutter speed. At 1/60 second, the camera should capture exactly one field scan of the picture. They suggested using a channel that is unused in the area, so you see the entire white raster. This could combine faint pictures from distant stations. July 19 and 26, 1952; Washington DC: The radar and visual sightings over the nation's capital had a technological cause. Shortly before the sightings, new RADAR equipment was installed at both Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base. The new equipment was retrofitted, and provided MTI (moving target indication - removes stationary targets) and AGC (automatic gain control). These features worked together with operator inexperience with them to cause the strangeness of the reported events: It was easy for an operator just learning the "new" operation of the retrofit to inadvertently decalibrate this RADAR set. Some of the controls changed function when the retrofit was added. In particular, some controls previously used for operation became calibration settings, and the previous functions of those controls were moved to new controls on the retrofit panel. Someone probably turned an old knob instead of the new knob by force of habit. Both events started on Saturday evening and ended Sunday morning. In 1952, these were very low air traffic periods. That turned out to be a clue. When there was no air traffic in the area, the miscalibrated AGC increased the gain until targets were found. This boosted weaker targets normally not displayed into visibility. This would not be a problem if the weaker targets were stationary, as the MTI would remove them from the screen. It also decalibrated the MTI. One of the early sets of targets behaved just like a flock of birds leaving a tree and spreading out. The boosted gain could have made the RADAR track such a flock. At the same time, a temperature inversion was causing atmospheric conditions that bend RADAR beams. This caused the beam to bend down, striking a ground target, and then returning to the RADAR set. Because the atmospheric conditions were constantly changing, these ground targets changed distance as the RADAR beam bent at different angles. This prevented the MTI from removing the targets. The "UFO Mode" effect caused people who learned that "a UFO is in the area" to see UFOs when they were told where to look. Several observers reported the planet Mars, which was very bright at the time, as a visual "confirmation" of the UFO. The temperature inversion also made lights in the sky seem brighter, and to scintillate and move about. This made them seem more like UFOs. Although there is no evidence to support this, the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) might have caused some of the principles in the case to imagine that what they saw as fiction the previous year was now occurring for real. Here's the neat part: When the F-94s entered the area, all of the UFOs suddenly disappeared from the RADARscopes. Did the UFO pilots see the planes coming, and scram? No! The AGC units on the RADAR sets saw the strong returns from the planes, and turned down the gain. Thus, the "UFO targets" were below the threshold needed to produce a blip, so they vanished. But the temperature inversion was still there. This bent the pilots' RADAR beams down to the ground, causing the pilots to start chasing UFOs on their RADARs. One pilot reported that, each time he started chasing a UFO, he ended up flying toward the ground, aimed at a steamboat on the Potomac River. On both days, the UFOs disappeared as dawn approached and the temperature inversion dissipated. February 15 1954 Coniston England: Stephen Derbishire claimed to have photographed a UFO. He later admitted the photo was a joke. Inspection shows the photo is actually an out-of-focus wedding photo turned on its side. When turned so the dark patch is to the left, the bride and a flower girl are seen, along with their reflection in a well-polished floor. The dark patch is the in-focus head of a spectator. November 19, 1954; Taormina Sicily: Newsman Giuseppe Grasso took a picture of some people outside. The photo appears to be a double exposure of the outdoor scene and a flash failure of a scene containing an art-deco tree lamp. Update: It now looks like Grasso purposely staged the photo to go with a visual sighting of a sounding balloon reported the same day. The picture was published the day after it was taken. Also, there were two photos taken, each showing completely different objects. Further update: The page author found the sounding balloon in the usually published photo. It is a tiny white dot, in the correct place for the people in the photo to be looking at it (the faked UFOs are too high for their gaze). Apparently, Grasso came in boasting that he had photos of a UFO (which was independently reported). He couldn't find the UFO in the print, guessed that the UFO had moved out of frame, and then tried to add in what he thought he had seen visually. May 15, 1955; New York NY: The page author thought this was a nice photo of a Scotch Tape dispenser. But with further inspection (and the availability of a second photo), he identified it as a waving pennant "frozen" by the camera. July 17, 1956; Natal South Africa: Elizabeth Klarer, a reputed contactee who described breathing "pure Venusian air," took four black-and-white pictures. She used a cloud filter for some reason. The object is a "Spin-O-Reno" toy. This is a plastic plate with a deep rim on the bottom and a raised center. See the photo at right. The contrast was enhanced to show the raised center. It was made so children can easily spin and balance it on a stick, in the manner that circus performers spin plates (but without breaking any china). The page author as a child got one as a birthday present that same year. One question: Why was a cloud filter used on these photos? Maybe this was done to hide the true nature of the plastic plate. Photographers don't habitually keep cloud filters on their camera lenses. Her "contact" contained all of the typical liberal platitudes: ban the bomb, abolish war, don't eat any meat, live together harmoniously, form a socialist world government, and community ownership of all property. These are things the untutored typically think of to make life better. Never mind that they don't work. Klarer also reported other sightings over several years, including a ride to Venus, where she reported "breathing pure Venusian air." This sighting happened back when TV science fiction had people traveling to all of the other planets and meeting the humanoid inhabitants there. We now know that Venus has an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid, contradicting her story. August 13-14, 1956; Lakenheath-Bentwaters England: Solution page. November 2, 1957; Levelland Texas: Many motorists saw lights in the night sky, some of them on roads ahead of their vehicles. As they approached these lights, their engines quit. What was not generally reported in these cases was the fact that the air was full of dust and was charged with electricity. This phenomenon is known in association with dust storms, and is also seen frequently at the tops of mountains (Pike's Peak is a documented example). This charged atmosphere was sucked into engine compartments by radiator fans. This dust caused the spark plugs to fire continuously, stopping the engines. If the car so affected had a 6-volt battery (as over half of the cars then had), the headlights dimmed to less than half brilliance without the generator going (which is one reason cars now have 12-volt batteries). Once the discharges through the spark plugs ceased, the engines could be restarted. The subsequent report that the engines somehow restarted themselves is contradicted by the original testimony. Remember that many ignition wires didn't have rubber boots over the terminals back then. The UFOs were modified forms of St. Elmo's Fire caused by the charged air and dust. May 16, 1958; Trinidade Is. Brazil: This looked good, until the page author found out: The object was brighter than the sky to witnesses, but dark on the film. The object changes shape from photo to photo. Cartoon characters appear in the upper dome when the photo is enhanced (although this could be an artifact of the enhancement process). The page author remembers having a comic book with a similar saucer in it. It was given out about that time by Buster Brown Shoes. UPDATE: The author bought that comic book on eBay. It contains a similar, but not identical saucer. But Baruna might have distorted the image. Baruna was a specialist in trick photography. He earlier tricked an editor into running a fake story. Other fake UFO photos were produced by Baruna before and after the sighting. The grain of the UFO is coarser than the grain in the background, and has a halftone appearance similar to that used in colored comics (which should never happen in a true photograph). There is also a rectangular patch of grain anomaly surrounding the UFO. Baruna had reportedly confessed to someone that he faked the photos. Note that this is NOT the famous Trinidad Island, of the country Trinidad and Tobago, near Venezuela. It is an island 3 miles long and less than 2 miles wide, with a Brazilian naval garrison of 32 stationed on it, at the end of an ocean ridge that extends about 740 miles due east of Vitoria Brazil. It is the Trinidad Island referred to in Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. April 24, 1959; Piata Beach, Itapoan Brazil: Helio Aguiar took this series of 4 photos of a tilted disc. They puzzled the page author, nagging at his memory. "I have seen this before! I should know what it is!" Then, one day in early 1996, he was servicing the rubber drive parts on his Collaro Conquest record changer (shown at upper right). Suddenly he realized that he was holding the Aguiar UFO in his hand! "That's where I've seen it!" The object is the drive wheel through which the motor powers the record changing cycle. This part is found by taking off the turntable and looking underneath it. It is the right hand wheel in the small photo. But the wheel in the UFO photo is minus its rubber covering. Notice the large hub on the wheel, which makes the "turret" of the UFO. The rubber part covers an aluminum wheel that is approximately 7/8 of the diameter of the entire wheel. To keep the rubber from slipping, there are 4 slots in the aluminum wheel through which the rubber forms when it is cast into place. They are visible as 4 indentations on the smaller turntable drive wheel (on the left side of lower photo), but not normally seen on the larger wheel unless the rubber is cut apart and removed. The slots are round on the small wheel, but elongated in the direction of rotation on the larger one. The original wheels (but not newer replacements) were made of real rubber, which tended to rot away quickly with high humidity. This happened to the author's original wheel, so he was able to find out what was inside it. The photos shown here are of two different Collaro Conquest record changers. The brown one was manufactured in 1959, and the gold one was made in 1961. There are cosmetic differences between them (such as the size of the knobs), but they are essentially the same record changer mechanism. In addition, Helio Aguiar reported an "automatic writing" event at the time he allegedly saw the disc. It contained the typical liberal platitude, "Put a stop to all nuclear tests!" This shows that the photos were probably intended for advancing a political cause through an appeal to force (which is a fallacy of argument). (But can an invasion force of aliens who are small enough to fit inside a Collaro change-cycle drive wheel be considered to really be a credible threat???). The Aguiar UFO Photos The author's Collaro Conquest record changer The drive wheels in a Collaro October 12 1961: News commentator Frank Edwards saw a UFO in Indianapolis IN. The page author saw it too - the same date, time, and location! Solution page. March 4, 1962; Sheffield England: Alex Birch took a picture of a mobile that the page author wanted for years as a kid. A neighbor kid had the same mobile in 1958, with the same cute little characters and spacemen on it. The author never got one, but he can still "see" the images that were printed on the cards, even though the picture shows only the silhouettes of the objects. Update: The page author was able to enhance the Birch image with a computer and recover the original shapes of the mobile cards. See photos at right. As the page author remembers them: - Upper left card: "Space convertible" with empty seats and a driver similar to (but who predated) Roger Ramjet. - Upper right card: Rocket ship with stripes on the nose, a fin with a pod, and a guy in a space suit in a porthole. - Middle card: Flying saucer with a green alien with sharp teeth under the dome. - Other two cards: Asteroids. One has a little guy on it. May 15 1962; Burlington MA: This is obviously a k… truncated (10,762 more characters in archive)