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36 UFO Hoaxes 36 UFO Hoaxes UFO HOAXES by the "Stormville Flyers," a group of small Investigations Committee on Aerial UFO HOAXES plane pilots. By attaching multi-colored lights Phenomena. on to their planes and flying in formation they While there have been many By Samuel D Orez By Samuel D Orez could give the impression of a huge UFO sailing unsubstantiated rumors of other U.S. Presidents majestically across the sky. By turning off their having close encounters with UFOs, none of In 1897 Alexander Hamilton, of Yates lights on cue they could make the ship these have ever been confirmed or officially Center, Kansas, came out of his house to mysteriously disappear. Although this hoax did reported. [] discover a cigar shaped UFO was hovering over not explain all the sightings over the years in the his farm. Humanoids in the ship had a rope Hudson Valley it did explain a percentage of the PRESIDENT RONALD around one of Hamilton's calves and were trying cases. to winch it aboard. This story appeared in the Some skeptics believe certain categories REAGAN SEES A UFO Yates Center local newspaper along with of items are almost all hoaxs. This includes statements from leading citizens vouching for things like the English crop circles and just Hamilton's honesty. For almost a hundred years about every "flying saucer" pictures ever taken. it was considered one of the best documented As time goes on it may become more UFO cases on the books. The only problem with and more difficult to detect hoax photographs. it was that it was a hoax. In the past faked photographs were subject to Hamilton, along with the other "leading careful analysis that might spot problem in the citizens," were part of a local liar's club and picture: a hidden string holding up a flying regularly practiced out doing each other with saucer, or evidence like a shadow that would tale tales. Hamilton's cigar airship story was so show the picture was not taken at the time of the good that it was put in the newspaper as a joke. day claimed. More and more though The members of the club had no idea at the time sophisticated computerized image processing is just how effective this lie would be at fooling available even in people's home. This makes it thousands of people around the world. It was easier and easier to create a seamless fake only in 1977 when Jerry Clark, in FATE photograph. [] magazine, published the results of Robert Schadewald's work on the "calfnapping" story, PRESIDENT JIMMY that the truth came out. Objects as mundane as a dry cleaner CARTER’S UFO bags, balsa wood and birthday candles can be SIGHTING used to perpetrate a hoax. Many people have been fooled by balloons constructed by these simple materials. The candle provides the hot One night in 1974, from a Cessna air needed to lift the balloon as well as an eerie Citation aircraft, one of America's most famous glowing light that floats through the air, fooling citizens saw a UFO. the unwary. Teenagers in Oneonta, New York, There were four persons aboard the mystified residents with this prank. plane: pilot Bill Paynter, two security guards, Unfortunately these devices can have more and the governor of California, Ronald Reagan. serious consequences than inspiring a false As the airplane approached Bakersfield, UFO report. The flame, after a crash landing, California, the passengers called Paynter's may start a fire. attention to a strange object to their rear. "It Though only a tiny minority of UFO appeared to be several hundred yards away," reports turn out to be hoaxes they challenge the Paynter recalled. "It was a fairly steady light credibility of all sightings. They can also call until it began to accelerate. Then it appeared to into question the professionalism of UFO elongate. Then the light took off. It went up at a enthusiast organizations. A number of years ago 45-degree angle-at a high rate of speed. English physicist David Simpson decided to see Everyone on the plane was surprised. . . . The how effective UFO investigators would be a In October (some sources say January) UFO went from a normal cruise speed to a spotting a hoax. While a group of UFO spotters 1969, Jimmy Carter observed a UFO in the fantastic speed instantly. If you give an airplane were on a neighboring hill he used a purple skies near Leary in southwestern Georgia. power, it will accelerate-but not like a hot rod, light, a horn and bogus faked photographs to This unidentified flying object, which and that's what this was like." generate a "close encounter of the first kind." appeared just after dusk, was a single luminous A week later Reagan recounted the The hoax was not detected at all and the object about 30 degrees above the horizon that sighting to Norman C. Miller, then Washington photographs declared to be, "genuine beyond all Carter estimated to be about 300 to 1000 yards bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal. Reagan doubt." away. told Miller, "We followed it for several minutes. Though there are reputable UFO Carter and about a dozen other men It was a bright white light. We followed it to organizations that do their best to screen out watched the object for about 10 to 12 minutes as Bakersfield, and all of a sudden to our utter false reports it is not always an easy job. Even it hovered, changed course several times, and amazement it went straight up into the when an organization suspects a hoax they may eventually disappeared in the distance. heavens." When Miller expressed some doubt, a be reluctant to say so unless they are absolutely During his 1976 Presidential campaign, "look of horror came over [Reagan]. It suddenly sure. In theory a libel lawsuit could be filed and Carter told reporters: "It was the darndest thing dawned on him . . . that he was talking to a the accusers must be prepared to prove their I've ever seen. It was big, it was very bright, it reporter." Immediately afterward, according to case. changed colors, and it was about the size of the Miller, Reagan "clammed up." One of the most well known hoaxes moon. We watched it for ten minutes, but none Reagan has not discussed the incident involved with the "Hudson Valley Sightings." of us could figure out what it was. One thing's publicly since [] Between 1983 and 1987 thousands of people for sure, I'll never make fun of people who say along New York's Hudson Valley witnessed a they've seen unidentified objects in the sky. If I boomerang-shaped UFO estimated to be become President, I'll make every piece of THE ‘X’ ZONE RADIO SHOW between 200 and 1000 feet from tip to tip. The information this country has about UFO with Rob McConnell ship was marked at regular intervals by sightings available to the public and the Monday - Friday multicolored blinking lights. A group of UFO scientists." 10 pm - 2 am Eastern investigators found that at least some of the Carter even filed an official report of the on the TalkStar Radio Network or incidents could be traced to a spoof perpetrated incident with NICAP, the National www.xzonetv.com