Page 38 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - August/September 2017

38 How We Staged the Morristown UFO Hoax

How We Staged the

Morristown UFO Hoax

Chris Russo & Joe Rudy

Have you ever seen the face of the Virgin Mary
on your grilled cheese? How about the image of
Satan in a cloud of smoke? Or Sasquatch
running through the woods? What about an
alien spacecraft in the sky?
It is not difficult to find people who
respond with an astounding “yes!” to one of
these — or all four. Humans are, by nature,
experts at finding patterns whether they are real
or not, and UFOs are among the most common
patterns people find in the skies. Now, you may
be thinking that UFOs are only seen by a mullet
sporting, tobacco chewing, dolt whose highest
aspiration is to make an appearance on the Jerry spotted objects that he described as “crescent field — an open yet isolated area surrounded by
Springer Show, but in fact doctors, lawyers and shaped,” adding that they “moved like a saucer woods. There we were sure that we would have
even pilots report seeing flying saucers, flying would if you skipped it across the water.” He the privacy to prep the balloons, and that we
triangles, and aerial shapes of all manner of an was subsequently misquoted by an Associated wouldn’t have our plot foiled. From the
unidentified nature. Even over the skies of an Press reporter as having seen “flying saucers,” beginning we decided to document all aspects
affluent suburban community in New Jersey. which he later corrected, noting: “They said that of the project, including setting up the flares and
Enter Joe Rudy and Chris Russo and the great I’d said they were saucer-like. I said they flew balloons, launching them into the sky, and
UFO hoax of 2009. in saucer-like fashion.” Nevertheless, the flying recording any media coverage that the “UFOs”
saucer craze was born and 60 years later, despite received. The documentation was especially
the fact that there is still no evidence of their important in order to prevent conspiracy
existence, the UFO myth is as strong today as theorists from claiming that we were part of a
ever, fed by cable channel shows that prop up cover-up of the truth when we revealed the
UFO “experts” who claim to be authorities on a hoax.
subject that’s on par with astrology and palm On January 5, 2009, we set out into the
reading. These charlatans make a career by woods on the border of Morris Plains and
perpetuating the E.T. fairy tale and exploiting Hanover, NJ, carrying one helium tank, five
credulous people who want nothing more than a balloons, five flares, fishing line, duct tape, and
good conspiracy theory to believe in. a video camera. After filling up one 3-foot
balloon with helium, we tied about five feet of
fishing line to the balloon, secured the line with
tape, then tied and taped the flare to the other
end of the line. Once all five balloons were
ready for takeoff (with our fingers on the verge
of frost bite), we struck the 15-minute flares and
released them into the sky in increments of
fifteen seconds apart from each other. We
filmed the “UFOs” as they floated away, and
then walked the half-mile stretch out of the
headline from Morris County Daily Record January 31, woods to our car. The hoax was underway.
2009 The media coverage the incident
received over the next few days was extensive.
Both local and national news stations were
In November of 2008, we found ourselves covering the UFO over New Jersey. The local
sitting around one evening discussing paper had a field day with it, quoting a doctor
pseudoscience and the large numbers of people who said the mysterious lights traveled against
that still believe in its various guises. We had the wind, and quoting another man who said the
always had a strong interest in why people were object “didn’t appear to be manmade.” The
so easily fooled by such irrational superstitions most sought after witnesses were the Hurley
as psychic ability, spiritual mediums, alien family. Paul Hurley, a pilot, along with his
abductions, and the like. Despite the lack of ad published by a local auto dealership taking family, made appearances on just about every
evidence to support these notions, we were advantage of the publicity major news station, describing the strange lights
baffled. How could so many people in an age of that they saw in the sky. The “Morristown
science still buy into dogma that is no more or It is in this context that we set out on a mission UFO” became the talk of the town.
less ridiculous than the notion of an elderly to help people think rationally and question the
obese man delivering presents to every child on credibility of so-called UFO “professionals.” (Continued on Page 39)
Earth in one evening? And like most other We brainstormed the idea of producing a
people, we had always heard about the spaceship hoax to fool people, bring the
uneducated farmer spotting an alien spaceship charlatans out of the woodwork to drum up “The only difference between a dream
hovering over his farm, but we wondered if that controversy, and then expose it as nothing more and reality, is just doing it.
amount of gullibility could be found in our than a prank to show everyone how unreliable The dream is the idea and
upper-middle class hometown of Hanover, NJ, eyewitness accounts are, along with working to make the dream come true
and the surrounding cities. investigators of UFOs. is the work one must put into the idea.”
The modern UFO phenomena began in We hatched the idea of tying flares onto - Rob McConnell
1947 when a pilot named Kenneth Arnold helium balloons and launching them in a nearby