Saturday, 2 May 2009

2009 Petten ‘Drone/Kite' – Raison d'être?

I posted a few days ago about what I believed was a kite being touted as a Drone. I was a little surprised at how quickly this was embraced as such by LMH, especially considering her last few posts were almost a year ago. Earthfiles posted a bit when the flap was ongoing in the summer 2007 but in all of 2008 and until April 2009 only four related posts were made:



• 06/06/2008 — Aerial Ring with Antennas in Southern Ohio Forest and Chicago Dragonfly Drone

• 05/09/2008 — Dragonfly Drones - Surveillance Technology?

• 04/04/2008 — Wingless, “Dragonfly” Sighting On March 31, 2008

• 03/21/2008 — Part 2, Dragonfly-Shaped Aerial Craft: Current Media Misinformation Versus Eyewitnesses 1987 to 2007

• 03/07/2008 — Mysterious Aerial “Drones” - Oklahoma and Arkansas



Also all of these witnesses made the Drone association themselves which is why it seemed doubly strange when the most recent Petten witness was blissfully unaware of the Drones and indeed their implications when quizzed by LMH. Yet the association was still made and LMH gleefully added this new account to her Drone timeline while the second post regarding this was a couple of emails, both of which made tenuous connections. The first one with the Petten reactor and the second with another one of LMH's marketable passions, crop circles, but as I said I was a little puzzled as to why this report was being ‘overcooked' as it were.

I was also puzzled as to why the sudden interest by LMH in what was an explainable sighting and her eagerness to portray it as a Drone, well, that was until I found the following which was recently posted to Whitley Strieber's website, it's from the press release for the Dreamland-II festival in June (2009) and states that:



The crop circles of 2008 astonished researchers and silenced debunkers, and Linda Moulton Howe is going to tell us why and then go beyond public knowledge and into the mysterious world of leaked documents and attempts to back-engineer technology based on the patterns. One pattern in 2008 amazed scientists when the first ten digits of the infinite number Pi were found embedded in t. This coded circle was found near Barbury castle, where a 1991 circle inspired astronomer Gerald Hawkins to discover new geometry theorems. Further, in 2008 and 1991, the same Barbury Castle ratcheted spiral designs in which numbers have been embedded is found in an alleged leaked document from the 1980s linked to back-engineering extraterrestrial technology. This is THE crop circle presentation. There has been nothing like it before. EVER.

Source: Dreamland Store



Obviously the, “leaked document from the 1980s linked to back-engineering extraterrestrial technology” is none other than the documentation which accompanied the Drones and crudely presented as genuine by Isaac, yep, the faked Caret documents.

All for a measly $250!!

So you see really it's a most fortuitous coincidence that the Drones are indeed still making headlines, even if it does only appear to be at Earthfiles…..

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Friday, 24 April 2009

When is a Drone Not a Drone? (Petten, Holland, 2007)

PLEASE NOTE : For reasons which will quickly become apparent I refer to the Petten, Holland object as a, “Drone” purely because this is how it is being referred to in the course of being perpetuated across the internet and will ultimately enable ease of access for SE's/reference purposes.

I personally do NOT believe this object is related to the 2007 Californian Drone Hoax in any way shape or form (and I am apparently in the minority) but for what it's worth I believe that the witness of this recent (Petten, Holland) object is sincere and has shared the circumstances surrounding the sighting to the best of his recollection.



It was first reported by BJ Booth at the UFO Casebook on 12th April (2009) with the following title and message:

Drone-Like UFO Photographed in Holland, 2007

Petten, Holland, September, 2007

I was fishing with my wife, when I noticed something in the sky. I could not see what it was, because off in the distance we saw it as a black spot.

Altitude was about 300 meters. I took my camera, Nikon D50 and had a 300 mm lens on it. I just shot some pics (about 12), so I could see it on the computer.

It stayed for about half an hour, and then it disappeared (we didn't see it flying away). Photograph was taken in Holland, near Petten, on September 8, 2007.

regards,

Source: UFOCasebook Front Page



This was then followed up on the 14th April (2009) with another two photographs then after further contact with the witness the full thirteen images were released at UFOCasebook as a zip file.

It was in this third posting that BJ Booth also wrote:

I had a phone conversation with Linda Moulton Howe this afternoon, and we are collaborating on the research and information gathering aspect of the Holland drone-like photographs... more info will be coming soon. thanks again.



To be honest my (and many others) initial thought was that it was a kite of some description, this was just from the first release which contained just the one image, this seemed to be further confirmed by the second release of two images. And when the full sequence of (13) images were all released in their entirety this further confirmed that we were indeed looking at the motion very similar to that of a kite:

Animation Of Petten UFO Sequence
Animation Of Petten UFO



Where's Waldof?!

The witness joined the UFOCasebook forum after the first image was released (April 13 th 2009) and was a willing participant in the discussion elaborating and answering more questions regarding his experience, his user name was/is *Ruud*.

Below are some of the kites located which were of a similar structure to the object that was photographed in Petten, Holland.

Here's an overlay courtesy of UFOCasebook forum member Marvin.

All of the above were posted to the Casebook thread on or before the 16th April (2009).

Most are from the following link which also describes how you can even construct your own Waldof kite!! (Source)

Also, as well as a multitude of similar kites being found a couple of kite forums were contacted in the process of trying to positively identify the object as a kite, here's the first reply to the question on the kitebuilder.com forum.


Hate to disappoint anyone but .....

I got no hesitation, that is a kite

Moves like a kite, looks like a kite..it's a kite.

I reckon you even named it. A Waldorf [*Edit: SP – Waldof] Box (or Variant)


pic courtesy of Kite plan base

Any of our guys want to own up

BTW, some of your guys saying about reported lack of wind.

Bare[sic] in mind, skies like that, on a beach, very unlikely to be zero wind.

May have been light, witness/photographer may have been in wind shadow from dunes or the like but I wouldn't belive[sic] zero wind.

Also, most non kite flyers underestimated the amount of wind needed to fly a well built and suitable kite. The Waldorf will fly in 10mph winds happily..... and stronger winds would be likely at 300m

Most people reckon 10mph is nothing, especially if they are sheltered.

It's also quite normal for wind to be selective, stronger in one place then another close by...ask any sailor or kite flyer

Source: Kitebuilder.com



DroneHoax.comI expressed my concern and disappointment at the time that this particular sighting was being associated with the Drones at all, irrespective of whether this was merely an aesthetic similarity or not. Mainly because I suspected it would (and now has) become inextricably linked to the original California Drones of 2007 which are widely recognised and accepted as an internet hoax, I also suspected that as a result of this vague marrying of rings and appendages the recent Petten image would be classified as ‘ guilty by association ' and wouldn't receive a fraction of the attention and analysis that the original Drone images had.

Well, I was also apprehensive of myself and others being too eager at drawing parallels with the Drones as I can still remember –with some clarity- the circus atmosphere that surrounded the Drone debacle once a couple of Ufology's ‘bigger' and more media-friendly players caught scent of a story. It was an atmosphere reminiscent of ‘old –school' Ufology with the one-upmanship mentality, ad-hominem attacks and refusal to co-operate. As a matter of fact Linda Moulton Howe (LMH) of the Earthfiles website still believes that she is perfectly justified in withholding vital evidence in the form of eleven high-resolution photographs (part of a set of twelve) which she was trusted to share in their entirety from one of the original five Drone witnesses, but I've wrote about this a couple of times prior so rather than rehash it again it can still be viewed online by visiting here.



Regarding the Drone association BJ Booth has since stated (April 15th 2009) that:

I never asked him [the witness] about the drones. It was I who first used the phrase, "drone-like" simply because that was the first thing that came to mind. What should I have called it?

(snip)

I do not know what it [Petten object] is, and I have never said what it is.”

Source: BJ Booth - UFOCasebook Forum



So it's clear to see that this link to the Drones was nothing more than a familiar phrase used to describe an otherwise difficult to explain shape and the heading of the UFOCasebook page in question even states that the object was “Drone- like” rather than a Drone.

Then in the early hours of the 17th April the witness (Ruud) wrote the following (please bear in mind that English is his second language and I've posted the comment exactly as it was originally posted):


Personaly I didn't made a link to a drone. I thougt drones were much bigger and much more suffisticated.

More alien so to speak. (fake or not)

I never heard about woldof kites, now I know there is a variaty of kites in al kind of shapes (impressive).

I have no benefit what so ever of posting those pics, (only that my English is updated).

I like to watch the sky, especially at night.

I don't believe in god, I have seen lots of meteorites, sattelites speeding through the space. I have seen UFO balloons. (Thai balloons). I have seen Skylab and the ISS.

I have also seen the Hayley comet (with the tail).

I am just a sober guy from Holland wich could not explain something I took pictures of.



LMH Strikes Again

And later on the 17th April and Earthfiles (after gaining access to the witness) writes a piece with the headline of:

Spider-Like “Drone” Photographed Over Petten, Holland.

Did you notice the less-than subtle difference between UFOCasebook's title?

UFOCasebook called it a “Drone-like UFO” while LMH (Earthfiles.com) removed the possibility of a UFO completely and called it a “Spider-like Drone”.

Then LMH writes:

“No other 2007 photographs of the mysterious “drones” emerged - until now…..So now, I am adding another line to the chronological list of eyewitnesses:”

This should surely raise questions about the investigative prowess of LMH in all persons, from the casual reader to the hardened ‘nuts & bolts' Ufologist.

As apart from the fact that the witness has stated prior that it in no way reminded him of a Drone LMH steamrollers over his opinion and classifies it 100% as a “Drone,” still, no real surprises there as “Drones” with a great deal worse defining criteria have qualified for LMH's –already laughable- list of “Drone-witnesses”.

When actually asked about the Drones by LMH Ruud stated that he wasn't really aware of them prior but was surprised that while his report was classed as a “Drone” people believed he was being less than truthful, this was due solely to the fact that everyone except LMH and a couple of hardcore Drone believers now accept that the 2007 California Drones were a deliberate internet hoax.




When Is A Kite Not A Kite?

In a thinly veiled attempting to justify this she states that:

“THAT WAS APPARENTLY PROVOKED BY SOME CALCULATED MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN BY PEOPLE UNKNOWN IN 2007 TRYING TO PAINT THE PHOTOS THAT EMERGED AS BEING HOAXED.”

I had to re-read it a couple of times!!

Firstly, apart from the fact that LMH completely ignored the fact that 2007 Drones were analysed and found to be CGI by every single specialist who took the time, some of whom are industry recognised professionals and I hasten to add these are not ‘debunkers' by any stretch of the imagination as they are also believers and/or have first hand experience of the nuts & bolts UFO phenomenon.

Secondly the entire Petten Drone/kite are and the full article by LMH is basically turning a kite into a Drone and then it climaxes with unknown persons waging a “MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN ”!!

Still, I suppose she is the expert…..

Anyway, after the interview was published with Ruud, he wrote:



“I have no intention my pictures going around knowing as an hoax.

I hate hoaxes.

I have seen pics of that phony thing you are calling a drone all speaking about that it is an hoax.

It never had my interest because it looked so unreal.

Also there is no resemblence with the pics I took.”



And for what it's worth here was my reply (to Ruud):

Regarding the Drones I agree with you and this is why I was keen to disassociate your report from them by posting to another board and when that failed by creating a new thread in the Drone section. However your report is destined to eternally be labelled as a “Drone” due almost exclusively to the portrayal of you and your account at Earthfiles.

I'm sure you can appreciate it's now a ‘done-deal' and you're a “Drone-witness” as far as LMH is concerned and what's good enough for her is good enough for die-hard Dronies the world over, as they all seem to classify and claim LMH's word as beyond reproach. But take heart because at least after this latest debacle a few more people have had their eyes opened to the media entrepreneur that is LMH, and hopefully also to her subscriber/ratings orientated method of investigative ‘scientific' reporting…..



I am however still pleased that LMH conducted the interview in her usual manner. I say this because as this time she wasn't the first port-of-call for the witness, it meant that she wasn't reporting on a sighting, witness & images that only she had exclusive access to (which was often the case with the original Drone reports).

So in my humble opinion and albeit inadvertently she's done us all a favour by once again reminding us of why the moniker of ‘story-teller' is infinitely more applicable than that of ‘investigative reporter' or a ‘scientific consultant' (which C2C touts her as when she appears on their show).

In short I believe that the 'kite' possibility at least warranted a mention, and certainly more than the inclusion of the report in the "Original Drone Timeline" did, but hey, what do I know.....

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Sunday, 5 April 2009

(June 2005) Jellyfish Drone (UFO?) Mufon FI Report

Mufon field investigator, Eddie Middleton talks about an older , “Drone-like” UFO report with ‘jellyfish' like properties:



Giant jellyfish/drone-like object sails across backyard in mid-town Memphis.

In June 2005 Linda Howe received from a lady in Memphis, Tennessee one of the strangest UFO reports I have ever read. Kathleen Deaton who lived at the time on Harbert Street in Mid-town Memphis said that on that hot Summer afternoon she was sitting on her back porch when she suddenly noticed at the far end of her yard about three or four feet over her garden an incredibly bizarre-looking, airborne object that was moving slowly towards her. She described it as an enormous, elongated jellyfish-like thing, somewhat helicopterish in structure, approximately five or six feet in length with a large, spherical-shaped head (or control cockpit) in the front and a body that tapered to what looked like some kind of tail or rudder. It was silvery in color and somewhat diaphanous in appearance. [It's hard to describe something like you ain't ever seen before!] The thing made no noise that she could detect. As it moved closer to her, following a smooth level path above the ground , she noticed more details. It seemed to have some kind of antennae on top of it. When it got at close range, not more than three or four feet away from her, it appeared like it could possibly be some kind of hybrid---artificial UAV and living creature combined---the real stuff of science fiction!

Kathleen was absolutely frozen in awe watching this thing. When it stopped at the foot of her porch stairs, she had the strong impression that it was taking cognizance of her and going through some kind of decision process what to do next. This extremely uneasy moment lasted only a few seconds. Then it slowly rose up just enough to clear the top of her roof and passed on over. Kathleen immediately ran through her house to get another view of this thing as it flew over her front yard, across the street, and then over the roof of the house on that side before disappearing into the distance to the North. She reported this to the police who didn't quite know what to make of it except to guess she had seen some kind of balloon. And so concludes the essential details of Kathleen's report.

And now to the main point of my article. As a MUFON Field Investigator, I was utterly fascinated when I read this account and wanted to do a full investigatrion of it. I was also somewhat appalled as this sighting had occurred just a few blocks from where I lived! I tried to contact the witness, but to no avail. She was not even listed in the phone directory. I called Linda Howe, and she didn't even know how to get back in touch with Mrs. Deaton. MUFON FI's sometimes have to deal with this kind of frustration. I was, however, absolutely determined to still investigate, as far as I possibly could, this extremely weird sighting that had practically happened in my own backyard.

I talked to an expert on weather balloons at the National Weather Bureau in Memphis. She looked at the artist's depiction on Linda Howe's website of what Kathleen claimed to have seen . This spokesperson said it could well have been a weather balloon because its size, shape, and color pretty well matched-up with what weather balloons in general looked like. She went on to tell me that every day at least one weather balloon was released between 4am and 6am from three different locations within striking distance of Memphis : Nashville, Little Rock, and Paducah, Kentucky. She said one of these balloons could easily have strayed as far as Memphis. She DID say, however, that for this thing to have been that low to the ground and coming across Mrs. Daton's backyard in the fashion she had described would have been very unusual but certainly within the realm of possibility. Another spokesperson I talked to at the Weather Bureau said that usually weather balloons when they run out of Helium , explode in the upper atmosphere. One thing the expert told me was that there would have been some kind of package hanging underneath the balloon. And this was not mentioned in Mrs. Deaton's account of what she said she saw.

Being as thorough as I could in my MUFON detective work, I also checked out the possibility that Kathy had seen some kind of Helium balloon that had strayed from Liberty Land which is in Mid-town at the Fair Grounds not far from her neighborhood. Liberty Land would have been in full swing in June of 2005 though it was permanently shut down in October of 2005. Robert Charles who was operating a Magic Shop at Liberty Land at that time told me that they were celebrating their 30th anniversity that month and had all kinds of Helium balloons out there.

So, using Occam's Razor, the most "logical," mundane, down-to-earth weather balloon explanation seems possibly plausible enough. It would certainly have been the "explanation" that a skeptic like Michael Shermer or Phillip Klass would have given and been quite comfortable with. As a MUFON Field Investigator, I would have had to have classified Kathy's sighitng as an IFO (Identifed Flying Object) ; that's because it is the scientific protocol at MUFON to always opt for the natural explanation of strange sighting reports whenever possible. That keeps the skeptical scientists happy and MUFON's reputation as a scientifically respectable research organization intact, but as for me personally, I cannot escape the feeling of strangness from this report. Who knows? This might have been one of those Sky Cirtters (living UFOs) that Trevor James Constable photographed in the late 50's and early 60's or possibly one of those darn drones that were being photographed with cell phones a few years ago. And, of course, one cannot rule out the possibility that Kathy was just telling a tall tale. But I will say this : if she was, I would still like to locate her so I could get her to enter a liers' contest and share some of her winnings with me.

Source: Nashville Examiner

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Thursday, 12 March 2009

The UK Spy-Drones (& The Thought Police…..)

Way back in May 2007 I made a post detailing the specifics of our quickly diminishing personal rights in the UK, also foretelling of a truly Orwellian Britain that wasn't just hearsay but which was based entirely on fact, it made for quite disturbing reading (the original post can be viewed here).

I referenced many facets of these pending encroachments of civil liberties and also spoke of the unveiling of the “MicroDrone” and the fact that the UK police were going to commence trial runs utilising it in a civilian environment and capacity. I very rarely speak of such things and admittedly I used a somewhat tenuous premise by comparing the, “MicroDrone” to a UFO, which to be fair was due in most to the recent Californian Drone Hoax which was (at the time) mid-flap and was taking up most of my time.

Well roll on February 2009 and the following article posted by the Daily Mail (online):



Big Brother spy planes that track the Taliban
may soon hover over your home.

Pilotless planes used to track the Taliban could soon be hovering over our streets, it has emerged. Remote-controlled drones are already used widely by the military. Now ministers believe they are likely to become 'increasingly useful' for police work. Armed with heat-seeking cameras, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles would hover hundreds of feet in the air, gathering intelligence and watching suspects.


The Microdrone has been trialled by Merseyside police. The white top features GPS technology, which allows officers to navigate it. It contains a memory card to store recordings from several flights.

In theory, their advantages are clear. They are cheaper and quieter than conventional helicopters, can circle their target for hours without refuelling - and they don't get bored on long surveillance missions.

However, their use is likely to further fuel concerns about our march towards a Big Brother state. Britain already has more CCTV cameras than the rest of Europe put together. More than four million closed-circuit TV cameras cover the streets; cars are monitored using cameras that check registration plates and a new law will see footage taken of shoppers buying alcohol. The plan to deploy 'spy in the sky' planes is outlined in the Home Office's latest Science and Innovation Strategy.

It says: 'Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are likely to be an increasingly useful tool for police in the future, potentially reducing the number of dangerous situations the police may have to enter and also providing evidence for prosecutions and support police operations in "real time".'

Two years ago, Tony McNulty, then a Home Office minister, acknowledged that scientists were exploring the use of UAV technology for a 'range of policing and security applications' .

They could be used by MI5 to watch a suspect's address for long periods or track a car for miles. The drones could also help officers plan raids in locations that are hard to reach, to record and monitor accidents or to spot speeding offences or reckless or uninsured drivers.

Goggles enable officers to see exactly what the drone is filming:

Ministers are liaising with the Civil Aviation Authority about the introduction of UAVs, some of which measure as little as 2ft across. But the document cautions:

'We need to investigate how such vehicles could be used, and their ability to provide high-quality evidence for convictions.'

There are also safety concerns surrounding the planes. Those used by the military are prone to crashes on takeoff and landing. Many have been lost over battlefields. A trial by Merseyside police, of £30,000 remote-controlled miniature helicopters with still, video or infra-red cameras, highlighted more mundane problems related to battery life and the effects of bad weather on flights.

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'I think a lot of people would be concerned at the Home Office looking to use technology more generally associated with the tribal borders of Pakistan and the fight against terror over British towns to watch the British public…..It is not necessarily as glamorous or as high-tech, but a bobby snapping cuffs on a criminal is the most productive approach.'

Source: Daily Mail



Also posted on February 24th (2009) by the Daily Mail was the following article titled:

I fear a Big Brother state ( reveals David Blunkett)

David Blunkett will today warn of the dangers of allowing an 'oppressive' and 'eventually self-destructive' Big Brother state to develop. The former Home Secretary has concerns about plans for mass data sharing by public bodies and the Home Office's proposal for a giant database holding records of every phone call and internet click. In a speech today, Mr Blunkett will also suggest one solution to the identity cards row would be to make passports compulsory for everyone, with ID cards only being issued to those who want one.

Mr Blunkett will tell the 21st annual law lecture at Essex University: 'We need principles on which we can base actions which may otherwise, in the name of protecting freedom and decency, become oppressive, intolerant of difference and eventually self-destructive.'

Mr Blunkett, who had many run-ins with the civil liberties lobby when Home Secretary between 2001 and 2004, will say there must be 'very clear rules' to protect the public from intrusion by the state and private businesses.

Source: Daily Mail



Remember, this is the person widely heralded as the architect of the ID cards speaking, one of the loudest and most influential voices on the subject back in the day when he was Home Secretary, anyway...... Finally and on a much lighter note, check out this San Francisco Chronicle Mp3 from an unfathomably irate reader and his overly verbose rant on the etymology of the word, “Drone” (drone, drone, drone).

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Monday, 25 August 2008

Psychology Of The (Drone) Hoax

A, “Playful” account of one persons rather insightful perception of the Drone hoax was posted on Fortunecity a couple of months ago. *Dronies* may recall that Fortunecity is the same website where Isaac first unleashed his pseudo-scientific psycho-babble driven drivel onto a (suspecting) world.

It wasn't publicised or heavily linked to but rather was a testament of one persons feelings about all things Drone-related and more precisely why it was obviously a hoax.

Well a couple of weeks ago the web-hosts Fortunecity received a takedown notice threatening legal action if it remained, of course a brief exchange of emails ensued so the specifics of the claim could be learned. It quickly transpired that the claim was regarding actions that occurred prior to the article being posted and actually wasn't a direct consequence of what was actually contained in the article itself.

That's not really the interesting part; the more interesting part was what was contained in one of the emails that were sent by Fortunecity regarding the takedown, which read as follows:



We did not see what could be considered defamatory either, but we were threatened with legal action if we did [not] remove the content.

Regards

The FortuneCity Team

P.S. it is *definitely* a hoax, and Linda Moulton Howe has made a fool of herself again.



It appears that people with no real interest in the Drone Hoax are still well aware of the finer details along with the implications and the main, “Players.” And of course more importantly that the entire debacle was nothing but an orchestrated hoax, one which is STILL being perpetuated by people who SHOULD know better.

"Those who cannot remember the past are destined to repeat it...."

Anyway, I've hosted the text for a while now, so the “Psychology Of A Hoax” article may be viewed here.



"The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively not by the false appearance of things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice." - Schopenhauer


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Sunday, 15 June 2008

The Dreamland Drones & New Chances?

The Dreamland Drones

After being out of the ‘Drone scene' for a few months Whitley Strieber has rekindled his involvement by attempting to resuscitate the Drone subject which has itself been in remission for a couple of months now. Whitley made a couple or so posts regarding the Drones last June (2007) when the Drone images and witnesses were coming thick and fast. In fact to the best of my knowledge Whitley has only made a few posts in total regarding the California Drones, here's an extract from his previous Drone revelation back in December last year:



A Most Complex Encounter - (Dec 11, 2007)

So this experience actually crossed waking and dream. The first time I got out of bed and walked into the living room and saw the trees, I was wide awake and actually moving across realities physically. Then, when I slept and dreamed, the realities unfolded around me. When I saw the drone, I was possibly in yet another universe, different from this one.

So the logical question, at least to me, is this: how could anyone even write such far-fetched nonsense, let alone believe that it really happened?



It seems Whitley Strieber adheres to the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche in that, “There are no facts, only interpretations,” or perhaps a more fitting axiom would be that of Democritus and, “Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.

Anyway, fast forward six months to a couple of days ago and June 13th, 2008 Whitley posted another Drone related Blog post, an extract follows:



New Chance – (June 13, 2008)

Last summer, the so called "drones" appeared. Linda Moulton Howe and I soon confirmed that the photographs were real, both by what photo analysis could done, and by numerous interviews with witnesses, many of whom were willing to go on the record with their names.

Then there were the Carat documents. These were furiously rebutted on the internet, but when I suggested that somebody create similar images, nobody responded. The reason that they did not respond is contained in a comment made by an engineer, Michael A. Reed of Reed Development Associates, who recently looked at them at Linda Howe's request. He commented, "the things are so complex, they are a little mind boggling!"

This is why none of the people claiming both expertise as draftsmen and that the Carat images were frauds came forward to produce similar but differently constructed images. There were a few knockoffs of the Carat images, but that proves nothing. Anybody can recopy images and make a few changes with a simple drafting program.

Last summer, when I read in the Carat documents the amazing concept of "self-activating software," I knew immediately that this is exactly what the crop circles are. They are activating something in our earth, and, fortunately, there is nothing that the forces of evil, largely embodied in government, its lying shills in the media, and farmers who destroy the circles as fast as possible, can do about this. This is because the effect is instantaneous, and by the time the destroyers reach a given circle, it's already too late.”



RE: The photographs were real, both by what photo analysis could done, and by numerous interviews with witnesses, many of whom were willing to go on the record with their names.”

In the same sentence as, “Photographs were real” he ascertains this by, "Both by what photo analysis could done, and by numerous interviews with witnesses.”

It seems as if Whitley has been studying at the Linda Moulton Howe School of Investigative Journalism!!

Firstly we have the ambiguous error of, “could done,” is this, “was done” or, “could be done?” (More importantly where is this analysis and has it been subjected to peer review?)

And secondly which photo witnesses have been interviewed or for that matter which photo witnesses have been proven to disclose their real name/s?

ALL of the original photo witnesses disappeared without a trace, well all except Rajman1977 who posted twice on the OM forums before promptly disappearing into cyberspace. Also all of the witnesses have stopped answered any follow-up emails which were sent to the addresses from where their emails originated.

“Then there were the Carat documents. These were furiously rebutted on the internet, but when I suggested that somebody create similar images, nobody responded.”

Hold on a minute, I've seen many, many replications of the CARET documents. But this is of course easily dismissed by Whitley saying that:

There were a few knockoffs of the Carat images, but that proves nothing. Anybody can recopy images and make a few changes with a simple drafting program.”

Apparently not everybody can recopy text in the same fashion as I think we can safely assume that the "Carat" Whitley speaks of is actually "CARET". You may think that's an easy mistake to make, but not when you consider it's an acronym of:

"Commercial Applications Research For Extraterrestrial Technology".

And Whitley repeatedly misspells this simple acronym -never once spelling it correctly- suggesting to me that perhaps Whitley isn't quite as knowledgeable about the Drone phenomenon as he would like us to believe.

But back to the question and what is it exactly Whitley is asking of people? He suggested someone create similar images and when this was done it was simply dismissed as copying the originals!! The fact of the matter is that the originals are fairly unique in their design, well they're unique enough so that anyone attempting to replicate them would have to copy the overall design if any kind of comparison were to be made, otherwise how could you distinguish that they were in fact similar images?

This seems to me like it's no more than moving the goalposts…..

When do facts stop being the issue?

Is it a conscious decision or a genuine mistake?

Perhaps it's no more than a genuine mistake, an objective reality that once squeezed through the prism of belief and filtered through personal values becomes fact, but as John Burroughs wrote:

To treat your facts with imagination is one thing,
But to imagine your facts is another.

RE: “Last summer, when I read in the Carat documents the amazing concept of "self-activating software," I knew immediately that this is exactly what the crop circles are.”

Whitley is talking About the, “Functional blueprint” which Isaac specifically states is geometric forms and patterns which fit together to form diagrams,” and that, Once they are drawn, so to speak, on a suitable surface made of a suitable material and in the presence of a certain type of field.”

A suitable surface being that of the face of the earth and a certain type of field being that of a farmers field is a bit of a stretch, don't you think? (And that's regardless of which dimension it allegedly appeared in!! Oh and of course Isaac never refers to it as software).



Can you recall Whitley's opening gambit? “Linda Moulton Howe and I soon confirmed that the photographs were real”

On June 8th of last year in his Blog entry titled, “The Mystery of the Drones” Whitley writes:

Throughout the process, I have obtained analysis of the pictures offered, with little success because of the generally low resolution and the proliferation of effects programs more sophisticated than Photoshop that can make virtually undetectable inclusions in still images……The only thing that prevents me from declaring that they are real is that special effects are just so sophisticate d…..Understand, please, this does NOT mean that I'm endorsing these images . I believe Sylvia , Chad and Mr. Smith, but I cannot endorse the images because I cannot, personally and beyond doubt, prove that they are authentic.”

And on June 29th in his Blog post, “The Drones: Are They Real, and What Do We Do?” Whitley wrote:

“Now, it is VERY important to realize something before I go on, and to take it into your mind and heart: EVEN IF the entire Isaac production is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be a hoax, and that may happen.”



Okay, who put a "Stop Payment" on Whitley's reality check?

I hope it's not his personal sighting which transcended several dimensions that Whitley is touting as the proof of the existence of the Drones, as just because he personally fails to accept our *reality* then it doesn't nullify it for the rest of us, or even make it go away for Whitley himself as it'll always be there waiting for him every time when he wakes up, whether it's accepted as such is another matter entirely.



Can you remember the CGI video created by Kris Avery that was claimed to be real by Linda Moulton Howe last May? (Full details here). Well it'll surely come as no surprise to learn that Whitley apparently made the same mistake. On May 25 th last year Unknown Country made a Blog post called, “'Drone' Almost Certainly Real” that contained the following text:

“Both Linda Howe and Unknowncountry have resources in various engineering disciplines. An Unknowncountry source at NASA has said that the object is far from any known technology. "If it is using electrostatic lift, then it would have to be extremely light, perhaps on the order of a few pounds, but then where would the energy come from? Electrostatic lift is a laboratory phenomenon, as far as I know."

We asked him to comment on this statement by an engineer queried by Linda Howe. The engineer said, "The design strategy of charged ion shaped plasma 'buoyancy' devices does bear some relevancy here. For instance, the circular array of curved 'antennae' coming out of the center of the device is very similar to a form of wave guide shaping mechanism for a charged plasma ion field."

This was quickly changed to: “Drone Appears on You Tube” with the claims that it was real removed, then witin hours it changed again to, “Drone Appears on You Tube--But Original Photos Still Stand Up ” with the text completely changed to:

"Super-clear photos of a bizarre UFO have caused an international sensation, and now CGI experts are showing just how perfect fakes can be, but so far there is no evidence at all that the 'Chad' photos posted on Flikr, and the 'Alabama' photo posted on Earthfiles.com are fakes. Headers on the Chad photos indicate that they were taken with a Konica Minolta DiMAGE X at an ISO Speed of 100 and a resolution of 72dpi on May 6 at 5:43 PM. In addition, Linda Moulton Howe leads off Dreamland today with a convincing interview with a witness who saw the 'drone' two years ago. So the evidence still favors the original photos being real. BUT the drone is now being reproduced perfectly using CGI technology. It is virtually impossible to tell whether or not the original photographs are real, but the depth of evidence Linda Howe is presenting remains compelling. To see an expert video that has been created of the 'drone,' click here. This is probably CGI work, but it, also, could be a real video of such a drone in testing.”

This is all documented by a user who left several comments on Mac Tonnies Blog, “Posthuman Blues” the poster also wrote that:

So, the first unknown country (UC) article on the CGI fake, endorsing it as "almost certainly real" was replaced by the second, which reversed course to suggest belatedly the "craft" just might be a fake, and now a _third_ version of the article appears, changing course again, rewritten and now including a note that Strieber will be interviewing Howe on the UC "Dreamland" radio program about the "craft" perhaps _still_ being real, based on the original "Chad" and secondary "Alabama" photos (which are different, and also fakes), but that _now_ other CGI fakes may be surfacing from other sources from elsewhere, including a YouTube video using CGI of the "craft" taking off from the ground at a location that appears to have a large white building, on the left, which may be an aircraft hanger.”

Mac replied that:

I'm not the least bit surprised. Strieber probably realized how lame the story was and decided to pretend it never happened. He's done it before.”

And finally, I'll leave you with a Whitley Strieber quote that sums the entire debacle up better than I ever could…..


“So the logical question, at least to me, is this: how could anyone even write such far-fetched nonsense, let alone believe that it really happened?”

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Saturday, 3 May 2008

Heavyweight Digital Image Expert Weighs In On Drones, Calling Hoax (Again!!)

Back in May last year (2007) The Paracast broadcast their regular podcast with Gene Steinberg & David Biedny, on it they covered the California Drone Flap. This was a fairly discreet offering and passed under the radar of a lot of people who are interested in the Drones. Proponents of the Drones are quick to shout that no known professional digital image analysts are willing to go on record with any kind of judgement regarding the images, well enter David Biedny, as far as expert analysts go they don't come with credentials much more impeccable than Biedny's!!

David Biedny has been interested in the hard science aspects of the paranormal world since youth, and especially due to his formative years spent in Caracas, Venezuela . He has personally witnessed the range of the absurd to the truly unexplainable in the realm of paranormal phenomenon, and these experiences have forged the foundation of his curiosity and desire to uncover the truth of the limitations of our knowledge of the wondrous possibilities of nature and the Universe.

Listen to the relevant section of the Paracast.

David Biedny on why he thinks the Californian Drones are hoax.



"David Biedny is the President & Technical Director of IDIG, Inc. he is a leading digital effects, graphics and multimedia expert. His writing, educational efforts, multimedia and special effects work have enjoyed global exposure. He is considered by many longtime industry players to be one of the technical and creative pioneers of personal computer-based multimedia.

Biedny was formerly President and Technical Director of Incredible Interactivity Inc., a pioneering New York based firm which created multimedia projects and products for companies such as General Motors, Knoll International, Apple Computer, HBO, American Express, The American International Group and AT&T, among others. In recent years, he has participated as a project director/interface designer/consultant for a variety of CD-ROM/software projects, including BeInfinite Infinite FX(TM) for Adobe Illustrator (special effects plug-in product, first commercially shipping plug-in for Illustrator in the U.S.), Penthouse Interactive (Project Director), The Haight-Ashbury in the Sixties! CD-ROM (Biedny is a technical advisor for Rockument, Inc ., the publisher) and Quantum Gate I and II (Biedny is on the advisory board of Hyperbole Studios ).

Biedny has also been a key interface/feature consultant/beta tester for many of the major multimedia tools currently on the market. His involvement with computer graphics includes participating as a feature and interface consultant for key applications such as ImageStudio (the first mass market digital retouching software for the Macintosh platform), PixelPaint, ColorStudio (Biedny conceived the Shapes vector graphics capabilities unique to that product), Altamira Composer (which was acquired by Microsoft) and Photoshop (David was user #4, spec'd many of the key features of the product, and was included in the credits for Photoshop 1.0). Most recently, David conceived of the name for Eric Wenger's ArtMatic texture generation and animation software. David was also a seed site for the original Power Macintosh computer, and has been credited with helping conceive of the "Power Macintosh" name. David is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop, and IDIG is an Adobe Authorized Training Provider.

Other technology consulting clients also include Landor Associates, LucasArts Entertainment, Microsoft, Broderbund Software, Ressmeyer Starlight (Roger Ressmeyer is the world's leading space photographer) and Kraft Robot. IDIG is also involved in designing graphics for a variety of WWW pages, including the infamous Surfing Monkey site and Chuck Farnham's Weird World (both recently taken offline), among others. IDIG has also recently produced graphics and processed digital imagery for the McGuire Real Estate web site, one of the larger real estate agents in the Bay area.

Biedny was a founding editor of MacUser and Macintosh Today, formerly a Contributing Editor for MacWorld , New Media and the Macromedia User Journal and, and has written for Windows Sources, ID, MacUser, MacWeek, The New Media Showcase, Morph's Outpost on the Digital Frontier and Computer Graphics World, among others. He co-authored, with Bert Monroy, the award winning, best selling Official Adobe Photoshop Handbook , published by Bantam/Random House, as well as Adobe Photoshop: A Visual Guide (published by Addison-Wesley). His newest book, Photoshop Channel Chops (co-authored with collaborators Bert Monroy and Nathan Moody), is published by New Riders Publishing. He is currently producing a leading Photoshop video series, Photoshop Inside & Out™ , and is hosting the definitive Photoshop web portal, Photoshop Central .

He has taught Interactive Multimedia Design and Advanced Imaging for the MFA program of the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and rejoined the faculty in the spring of 1993 as an ISDN-based TeleTeacher from his Marin home. Recently a faculty member of the San Francisco State University Multimedia Studies Program, Biedny has been a top-rated lecturer and speaker at the Kodak Center for Creative Imaging, Seybold Seminars, Stanford University, UCSC Multimedia Extensions Program, Pratt, MacWorld and NCGA, among others."[1]

After reading the above I'm sure you can appreciate that David Biedny is possibly one of the most qualified people around today regarding digital imaging and so his opinion undoubtedly carries more weight than your average hobbyist and indeed more than the vast majority of professionals.

Just recently he posted a comment at the ATS forum (3rd May 2008) on the Drone thread stating that:

I'm one of the people who instantly saw that these images were fakes, CG elements composited onto photographic background plates. Jeff Ritzmann & I could immediately tell that the first image was a total fake, and the silly story from "Chad" made if painfully clear that this was all nonsense, perhaps perpetrated by C2C & LMH in order to drum up some traffic and interest. Subsequent images were increasingly more ridiculous. From the fact that these images don't match up to any morphology we've seen in over 60 years of publicly reported UFO sightings, to the childish typefaces, the obvious rendered look of the "craft", the lighting mismatch between the CG element and the background plates, what more do you need?”[2]

So now we have David Biedny & Jeff Ritzman to add to the list of at least another five professionals in the digital imagery/analysis field who say that these images are obvious fakes.

Mr Steve Reichmuth (Mufon - Northern California, SSD - Alameda / Contra Costa Co.) announced in May of last year that Mufon had contacted two outside specialists to undertake an evaluation of these images, these are Mr Steve Neil who has and continues to do computer generated images for the History channels television program 'UFO Files'.

And a Mr. Marc D'Antonio, who owns and operates a business in Connecticut named FX Models. Also, I personally exchanged several emails with Mr D'Antonio last year and as well as the original images, Mr. D'Antonio was also convinced that all of the subsequent images as well as those of the antigrav device which was included in the Isaac documentation were obvious fakes.

Steve Reichmuth wrote, “Marc is a former MUFON Field investigator, and has taught Astronomy for a number of years at a local area east coast college. Both Marc & Steve I would consider well grounded and I would consider them both 'non-skeptics' related to 'UFO's. They think UFO's are 'real' and likely 'extraterrestrial' in origin. Marc works with computer generated images every day. Both experts state all images of this object are clearly fakes. Mr. D' Antonio is one of my valued expert contacts I network with in studying UFO photographs. He has volunteered to assist in future cases.

Marc examined the Coast to Coast images days earlier week (May 10) earlier. I contacted Marc again when this latest witness report was posted on CMS shortly later (May 12, 2007). Attached images have been studied by these two friends in the Special visual computer effects industry. They both independently state this object is clearly a CG fake.”[3]

Again by way of Mufon and Steve Reichmuth we have been told that that Dr Bruce Maccabee (optical physicist employed by the U.S. Navy and leading UFO researcher) and Mr. Jeff Sainio also believed that the images were faked, Steve Reichmuth wrote:

Later with permission from Mufon, our own Mufon photo consultants, Dr. Bruce Maccabee, and Mr. Jeff Sainio. It was felt important for MUFON experts to also verify the other experts to either confirm or dispute everyone's findings. The result was unanimous the images were fakes. Interestingly, peer review brought out new different reasons among the main reasons they were regarded as hoaxes. So apparently, there are a number of 'red flags' as to why the images are untruthful being claimed to be authentic. The analysis was objective, knowing all these experts opinions lean toward that UFO's being likely alien craft. Two of the outside experts are even possible abductees, so their 'slant' if anything is pre-existing.... it is towards UFO's being extraterrestrial in a very personal way. Still, the outside Mufon experts emphatically stated they were most definitely bogus.”[4]

Again I've personally contacted Dr. Maccabee myself and as recently as the 16 th April 2008 he confirmed that he's highly suspicious of the authenticity of the images, and James Carrion (Director of Mufon) also confirmed to me personally that Dr Maccabee and Mr. Jeff Sainio were in fact consulted by Mufon in their capacity as digital imaging experts to offer an analysis of the Drone images.

And lastly we have Kris Avery who has stated his belief that the Drone images were faked since they first appeared, you will probably recognise the name as he's the person who along with fellow forum member, “DroneOnline” created the Drone music video which was such a success that it led to many people who were unfamiliar with the Drone case claiming that he was actually the original hoaxer. Kris is a CGI artist based in the UK and his business website, “Kaptive Studios” may be viewed here.

I guess the question is how much expert analysis will suffice before it is accepted?

Sources:
[1]
IDIG - Personnel (David Biedny)
[2] ATS Forums
[3] Steve Reichmuth email to UFOUpdates
[4]
UFOResearcher.com

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Monday, 7 April 2008

The Drone UFO Timeline - Explained?

This started off as a regular run of the mill post on the current happenings with regards the Drones but it ended up as more of a short Novel!! So rather than split it into separate posts I've decided to start the post on my Blog as usual but continue it on a dedicated page…..

As regular readers will know I've been interested in the Drones since the story first broke, I've participated in many forums on the subject of the Drones and met many, many people, all of whom I hold in high regard regardless of their opinions and I've also offered regular commentary on the Drones as any new events occurred.

Since the story is quickly unfolding courtesy of the labours of two Private Investigators I wanted to make a couple of observations.

I fear that the relevant information regarding the Drone UFOs is in serious danger of becoming obfuscated beyond recognition. Linda Moulton Howe (LMH) has published what she calls an, “Eyewitness Timeline” of the Drones, somewhat selectively including/numbering Drone reports that were ONLY submitted to her, or reports in which she had some part to play.

So if you see or know anything about the Drones while I encourage people to submit their information to LMH, I would strongly recommend that this is NOT your only means of disclosing what you know. Especially when you realise that in a couple of months or so, your information will for all intents and purposes became of the, “Pay Per View” variety, due solely to the, “Unique” way that LMH moves her archived material to her (paid) subscribers section.

Indeed the photographs of the Drone that were taken at Big Basin which she was sent numbered 12 in total. Images she was sent with the sole intention of getting the information out there for public dissemination. LMH scanned and resized the images which greatly reduced the resolution before releasing them. This justifiably caused an uproar among the online UFO community and after she received many, many emails over this refusal to release the images as she received them and as intended, LMH finally released ONE of the TWELVE images she received at a resolution which was high enough to enable a more thorough analysis. Now it's coming up to nearly a year since she received these images and she STILL REFUSES TO RELEASE them!!

Post Continues Here - Video/Images etc.

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Thursday, 3 April 2008

Two More California UFO Drone News Reports

Previous Drone Fox News Report here.
All previous Drone related posts and media available here.

Another Fox News Report On The Dragonfly Drones, this time it's courtesy of Fox And Friends.


(A UFO Cold Case).

Secondly, it's a KSBW.com News Report On The Drones.

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Sunday, 23 March 2008

Capitola Dragonfly Drone UFOs Spotted On Prime Time!!

A couple of days ago, I made a Blog post on the Drone UFOs, “Dragonfly Drone Hunters – The Search For Rajinder/Rajman1977” which described how a group of members at the Open Minds Forum have paid to enlist the help of a couple of Private Investigators to try and locate the utility pole which is located in the, “Rajman1977” Drone images and subsequently locate the witness himself.

Well this story ran on the 18th March and the History Channels new UFO Flagship, “UFO-Hunters” heavily featured the Drone UFO images. I personally feel the UFO-Hunters presented the Drones with little in the way of middle ground, it appears that the UFO-Hunters team thought that they were either proof of reverse engineering of alien technology or a hoax.

The possibility that the Drones themselves could be manufactured or controlled by an extraterrestrial entity was strangely omitted, I say strangely as I feel the UFO Hunters (by definition if nothing else) should have at least of entertained this possibility. Bruce Maccabee was interviewed briefly and drew attention to the lack of any kind of aerodynamics present in the structure and design of the Drones yet still the investigation centred on the reverse engineering theory. If you are approaching the Drones from an evidence based perspective then after a quick browse the Isaac documents (which they possessed and discussed) it should be evident or at least very unlikely that the Drones were manufactured by human hands.

What follows is an excerpt from the Isaac documents under the, “Some Explanation for the Recent Sightings ” heading:

“I should first be clear that I'm not directly familiar with any of the crafts seen in the photos in their entirety. I've never seen them in a hangar or worked on them myself or seen aliens zipping around in them. However, I have worked with and seen many of the parts visible in these crafts…..These crafts have probably existed in their current form for decades, and I can say for sure that the technology behind them has existed for decades before that…..The technology itself isn't ours, or at least it wasn't in the 80's. Much like the technology in these crafts themselves .”

I probably should point out at this juncture that I personally believe the entire Drone phenomenon to be a complete fabrication but I still believe that any Drone investigation should have at least been conducted in a way that allowed for the possibility that the Drones weren't a result of human engineering or under human control.

Anyway, here's the relevant section/s from the recent UFO-Hunters (7th) episode, including Bruce Maccabee and James Carrion (head of Mufon).

Back to the Private Investigators and it's turning out to be money well spent if purely for raising the profile of the Drone reports and informing the public of their existence and the search for witnesses. They even made it to Fox News recently, here's a short Fox News Report on the two Private Investigators charged with locating the utility pole and commissioned by OMF.

After no news for nearly a year we no have the LA-Times story on the 18th, UFO-Hunters appearance on the 19th and the Fox News segment on the 20th March!! Perhaps the end is nearing for a collection of some of the most intriguing UFO images and UFO reports of recent times.

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Tuesday, 18 March 2008

Dragonfly Drone Hunters – The Search For Rajinder/Rajman1977

Regular readers of this UFO-Blog and indeed anyone who has been remotely interested in UFO reports over the last few months will already be well aware of the, “Drone” phenomenon and the feverish pursuit of anything Drone-like that occupied the majority of the online UFO community last summer and even went so far as to inspire a music video!!

OMF Members (SaladFingers & Droneonline) Drone Music Video.

I hold my hands up that I was as involved in this pursuit as anybody was, however I was one of the skeptics and still adhere to this belief (or more appropriately disbelief!!) In fact I've spent many, many thoroughly enjoyable hours/days/weeks (and yes even months) thrashing out the finer points of the reports with the rest of the, “Dronies.” To even briefly allude to any of the factors discussed without going into any great detail is to do a disservice to the Drones and all who have been involved in researching them, so I'll refrain from doing so.

I probably should however mention that MUFON declared the Drones as a hoax after handing the images over for digital analysis. Although in defence of the Drones Mufon initially only passed the Chad images over for analysis as they were the only ones available.

PICT17 - “Rajman1977” Drone Image Featuring Utility Pole

(Click On Image To Enlarge)

Whether new to the Drone phenomenon or if you'd merely like a refresher on the Drones then please check out the, “Drone Sighting History 2007” .PDF file that I compiled just after the release of the Isaac documentation last year. It's all there, a couple of earlier sightings as well as what is now classed as the, “Original” sightings. Also included is all of the Isaac documents (claimed to be a whistle-blower with stolen documents and strangely coherent explanations for the Drones and the technology they allegedly implement).

To view the Drone History PDF document (complete with ALL images)
then click anywhere on this text.

Alleged Isaac, “Antigravity” Device
Alleged Isaac, “Antigravity” Device



Now, back to the reason for this post, the following article was recently posted online by the LA Times…..

[START OF ARTICLE]

Private eyes Frankie Dixon, left, and T.K. Davis at a park in Capitola , Calif. , where they're investigating reports that a UFO was photographed by a man with the Internet name of Raji, who later vanished into cyberspace.

Where's that power pole? And the guy who said he photographed a flying saucer above it? Two down-to-earth private eyes want to know.

Private eye T.K. Davis has worked his share of oddball cases. Once he tracked down a one-armed woman wanted for child endangerment. He staked out a backyard to catch a guy throwing dirt clods into a pool. When you make your living answering life's mysterious questions at $100 an hour, you take a few calls out of the blue.

He works the streets of this suburban town near Santa Cruz , where dog-walking mothers and aging hippies compete for beach time. Oh, sure, it might seem innocent enough, but it can get a little creepy if you let it. People might see things -- unusual objects in the sky, for instance -- and not say a thing for fear of being ridiculed.

At times like that, a private eye comes in handy. He can look around, ask a few hard questions -- even if it means risking his reputation built over 30 years as a deputy sheriff. That's more or less where Davis finds himself now, behind the wheel of his blue Ford Explorer, with his partner Frankie Dixon. They're cruising down streets, looking at utility poles and trying to figure out: Is that the one in these three pictures, the pictures with the unidentified flying object?

The photographs came from -- surprise! -- the Internet. In May, someone using the name Raji posted them on Craigslist. All three show a lone wooden power pole with its jumble of crossbeams and wires. Hovering just above it is some kind of flying saucer.

The thing looks part campy " Star Trek " prop, part slapdash collection of handyman tools, with metallic limbs jutting from a cylindrical sphere. Examined closely, one of the arms bears some kind of writing.

Raji told people he took the photos in Capitola.

Then he vanished into cyberspace.

UFO hunters around the world started buzzing. Apparently, Raji wasn't alone. Elsewhere, other alleged eyewitnesses posted pictures and video of the quirky little craft. It became known as the, "California drone" because it was clear from the photos that no human could have fit inside to fly the thing.

Soon, the mystery became too tantalizing to be left to Internet speculators. Somebody who knew what he was doing had to be hired to locate that pole, which might lead to finding the elusive Raji.

Enter Davis, 62, and Dixon, 60.

Men in Black they're not. To cover his middle-age paunch, Davis prefers windbreakers and blue jeans to the crisp suits of Hollywood 's extraterrestrial sleuths. Dixon is more Man in White. On this day, he's wearing a Vegas-bright white sweater suitable for the first tee at the golf course -- which is where he spends most of this time since retiring from police work seven years ago.

"See how close that one is ?" Dixon says of one power pole, comparing it with a photo. Their SUV is easing along a shady street, its cab cloudy with smoke from Davis ' cheap Hav-A-Tampa cigars.

"I like that one ," Davis says. "No ," Dixon says, " it's turned the wrong way."

They motor on, scanning the sky.

A onetime captain in the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, Davis considers himself an expert in scam artists and nut cases. So his radar went up in January when he got the call from a woman in London .

She said she was from the Open Minds Forum, an Internet group specializing in "UFOlogy." She said she represented people who were interested in the drone and wanted to contact Raji and others who claimed in Web postings to have seen the craft. There was the guy in Bakersfield who called himself Chad . There was the hiker and the bicyclist, both from the San Jose area. Nobody used last names. So far, nobody could be found. Before calling Davis , the Open Minds group had e-mailed Raji. He told them he snapped the picture from his fiancée's parents' home. They hoped to ask more questions, but he suddenly closed his e-mail account. They spent months looking for him before deciding to hire a professional.

Find the power pole in the photo, the woman told Davis , and you'll find the house. And Raji. Oh, and one more thing: She didn't want to be identified.

[END OF ARTICLE]

Source: LA Times



And here's the original account that Rajinder (Raji) first posted along with the images (to Craigslist):

"This week I was visting my fiance's parents in Capitola (we were actually there to tell them about our engagement, in fact). We were eating dinner on the back porch when we noticed this "object" sort of hovering in the sky. The camera was still out from earlier so I grabbed it and tried to get some clear shots of it. It took off over the roof shortly after, so I ran into the street in front of the house to follow, trying to get more shots without wobbling around too much (which was harder than it sounds). It then came in lower over a telephone pole, where I was able to get a few more pictures, before it finally took off into the distance pretty fast. I thought it was gone but noticed it was still visible, so I grabbed a few more pictures.

At one point a car stopped to look as well. No one had any idea what this thing was but everyone in the car was visibly freaked out by it. Once it was gone they told me to call the news and drove off. I'm not sure who else saw it in the neighborhood since I don't live down there, but I'm sure at least a few others must have noticed it. It was way too werid and way too close to go unnoticed. Once it was gone and I caught my breath I could barely stop my hands from shaking for the next hour or so. Needless to say, this is all we talked about for the rest of the night. None of us can figure out what it was (and that's saying something, because my fiance's dad is a mechanical engineer).

We sent a copy of the photos to their newspaper but haven't heard back yet. I dunno how long that kind of thing takes.

There's also some writing on this thing, which I didn't recognize (and I read both English and Hindi). You can see it in a few of the pictures.

Anyway, I created this Flickr account for the best of these pictures. I have no clue what this thing is so I'm putting it out there to see if anyone else saw it."

PICT16 - “Rajman1977” Drone Image Featuring Utility Pole

(Click On Image To Enlarge)



Previous "UFO-Blog.com" Posts Regarding The Strange Craft:


Image by SaladFingers

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Saturday, 8 March 2008

The Return Of The Dragonfly Drones?

http://www.ufo-blog.com/ufo-blog/2008/03/two-new-dragonfly-drone-ufo-images-on.html

Well, hot on the heels of these latest revelations Linda Moulton Howe (LMH) who manages the Earthfiles website has released further details of another TWO Drone witnesses, unfortunately and yet again there is no photographic evidence to back it up. LMH says that she received this particular email in January 2008, from a witness in Van Buren , Arkansas , a suburb of Fort Smith.



Subject: Drone
Date: January 6, 2008
To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com

Dear Linda,

It was suggested that I send you a letter to let you know that I was pretty certain I saw a drone in Fort Smith , Arkansas . What was strange is at first I believed it to be a helicopter, and then I realized it wasn't making the noise of a helicopter. So I looked again and saw that wire cone-shaped part and realized what I was seeing (the drones in the photos at Earthfiles.com).

I was so shocked I didn't think about getting someone to take a picture of it. My cell phone isn't a newer one, so my camera on my phone sucks.

Anyway, I saw it for what it's worth.

I also asked my sister if I could tell you about her sighting in Oklahoma several years ago. When I told her what I saw, she told me she had seen something like I was describing.

Sincerely,Melody McIver Thaxton



LMH subsequently phoned Melody and her sister, reporting that Melody Melver Thaxton is a non-profit fund raiser from Van Buren, Arkansas and said she experienced her Drone sighting around November 20/21 in 2007, it occurred at 5pm (Central) as she was leaving work.

LMH also reported that the sister wished to remain anonymous and proceeded to call the sister, “Jane Smith.” Jane explained that she had two sightings the same week in June 2003 and at the time Jane lived in the very small rural town of Hartshorne, Oklahoma, which is about two hours southwest of Van Buren and Fort Smith , Arkansas .



Interview with Melody Melver Thaxton: Van Buren, Arkansas
Regarding Drone sighting in November 2007.

“I just was looking in the direction where I was fixing to drive out of the parking lot. There is a business building next to where we are. Above that, I see this thing out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was a helicopter.

But when I looked at it, I thought, ‘Wait a minute! That's no helicopter!' Then I realized there was no sound. You know how much sound helicopters make, especially if you are within close vicinity?

This was not making a sound and I realized I was looking at what appeared to be like the pictures of the drones at your Earthfiles website. It had this weird, funny, metal-looking shaped thing on it and it looked like it has a tail – like a long, flat tail sticking out.

I realized it was not the right shape for a helicopter. When you are going home, you just think, ‘I'm on my way home' and you kind of look at other things at a glance. But it definitely had those prongs on it going up.

It had these metal, spidery-looking things going up – almost like a funnel shape, the way it would go up, like it was an upside down funnel with the spider-leg-looking things. And then, it had like a tail sticking out that was metal-like. The object was slowly moving toward the west.

It was in pretty clear sight. And there was another person – I think they were a customer of where I work. They looked up and back at me and said, ‘Are you going to get a picture of that?' And I said, ‘All I've got is my camera phone.' I headed back to the building to see if I could find a photographer that was still there. As I was going back to the building, the aerial thing just kind of dissipated. You could tell it was moving very slowly, it wasn't moving very fast!

(Melody also added the following when further prompted)

“There was another person there. I have no idea who they were and they looked at me and asked, ‘Did you see that? Do you have a camera?.....I did not have a camera, but I had my cell phone and I was going to go inside the building to see if I could find a photographer who was working. Before I got to the door, I was still keeping it in my peripheral vision and the thing faded out. It did not move away fast. It just disappeared, kind of dissipated, like a cloud of smoke.”

Her sister hadn't mentioned her Drone sighting to Melody until Melody broached the subject herself in December 2007 (approximately four weeks after her sighting). She said that from the way she (Jane Smith) described it she saw it from a closer distance. Melody also says that when she told her sister about her sighting that her sister said it sounds the same as her own experience, which she added she thought was some kind of covert surveillance (spy) equipment.

And as to why Melody didn't report (or tell anyone about) her sighting she says:

Most people around here, if you told them you saw something like that, they would think you are crazy. I haven't really discussed it with a whole lot of people because of that reason. This is the Bible Belt. I'm not saying that Christians can't believe in UFOs. But a lot of them discourage it.”



LMH emailed seven of the previous Drone images to Melody and asked her to pick the one that most closely matched what she saw in Van Buren , Arkansas .

Melody picked one of the “Chad” photographs.

Central California, dated May 6, 2007.



Interview with Jane Smith: Housewife in Hartshorne, Oklahoma.
Regarding Drone sighting in June 2003.

[Movement and colouration]
It just kind of hovers….. It's hard to describe. It was sort of like flat and round both…..Sort of a greyish color, like a pewter – like a metal. As far as distance, like a helicopter before it lands on the ground.

[Protusions/Paddles - Legs]
It had so many protruding legs and arm type of things on it. The body of it – it was like it did not have much body to it. But it had a lot of these extensions out from it.

Like a spider's legs, like something that has the ability to turn any direction….. The little arms, they moved around, but the main part of the craft itself did not really turn. It just stayed hovering there…. I saw the smaller ones (legs) moving some, but not the larger ones. The larger ones were just still.

[Writing]
The writing was a darker color than the pewter. On the bigger part, like the bodice part of the thing. It was a black, a dark... Squiggly, almost like Eastern-type language or like an Egyptian writing or Jewish writing. You know, it was a foreign type that was all squiggly.

[Lights]
No, but the lights on it were what changed at different times..Various Sizes of Lights Went On and Off….They were just lights. I didn't see any color to the lights. All I saw was light…..Just like white lights…..They were on the bigger body part and they were also on the arms and there were several on the spirally type things.,,,,Some of the lights seemed to like take turns lighting up – like they would gradually light up one at a time and be all lit. Then they would go off and do it again….They were all in different places – the ones doing this weird light-on light-off kind of thing…..Some of them were smaller. Some of them were about the same size of the tips of my fingers and some were larger…..The smaller ones were on the spirally things and the larger ones were on the leg things and part of the bodice.

[Distance/Duration/Sound]
Approximately fifty feet….It was more a profile – part of the front and side…..The first time I saw it, probably 45 minutes to an hour – a long time…..Like a humming or buzzing sound (off and on).

[Persons Notified]
I contemplated sharing it with a friend or neighbor, but to be honest, I was afraid they would think I was crazy and not really listen to me. Later I talked about it with my husband and he said it was probably a satellite. And I said, ‘No, it was not a satellite!'

Living out where I was in Hartshorne, we're talking about hillbilly authority. They would just think you were drinking or something. I knew that anyone that would take it seriously or would want to check it out, it would take so long to get there. Any authority was two or three hours away. I was in a very small area way rural, way out in the country! It just went backwards….. It seemed to brighten up more…..Kind of gradually faded so I couldn't see it anymore…..Seemed to move kind of fast. It was surprising. I wondered if it wasn't something from the government, like a secret project of some kind…..It just gradually fades away. It kind of disappears and it was as though it was never there.

[Proximity To Military Base/s]
McAlester, Oklahoma, has a base that makes ammunition and tests it. It's called McAlester Army Ammunition. (Distance from Hartshorne - 30 minutes).

Referring to: McAlester Army Ammunition Plant (MCAAP)
Defense Ammunition Center
Foothills of the Ozarks in McAlester, Oklahoma.


The same witness had a second sighting of the Drone in June 2003, this was within seven days of her original sighting but appeared to be the same object.


[Details]
(Sighting was) within the same week. It was evening time and I thought I saw just a bright star from a distance. Then, it got closer. I pulled into my driveway. Where I lived, it was on top of a hill, so I had a really good, clear view of the sky. As it approached, I realized it was the same thing again, but it was not as close as it was before…..Could see there were more lights on it and it just seemed to hover like before. I just felt like it was the same thing.

[Distance]
A lot further away…...Probably 200 feet, 100 feet. Quite a bit further…..It stayed there for awhile…..Yeah, I watched it for awhile and kind of knew what to expect. But I knew it was time for my husband to call. He works away and calls at a certain time. So, I went in the house.



The witness reports no noise this time (presumably due to increased distance) and also that after she finished her phone call she came back and it was gone, so no idea as to length of sighting or how it moved away. LMH emailed seven of the previous Drone images to Jane Smith and asked her to pick the one that most closely matched what she saw in Hartshorne, Oklahoma.

Jane picked one of the “Ty” photographs.

Big Basin, dated June 16, 2007.

LMH added at the end that:

“She also surprised me by adding that in addition to many of the appendages moving, she watched the “cage” hanging beneath the aerial drone open and close several times. But she did not see anything leave or enter the moving cage.”



Source: Earthfiles

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Friday, 7 March 2008

Two New Dragonfly Drone UFO Images on MUFON CMS

During the months of May & June last year (2007) Drone fever gripped the online UFO community, several images and many reports old and new flooded in, every image offering more tantalising detail and of course culminating with the release of now fabled Isaac Caret/Pacl documents.

Proof of the authenticity of the Drone UFO phenomenon has never been established and is still a much debated topic on several popular UFO Forums. It’s only been a couple of months since Mufon International Director, “James Carrion” registered at the Open Minds (UFO) Forum asking for a release of any information that could substantiate their validity. Unsurprisingly he came away empty handed, I say unsurprisingly as I feel that if any such unequivocal confirmation of the reality of the Drones was held by any researchers then the release of it would surely have been realised before now.

But I digress and the possibilities of the original images and accounts lie far beyond the scope of this post, if you want to learn more about the Drones or just to refresh your memory I compiled a PDF with all of the original Reports and images and the, “Drone History 2007” PDF is available here.

MUFON CMS Submissions
(Submitted within three days of each other).

Place Of Sighting: Oregon

Date Of Submission: 2 March 2008
Date Of Sighting: 25 June 2006

Click Image For Original

Stopping on the highway on our way back to the house to watch the deer on the slopes of the hills, my wife turned around and saw something over the hill. It looked like it was coming out of the ground, but I assume it was behind the hill.

We waited a while to share this because it frightened the hell out of us. No sound, however it did seem to flip backwards and fall behind the hills. That was it. Would have been along US highway 97.

I have 2 more pictures, however they are blurry due to the low light.

MUFON submitter 9799


Place Of Sighting: Michigan

Date Of Submission: 5 March 2008
Date Of Sighting: 26 July 2002

Click Image For Original

Somebody I know emailed me the picture of that recent thing posted here from out west, don't remember which state. This object floated above the river for maybe less than 30 seconds, rotating slightly then winking out.

My wife freaked out because we were still about 40 minutes from takeout and had nowhere to go. We paddled over to the side and sat in the woods for about 20-30 minutes, but the mosquitos were eating us alive, so we got back into the water.

I got one photo off before it disappeared. About 10 seconds before it disappeared, another circle thing seemed to pop out of the center, which is when my wife started screaming at me to take a picture, and that's what you see.

I really don't want to know what it was, because to this day it gives us the creeps, but since I saw the other one my wife thought it might be best to share the experience. I'm not going to mention the name of the river because our cabin is near there.

MUFON submitter 9840


Source: Mufon CMS

Further Information available here.

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Sunday, 20 January 2008

Reason That Mufon Is Re-investigating 2007 “Drone flap”?

Recent Announcement of Mufon & UFO Hunters Collaboration Explains A Lot

James Carrion (Mufon Int. Director) visited a popular UFO forum recently to try and gleam a little information on what Mufon already classed as a, “Hoax”.

I must admit to being a little puzzled by the recent attendance at a popular UFO Forum by the International Director of Mufon. While I believe it was an unprecedented move in the right direction to try and unite the fragmented online UFO community I feared at the time that his motivations were a little less than sincere.

It quickly deteriorated into a crass show of, “Oneupmanship” and James left empty handed. This was purely as the UFO-Hunters show had requested information for an upcoming Mufon/Drone episode, information had already been provided for the television show in a very poor PowerPoint presentation by Mufon which quoted certain CGI expert/s without their prior knowledge and with information gleamed from private emails between Mufon and said expert/s.

(Mufon presentation in PDF format available here)

It has since been announced that according to the Jan 2008 edition of Mufon Journal (p2), Mufon is in the process of trade-marking the name "UFO Hunters" and are in the process of producing a website and logo.

One purpose of the website will be to,

“Inform the public about MUFON's mission and goals".

Thanks to Robert Moore for the information relating to this new announcement (UK-UFO.org).

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Friday, 11 January 2008

Download New (Jan 11th, 2008) MUFON CARET Issac UFO Drone Investigation (PDF)

Download New (Jan 11th, 2008) MUFON CARET Issac Drone Investigation (PDF)

Download MUFON Investigation Of Drone Photos & CARET.
(PDF Document - Click Text)

A recent email sent out by James Carrion (MUFONs International Director) invited people to download their ongoing Drone investigation in Power Point format:
(Download the complete 2007 Drone Sightings History here.....)



"MUFON s Special Team Operations-VERITAS (STOV Team) has conducted a special investigation of the Drone Photos and CARET Documents. Although our investigation is ongoing, a preliminary report has been posted to the MUFON web site at: http://www.mufon.com/documents/Drones-CARET.ppt"



To say it was a disappointment is something of an understatement!! I only hope that there's a great deal more to divulge, I honestly have more recent, pertinent and relevant Drone related data on my desktop than what was contained in the Power Point presentation, as will every other forum member who classes themselves as a, "Dronie!!"

Kris –Saladfingers- Avery and Marc D'Antonio are both quoted and voice their opinions that the Drone images are undoubtedly CGI which while still relevant is news that is older than the majority of the sightings and images!! The document then goes on to detail the Kecksburg UFO crash in great detail drawing an incredibly tenuous link between it and the Drones which for the most part has to do with a, “Two decades” statement that Isaac wrote………

The most informative pages has following information on it:



“More Questions than Answers

  • Why would the U.S. Government seek commercial applications for a technology that has national security implications?
  • Why does Isaac express worry about his personal safety but then jokes about an IRS audit if found out?
  • Why are all the photo witnesses anonymous and hide behind Internet email addresses?
  • Why were no other corroborating reports filed with MUFON or NUFORC on the dates of the photo sightings?”

CARET similarities to MJ-12

  • Initial release of documentation triggers further release of information by whistleblowers
  • Gatekeepers –
  • MJ-12 –William Moore
  • CARET –Coast to Coast
  • Reference is made in MJ-12 EBD to other appendix documents by title. Similarly, CARET documents reference a PACL-D0006 ‘PACL Extraction Procedure Guide'
  • MJ-12 confirms Alien Roswell
  • CARET confirms Alien Kecksburg?

Down the Rabbit Hole Again

  • Who's behind these photos and documents?
  • A lot of time and effort was spent to produce the documents for no obvious monetary gain?
  • The Indisputable Truth as MUFON knows it
  • Roswell happened
  • Kecksburg happened
  • Active campaigns to disinform researchers and the public surround both of these landmark UFO events.
  • What secret is really being hidden? Extraterrestrial Life? Secret weapon?
  • The search for the real truth goes on…



Kris Avery has also said in a post at OMF that he's:

“Speaking to the producer of UFO Hunters, and the international director of Mufon about them using some or all of the drone music vid in one of the episodes. I said that it is fine if they would like to. I think that would be pretty cool.

The program will be about reverse engineering, and more specifically the Isaac docs and the drone case. Could be pretty cool. I'll be interested to see what slant they take on it.”



Ahhh, it's all becoming a little clearer now, I wonder if this new release of old information is anything other than a well-timed marketing ploy? After all, there's no point making a UFO programme if there's nobody interested now is there? Still, probably just my suspicious mind……..

You're a little late and have some catching up to do but,
Welcome to the party boys…….

Edit to add: James Carrion has recently posted at OMF stating that the:

“Powerpoint presentation we have posted on the Internet was created expressly for briefing the stars of the show on what MUFON knew about DRONES/CARET. That also explains why there are fewer details/notes in the presentation as we had to keep it concise to fit their shooting timeframe. Our follow up MUFON Journal article will contain the details of our investigation.”

Perhaps there's hope yet.....

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Sunday, 9 December 2007

Whitley Strieber Revives, “Drone UFO Flap?”

Whitley Strieber recently authorized the following email to be sent to his “Unknown Country” subscribers list (6th December 2007) and it was emailed on his behalf.

------------------------------------------------

This morning at 4:53 AM, Whitley Strieber saw a drone over Santa Monica , California . The Striebers are in California seeing friends, and Whitley has sent me the following email, with permission to publish it. He will write a journal entry about his experience that will be posted on Saturday, December 8.

And remember, there are a lot of people out there lying about the drones and trying to debunk them. But these people ignore ONE THING: Linda's interviews with credible eyewitnesses. Do not be deceived about this.

This was in his email:

“Well, in one sense the drones mystery is solved because at 4:53 this morning, I saw one.

I had an extremely restless night, full of complex and astounding dreams that I will record in a journal on my website. They also involved my book the Key and the crop circles, and have led me to a very clear understanding that there is a new level of consciousness available to us now. The dreams lasted from about 3:00 to the moment I woke up and saw the thing outside, which was at exactly 4:53. (I know the times because I sent one of my agents an email at 2:47 about a business matter, then went to bed and was shortly asleep. When I saw the drone, I was looking across the bedroom toward the window, with my wife's lighted clock just visible below the window.)

I woke up lying on my side, and saw the thing moving just below and in the bottom edge of the clouds. It was stormy. The object was enormous, and from where I was lying it must have been no more than a few hundred feet overhead. It appeared almost level with the line of the roof that is visible outside my window. It was moving toward our building at a stately pace, gliding easily, like a dirigible. I had the impression that it was quite large, but obviously, no way to tell for sure. Because of the clouds, I did not see the characteristic tall antennae on it, but I did see structure that looked a lot like what the bicyclists photographed. I immediately woke Anne up and went to the window. But we could not see it from the window.

I looked for a while, trying to see if I could spot some edge of it in the clouds. It had not been moving fast at all, so there was reason to believe it was still there. Not seeing it, I went to the dresser and got my cellphone, which has a camera in it, and put it beside the bed. I then lay down and turned over to the same position I had been in when I first saw it--and there the thing was again, clearly visible just below the cloud cover. Now it was much closer to the house. When I moved my head to get up again, I could no longer see it. When I returned to the original angle, I could see it again. This time, it was gliding west, toward the ocean, only its lower structure visible in the clouds. I opened the cellphone, in an attempt to take a picture of it from that angle, but by then it had passed beyond the edge of the window. I saw nothing more of it, but there is no question in my mind at all but that they are real.”

------------------------------------------------

At the time of writing this (Sunday 9th December) his journal has still to be updated and still shows the last entry to be the 27th November. Whitley Strieber has always said he can't prove (and as such didn't know) that the Drones were real and that perhaps the lessons learned from the full experience are more important than the nuts and bolts physical reality of the craft.

Well that all seems to have changed with this latest revelation, the first line of Whitley's recent email states:

“Well, in one sense the Drones mystery is solved because at 4:53 this morning, I saw one.”

And the last line of the email reaffirms this by stating that:

“There is no question in my mind at all but that they <the Drones> are real.”

There really is so little information to be gleamed from this brief correspondence that's partly why I've held off posting anything about it, but since Whitley's self-imposed deadline of the 8th December has come and gone with no sign of him updating his personal journal I thought it prudent to mention it.

Personally I do have great difficulties in believing that the entire account is simply nothing more than a fabrication, and I'm interested to see which path Whitley is planning on taking, hopefully it's not just the path that leads to his bank…..

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Saturday, 29 September 2007

Saladfingers And Droneonline Music Video Finally Released

I don't know how many of you are following the, “Drone Wars” currently underway in other internet forums, but Saladfingers has finished his Drone music video (Droneonline's soundtrack), I can't say anything other than it's truly magnificent!!

Unfortunately, it's not uploaded as a streaming video as the creators don't wish to lose any of the quality, so it's only available for (completely free!) download. Seriously just watch it, it's very professionally done, it was posted about 5 hours ago and the divshare link and Salad's post is below:

“OK, after a marathon of creating this... From Drones original and amazing track, to a few months of work on the animation, and then the nightmare of encoding and uploading...

Here it is!

I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.. and Drones tune never grows old! Love it!

Enjoyyyyyyy!!!!!!

http://www.divshare.com/download/2148905-d71%20

92 megabyte download! be warned! Also, you will need DivX installed...

Go to http://www.blogger.com/www.divX.com and get the free player!

Keep good everyone!!

Kris”


One of Kris Avery's (Saladfingers) earlier creations.


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Saturday, 21 July 2007

IsaacCaret – Dragonfly Drone – UFO – Big Basin – High Resolution Image Update!!

This really is turning into the UFO story that refuses to disappear, at least without a fight!!

However, this time it's not a new sighting or information, but rather a release of a high resolution image from Linda Moulton Howe (LMH). It's one of the original 12 Big Basin Drone UFO images, and to be honest it's not before time.

Most people who have been following the Drone UFO case have been chomping at the bit for further details and many, many forum members have been constantly pestering LMH for the 12 original images from the Big Basin/Drone/UFO sighting in the high resolution that LMH publicly stated she had in her possession.

In fact (as UFOCasebook's Latitude pointed out) it was probably the forum user, “Ivo” over at the OMF that spurred the release as he emailed LMH the day before saying that forum user OnTheFence (a well respected and knowledgeable authority on the images) had made a connection between the Isaac linguistic primer and the Big Basin Drone UFO but was unable to further any investigation without the release of the hi-res images.

So LMH obliged with the release of ONE image. This was sent simultaneously to several forum members from several forums who had expressed an interest. However scant an offering this may seem it has appeared to manifest itself as the, “Missing link” between the Drone UFO sightings and he Isaac/CARET documentation.

The reason for this is a striking resemblance between Isaacs's linguistic primer and a couple of the panels on the Big Basin Drone. This is evident in the image below.


For bandwidth and display reasons I haven't used the original image, but it may be downloaded here.

While personally I feel there are a couple of problems with this catalogue of events, it seems the vast majority of people who are interested in this case have accepted the connection as definitive proof. Granted the vast majority I refer to were 100% believers before the release of this image, but nevertheless the new image has been embraced as, “The real deal” by many people who have followed the Drone UFO's.

And I must admit the similarities are certainly too much to simply dismiss out of hand, as can be seen in the image below.


So the plot thickens as the mystery deepens…………….

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Tuesday, 10 July 2007

Mother and daughter describe Tahoe UFO sighting

Mother and daughter describe Tahoe UFO sighting (Tahoe Daily Tribune)

Charles Sizemore and Jeff Munson ( jmunson@tahoedailytribune.com)
July 6, 2007

Dawn Raimond, a 41-year-old resident of Round Hill, saw something strange in the sky over Lake Tahoe from the deck of her home on the evening of June 19. According to Raimond, she was sitting outside on her deck at about 11:40 p.m. looking at the stars, when she noticed moving lights in the sky.

"The stars starting moving," she said.

The lights were arranged straight up and down, according to Raimond, and then started spreading out. Raimond called her daughter, Raven, 20, outside to witness the strange lights. As the lights came closer to their house, the women were able to make out a strange object with two lights.

"It wasn't an airplane," Raven said.

The dark, triangle-shaped object traveled very fast across the lake toward their home, and then slowed down as it approached her house, Dawn said. The object was completely silent, making no noise. The object came within about 500 feet of their house, according to Dawn, when it came to a stop above the trees. The lights then began getting wider and wider, and then starting fading, Dawn said.

"It disappeared right in front of our eyes," said Dawn.

Dawn isn't sure what the object was, but is sure it wasn't an airplane. People have suggested to her that it may have been an airplane from the Naval Air Station in Fallon, or that perhaps it was a stealth fighter, but Dawn isn't convinced.

"I know what they look like and (there's) no way it was that. It was much bigger than that," Dawn said. What she is sure of is that she saw the object, and that she wasn't seeing things. The Raimonds' sighting comes just over a year after South Lake Tahoe resident Allan Brown saw, and videotaped, a UFO over Lake Tahoe . As reported on June 16, 2006, in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, Brown videotaped an object "dancing in the sky" over the lake in the early morning hours last June.

The latest sighting also comes as people recognize the 60th anniversary of the events of July 8, 1947, in Roswell , N.M. , when personnel from the Roswell Army Airfield issued a press release that they had found the remnants of a "flying disc" that had crashed on a ranch nearby. It was later that day that the Air Force corrected the RAAF, saying that it had been a downed weather balloon that was found. Over 30 years later, Major Jesse Marcel, who had been involved with the incident near Roswell, came forward to say that he believed the US military had covered up the recovery of an alien spacecraft, thus sparking the controversy that lives on today as to what was actually found on that ranch near Roswell.

For more information on Allan Brown's sighting last year and to see his video, visit www.TahoeDailyTribune.com, and do a search for "UFO."

Source: Tahoe Daily Tribune

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Thursday, 5 July 2007

EMAIL TITLE: MUFON Investigation Shows Drone Photos Hoaxed

Recently Posted At VirtuallyStrange.net (5th July 2007)

(NOTE - EMAIL FROM 16th MAY)



UFO UpDates

A mailing list for the study of UFO-related phenomena

'Its All Here In Black & White'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MUFON Investigation Shows Drone Photos Hoaxed


From: Bill Hamilton < skyman22 .nul>

Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2007 07:56:18 -0700

Archived: Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:40:05 -0400

Subject: MUFON Investigation Shows Drone Photos Hoaxed

I received this on the MUFON LA mailing list and thought
it would be worth posting it here. I have examined the
related CARET docs and have detected some erroneous
statements on antigravity. The whole affair seems
contrived as a hoax, but why?

-Bill Hamilton

-----

Dear MUFON LA Members and Supporters,

Many of you have expressed your certainty that the alleged drone
photos which appear on C2C and Earthfiles are the real deal. I
decided to log on to MUFON.com, and see what the field
investigator assigned to the case came up with. Incidentally,
the investigator turned out to be the SSD for that district.
Befitting for such a high profile case, don’t you agree? Here
are his comments:

INVESTIGATION AND REPORT

May 16, 2007

The object in the attached images within this report first
appeared several weeks earlier on the Coast to Coast web site
page. This new witness report was posted May 12, 2007. http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page2022.html?theme=light

I had several trusted friends & experts in CGI (computer
generated Images) examine these images, as well as the earlier
Coast to Coast images. One examiner is Mr. Steve Neil who has
and continues to do computer generated images for the History
channels television program 'UFO Files'. The other effects
person is a Mr. Marc D' Antonio. He owns and operates a business
in Connecticut named FX Models. http://www.fxmodels.com/

Marc is a former MUFON Field investigator, and has taught
Astronomy for a number of years at a local area east coast
college. Both Marc & Steve I would consider well grounded and I
would consider them both 'non-skeptics' related to 'UFO's. They
think UFO's are 'real' and likely 'extraterrestral' in origin.
Marc works with computer generated images every day. Both
experts state all images of this object are clearly fakes. Mr.
D' Antonio is one of my valued expert contacts I network with in
studying UFO photographs. He has volunteered to assist in future
cases.

Marc examined the Coast to Coast images days earlier week (May
10) earlier. I contacted Marc again when this latest witness
report was posted on CMS shortly later (May 12, 2007).

Attached images have been studied by these two friends in the
Special visual computer effects industry. They both
independently state this object is clearly a CG fake.

Marc writes "Those of us in that community can look at and
immediately spot, fakery. I have to say that this one is not
actually even a GOOD fake."

Marc further writes:

Why?

In one of the images, you can see that the faker used, something
called "radiosity" to render the images. The technique allows
for more realistic images and makes things look very good, as if
lit by the sun in this case. Well, in ONE of the radiosity
images supposedly looking up at the 'fake ship' from directly
below it is clear that the faker didn't take care in setting his
settings for the renderer and you can see classic "radiosity
render artifacts" in the dark shadow areas of the CG craft. They
show up as mottling in the shadows instead of smooth
transitions. It is what happens when you want the rendering to
be finished quickly. If radiosity settings were used to make the
image look absolutely real, each image could take tens of hours
to render perhaps.

In another shot where the craft ought to have been some distance
away, it is sharp and clear as if there is suddenly no
atmospheric haze.

Finally, in one image the faker composited the craft to appear
behind tree branches. This is easy to perform. The faker used
something called an Alpha map which affords you JUST this
capability.

Sooner or later, I will bet that a 'video' will emerge, and the
faker is no doubt working on it but doesn't like the results I
guarantee because the radiosity renders take a long time to
render per frame and in motion, he has to get all his Photoshop
type filtering done on the fly within his rendering software and
it isn't as easy.

When I saw this I winced at how obvious the fakery is and how
utterly uneducated the coast to coast people are for falling for it.
The faker, named 'Chad' is a complete and total fabricator."

I have still sent a request to the above witness Email address
wishing a interview, following Mufon investigative proceedures.
I plan to play this interview 'dumb smart' (if it ever occurs
- but hope so) wishing to glean any further information if
possible and post it here. It maybe possible these images
submitted were hoaxed by someone else, rather than by the
witnesses themselves (names stated above).

I suspect the Coast to Coast web site appearance was a trial run
before posting here in the Mufon CMS. The attached images files
from Coast to Coast read in the image file text' the name
'McKinley'. The same witness name above in the witness report.

I seriously doubt the 'Coast to Coast' people may even know
about this authenticity issue.

As of May 16, 2007, I have not recieved any reply from these
witnesses.

Clearly a 'HOAX'. Case completed, but will reopen should I
recieve get a reply from the witness. (hopefully).

Very Respectfully,

Steve Reichmuth
Mufon - Northern California

SSD - Alameda / Contra Costa Co.

May 16, 2007 (20:19 hours)”

As you can see from his comments, Mr. Reichmuth is convinced
that the photos are a HOAX. So don’t get too excited. Know that
there are people out there who get their jollies from spoofing
the unsuspecting and gullible. Hey, don’t feel too bad. If it
makes you feel any better, I thought they looked real too. As
ancient Chinese proverb say; “believe nothing of what you hear,
and only half of what you see”. Or maybe that was Kwai Chang
Caine. No matter.

Steve R. Murillo

State Section Director
MUFON L.A.

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Tuesday, 3 July 2007

The Entire 2007 Drone UFO Sightings, Reports And Images.

2007 DRONE REPORTS HISTORY (.PDF)
I was getting sick of constantly searching for already reported pieces of information regarding the Drone witnesses, chronology of sightings, photographs, time line, web site etc. etc.
So I decided to compile every 2007 Drone sighting, report and images gathered so far into an easily accessible PDF document.

The image sizes have been reduced to fit into this document and reduce download time, all of the original images may be viewed and saved by following the respective link in the Timeline History at the end of the document.

All except Rajman1977 who has since closed his Flikr account, so I’ve provided a download link to a file where these may be downloaded and viewed at their original size.

Please note that all of the documentation contained within is an exact representation of all of the original reports as they were made, including spelling mistakes etc.

Even if the reports are not everything that they claim to be, I am certainly becoming more intrigued with the increasingly revealing snippets of information which are slowly being released.

Download The Drone History .PDF file HERE

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Sunday, 17 June 2007

More Big Basin/Chad etc. UFO Photos

O.k. A jokes a joke, I'm not the only one getting sick of this, surely?

Posted at Earth Files On June 17th, photos taken June 5th, Big Basin.

To view forum topic on the, "Big Basin/Chad/Rajman1977/Lake Tahoes UFO", to comment or to discuss this UFO sighting further, visit here.

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Saturday, 9 June 2007

Add Big Basin To Wave Of Californian UFO Photographs

May 2007 - Wave Of Californian UFO Photographs

May 2007 has certainly been an interesting time for anybody who watches for reports of UFO sightings and related phenomena. So far there has been four different sets of photographs released from four different (allegedly) individuals in a matter of five weeks (I don't say, “Allegedly different” meaning that there is a general consensus that it's the same person. I merely say alleged because of the witness's failure to come forward means that this cannot be dismissed at this point.)

The, “Chad UFO”

First of we had, “Chad” who was based vaguely somewhere in Central California. It was originally sent to the Coast 2 Coast Website with the following explanation.

Last month (April 2007), my wife and I were on a walk when we noticed a very large, very strange "craft" in the sky. My wife took a picture with her cell phone camera (first photo below). A few days later a friend (and neighbor) lent me his camera and came with me to take photos of this "craft". We found it and took a number of very clear photos. Picture #4 is taken from right below this thing and I must give my friend credit as I was not brave enough to get close enough to take this picture myself! The craft is almost completely silent and moves very smoothly. It usually moves slowly until it decides to take off. Then it moves VERY quickly and is out of sight in the blink of an eye. MORE THAN ANYTHING I simply want to understand what this is and why it is here? We found your show with Google and I have listened for a few nights now. I have decided that if anyone can help me understand what this thing is, it is you and your audience. I must admit I am deeply unsettled by this thing. I have never seen anything like this in my life... Location: I would prefer not to say for now.

Chad wrote back with additional info:

Thank you so much for posting my photos! I hope someone can help identify this... First of all, I see this thing VERY often. Since it first appeared, I have probably seen this thing maybe 8 different times since the first appearance. My friend and I went out the next day after I first saw it to get the photos, but it was not there. Then we tried again the next day, and we found it within like 30 minutes and followed it for a while. Most of the time I see it out of windows in my house, in the distance. but I would say almost half of the hikes I have gone on in my area, I have seen it very close. It is very easy to photograph and...many neighbors aside from my friend have also seen it. It is almost totally silent but not quite. It makes kind of "crackling" noises. It's hard to describe them but they are only intermittent and not very loud, but you can notice them. Sometimes there is a very slight hum that sounds kind of mechanical, almost like when you are near very large power lines. But it is nothing loud like a jet engine, it is very quiet for the most part. It moves almost like an insect. If you have ever seen a bug on a pond, it is kind of like that. It is VERY smooth and slow most of the time, but then every now and then it will rotate very quickly and go VERY fast into another direction, then stop, and repeat the process all over again. There is just something very unnatural about the way it moves. Also, I have had maybe 4 headaches in the last week, and I am normally not the kind of person who really ever gets them. Also my wife has been tired and fatigued lately. She is about a month pregnant, and the doctor said fatigue is normal around this time, but I worry that it is a lot. Basically what I'm worried is that this "craft" has got some kind of radiation or something. Like I said, it sounds like power lines if you get close enough to it. Obviously I am worried for our health, especially with a baby on the way. I don’t know if they are related, but again, this is why I really hope someone can answer these questions!

The photographs were either taken in the late April or on May 6th, this is still being investigated.

There were 6 photos in all and they were submitted via a scan. A lot of people claimed it as a hoax straight away due to the meta tags pointing to the use of the photo editing/manipulation software made famous by Adobe. But it quickly transpired that these were generated when Coast 2 Coast resized the pictures for use on their website.

Source/References : Chad (coasttocoastam.com)



The, “Lake Tahoe UFO”

This was the second sighting and was reported to MUFON by, “MUFON Submitter 7013”. There were two photos taken with a camera phone and were posted to MUFON on, May 5, 2007. There were again from California and the statement was as follows.

"My husband and I were in Lake Tahoe over the weekend. We left on Friday afternoon and came back Monday morning. On Saturday at about 7 PM, I was walking out to my car to get a sweater when I saw this thing in the sky. It was pretty close I think, but still above the trees. It was moving and spinning slowly, heading towards my right.

"I was startled and confused at first and wanted to take a picture, but our camera was still inside so I took two pictures with my camera phone before it passed behind the roof of the house."

"I ran around to the other side and was yelling to my husband to come out. We came around the other side and saw it just as it was going down behind some trees. He didn't get a good look at it, but he saw enough to convince him that it was something really strange.

"We decided to take a drive around the area to see if we could see it again, but we never did. We didn't see it the next day either. Since we were renting the cabin for the weekend we didn't know any nearby residents but I would bet at least a few other people saw it. It was very visible and very strange looking. I was definitely a little freaked out but my husband didn't seem very bothered by it. He was more interested in it than scared.

He wanted to drive around a lot longer trying to find it than I did! It didn't make any noise except for a very, very faint sound that is hard to describe but sounded like something vibrating. We both heard the sound although just barely. It moved in a very straight line when it went over the house but when we saw it on the other side of the house, when it was going down behind the trees, it made a very sharp turn. It didn't move like a helicopter or airplane, it was very "exact".

We did see one person on our drive who was a few blocks away taking a walk and asked him if he saw it, and he said no. Then we asked him if he heard any weird noise and tried to describe it as best we could, and he said he might have but he wasn't sure. By this time it was at least 20 minutes since we first saw the thing so who knows?”

Source/References: MUFON Submitter 7013 (http://www.mufon.com/)



The, “Capitola UFO”

Capitola, California, photographed May16th 2007 and this time instead of a mainstream UFO website, the six photographs were instead posted to a newly formed Flikr account. The account name was, “Rajman1977.” Allegedly the posters real name was, “Rajinder Satyanarayana.”

Open Minds forum invited Rajman1977 to their forums and he accepted but disappeared after only a couple of posts. And after his Flikr account was upgraded to the pro version by one of the Forum members it was quickly hacked and several porn images and links were uploaded. The account was subsequently closed and no one has heard from him since. His accompanying report was as follows.

"This week I was visting my fiance's parents in Capitola (we were actually there to tell them about our engagement, in fact). We were eating dinner on the back porch when we noticed this "object" sort of hovering in the sky. The camera was still out from earlier so I grabbed it and tried to get some clear shots of it. It took off over the roof shortly after, so I ran into the street in front of the house to follow, trying to get more shots without wobbling around too much (which was harder than it sounds). It then came in lower over a telephone pole, where I was able to get a few more pictures, before it finally took off into the distance pretty fast. I thought it was gone but noticed it was still visible, so I grabbed a few more pictures.

At one point a car stopped to look as well. No one had any idea what this thing was, but everyone in the car was visibly freaked out by it. Once it was gone they told me to call the news and drove off. :) I'm not sure who else saw it in the neighborhood since I don't live down there, but I'm sure at least a few others must have noticed it. It was way too werid and way too close to go unnoticed. Once it was gone and I caught my breath I could barely stop my hands from shaking for the next hour or so. Needless to say, this is all we talked about for the rest of the night. None of us can figure out what it was (and that's saying something, because my fiance's dad is a mechanical engineer).

We sent a copy of the photos to their newspaper but haven't heard back yet. I dunno how long that kind of thing takes. There's also some writing on this thing, which I didn't recognize (and I read both English and Hindi). You can see it in a few of the pictures. Anyway, I created this Flickr account for the best of these pictures. I have no clue what this thing is so I'm putting it out there to see if anyone else saw it."

The Open Minds Forum also questioned him about which media company or outlet he contacted but Rajman1977 never offered an answer.



The, “Big Basin UFO”

This time June 5th 2007 and the craft is photographed again, this time it has evolved massively!! It was originally posted to a private bulletin board and one of the admin contacted UfoCasebook.com with this email,

"Hi!

(I found a number of email addresses and was not sure which you checked most, so I just played it safe and sent to all of them. I hope this is okay.

My name is Jenna and I participate in a listserv for photographers in Saratoga, CA. Today a member named Stephen posted some pictures he took yesterday (the 5th) for a class assignment in the area around Big Basin. The pictures very clearly depict some kind of large object in the sky, and he was able to get two clear shots and one out-of-focus shot before it apparently disappeared. I recognized certain details on this object immediately because a friend had sent me your About.com article on different UFOs that have appeared recently with a similar appearance.

Now, I should mention that this is a private listserv for a very close-knit group. I have met almost everyone that participates in person and I have met Stephen in particular many times, so I take his word seriously.

We have been discussing it for the last couple of hours and I suggested we start by sending pictures to your web site since you clearly have some familiarity with this situation so far. Unfortunately I'm not a moderator of this listserv and can't give you access, but I can send you copies of the discussion as it develops if you would like to stay abreast. Let me know.

Stephen has given me permission to contact you with his photos and information and you may email him directly if you wish. We don't have any special need for anonymity on this matter and if you would like to post this email along with the photos you may do so. I would be interested in hearing from the other photographers of this kind of craft in particular and seeing what this is all about! The following is his first listserv email which was sent earlier this afternoon:

'Stephen 06/06/2007 14:42:31 PST

“Hey guys

okay, where to begin -- yesterday I was up around big basin for my assignment like I've been mentioning for the last couple weeks -- the theme for those that don't remember was photographing something at a small scale against a large scale backdrop to contrast scales and to play with depth of field etc -- I chose to photograph a couple of flower/weed things growing right on the edge of a drop off with the valley in the background -- I'm still using the rebel xt I bought off mark which is slr so I'm looking at everything through a viewfinder when I notice something _appear_ in the distance, like just pop out of nowhere --

I look up and there is this _huge_ who-knows-what-the-xxx _floating_ in the distance and rotating very slowly and jerkily (is that a word lol) -- almost by reflex I take another shot which is focused in on it this time and go to stand up but practically fall over because I cant even think straight --

I was able to get one more shot which came out kind of blurred and then the thing _vanished_ -- like, as in, now you see it now you don't -- I attached the pictures so you guys can check them out before I really decide to do something with them -- are these going to the 6 o'clock news or what -- any feedback would be great before i make a major decision here -- also btw I attached three pictures the first is when it _first_ appeared right as I was taking a shot of the flowers but I wanted you guys to see everything i saw -- sorry I only got 3 pix but this thing was seriously gone in like a matter of secs

also btw -- I am planning to return to the area this weekend with the camera and anyone else who wants to join me -- I'm seriously going to spend all day hiking around to see if it shows up again if it does I am going to get a million shots of this thing if it does -- you seriously have to see it to even believe it so _anyone_ who wants to come me let me know -- the more people that see this the better because I don't even need to tell you that so far this is a pretty crazy situation and I want some witnesses to back me up”

Stephen

Jenna L.

Freelance/Wedding Photographer

Source/References : Jenna.L. (ufocasebook.com)



For all the vast majority of people are screaming hoax there is a little bit of history attached to these objects, first of all way back in 1999 a photograph was submitted to UfOEvidence.org. The original photo is on the left but I’ve rotated it and blew it up a little so that you can see it has indeed some similarities to the recent wave of UFO sightings in California.

Source: UfoEvidence.org



And secondly we have a more recent one which again is remarkably similar the recent sightings except it has a lot fewer appendages. This was photographed in Birmingham, Alabama in 2006.

Source : EarthFiles.com



It's certainly intriguing!!

I personally believe they are man-made, the fact that the craft has text on them that is obviously a bastardized foreign language or a morphed sci-fi one is testament in itself. It still doesn't stop me being intrigued by the motivations of the original posters.

I have a great deal of difficulty believing that it is just a viral marketing campaign as has been suggested. And I must admit to being amazed at what people with a knowledge of 3D software packages have been able to create within a couple of days or so. Here's one of the better ones from YouTube,

(DON'T GET CONFUSED THIS IS 100% CGI!!)

You can see the kind of interest this has generated on the internet, so it's very strange that nobody from the media has picked up on it or more likely the media are just ignoring it. Is this because they are well aware of what can be created with, “Off the shelf software” or is there another agenda? Puzzling as they all jumped on board with the, “O'Hare Airport UFO sighting – Nov 7 th 2006” and again with, “Guernsey Pilot Spots UFO – April 23 rd 2007.”

For all this is widely perceived as a hoax I'm still looking forward to the truth coming out and I think the full experience will still prove to be something a landmark case in the field of UFO research, even if it is for all of the wrong reasons. You can't help but feel as though it's all some sort of test, with each witness and sighting offering a little more information and detail, or is it just offering enough rope to hang themselves with?

There are many unanswered questions and many investigations currently underway, so hopefully some sort of truth should be imminent. But until the true identities of Chad & co. is finally revealed I believe that their sightings, reasoning and motivations will provide much speculation & discussion on the UFO subject and the more people that get interested and start asking questions as a result of these craft then the more chance we may have of getting some concrete answers.

To view forum topic on the, "Big Basin/Chad/Rajman1977/Lake Tahoes UFO", to comment or to discuss this UFO sighting further, visit here.

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