UFO Hoaxer Arrested

Back on Sunday 14th October (2007) I wrote about a Mr Linn Murphy in a post titled, “UFO Hoaxers And Their Toys”.

“Meet Linn Murphy, a man with perhaps a little too much time on his hands? Linn Murphy has built himself a 3 foot wide reinforced foam flying saucer that’s remote controlled and can hit 40 mph thanks to a tiny electric motor.”

The only reason I mention this is I recently came across the following article from the Mercury News:

UFO toy seller in OC held for alleged pants fraud The Associated Press IRVINE, Calif.—A man known for selling flying, flashing toys that have prompted UFO reports was arrested for a more earthbound problem: allegedly faking torn trousers. Gaylon Linn Murphy, 52, of Irvine, was arrested on Thursday for investigation of attempted grand theft, according to an Irvine police statement released Friday. Murphy had been trying to get a local restaurant called Houston's to reimburse him, claiming he had damaged his designer pants in a fall in the restroom, police said. Murphy claimed the trousers were part of a suit valued between $500 and $1,800, police said. When Houston's manager called a clothing store to verify the value of the pants, he was told that a Home Depot in Irvine had made a similar call because Murphy was trying to get that store to pay for his trousers, police Lt. Rick Handfield said. The clothing store also said Murphy had requested a letter stating the value of the suit, Handfield said. Murphy was booked at the Orange County Jail, where he was held Saturday on $20,000 bail, according to inmate information on the Sheriff's Department Web site. Murphy is known locally for selling radio-controlled toy saucers with flashing lights. Murphy and the toy's creator, Steve Zingali, sell them for $1,000 apiece. Orange County police agencies say nighttime flights of the toys have prompted floods of UFO reports. Source

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“Like gravity, karma is so basic we often don't even notice it.”

Sakyong Mipham

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YouTube Haiti UFO Hoaxer Reveals Other YouTube UFO Videos

I'm sure everyone has seen and can remember the furore that the YouTube video of a UFO in Haiti caused last year, the video views are currently at a staggering 7,404,911 and is only six months old.

A couple of days after it was released I created a short video on why I personally believed it was fake.

David Nicolas later released another video to LATimes showing what appeared to be two grannies flying the same UFO as in the Haiti video by using a remote control, it was of course CGI but a lot of people missed this subtle point and thought it was an actual remote controlled vehicle such was the quality of the video.

I know the vast majority of people realised that the Haiti YouTube video was undoubtedly a hoax, more...especially so after David Sarno of the LA Times secured an interview with the creator/hoaxer of the clip. Incredulously, there were STILL people who doubted the validity of the admission, I guess you just can't tell some people. Here's an interview with David Sarno where he explains who by, how and why the UFO's were created.

The creator, David Nicolas (a.k.a. Barzolff814) is part of Partizan. which is an international community of directors with offices in London , Los Angeles , New York and Paris . Since launching in 1991 we have developed some of the most talented and exciting directors in the world.

Partizan began by making music videos, then grew and expanded into commercials, short films, feature films, and more recently TV content and branded content. His biography page at Partizan says that:

Definitive Proof of Haiti UFO Hoax (Again)

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“David Nicolas was born in 1969 in Aix-en-Provence where he spent the early days of his childhood. At a very young age, drawing started to play a large role in his life and with his older brother Laurent, they started experimenting with drawings together.

David's first foray into the Dark Room came when he took the internet by storm with a series of viral films he made while researching his first feature project, a comedy about the biggest UFO hoax of all time. The film is to be produced by Partizan Films over the next year. The clips David made showed UFOs flying across the skies of Haiti , the Dominican Republic and Brooklyn . They clocked up over 3 million hits within their first two weeks on YouTube and were featured in the LA Times, on CNN and on Fox News.

At the age of 21, after sitting an entrance exam, David was accepted into the, “Gobelins de Paris” School of animation where he studied for 3 years. He acquired a basic knowledge of animation and briefly started to work on 3D animation. With the help of his computer, he taught himself how to make his first short films in 2D animation.”

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Nicolas has since revealed that he created (and released on YouTube) several prequels to the Haiti UFO clip, the chances are that you've inadvertently seen these already, but just in case, here they are!! (Video removed due to 'copyright claim').

You can also see them at David Nicolas' page at Partizan by visiting here.

UFO Hoaxers And Their Toys

Meet Linn Murphy, a man with perhaps a little too much time on his hands? Linn Murphy has built himself a 3 foot wide reinforced foam flying saucer that’s remote controlled and can hit 40 mph thanks to a tiny electric motor.

This isn’t the first time a, “Hobbyist” has caught the attention of the unsuspecting public. So are they hoaxers, misunderstood, jokers or another name that it’s not really prudent to label them with!!

There is one aspect of these, “Boys with toys” that is perhaps worth delving deeper into, and that would be the sociological aspect and the effects of these sightings on the general public.

The recent flight of Linn Murphy's ring (!!) brought about some rather interesting reports, Orange County’s Mutual UFO Network took several calls about erratic, flying objects. The Web site UFOinfo.com was posting reports of “glowing orbs” in south Orange County.

And interestingly one 53-year-old man reported a large glowing ball that “appeared to drip fire.” It travelled about five miles in a few seconds, he said, and left an “acrid type odour” in the air.

Linn Murphy's ring is powered by a 7.4-volt lithium battery and basically is a foam toy with flashing lights that make it appear to spin. It is propeller driven and his most recent demonstration panicked unsuspecting shoppers, one of whom was a Mr Haywood Bagley, who apparently told his wife:

“I hope they don’t start shooting. If I go down, you get in the car, Baby!!”

Also soliciting such comments as:

“Oh my gosh, did you see it? There was a UFO bigger than my house!”

Lt. Rich Paddock, police chief for Aliso Viejo says:

“We’ve had strange calls – people reporting UFOs and strange sounds in the air. But they’re not doing anything illegal. There’s no ordinance that says it’s illegal to fly a super-double-secret, gyroscopic UFO in county airspace.”

I’m sure people can remember back on the 13th June, 2007 when a UFO was filmed over Salt Lake City, Utah which turned out to be a, “Hyper-Blimp.”

Daniel Geery, a local Utah resident was testing the “hyper blimp”, when he lost control of it. Again eye witness reports say it was up to a 100ft long, where as in actuality it was more like 20ft. He was apparently testing a new propeller which was a bigger drain on the battery than anticipated, resulting in the loss of control.

Here you can see some footage of the Blimp in action.