Posthuman Blues

Fake UFOs.


How to Fake UFO Photos

"For the last 50 years people have been collecting pictures of unknown objects in the sky that they think might be alien spacecraft. Are these photos good evidence that extraterrestrials are visiting our planet? Or could there be other simpler explanations for them? The following ways to make UFO pictures have fooled many people including news reporters, college professors and military officers."

The intent here isn't to encourage critical thinking, but to enliven the dogma that all UFO photos are hoaxes (which is bullshit). That said, it is really easy to fake superficially convincing UFO photos. I used to do it in high-school. Once I wrapped a plastic plate in aluminum foil and tossed it repeatedly in the air. I managed to snap one surprisingly dramatic shot of the plate "hovering" above the trees in my backyard; I showed it to friends and they insisted it was a blimp (!). I considered that particular effort a success.

One of my high-school ambitions was to fake a "crop circle" in the school's football field. Sadly, I never got around to it. Everyone would have known it was me anyway.

In college, I discovered a seedy military surplus store with a no-kidding weather balloon for sale. I considered buying it and sending it aloft at night with some sort of cheap, self-contained illumination. Looking back, I should have done this. (Instead I settled for a pair of WWII field binoculars.)

Then again, my science fiction book (containing a story based on the Roswell crash) had just been published. And I was heading a campus-wide BBS about UFOs . . . Someone would have pegged me. Probably within minutes.