What are the top 10 UFO hoaxes?
There is immense public interest in the subject of UFOs. Alas, as the late and great Carl Sagan said, there is little verifiable evidence for their existence. This might be for one of three reasons:
- UFOs do not actually exist and are 100% natural phenomena
- The governments of the world have decided to hide evidence of alien visitation
- The aliens themselves have decided to hide their activities on earth
I personally dismiss the first reason. There is too much apparent evidence for UFOs not to be something. The second is credible, from the testimony by government witnesses. The third is also credible from the strange stories about the 'men in black'.
In this information vacuum, hoaxers have stepped in many times to proved the evidence that 'UFO believers' crave.
Probably the first well known hoaxer was George Adamski, a former bootlegger who claimed to have contacted aliens who landed in what became known as 'Adamski-type saucers' The problem is that the 'hoax' saucers described in detail by Adamski look like those which are frequently seen and occasionally captured on video around the world. Many of Adamski's photographs are obviously faked. But is all of his testimony fake? Many think not.
So what have been the most dubious UFO claims so far? Here is my opinion.
- Alien autopsy video 1995.
This hoax made a lot of money for the hoaxers. In 1995 British video producer Ray Santilli claimed to have met a former military cameraman who was present at the autopsy of a dead alien from the 1947 Roswell Incident. The video was presented on television in several countries where millions of people saw a documentary about it. Santilli claimed that the cine film restored for the video was genuine and had been authenticated by Kodak as period film from the late 1940s. The entire video has since been ridiculed and its makers have come forward, admitting that it was made in an apartment in Camden, London. To these eyes the video always looked too good to be true and Santilli's refusal to name the cameraman who took it raised more suspicion. A lot of people paid out a lot of money for expensive retail copies of this ridiculous video.
- Gulf Breeze sightings
Ed Walters, a resident of the small town of Gulf Breeze, Florida, claims to have taken photographs and videos of strange-looking UFOs. The UFOs were detailed but not similar to the types of phenomena usually seen by people around the world. Ed soon signed a lucrative book deal and his story was covered by television. The photos look too good to be true.
- 'UFO Cover Up?' TV programme
This television documentary was aired in the 1990s with MASH star Mike Farrell as host. There was the usual face-blurred-out voice-altered government insider - 'Condor' - who claimed to have information about an ongoing US government alien joint-research programmes. The programme also featured NASA staff as panellists. Apparently, Condor claimed, UFOs and aliens were operating from underground bases in USA with full knowledge, approval and cooperation from the US government. At one point Condor claimed that captive aliens were fed strawberry ice cream. This led everyone to laugh and from then on no participant took the proceedings seriously. The documentary was supposed to be gathering evidence and public support for prospective Grand Jury hearings, but its credibility imploded live on TV.
- Area 51 weather man
Charles J Hall was a weather man at the infamous Area 51 USAF base in to 1960s. He claims that a race of alien beings called the 'tall whites' have permission from the US government to visit and spend time in remote parts of the isolated desert base. Hall tells the story with complete seriousness and a full length feature documentary has been made about his experiences with the 'tall white' beings. Alas there is no corroborating evidence for any of this, but we would expect there to be.
- South Africa UFO crash
Some Ufologists in the 1990s investigated this alleged African Roswell-type incident. There was insufficient evidence.
- British 'Doug and Dave' crop circles
In the United Kingdom in the 1990s Doug and Dave showed television reporters the techniques they had used to make complex crop circles. These circles fooled a lot of people and kept the tabloid newspapers busy for years. Doug and Dave resented that some ufologists would not to having been fooled by their crop circles.
- Orson Welles 1938 radio broadcast
Orson Welles presented a radio version of H.G. Wells 'War of the Worlds' which caused panic in some communities.
- Peruvian alien mummies
In 2023 some alleged 'mummies' of alien beings were discovered in Peru. They turned out to be made of human and animal bones.
- Russian 'dead alien'
In 2011 there was an online sensation caused by a YouTube video of a dead alien supposedly found in Russia. The editing of the video shows the camera zooming into the dead alien before two men actually find it. Well my word, here's a dead alien.
- Erich von Daniken 'Chariots of the Gods' books
It may well be that there have been ancient alien visitors to Earth. It is difficult to prove or disprove either way. Alas Erich Von Daniken was not thorough enough in exploring other possible explanations for fascinating cultural items found around the world.
- Eduard Billy Meier
OK so this is 11 dubious UFO claims. Eduard Billy Meier is a Swiss former French Foreign Legionnaire who claims to have had multiple meetings with aliens from the Pleiades and has produced many iconic UFO photographs to prove it. Alas his ex-wife claims that he made the UFO models in the photographs. They do look suspiciously detailed.