Strange Stick-like creatures caught on security camera above Fresno in Yosemite

reply to post by doobiefillin


noticed a cloth like movement from the closest item. its almost like someone trying walk strangly.
kids in sheets.... notice neither are carrying anything - what the purpose of the visit... oh to make a video.

My first knee jerk impression is that it's someone in costume. But if that were the case, I can't figure out how the legs move and bend. The knees seem to bend forwards and backward, and the legs move in a very unnatural way. That would be very hard to recreate as a hoax.

just watch the knees and legs move. Very strange. I've also heard several accounts of beings that moved in the same manner.

Originally posted by The Cusp
My first knee jerk impression is that it's someone in costume. But if that were the case, I can't figure out how the legs move and bend. The knees seem to bend forwards and backward, and the legs move in a very unnatural way. That would be very hard to recreate as a hoax.

just watch the knees and legs move. Very strange. I've also heard several accounts of beings that moved in the same manner.

Maybe they are walking backwards. That'd explain the bending of the knees and the weird gate.

Originally posted by The Cusp
My first knee jerk impression is that it's someone in costume. But if that were the case, I can't figure out how the legs move and bend. The knees seem to bend forwards and backward, and the legs move in a very unnatural way. That would be very hard to recreate as a hoax.

just watch the knees and legs move. Very strange. I've also heard several accounts of beings that moved in the same manner.

There is another clip from my hometown (Fresno) of a similar "object". It was actually featured on: Fact or Faked (I believe that was what the show was called). Again, I have not watched the video of this new "object", I'm just going off the screenshot ("Haters gonna hate").

If I may further explain the marionette similarity. If you look at the closest foot you can see that during some of the walking the foot itself hits the ground and then the area where the ankle & shin would be continues to dip closer to the ground, but not so with every step. This is just like when my kids or I use such a puppet as the string is attached to the foot directly but if the one attached to the head is not high enough this effect will happen as the remainder of the right leg sinks from insufficient tension on the head string, something unavoidable if you want the head to perform certain bobbing type movements or if you're simply not practiced & focused enough to keep the head tension just right (for if you keep the head string too high the leg will "float" and not fully touch the ground)

Bah, I'm animating this figure and it is god damn difficult to make it move realistic.

Animating a walk loop is such a difficult task, and I'm not an animator, lol

I wanted to show the movement of the cloth, which is easy to do, but I can't do it if nothing's moving, and I would have to spend hours and hours doing the animation.

That's what I noticed; the movement is really, really realistic. I would say it had to be captured with motion capture systems (if it is CGI), or either animate it by hand, and you would have to be really good at that to make it seem realistic.

About it being a puppet... Is it possible to bend the lower leg to both directions (back and forward) with just one string?

Originally posted by Highroad214

Originally posted by doobiefillin

This still makes me laugh.

lol i know me too

Originally posted by Spinotoror

About it being a puppet... Is it possible to bend the lower leg to both directions (back and forward) with just one string?

edit on 8-4-2011 by Spinotoror because: (no reason given)

The lower leg as in immediately above the feet, and either back or forwards: Yes, if that lower leg has no design to determine how it will bend, such as no joints or stiff parts, then the floppy area just above the foot can fall or lower to either side of the foot. If the tension on that leg is not maximized (where the puppet string would develop slack) then the next stride will more likely bend in the same manner as the last, or at least quite closely. But if the leg is fully extended through the puppeteer's motion then the next flex of the leg could take a different direction (even left or right, or forward or backwards, though this variant will depend largely on both the leg's construction and the manner in which the puppeteer is moving).

I can't watch the video from here to check it out again and be sure, but I recall it having a pivot like walking motion, as though all three string points were fixed, which would mean the legs and head would always align in a straight line (horizontally) if the head string were in the center of the crossbar, or align in a bent formation if the head string were ahead of the leg strings on the crossbar, which would be necessary if you wanted to be able to bob the head up and down without bobbing/bouncing the legs - the crossbar being the controlly thing the puppeteer uses.

You can see similar motions when people use those crazy bird string puppets you can find in google shopping or ebay.

I find any video that starts out focused and goes unfocused or lighting changes etc... just before the good part suspicious.

The figures seem very illuminated with no illumination on the fore and background though.

reply to post by Spinotoror

posted on 4/6/11 @ 09:05 PM this post reply to post by cripmeister
I like to think I look in every direction. If something is caught on film, no matter preposterous, I'd like an explanation. Yes, I have seen the pixelation changes at .16 seconds, .32 seconds, and .47 seconds. To me that screams hoax. Abnormal, impossible creatures that you say can't exist? Prove they don't, because there is footage that says they do. I'm not saying they are real or not, just that someone supposedly had a cctv cam setup and caught strange images on film, and if the critters are fake, then let's figure out to debunk this hoax.

To me it seems they are not humans on stilts, especially the little guy (it's hips pivot up where the shoulders should be, however, I'm not an expert in xenobiology). Next I would think marionettes, but with the perspective flow across the screen, you would need a huge scaffolding with green screen to shoot the overlay. This wasn't produced by a big Hollywood studio, and it's vid, not a single pic.

So then I think CGI, editing everything frame by frame, and even that would require hundreds of man hours to render the 57 seconds they gave us. I have done CGI before, and yes, it's so tedious and time consuming. I have utmost respect for Pixar and Dreamworks, knowing it takes a crew of hundreds a couple of years to produce a fully CGI film such as "Finding Nemo" or "Cars". Finally, I wonder who would dedicate that much time for a hoax, what the payout is, and the logic behind working for hours on end to produce a viral video. If CGI, the programmer nets zero dollars, and the 57 second video gets 15 minutes of fame.

On the other hand, I have to address the fact that there are other lifeforms on this planet, AGAIN suspiciously without arms or eyes. They also seem rather fragile. One of my dogs would snatch one of those spindly legs and it'd be the end of that alien. I would have to think they have superior telepathic ability, and they had evolved to take control of any humans or animals that would harm them. There is no obvious answer right now.

I said it would be difficult to reproduce in CGI. Hours of labor, but yes, it COULD be done, however, their movements, however jerky, look almost natural.

I tried to figure out the center of balance of these critters, as forward movement, (walking), is basically falling forward and catching yourself with your other foot. We use arms for counter-balance, and that's why human walking is so fluid. These critters have no arms to wave or flail about, to help them keep their balance, and that is what is so disturbing about it. They have no upper body to counter-act normal human balancing and walking. Bipedal locomotion is something reserved for creatures with a heavy torso and counterbalancing appendages. That's WHY humans are unique for walking upright. We have a straight spine and arms, and are the only creatures on this planet that walk upright on two legs. It's all about balancing. These guys have no upper body mass, which is puzzling. They shouldn't be able to walk. If they had three legs, it'd be ok, some sort of stabilization. Four legs, even better. These guys only have two, and do an admirable job of walking upright, for extended periods.

I regressed and thought puppets again, the helium balloon thing, floating them along. The head is way too small to have the volume of helium required to "float" the object and have it pulled with a string, even it was made of balsa. Even then, the little guy stops, turns sideways, and then rushes to catch up with bigger one, so it wasn't a simple "run the puppets across the screen" enactment. VERY complex for a hoax. Still can't decide.

Originally posted by Druid42

I tried to figure out the center of balance of these critters, as forward movement, (walking), is basically falling forward and catching yourself with your other foot. We use arms for counter-balance, and that's why human walking is so fluid. These critters have no arms to wave or flail about, to help them keep their balance, and that is what is so disturbing about it. They have no upper body to counter-act normal human balancing and walking.

They have no feet either. The "walking pants" defy gravity Here's what I'm thinking. Maybe it's not a CG animation but actually two people walking behind the puppets controlling their movements. It's a static shot so editing out the people wouldn't that difficult no? They probably added the night vision grainy effect and pixelation to obscure what was really going on.

I call this a unexplainable mystery there comes a time when something has to be believed not everything is a hoax..when i first looked at this video i laughed and thought 2 kids on stilts with sheets over them but the more i look at this these creatures are very small and fluid in there walk..this video looks very convincing to me and I'm a bit of a skeptic when it comes to utube videos..

reply to post by doobiefillin


Looks very much like another video that the show "Fact or Faked" did some tests on. Looks like the same "creatures" as in that vid. Either way, intersting peice of video, could be real..or it could be couple of guys walkin backwards in parachute pants with their top torso's cropped out of the video.

reply to post by ISRAELdid911


Lucky somebody was in the forst in pitch black with a camera at just the right time.

OMG, this is just nonesense.
Oh right, a "Security Camera" watching a Forest in Pitch Black.

I've watched the film a few times in hi def and there is something creepy about these creatures. Look closely at the way the cloth moves and at the lower legs and feet, it's frighteningly real to me.

And also, this could be the greatest ATS meme ever.

reply to post by Druid42

I said it would be difficult to reproduce in CGI. Hours of labor, but yes, it COULD be done, however, their movements, however jerky, look almost natural.

I tried to figure out the center of balance of these critters, as forward movement, (walking), is basically falling forward and catching yourself with your other foot. We use arms for counter-balance, and that's why human walking is so fluid. These critters have no arms to wave or flail about, to help them keep their balance, and that is what is so disturbing about it. They have no upper body to counter-act normal human balancing and walking. Bipedal locomotion is something reserved for creatures with a heavy torso and counterbalancing appendages. That's WHY humans are unique for walking upright. We have a straight spine and arms, and are the only creatures on this planet that walk upright on two legs. It's all about balancing. These guys have no upper body mass, which is puzzling. They shouldn't be able to walk. If they had three legs, it'd be ok, some sort of stabilization. Four legs, even better. These guys only have two, and do an admirable job of walking upright, for extended periods.

I regressed and thought puppets again, the helium balloon thing, floating them along. The head is way too small to have the volume of helium required to "float" the object and have it pulled with a string, even it was made of balsa. Even then, the little guy stops, turns sideways, and then rushes to catch up with bigger one, so it wasn't a simple "run the puppets across the screen" enactment. VERY complex for a hoax. Still can't decide.

I agree and what's interesting is the fluid motion of the gate, but possible with perhaps robotics, very sophisticated piece of robotics indeed.

They look like they're walking backwards or if the tape is being played backwards.

reply to post by maddog99


glad i read your post first, i was going to say the same thing, it is wierd for sure.

Originally posted by DarthSolo
They look like they're walking backwards or if the tape is being played backwards.

the tape can't go backwards because the time would reverse..

2nd