A Real Photo of a Flying Saucer

PLEASE read the entire OP before posting. It's not too long, and it will save you a lot of grief.

Here is the photo, taken back in April of 1998, by a 10-year-old boy who DESPERATELY wanted to see a UFO and firmly believed that aliens were visiting Earth and that the government was hiding the truth from us:



...and here's a closeup of the saucer:



Okay, hold on. I have to stop this right now. I was the 10-year-old boy I just mentioned. I'm 24 now, and I don't like admitting it, but as much as I STILL want to believe, you can't spell "believe" without at least one "lie." You see, I didn't take that photo. My parents did. And there isn't just ONE saucer in the photo, there are actually TWO, even if you can't tell. They're paper saucers, stapled together, and thrown much like a Frisbee, from a treehouse that's just to the right of the edge of the photo.

Please don't be TOO angry with me, the rest is very true. I WAS 10 years old back in 1998 when the photo was taken, and I DO still want to believe. This IS a real, unedited, photo of flying saucers, taken on 35mm film, even if the saucers might not be quite what you expected. I thought this photo might be of interest to ATS members, as it is a testament to the lengths many of us are willing to go to in order to prove something which we believe in. It is also a perfect example of how difficult it is to PROVE whether a photo or video is real or not.

We have all seen very fake-looking photos and videos before, and we've all seen some pretty convincing ones as well, but sometimes you just have to admit that you don't know WHAT you're looking at. If I had come on here and said that the saucer in the photo was an aircraft 100 feet across, I probably would have convinced a lot of people, and I probably would have gotten a lot of naysayers claiming it was everything from a bird to a plane to a Frisbee, but for anyone to actually KNOW what was in the photo, they would have had to be there.

Just reminding everyone to keep an open mind, and be willing to admit when they have no idea what they're looking at. With advanced CGI and computer-editing, hoaxes are getting easier to create all the time, but sometimes the best hoaxes are the brutally simple ones, which require little to no technology at all.

I may still be waiting for my first UFO sighting, but I'll keep looking 'till I see one. Peace, deny ignorance, and Don't Stop Believing:



Mods, if this would find a better home in HOAX!, you know what to do.

reply to post by T3hEn1337ened

A Real Photo of a Flying Saucer

The photos usually are real. What is actually in the photo, is what often remains questionable.

reply to post by T3hEn1337ened


I enjoyed your little experience/memory there thanks for sharing...
and i think it goes to show how people are too quick to say its a "UFO!!" without thinking about alternative explinations..

looking at the image its unbelievable quality and it dosnt look like two paper plates so kudos to your mum and dad for making it look real

inspired. thanks

Originally posted by AnotherHumanBeing
and i think it goes to show how people are too quick to say its a "UFO!!" without thinking about alternative explinations..

The first explanation is always labelled a UFO in sightings, because that's what the definition of the term UFO means. Unidentified...

The alternative explanations come afterwards.

Good thread though. Makes a very valid point.

reply to post by T3hEn1337ened

They're paper saucers, stapled together, and thrown much like a Frisbee

I just found my new "debunker" phrase. Thank you for that! .......JK!
You make a very good point. Its easy to fake something like this and on the reverse....it isn't easy to say what the picture actually contains. I would've said ' Wow, good pic, thanks for posting.' Pictures are the hardest to debunk, videos being a little easier but are still easily hoaxed. I wonder how many pics I've studied, and come to the conclusion that it has to be a real aircraft of some kind, when it was probably paper plates stapled together all along.
Again you make a good point. Star for you!
TXML

debunk hell!
its a real photo

it has a saucer
its flying

an Identified Flying Object
( UFO wsn't in the thread title )
whats the prob?

Then ALL people who have witnessed a sighting are liars?hallucinators?monte banks?
Your shennanigans is not appreciated ............Its that You Tube mentality, thats killing the whole subject and playing into the hands of the goverments cover up........
I know you were only ten, and never spread ot around....say, but there are many who do and it is the death knell
to private researchers who have been trying to pry the lid off the cookie jar since 1947.........
People like Wendel Stevens, Jim and Coral Lorentzen, and many others
The way they cut Major Keyhoe off the air for trying to warn the public, was enough to convince me......nuff said.....
Its this kind of shennanigans that has turned the whole thing into a quagmire stirred with every kind of disinformation...........................
When you really do see one, youll appreciate this point of view much more...........Because your sighting will be made useless before it happened.......Then youll be left even further isolated from people......just wait and see.............

Great stuff. I love your fake UFO. I faked one myself when I was about 12 years old. That was about 1976. I got the idea from a UFO book I bought at the school book club. Get a piece of black cellotape (sellotape?), black tape anyway, and poke some holes along it to look like portholes and stick it to your window and snap away. Trouble is mine looked like tape stuck to a window, yours looks like a flying saucer, lol.

Don't give up looking, I never did. Saw a UFO in 1980, 1995 or96? 1997, and 2003 was the biggie.

I would say that rather than a "saucer," it looks a lot more like a cylinder tapered on each end. A skinny cigar, if you will. I say that because the photo is taken at a relatively low angle, and unless the saucer itself was tilted at exactly that same angle we wouldn't see it so exactly edge on. The elliptical shape would be taller and rounded on the ends, not pointy.

Otherwise, I have no reason to doubt you. However, it's still just another UFO photo that gives us essentially no clue as to what it actually is.

Although the story is interesting, the title and post does clearly violate the Terms and Conditions

15). Posting: You will not Post any material that is knowingly false, misleading, or inaccurate.

Don't be surprised if this gets moved to the HOAX bin quickly...

Thanks for the responses so far, ATS. Glad to see that people aren't getting too worked up over an admitted hoax. I think it's important to share things like this, because there's always an urge to show off a convincing fake, and try to pass it off as real, but if we can ever hope for integrity within the UFO community, we have to be willing to admit when we were lying or mistaken. I've shown this photo to a few people in real life, but always told the truth about it, as I strongly believe in personal integrity.

Originally posted by stirling
Then ALL people who have witnessed a sighting are liars?hallucinators?monte banks?
Your shennanigans is not appreciated ............Its that You Tube mentality, thats killing the whole subject and playing into the hands of the goverments cover up........

I'm very sorry if I've offended you, or anyone else, stirling. I'm NOT trying to imply that all sightings are false. On the contrary, I feel that there is enough evidence out there (from highly credible sources, no less) to take the UFO phenomenon very seriously. Whether it's aliens, extra-dimensional beings, secret terrestrial aircraft, environmental phenomena, or something else entirely, I think most of us can agree that there HAVE BEEN real sightings, and that those who seek to muddy the waters with false claims are rather detestable.

We are all tired of seeing fakes that are presented as something real, but there also needs to be a way for us to share our enthusiasm for UFOs without simply putting out hoax videos and photos and claiming that they're real. The unexplained is very exciting to a lot of people, but for every ONE person that sees something, there's 100 that WANT to see something, but never have.

It would have been very tempting to claim that I had no idea what was in the photo, or even to take more photos and generate a whole story around them, but that's wrong, and I wouldn't do that. I hope you can forgive me for being enthusiastic enough to create a fake, as I think many people have been in my position, but few have had the honesty to admit up front when they're lying.

I have far too much respect for those who have committed, or even given, their lives in order to expose the truth to perpetuate a hoax.

reply to post by gavron


I was gonna just post it in hoax, but apparently threads have to be moved there. Like I said in the OP, go for it mods. I'm sure as heck not gonna complain.

EDIT:
Also, if mods have any advice for where a thread like this would belong, I would be much obliged if they would let me know. I don't make a habit out of misleading people, but I'm sure I'm not the first to create a thread like this. If such a thread were wholly unappreciated on ATS, I would think I would have more negative comments from other members.

Perhaps somewhere like the Short Stories forum would be better? I'm not really sure, but it seems like there should be a place for threads like this.

personally I think its a good study in how easy it is to play with the medium
the "medium is the message" as has been said ( M McLuhan)

The title is a play on McLuhan's oft-quoted saying "The medium is the message". The book was initiated by Quentin Fiore.[1] McLuhan adopted the term "massage" to denote the effect each medium has on the human sensorium, taking inventory of the "effects" of numerous media in terms of how they "massage" the sensorium.

en.wikipedia.org...

pure ignorance.....this is the exact reason why it so hard to sort through all the fakes ....
why even post this? yea i read your reason, but not good enough for me. tell your story but why post it as real just say its fake ."Your title"

Chinese lantern.

Obviously.

Thank you for coming out with this and admitting it was a hoax. I personally have had two (2)UFO sightings myself and know and believe what I saw.

But i can't stand all the hoaxers out there, nothing does more to discredit the field of UFO research like the damn losers who have too much time on they're hands so they create a fake video. Just so sick of it. Get a job or another hobby people!

Originally posted by paradiselost333
why even post this? yea i read your reason, but not good enough for me. tell your story but why post it as real just say its fake ."Your title"

edit on 23-3-2012 by paradiselost333 because: (no reason given)

edit on 23-3-2012 by paradiselost333 because: (no reason given)

I guess because it's also my own little commentary on the deception of the age we live in and the role which language plays in shaping our perception. Maybe it's a bit of a "cheap shot" title, but there's nothing technically false about it. A saucer is, in fact, a plate, and a "flying saucer" is a plate in the sky.

I like to play with words, but since the title seems to be getting on people's nerves, I will put quotations around "flying saucer." Perhaps I got a little too carried away, what with the way our society feels the need to sensationalize.

EDIT:


Um, oookay then. Guess I won't.

Originally posted by Blue Shift
I would say that rather than a "saucer," it looks a lot more like a cylinder tapered on each end. A skinny cigar, if you will. I say that because the photo is taken at a relatively low angle, and unless the saucer itself was tilted at exactly that same angle we wouldn't see it so exactly edge on. The elliptical shape would be taller and rounded on the ends, not pointy.

Otherwise, I have no reason to doubt you. However, it's still just another UFO photo that gives us essentially no clue as to what it actually is.

Actually, he tells you exactly what it is , and you should have EVERY reason to doubt him/her....

A question....When you read a book, do you skim the paragraphs and go straight to the pictures?

This kind of half reading/understanding another person's post leads to many a jumbled thread filled with pointless arguments and wild speculation here on ATS, and today, you've become a contributor...

Originally posted by OneEleven
Actually, he tells you exactly what it is , and you should have EVERY reason to doubt him/her....

A question....When you read a book, do you skim the paragraphs and go straight to the pictures?

This kind of half reading/understanding another person's post leads to many a jumbled thread filled with pointless arguments and wild speculation here on ATS, and today, you've become a contributor...

I was making more of a general comment about UFO photos, but I guess I wasn't clear enough. Oh, well. I'm apparently not as upset about it as you.

Thread closed pending staff review.

Terms and Conditions of Use are pretty clear.



15). Posting: You will not Post any material that is knowingly false, misleading, or inaccurate.