Extraordinary claims. Ordinary investigations.

“This June 23, 2008, around 5PM, a strange “UFO” appeared in the skies of Caratinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Many people saw it and some were able to capture it in photos.”

Not only that, it was also captured in a cell phone movie. And, of course, put on Youtube!

It looks like a classic example of what we call a “Vortex UFO”, the most spectacular one being the Viborg “Jellyfish”.

[Photos by Carlos Albert, shared by Joanes]

UPDATE: I posted higher-quality versions of the two photos above, along with a witness description of the event, over at the Portuguese website. Another pal kindly sent me the original image files and other videos, but what I present here is truly the best of what was captured.

There was an expo going in the city near where the “Vortex UFO” must have come, and the only questions remaining is exactly where did it come from and how.

You certainly have seen this elsewhere (along with the other four million people since last Friday), but did you notice that even that infamous Haitian UFO made a cameo appearance? It’s right there, in front of the Sneezing Panda:

Oh, and again, just behind Miss Teen South Carolina, in front of dramatic chipmunk:

Will it blend? All Hail Weezer and the Red Album.

This video is not impressive at all (the previous balloon was far more interesting), but try to guess what it is. A digital hoax? Or simply a suspended lamp?I vouched for the suspended lamp, as the wires could have been obliterated by the background sky, and the match of focus and general appearance seemed very nice and real. For a lamp, that is. The fact the “UFO” almost doesn’t move was also a factor.

But then, I’m not an expert, and neither had I dedicated much time to it. Because I was wrong, and this was a digital hoax after all. Even when I was told so, I had my doubts. Even after seeing these screenshots:

I still had some doubts. Perhaps they created this to fool the skeptics, when it was a suspended lamp! It had to be!

Until I spent some more minutes staring at it and realized the time stamp and footage on it are nowhere to be seen in the publicized video. This is indeed a screenshot of the creation of the footage. I was wrong.

So, this is a quite nice digital hoax which at first sight may look like a crude lamp hoax. These are confusing times.

This case is actually developing as Mexican ufologists Jaime Maussán and Ana Luisa Cid are arguing over it. The screenshots were publicized by Tachi.

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UPDATE: The author of the videos not only denies he hoaxed them, he actually claims those screenshots were hoaxed. And he may be telling the truth, at least for the last part.

One usually assumes the person who created the video is the one to post it first on Youtube. And Mauricio Ruiz was the one to post it first. Yet, he denies he hoaxed them. He claims that was a real event. Then, we have someone who sent, anonymously, those screen captures. But no more details from this presumed other person.

Things do not fit.

As I wrote above, I initially suspected this video was of a simple lamp, or some other real object. It’s a VERY good footage, if you ignore the fact the alleged UFO almost doesn’t move. The focus, movements, flares, all is very fine. That can very well be a real object, if not a real UFO.

Alejandro Franz also thinks so, and he even points to some poles that can be seen on other footage from Ruiz. One of Ruiz’s previous “UFO” footages involved simply filming clouds. Capturing a lamp (or something) suspended would fit that. A sophisticated 3d hoax wouldn’t.

What made me accept those screenshots was the time stamp. As I wrote, “the time stamp [on the] footage [is] nowhere to be seen in the publicized video“. But then, in retrospect, I realize that Ruiz seems to have uploaded and then removed a lot of videos to Youtube. Someone may have downloaded one of his other videos and created those screen shots.

So, he may be telling the truth when he says those screen captures were hoaxed.

And if they were hoaxed, then we don’t have smoking gun evidence that the video is a hoax. You would have to consider that it just have all the signs of a common lamp suspended with a string. Probably so, but no definite proof, as the author claims it was a real event, and the original video haven’t been analyzed.

As soon as I discover any additional evidence, or otherwise, if no new conclusive evidence comes from this case, I will make a new post clearly admitting that I was initially right, but was wrong on accepting those screenshots. In short, that I was wrong.

For now, I hope this update keeps people… updated. What made me update it was this discussion on ATS (a forum from which it seems I was banned, I don’t know why).

I was waiting for more definite evidence to come from the case to post a correction, but even if I’m not sure if I was right, wrong, or right and then wrong, one thing I can assure you: I try to be right. I’m no mad evil debunker.

Of course, that’s what a mad evil debunker would tell you. But I’m not one.

“A very intriguing UFO filmed on July 1st 2001 in Moscow. The incredible morphing or fading of the craft, as well as the sudden appearance, intensification and color change in the dual lights is quite unique. Although the beginning of the film looks to be a weather balloon. The latter parts of the video do not necessarily display characteristics common to such man-made devices.”

But it is indeed a “weather” balloon. As fellow Luis Eduardo Pacheco, from Stratocat, points out:

“It’s clearly a stratospheric balloon without its payload, which explains why it has a variable center of gravity. Even then, one can notice it’s under considerable stress that deforms it after releasing its payload and going over its maximum flying altitude, with lower pressures… If it had been filmed at noon instead of at sunset it wouldn’t have taken much time to blow up because of the heating of helium or hydrogen. Given the time of the year, it was probably launched from Kamchatka“.

Now, that’s to show that “weather” balloons sightings need not be boring at all. [via Marcianitos]

The image was sent to the Brazilian UFO discussion group “BURN“, with the following report:

“I manage a company that makes ‘photo business cards’, and we usually take a photo of the businesses so that the cards have their photos. It was shortly before 4 PM in October, when my wife and I went to take photos of the ‘7 Corações’ business to make the card, when we captured the UFO. … When I told that to some friends, they said it was a joke, which lead me to contact the Air Force. I called the airport and asked to talk with the traffic controller officer [in Brazil air traffic is managed by the Armed Forces]. When I told I had a photo of the UFO they detected on radar he tried to dismiss me. When I showed I was not going to agree with his dismissals he gave me the number of CINDACTA [the main institution responsible for air traffic]. … When the man realized I was serious, he asked me to wait and went to speak with his commander, and I heard him saying, ‘We can’t do anything, he already knows all about it’.”

Pretty standard, even boring story. And as his UFO image also showed what looked like a rectangular block around the alleged object, it all seemed like a crude hoax to some. The surprising thing is that it wasn’t. At least the photos weren’t hoaxed, that is.

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