Extraordinary claims. Ordinary investigations.

The Weekly World News is not in print anymore, but almost all of its issues are available on Google Books! For it’s sheer entertainment, it’s great fun, but it’s also valuable to the ordinary investigator of extraordinary claims because not so few of those claims originated directly from those pages.

Yes, Virginia, many people took those stories very seriously. From the sounds from hell to some images of Nessie, to their Internet hit of Andrew Carlssin, at some point the tabloid source was forgotten and the story lived on.

As an interesting example, browsing the archive, I was surprised to find this front cover:

It was a surprise because I recognized the image, having seen it before, quite degraded, in this version:

Which is allegedly a photo from a soviet crashed saucer in the 1930s-40s (page in Japanese, but the story circulates in many languages).

Of course, as it must be clear now, the photo is actually an original WWN hoax. Check the story below:

In this particular case, the photo survived while the original story vanished. But it’s WWN infiltrating the extraordinary claims world, being taken very seriously by some, due to not so serious “researchers”.

Obviously, true believers will say the WWN was a disinformation vehicle and that the original 1940s photo was discredited in that 1992 story. Believe it… or not.

Can you find other interesting stories in the WWN online archive? I couldn’t find the sounds from hell story… do share your finds in the comments!

“This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. It was a circular formation in the sky that stayed over King’s Dominion [Amusement Park in Eastern Virginia] today for about 10 minutes. We looked away for a minute or two and then looked back and it was no longer there.”

The poster himself explains that

“There really was a smoke ring in the sky, and if you look through the comments or watch the attached news video, you will see that many other people saw the same thing in the sky (and even had religious experiences due to it). I am convinced now that this smoke ring did come from the volcano ride. There was not much wind that day, so the smoke ring somehow stayed intact . . . I’m not sure how, but it did. I have spoken with others from my work who were there and they have said they witnessed the same smoke ring actually come from the Volcano ride. I hope this clears up some of the questions out there.”

This is the same phenomenon more widely known in the Viborg “Jellyfish” UFO, and which happens all around the world, including Brazil, of which an image follows below.

Smoke rings can be that surprising. In Portuguese, see “Os OVNIs de Vórtice” for more photos and cases.

Above, Ufofu reproduces the famous Rex Heflin photos: Reconstitution des photos de Rex Heflin (in French). Can you see the string? Also from Ufofu, below, an analysis of the too-good-to-be-true Maslin Beach photos: Les OVNIs de Maslin Beach.

And if that wasn’t enough, ufofu also takes a look at Marian Apparitions. But back to classic cases, you can’t get more classic than Kenneth Arnold’s sighting. Eric Maillot suggests an explanation in L’ESCADRILLE D’OVNIS DE KENNETH ARNOLD ET L’HYPOTHESE OUBLIEE (PDF). And Marc Hallet has George Adamski. Biographie critique. All in French.

But you can also enjoy some Spanish in this adorable comic about the UMMO myth. Click on the image for the whole lot, even if you don’t understand the language, you may get an idea of the myth promoted in this fascinating piece of the UFO controversy (the symbol has even made an appearance in LOST):

If you really enjoy that English language though, you cannot miss “Xenology – An Introduction to the Scientific Study of Extraterrestrial Life, Intelligence, and Civilization”, by Robert A. Freitas Jr. It’s a lot to read, Freitas has just made the whole book available online.

“Topics include the history of the idea of extraterrestrial life; comparative planetology, stars, and galaxies; xenobiology (definition/origin of life, exotic biochemistries, and possible alien bioenergetics, biomechanics, sensations, reproduction, and intelligence); extraterrestrial civilizations (energy sources, biotechnology, interstellar travel, alien weapons, planetary and stellar engineering, xenosociology, and extraterrestrial governments and culture); interstellar communication techniques; and the sociology, legal issues, and appropriate interaction protocols pertaining to first contact.”

When you see all these words together, you may have a bad feeling from all the dubious stuff that is usually presented about these topics. One more reason to read Xenology: it’s a serious, sober approach that separates fact from speculation, but which also doesn’t fear to speculate.

Good reading! [hat tip to Manuel Borraz and José Juan Montejo Aguilera]

I usually refrain from posting too many debunkings in a row, but what can I do? In the past few days dubious images have been raining, and some ordinary investigations are due.

The image above was sent by Daniel, February 6, 2009, to Dirk Vander Ploeg from UFO Digest. According to Ploeg:

“The majority of the evidence, including photographic evidence and testimonies from present and past air force personnel makes me believe the object photographed by Daniel is a B-2 Stealth transporting a Drone similar to the SR-71 Blackbird.”

Daniel “describes the object as being black and very shiny with a surface similar to glass. ‘You can see the glass reflecting off of it. The pink circular pattern in the sky was only there for 10 seconds or so’, he said”.

For my part, I think those reflections are exactly what are strange here. In the enhanced close-up below, by Bruce Jessop (see the original link in UfoDigest), pay special attention to the ‘orb” like reflection on the right:

From the little I know, those light artifacts usually only show up in objects heavily out of focus. And the glaringly obvious inconsistency here is that all distant objects, from the trees to the clouds, are in focus. Except for the UFO.

If the blurring was due to extreme speed, it would be seen in the direction of the movement. It’s rather uniform around the UFO. The UFO is quite simply out of focus when all the distant objects are in focus.

That would add to the evidence that it could be actually a small, shiny, model near the camera, explaining that strange orb on the right.

Do you disagree? Feel free to correct me. I may be wrong, of course. Jason “Naveed” Westby thinks it’s a bird.

In the video above, captured December 19, 2007, in Rosario, Argentina, you can see a flying luminous object that seems to zap some vertical beams to the ground (at 0:26, for instance).

“I filmed it with a friend’s cell phone in Rosario, after exiting Alto Rosario shopping mall. … Upon watching the video closely I realized that the strange light, which many people saw and thought was a satellite, fired beams to the ground”, the witness told a local investigator, who quickly pronounced that “we know about these UFOs that fire beams to the ground. It happened in Germany and the UK. Thus, when he sent me the video, I couldn’t believe it; it’s something different from what we are used to see. Those are laser-like beams. The boy recorded five beams”, she stated to a local radio show. [source]

She nearly got it, at least when comparing the beams to lasers. Keep reading for the solution to this and many other cases around the world.

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