Saturday, March 10, 2012
Fake UFO as good as the real thing?
Recently I bought a copy of Leslie Kean's UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record. There is a review of it by Peter Rogerson on the main Magonia blog.
I have to agree with Peter's comments about this book. Indeed, I found it astonishing that a purportedly serious book, by an experienced investigative journalist, should present a number of UFO cases, including well-known ones, by various contributors unaccompanied by any critical analyses of them. Many of the incidents described have either been satisfactorily explained and, for others, serious doubts have been expressed about the witnesses, even if we ignore those offered by armchair sceptics.
Kean devotes Chapter 1 of her book to introducing Major General Wilfried De Brouwer's account of the Belgian UFO wave in Chapter 2, in which much is made of the Petit-Rechain photograph of the famous flying triangle. As this photo is now known to have been faked (see, for example, Bad UFOs or Reality Uncovered), it is amusing to read some of Brouwer's comments, especially the following:
Professor Marion's more recent analysis in 2002 used more sophisticated technology. He confirmed the previous findings, while explaining a new discovery: Numeric treatment of the photograph revealed a halo of something lighter surrounding the craft. Special optical processing shows that within the halo, the light particles form a certain pattern around the craft like snowflakes in turbulence. This is very similar to the pattern of iron filings which is caused by "the lines of force" in a magnetic field. This could indicate that the craft is moving by using a magnetoplasmodynamic propulsion system as suggested by Professor Auguste Meessen in one of his studies.
Many hidden elements were revealed only through the analysis of this photograph, showing that the picture was not faked. The experts noted especially that the unique characteristics of the lights are very specific and said such an effect would not occur if the picture was a hoax.
Any comment would probably be superfluous.
