This is the picture we sent to MUFON. It appeared to be the clearest and most level of the bunch. We really liked this one despite all it's shortcomings. It made us realize, we could easily do this, and we could do it better next time. Even so, we have recieved many credulous opinions on this one when we present it as real. It does look as good as many out there in circulation and better than some. Jeff Sainios said, well, we'll just post his response here.
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 23:03:49 -0500
From: Jeff Sainio [add to address book] [add to spam block list]
Subject: football photo
To: [email protected], *******.com
The photo you sent is one of the more stunning photos I have received,
out of hundreds
in my years of UFO photo and video analysis. Unfortunately, the photo
is such that there is little scientific analysis that can be done. (I
have to be paranoid and not disclose what those methods are, at this
point)
You say that this is the only photo that did 'come out.' Many
photographic analysis techniques are actually useful on photos did NOT
work "well" by the usual man-on-the-
street's" opinion. Especially useful are photos which show earthly
objects like the horizon,
tree branches, telephone poles, buildings or whatever. A photo blurred
by camera motion
is quite useful.
If you could send the other photos, these may be quite useful in full
analysis of this case.
Jeff Sainio
MUFON Staff Photoanalyst
[email protected]
Paranoid? Why would they be paranoid? Hahaha. Seriously though, not bad I guess for a spontaneous effort with no planning and simply "winging it". We also sent a whole batch of photo's to another person. These photo's were the night shots. The person in question is the ever maniacle Erik Beckjord. We figured hey, the guy claims to be good at photo analysis so let's see if we can't fool him too? As we recieve monthly e-mail rants from him he was a natural secondary target. Here is our fabricated story we sent him along with the photos. We sent the above shot and a lot of the night shots to him. He became very paranoid rather quickly though this is normal for him.
At 00:02 07.11.00 -0500, you wrote:>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>Content-Language: en>Content-Length: 4543>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit>
>Hello Mr.Beckjord. Enclosed is a picture taken by a very good friend of
mine. I have sent this picture to another organisation which claims they
will try to find some answers for us. It has been a month and we have heard
nothing from them since their initial form letter reply of thanks and
assurances that they will have it looked over by a top photography analyst.
We have waited too long allready so we are going to try a different avenue.
Before I continue I would like to point out we are requesting anonymity for
several reasons. Not the least of which is that this and other pictures we
have were taken in a sensitive area where we were not supposed to be. The
area is in the Ft.George. G. Meade. military base. This base is where the
N.S.A is located also. This base has been all but closed off to the public
for the past 5 years now but as we are very familiar with the area we know
of several entrances whereby it is possible to access their test range
areas. We used to spend considerable time in those wooded areas swimming
and drinking a few beers in the patuxent river. We now no longer do this as
the last time we did this we were bodily removed and not so nicely warned
not to return. We had been using the very same spot for a swimming hole for
years and untill recently never encounterd military police who showed such
decidedly menacing presence. In all other instances years before we were
simply told we had to leave as it was a firing range and we were not safe
there. The last time was decidedly different. Untill we returned in the
evening hours and began witnessing what we have on several occasions we
were very confused about this sudden change in attitude by the MP`s. We now
feel a great many things are making sense. Not the least of which is the
fact that access to the base is now very restricted. This is attributed to
cutbacks and scaling down so they are not able to maintain the entire base
anymore. I no longer believe this to be the case. From all appearances this
base still has only the best in materials and equipment. Also , the airstrip is allegedly not in active service
yet we have seen very unusual air activity directly over what we believe to
be it`s location.
There are many other items I may list for you later if
the situation warrents. As for right now I simply wish to get this info
out. Something strange is going on here. We are sure of it now. We do not
care what happens with these pictures we have. We simply need to have
someone else know of them besides ourselves. We are in all reality
beginning to find ourselves somewhat paranoid and nervous being the only
ones we know of who have made these observations. You seem to have a strong
backround in photography and investigation. We hope this is correct as you
may be able to learn more from what we have. The photo`s attatched were
taken using a sony digital camera in the early evening hours of Oct.4. The
object was approximately 300 or so feet away and possibly 200 feet up. It
was a shiny or silvery grey in appearance. It made many highly unusual
manuevers in a sometimes erratic manner. Other times it appeared to move
very precisely and swiftly. It showed an ability to accelerate instantly
and stop just as suddenly. We also have seen what we believe to be the same
object at night and have taken pictures then also. It would practically
appear from nowhere usually near nightfall. On one occasion we observed it
descending slowly over the area we believe to be the bases airstrip. It
made no noise but on two occasions we heard what sounded like a pop when it
seemed to just appear. We are going to make this our last attempt to get
this information out and hopefully made public eventually. We may send you
the rest of what we have obtained but this is not a certainty at this
moment. We have tried to get this story out once before and have no idea
what has become of our efforts. I understand this may sound strange but we
are beginning to wonder if these attempts are even getting through. We hope
you will not ignore our plea here. Someone has got to at le!>!
>ast look into this. We hope you can shed some light on it in some way. We
will maintain this e-mail address for a short while so if you find it
neccessary we can be contacted. Again we must stress anonymity. For our
sakes. We do not know what kind of repercussions we may recieve from this
and have no desire to find out.
Thank you for your time. --->>--->Anthony Black>
>Reply:
I have some questions --
your real name. Real phone.
What camera was used - digital video or
digital stills ?
I suggest this NOT be publicized, or else the activity may shift to
Utah or Nevada...
I suggest you invest in real cameras, with huge telephoto lenses,
aND you become "birdwatchers"... carry Audubon Society bird books with you..
(got it?). Use a bean-bag or sand bag for resting camera on car windowglass.
Get a monopod and a tripod. Get super8mm film camera,or 16mm..
If not, then digital video.
Avoid stills. At least, if you do stay with stills, get an aut0--advancemotor.
Be cool, be withdrawn, do not go public.
That time comes later. Get more info, more pix.
The jpg looks good, but --- I was not there.
Dr Maccabee will doubtless be in touch. Pro optical physicist.
DO NOT DO PUBLIC OR THE UFOS WILL STOP.
Beep me at 415-540-9022
For all we know, you could be a fed, trying to do entrapment.
Erik
The UFO, LOCH NESS MONSTER,
Jon-Erik Beckjord,MBA
Crop Circles and Bigfoot Internet Museums
Curator,webmaster
817 Columbus ave.,#161 San Francisco,CA 94133
415-974-4339 24 hrs.
[email protected] http://www.beckjord.com
___
_________________________________________________________________________
ASAP. But -- do not blow this and go babbling to the media.
The point is to learn more.
Actually, in this case Eriks strong paranoia served him well. But you can tell he was quite ready to accept and was very interested untill we refused to reveal our names to him. Then he became the Beckjerk we all know and love and began attacking and insulting us. We simply bid him goodbye and haven't checked on him since. We didn't get any great results or achieve as much as we wish we could have. Honestly we just hadn't the time to put the effort into a serious hoax. All in all though great fun and very educational for us. We think what we have learned from this will be evident in or next project which is in progress.