The most popular UFO videos : The real stories behind them

Koi UFO Video 088 : Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (2003) – Chris Oakley

Koi UFO Video 088 appears to show a flying saucer hovering above the sea near a beach. The video has a caption indicating it was filmed on 19th September 2003. The video is usual accompanied by a description stating that it was filmed over the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) on 19 September 2003.

Quite a few copies of this video appear online, most of which have a relatively modest number of views. One copy has approximately 140,000 views as at March 2015.

In fact, as detailed at the link below, the video was produced in 2004 by Chris Oakley (a video artist and filmmaker) and is included on a DVD of his video art work. His website describes this video as "referencing both contemporary media practices and Magritte’s famous painting The Treachery Of Images" and states that it "presents a fantastic image framed plausibly". Chris comments that "as the treatment of fictional and factual content converges in the mainstream media, our responses to media representations become ambivalent".

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 088

Koi UFO Video 089 : Drone Big Basin recreation – Kris Avery

Koi UFO Video 089 appears to show an unidentified flying object very similar to photographs circulated online in 2007 by "Chad" and others.

It's rare that I'd describe a UFO video as a thing of beauty, but I think this one qualifies.

As discussed at the link below, this video was created in 2007 by Kris Avery, a British computer animation professional. He created a series of "drone" animations, including a music video featuring the voice of ufologist Linda Moulton Howe. (Personally, I think the artist merit of Kris Avery's videos far exceeds those of almost all other UFO videos).

Kris Avery's videos caused some confusion among "drone" researchers. Some researchers (including Linda Moulton Howe) appear to have believed that at least some of Kris Avery's drone videos were real. On the other hand, some skeptics have viewed the videos as evidence that all the drone photographs were hoaxed by Kris Avery. In fact, Kris Avery stated that he created his video based on the photographs which were circulating online. He has denied that he created those photographs and I am not aware of any evidence which contradicts that denial.

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 089

Koi UFO Video 091 : Armada of UFOs over Carmichael, California (2011)

Koi UFO Video 091, which lasts approximately 10 minutes, appears to show a mass of white objects in a blue sky. The video was first uploaded by Nolan Jorgensen in on 13 August 2011 with the title "UFO ? Mass Sighting" and was accompanied by a description which stated that the sighting took place "around 7pm" over his home in Carmichael, California (near Sacramento, California).

The original copy of the video had over 400,000 views as at March 2015. A further copy was uploaded on 11 March 2015 with the title "Armada of UFOs caught in daytime sky in California" (and no indication that it had been filmed several years earlier...) was circulated widely on social media websites such as Facebook and obtained over 90,000 views in the first few days after this copy was posted on Youtube.

In fact, as detailed at the link below, the video is speeded up footage of a mass of balloons released from the Carmichael Park on 13 August 2011. Strings from some of the balloons are clearly visible at various points in the footage (with screen shots included at the link below). The person that filmed the balloons, Nolan Jorgensen, himself subsequently confirmed with Carmichael Park that there was a release of balloons during a memorial at Carmichael Park that afternoon.

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 091

Koi UFO Video 093 : Small alien in snow in Siberia

Koi UFO Video 093 appears to show someone leading a cameraman to the site of an alien body lying on top of snow near Irkutsk in Siberia.

Copies of this video had over 6 million views in their first few days on Youtube in 2011 and featured in media item around the world, including on the websites of various newspapers here in England (including The Daily Mail and The Telegraph).

In fact, as discussed at the link below, the "alien" in this video was made by two Russians (Ivan Baturin and Artem Fedotov) out of plasticine and dough with a chicken skin stretched over it. Atrem Fedotov is seen in the video, which was filmed by the Ivan Baturin. Ivan Baturin and Artem Fedotov subsequently admitted the hoax and demonstrated on Russian television how they made the "alien" and where they filmed their video. A considerable amount of material relating to this hoax (including various Russian news reports detailing the admission of the hoax) has very helpfully been collated and translated by Yvan Defoy but those efforts appear to have largely gone unnoticed. Various copies of the relevant video continue to circulate online.

Incidentally, this video provides an example of an apparently hoaxed admission of a hoax. Some media reports uncritically reported that the hoax had been admitted by Timur Hilall and Kirill Vlasov but neither of those individuals looked anything like the individual seen in the video. This may be contrasted with the position in relation to the subsequent admission of a hoax by Ivan Baturin and Artem Fedotov, discussed at the link below.

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 093

Wow. I sincerely appreciate your effort here!

It's so sad seeing some of the debunked sightings/encounters go round robin on the net. It makes it easy for die-hard skeptics to dismiss truly unexplainable phenomena, and also makes the UFO community look.. well .. crazy.

That being said, this list can only help the hunt for extraterrestrial evidence. I'm John Smith and I support this thread, even though I'm only one video in.

ETA: Apologies for posting before you have finished, but who would've thought you'd still be posting 16 minutes later!

Koi UFO Video 094 : Norway spirals

Koi UFO Video 094 appears to show a glowing white spiral light in a night sky.

Various videos and photographs were taken in Northern Norway (and Northern Sweden) of this spiral on 9 December 2009.

In fact, as discussed at the link below, the glowing spiral was caused by the failure of the third stage of a RSM-56 Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile ("SLBM") from the Russian Navy submarine "Dmitri Donskoi" on 9 December 2009. The Russian Defence Ministry's press office told Itar-Tass news agency in December 2009 that the submarine-based Bulava ballistic missile failed when launched from the White Sea. Reuters quoted a Defense Ministry spokesman as saying "It has been established ... that the missile's first two stages worked as normal, but there was a technical malfunction at the next, third, stage of the trajectory,".

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 094

Koi UFO Video 095 : Morristown UFOs (5 January 2009) – hoax with flares

Koi UFO Video 095 appears to show a number of unidentified red lights in a night sky. They do not look very spectacular and resemble the (many) UFO videos of Chinese Lanterns that can be found online.

The video is only notable because it shows a deliberate UFO hoax (unlike most Chinese Lantern sightings, which commonly are launched as part of celebrations rather than deliberate hoaxes), which resulted in the hoaxers being fined and sentenced to community service. Some UFO hoaxed are arguably works of art, achieving millions of views on Youtube and continue to circulate for years. Other articles in this series highlight some beautiful pieces of work. This hoax isn't in the same league. Frankly, it was rather dull.

As detailed at the link below, the hoaxers (Joe Rudy and Chris Russo) launched flare lights attached to helium balloons near Morristown and other towns in Morris County (New Jersey) during January and February 2009 (on 5 January 2009, 26 January 2009, 7 February 2009 and 17 February 2009). On 1 April 2009, Joe Rudy and Chris Russo came forward with video evidence proving they were the perpetrators of this hoax, claiming to demonstrate how easy it is to fool the so-called UFO "experts". While it is indeed easy to fool some ufo researchers, in fact few experts had been fooled by this particular hoax. Almost any researcher looking at the video would think about balloons or Chinese Lanterns. The claims made by the hoaxers as to the success of their hoax were, to put it politely, somewhat overstated.

Incidentally, the hoaxers could have achieved similar results with a LOT less cost and effort if they had simply used Chinese Lanterns... These are commercially available for just a dollar or two each. Chinese Lanterns commonly result in UFO reports and UFO videos when they are launched at weddings and other parties. The use of Chinese Lanterns at such parties (and resulting "UFO" reports") have been more common in the United Kingdom than the USA, but their popularity appears to have been increasing globally in the last decade. Videos of Chinese Lanterns appear online almost every week. Those videos are almost indistinguishable from those resulted from the hoax which Joe Rudy and Chris Russo put so much time and effort into.

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 095

Koi UFO Video 096 : Black triangle (2007) – Jeff Wilson

Koi UFO Video 096 appears to show a black triangle UFO with lights on its corners shining a laser or searchbeam down towards the ground.

This video was first uploaded to Youtube in September 2008 with the title "weird black triangle UFO with red lights with laser. Spaceship?". The accompanying text stated : "This is a video was on a cheap camera I found when Hiking in the Smokey Mountains. This is all that was on it."

The video gained considerable publicity when it was (incorrectly) associated online with entirely separate press reports in September 2008 that a senior garda officer (i.e. a policeman in the Republic of Ireland) had filmed a triangular shaped object with a camera phone at 10.35pm on 3 August 2008.

In fact, as detailed at the link below, the video shows a large triangular model created by Jeff Wilson of Morristown (Tennessee) being lifted into the air in August 2007 by a large helium balloon as part of an annual "UFO contest" which was run by Joshua Warren to give researchers information on how to spot hoaxes.

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 096

Koi UFO Video 097 : UFO tranported on flatbed truck (2011, UAV)

Copies of Koi UFO Video 097 were posted online in 2011 with titles that suggested it showed a UFO being transported on a flatbed truck in Kansas. Similar footage has subsequently been posted with titles referring to Illinois and to Area 51 in Nevada.

One copy of this video on Youtube had approximately 2 million views as at March 2015.

In fact, as detailed at the link below, the video shows a Northrop Grumman X-47b Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle ("UCAV") with its wings removed for transport, being transported by Diamond Heavy Haul Incorporated. X-47B UCAVs have been transported by road several times and has caused some excitement each time. One of these UCAVs was seen being transported in December 2011 (being shipped from California to the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland) and one was seen being transported in June 2012 (near Pesotum, Illinois on I-57 heading North). The X-47b is designed for carrier-based operations. The UCAV is not a secret project and, indeed, can be seen during carrier flight tests in various videos online. So, it's not a UFO ... but it still looks cool.

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 097

Koi UFO Video 098 : Nazi Alien Autopsy (Outpost 31)

Koi UFO Video 098 was originally posted online in 2011 with the title "Alien Autopsy best evidence ever! 2012 *MUST SEE*". The video appears to show the autopsy of an alien, with an internal organ that looks remarkably like bubble wrap. (The "alien" also appears to be wearing false nails...).

This video was posted on UFO forums with a description claiming that it was "apparently shot at the Antarctic Nazi base during sometime in 1947".

In fact, as detailed at the link below, this video was uploaded by some aspiring film makers that were seeking to produce their own (apparently rather low budget) movie entitled "Outpost 31". That planned movie was originally billed as a "remake" of John Carpenter's excellent "The Thing" (although later trailers changed the description to state that "Outpost 31" was inspired by John Carpenters' "The Thing"). The young film makers ("Dave 'n' Adam", i.e. David Robinson and Adam Clarke of "DRAC Productions") are based in Cardiff (in Wales) and have an interest in science fiction, with some of their other videos including a "remake" of "Back to the Future".

This hoax/advertisement was far less successful than many other "alien autopsy" videos and photographs, possibly because the close resemblance of an internal organ to bubble wrap was, well, a bit of a red flag to most viewers...

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 098

Koi UFO Video 099 : UFO at Baseball Game (Vancouver, 2013)

Koi UFO Video 099 appears to show a floodlit baseball game, during which a UFO with several lights is seen in the distance.

One copy of this video on Youtube, with the title "UFO at Baseball Game" and a caption stating "Video caught UFO at Nat Bailey stadium in Vancouver. September 3rd, 2013" had approximately 400,000 views as at July 2015. (The total number of YouTube views has been estimated as over 2.3 million).

In fact, as discussed at the link below, the "UFO" was a drone in the shape of the H R MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, Canada. The Space Centre subsequently issued a press release admitting that the sightings were caused by "an elaborate hoax" created by the Space Centre working with Vancouver ad agency MacLaren McCann as an "extreme teaser campaign" for a "new planetarium viewer experience" at H R MacMillan Space Centre. The advertising agency gave details of their hoax on their website, including footage of the drone and details of the (considerable) success of their advertising campaign.

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 099

Koi UFO Video 100 : Creature crawling up apartment building (daylight)

Koi UFO Video 100 appears to show a huge creature with extremely long legs climbing an apartment building in the daylight.

The earliest copy of the video on Youtube was posted by "DimanOperator" on 28 July 2014 with a title of "Something is crawling on the walls of houses in Samara" (as translated from Russian using Google Translate). That copy has over 2.6 million views as at July 2015. Another copy of the video was posted more recently (on 2 March 2015) by "Daily Paranormal" and that copy had gained approximately 5.5 million views as at July 2015.

In fact, as discussed at the link below, the video was created by Dmitry Kataev of Samara, Russia, using several commercial software packages (specifically After Effects, Boujou and Lightwave). Dmitry Kataev has uploaded several entertaining high-quality videos of huge "monsters", including a monster attaching chasing him and a giant spider living under a bridge in Samara. The captions for several of the videos uploaded by Dmitry Kataev include links to an advertising company that creates animations and 3D graphics. Posts by Dmitry Kataev in relation to his "monster" videos on Youtube acknowledge that he created them using computer image software (specifically After Effects, Boujou and Lightwave). Dmitry Kataev appears to be very talented. I have seen FAR worse special effects in movies broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel!

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 100

Koi UFO Video 102 : Cloud jellyfish (2015)

Koi UFO Video 102 appears to show a strange cloud, apparently with tendrils resembling a jellyfish, being filmed from an airplane.

This video was posted on Youtube on 18 May 2015 by Anton Ilmyanov, with the title "Some crazy anomaly or a UFO?" and a caption stating "shortly after the departure from Queenstown, New Zealand". That video gained approximately 350,000 views in its first two months online.

As discussed at the link below, about a week after the cloud jellyfish video was posted Anton Ilmyanov posted another video (on 26 May 2015) entitled "How UFO videos are made". In this video Anyon Ilmyanov admitted that his original upload had been a hoax and briefly demonstrated how he had created it. In his accompanying comments, Anton Ilmyanov stated that the original footage had been created using the Blender software package. Other videos created by Anton Ilmyanov demonstrate his (considerable) talents for creating science-fiction themed CGI (Computer Generated Graphics), again created using the Blender software package.

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 102

Koi UFO Video 103 : Pi sky writing

Koi UFO Video 103 appears to show a list of numbers being written in the sky.

Copies of this video appeared online in 2012 with titles such as "UFO MAKES WRITING APPEAR IN SKY 2012".

As discussed at the link below, relevant video shows skywriting was done as part of an "ephemeral installation" (or, in short, a type of art project) above the San Francisco Bay Area on 12 September 2012 by Californian artist Ishky collaborating with art and technology network Zero1. A team of five synchronized AirSign aircraft equipped with dot-matrix technology followed a flight pattern that wrote the first 314 characters of pi’s infinite sequence.

Further information, links and evidence at: Koi UFO Video 103

CONCLUSION

I realise that trying to fight back against the continuing circulation of old hoaxes is probably a futile task, akin to King Canute attempting to hold back the tide.

Indeed, my attempts to expose some hoaxes have won me few friends within the UFO community. In seeking to point out some hoaxes, I have sometimes been labelled a "debunker" or "disinformation agent". (A few years ago, one British ufologist accused me of being a ”government department”, on the basis that the volume of my disinformation output was too high to be from a single individual...)

However, I hate seeing time being wasted within ufology by people reinventing the wheel, e.g. spending time debating a UFO video as if it had just been released and nothing is known about it when in fact the hoaxer admitted the relevant hoax months (or even years...) ago. If less time were wasted reinventing the wheel within ufology, the rate of progress may not be so pitifully slow.

Hopefully, collating and exposing some of the facts about some of the more infamous UFO video may result in less time being spend on Youtube and more time being spend on more productive areas of UFO research. There are a number of opportunities for easy pickings in relation to UFO research which few people seem to have time for.

For me, the most interesting aspect of looking into the real background to some of the more popular UFO videos is to consider the motives of those involved.

Over the last decade or two, I've had contact with quite a few UFO hoaxers. The motives of these individuals have varied considerably.

(1) Some companies use UFO hoaxes to promote their products. Faking a UFO video can be a relatively cheap and easy way of getting publicity.

(2) Many people created hoaxes simply for a laugh. Many within ufology doubt others would put in the effort necessary to, say, create a Photoshopped image or a video composited using Adobe After Effects merely as a joke. However, the amount of effort involved is generally FAR less than most people seem to think.

(3) Some artists and graphics professionals create hoaxed UFO videos to showcase their skills at creating CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) and related techniques, such as video compositing. Many computer graphics artists that have hoaxed UFO videos give links to their hoaxes on their website to demonstrate their talents.

(4) Art : Apart from the obvious example of crop-circle makers, several UFO videos and events have been hoaxed by individuals that considered they were creating works of art. The audience response is part of the art-work. Several crop-circle hoaxers have branched out into this type of UFO "artwork" in the last decade or two.

(5) Scientific experimentation : There have been a few interesting hoaxes which (at least according to the hoaxers) were done primarily to test the responses of witnesses and ufologists, i.e. they were conducting an experiment. The best known such experiment is the Cradle Hill hoax (referred to in some of the post above as "the Warminster hoax", which is potentially confusing since there were several alleged hoaxes at the Warminster "hotspot"). That one is discussed in quite a few articles online (particularly on the Magonia website, with D I Simpson writing at least two articles giving the background to the hoax) and in about a dozen books that I've noted. Many of those that claim to be conducting an experiment, however, seem to have had a big grin on their faces when talking about their hoax and done precious little to publish any results of their “experiments”.

(6) Money – Apart from advertisers paid to create viral videos and also professionals hoping to make money indirectly by getting work by showcasing their talents, I don't think many UFO hoaxers expect to make much money directly from people viewing their hoaxes. Plain mischief is far more common... However, at least some characters in the history of ufology seem to be have been prepared to lie in order to make money from their hoaxes. Some Youtube channels are dominated by hoaxed UFO videos, generating a considerable number of views. At least one enterprising team of UFO hoaxers offers services to people interested in their videos, e.g. offering to add a UFO to any footage you supply to them.

POSTSCRIPT

As part of writing about most of the more popular viral UFO videos, during the last few years I've been in touch with quite a few of the artists/hoaxers behind those videos. Many of them have offered advice and help.

It's a good thing I don't have a sense of humour or I might be tempted to have a bit of fun using the knowledge and contacts I've gained.

Oh ... hang on ... I just remembered that in fact I HAVE GOT a sense of humour!

Cue evil laugh…

a reply to: IsaacKoi

I was going to say something useful in this thread, but I'm too busy sacrificing a thousand bulls in your honor.

Thread is winner of sticky thread nominee 2015.

a reply to: IsaacKoi

Amazing work Koi, as usual. Extensive research and great write ups. ATS is extremely fortunate to have members like yourself

All I can say is wow! Awesome job. That was a great read. I love it when a new UFO video comes along and love reading and participating in picking it apart. I know this must have taken a lot of time to put together, and appreciate your hard work. I learned a lot reading how they were done and am now going back to watch the videos.

Bravo!