Tell It To The Judge - Choose 1 Incident, 1 Pic, and 1 Film as exhibits of Best Evidence

originally posted by: KellyPrettyBear
You've transformed it from a UFO to a IHO - identified hanging object.

Sort of. I've continued to look for an exact match with the proper angles and different levels, but have been unable to do that so far. There were a lot of these made over the years for a lot of different kinds of cars and trucks and motorcycles. But it would probably be from an old truck. Something found around the Trent's farm.

Anyway, the French report did a better job with the photos than I did.
www.ipaco.fr...

Trent farm in June, 1950, with old Ford and ladder. From Life Magazine article.

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: ConfusedBrit

I never connected it to the Hessdalen lights. Interesting thought.

I've always believed that if we can crack the Hessdalen mystery in FULL, many similar cases will queue up for a rational scientific explanation.

Are you listening, Colonel Halt?




"Keep it under your hat - I need to supplement my army pension!"

originally posted by: Blue Shift
But it would probably be from an old truck. Something found around the Trent's farm.

But it ISN'T the run-of-the-mill photograph that we have seen so often - if it were, we wouldn't still be wrestling in the dust over it for nearly 70 years.

Isn't the explanation of experimental US craft (and not just because the Trents believed so) so much more likely than all the effort expounded on 'string theory' - curse the Trents for not living a more Nomadic existence, and having the audacity to depend on power wires, vehicle wing mirrors, and step-ladders.

Anyway, the French report did a better job with the photos than I did.
www.ipaco.fr...

Thanks for the link - I'm diving into this report now with an open mind, Blue Shift... Wish me luck.

originally posted by: ConfusedBrit
Isn't the explanation of experimental US craft (and not just because the Trents believed so) so much more likely than all the effort expounded on 'string theory' - curse the Trents for not living a more Nomadic existence, and having the audacity to depend on power wires, vehicle wing mirrors, and step-ladders.

I suppose anything's possible, including that it was a metal flying saucer piloted by alien beings from another time or planet.

As I said earlier, that's always going to be the problem with photos and videos, regardless of their quality. Could be military (Boeing?). Could be anything. Not great proof of anything.

a reply to: ConfusedBrit

"experimental aircraft" are also a folklore.. at least on UFO forums.

Take the U-2:

en.wikipedia.org...

it was QUITE secretive.. it was awesomely engineered.

Yet it crashed multiple times and people ran up and took parts for souvenirs.

If it's human-built, it will crash sometimes.

I was a nuclear engineer for 7 years.. had 80 men reporting to me.. and those
reactors were QUITE safe.. but there are numerous examples of them melting
down. The USS Thresher.. 3 mile island.. cherynobl.. lots of examples.

If something is a super secret spy plane / experimental craft.. there are historical
precedents that can be followed to understand what would be involved with it,
that can't be disputed.

For example nuclear reactors and vessels take multiple huge cities to construct
them (say Bremerton or Vallejo shipyards) and that's just to put together parts.
The parts themselves take another x4 or whatever of those huge cities to
manufacture.

All this talk of magical aircraft that can't crash.. and which leave no footprint
whatsoever.. when more humble high tech planes leave huge scars across the
country in terms of footprint... crash.. are actually photographed.. and come
out to the pubic after not that many years...

Human-built magical craft are not logical.

Give me a pie tin on a wire any day.. over even one true "black ops super craft",
especially in the past..

That's my feedback.

originally posted by: Blue Shift....

The most compelling statements I've heard about the Trent case being legitimate was that the original UFO investigators who looked into it essentially said that the Trents were too stupid and unsophisticated to pull such a thing off. ...

... and that common conceit has over the centuries allowed very good livings for generations of con men and cranks at the expense of 'smarter' [in their own minds] people.

originally posted by: JimOberg
... and that common conceit has over the centuries allowed very good livings for generations of con men and cranks at the expense of 'smarter' [in their own minds] people.

I agree that those bucolic rubes are often not as dull-witted as some sophisticated urbanites might assume. Having grown up in Iowa, I've known my share of rural folk who put on that "dumb hick" act. Unfortunately, however, that still doesn't answer the question as to why they would want to hoax this thing in the first place. It took them months to develop the film. Maybe they just wanted their pictures in the paper, or to yank the chains of all the people who were reporting flying saucers around that time. Maybe they thought they'd make money from it, but again, why wait?

Not arguing in their favor. Just trying to incorporate all the possibilities.

a reply to: mirageman

Thanks for the links! Both are interesting. That children may be "guided" by the interviewer is indeed something to consider.

originally posted by: Archivalist
Exhibit 2: Best Photograph


Paul Trent, Sheridan, Oregon, 11th May 1950

Upon close inspection with a modern high resolution monitor, and my post 1950's eyeballs...

Couldn't this photo be an eclipse? Going to check date and location against Earth to Moon eclipse timings.

If I'm being honest, it looks like the moon, being partially eclipsed, with really bad ancient photo technology*1950/horrible exposure.

I am back with more information here on (Paul Trent, Sheridan, Oregon, 11th May 1950).
This find being mysterious, is reinforced by my findings.
Eclipses have no tangible way to be the "Venus swamp gas", in this specific case.

This could not be the moon, being eclipsed. Astronomically impossible for the date the picture is alleged to have taken. For giggles, I checked solar eclipses as well, no dice.

Alright, so if this photo was REALLY taken in May of 1950, the next time an eclipse would have been visible in the entire state of Oregon would be in September of 1950.

The last eclipse visible in the state of Oregon was October 1949.

So, if the dating is correct, I can assure you that no eclipse is to blame.

The moon was only 70-80% full during the time frame, and is an unlikely culprit, although I didn't check orbital pathing, I also don't have an exact time of day, nor compass direction that the image was taken in.

It would be very difficult to get exact pathing mapped out. Wish this was a modern image with some EXIF data, honestly...

As of now, skeptics would need to fall back on either "the date is wrong and it is an eclipse", "it's something hanging on wires", "he threw a pie pan in the air", "misinterpreted conventional craft"

Not sure what else could be there, for doubters.

I'm more convinced that there is a real possibility this image IS the "real deal"

Being limited by the data we have available, this has less "non-UFO" explanations than most UFO images, and being taken before most modern image editing techniques even existed, the odds of hoax are lowered by this fact dramatically.

the only one of those i agree 100% with you are the kaikora lights, as for the others:
rendlesham: one of the most complicated cases ever and thats not a good thing,as far as i know the black triangle in the forest stuff is 100% BS, the lights seen by col. halt are still up to debate but i have seen some good evidence that it could have been a prank by another officer
trent pictures: a truck mirror, LIFE actually took a picture of the ladder that mr. trent hanged the object from