Ä Area: META_UFO ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
Msg#: 4192 Date: 10-22-96 00:00
From: Julie Presson Read: Yes Replied: No
To: All Mark:
Subj: Alien Autopsy Vidoe [1/3]
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
>>> Part 1 of 3...

'Alien autopsy' film gets dissected

By Art Levine
SPECIAL TO MSNBC

At last, the truth can be told about the "alien autopsy" film
that has been the subject of worldwide controversy since it
aired on television in 32 countries last year.
The Roswell incident: truth or fiction? Meet Kal Korff, computer
gumshoeChat with Kal Korff on the InternetAlien, UFO Internet
invasion Do you think aliens have visited earth? It's even
become part of U.S. pop culture: Last week's "Seinfeld" episode
opened with a scene of Kramer and Newman on a park bench, talking
about strange mysteries. Kramer turned to Newman and said, "So
what do you think of that alien autopsy?" "Oh, that's real," Newman
answered. "I think so, too," Kramer answered, wriggling his eyebrows
for emphasis.

They're not alone in their beliefs. Last week, Michael Hesemann, a
German UFO researcher and best-selling author, came to the United
States to lecture about the purported film of an alien recovered
in 1947 in New Mexico, citing witnesses and other findings he says
show that the film is almost certainly genuine. This is a scene from
the alleged "alien autopsy" film which has been shown on TV around
the world. Believers say it's a pathologist in a radiation protection
suit autopsying an alien. Scoffers say it's an actor slicing open a
remarkably lifelike special effects dummy.

He spoke passionately about his research to UFO devotees at a major
conference in Connecticut - and at a U.N. forum last Friday. Hesemann
is so convinced of the film's authenticity that he's co-authored
"Beyond Roswell," a forthcoming book on the autopsy film and the other,
better-known UFO incident in New Mexico - the highly touted crash near
Roswell in July, 1947.

Although the autopsy film has been derided by both skeptics and some
prominent UFO advocates as a hoax, Hesemann boldly traveled to the
Socorro, N.M. area - about 120 miles west of Roswell - and elsewhere
in the state tracking down supporting witnesses to the "incident."
Given his determination, he found them: Native Americans who claim to
have witnessed a "big ball of fire" at the time of the purported May,
1947 crash that produced the autopsied alien - plus two former military
officers who say they saw this same film when they were in the military.
'We didn't find any evidence that it was a fake or forgery.'

- MICHAEL HESEMANN UFO researcher and best-selling author "We found a
lot of indications that the film is authentic," he says. "We didn't find
any evidence that it was a fake or forgery."

There's only one problem with Hesemann's amazing discoveries: They've
been upstaged by the meticulous research of Kal Korff, an experienced
investigator of hoaxes and mysteries who has used sophisticated computer
analysis of the footage and old-fashioned detective work to prove
conclusively that the film is a fraud. Among his tell-tale signs: forged
film labels and a computer enhancement that shows a big set-light reflected
in the creature's dark eyes during the autopsy.

"This is a Ufologist's nightmare," he says. "It's a hoax."
He's completing his own book on Roswell and the autopsy film, "The Roswell
UFO Crash: What They Don't Want You to Know," that demolishes some of the
most cherished beliefs of UFO devotees. Although he's been studying the
Roswell issue for 16 years, he was spurred into action after he was asked
to analyze the autopsy film last November by the producer of the popular
Fox television special on the topic, "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?"
(The same producer, Bob Kiviat, is planning to begin work on yet another
autopsy special now being negotiated with the UPN network that will likely
air early next year, featuring a videotape of someone claiming to be the
87-year-old cameraman who shot the original autopsy film.) 'I've approached
this as a detective story, and with the cameraman coming forward, we're
getting closer to an answer.'

- BOB KIVIAT Producer of Fox TV special, "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?"
"I've approached this as a detective story, and with the cameraman coming
forward, we're getting closer to an answer," Kiviat insists.

>>> Continued to next message...
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Ä Area: META_UFO ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
Msg#: 4193 Date: 10-22-96 00:00
From: Julie Presson Read: Yes Replied: No
To: All Mark:
Subj: Alien Autopsy Vidoe [2/3]
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
>>> Part 2 of 3...

Of course, while skeptics will hardly be shocked to learn that the autopsy
film isn't genuine, Korff points out, "The public bought it hook, line and
sinker." Fox won some of its highest ratings ever among adult viewers when
it broadcast the footage four different times, and the video based on the
TV specials has sold about 150,000 copies in the United States alone,
including a complete 17-minute segment of one autopsy. Video stores continue
to rent out the tape as well. As H.L. Mencken once said, no one ever went
broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

Here's what you see: creepy scenes of a naked, apparently female,
six-fingered extraterrestrial with a swollen stomach on an operating table,
as two people in bulky white contamination suits remove two dark skin-like
layers from the eyes, slice its chest, remove internal organs, cut its
skull open and remove something resembling a brain. Regarding the footage,
pathologists were divided about whether it was a real body being autopsied,
while virtually all special-effects experts were convinced it was a dummy
crafted from a human body cast. Yet to some UFO advocates, particularly
those who had been seeking to have Roswell and other alleged UFO incidents
taken seriously, the footage was the "Holy Shroud of the UFO movement,"
Phillip Mantle, a leading British UFO researcher and Hesemann's co-author,
announced last year. "It is the closest we have yet come to proving not
only that UFOs are plying our skies but also that aliens have landed on earth."

The UFO community, though, was sharply split on the issue from the moment
the film surfaced in England early last year. It was peddled by a rock-video
producer named Ray Santilli who claimed he obtained it from an elderly
cameraman in Cleveland after researching a documentary on early rock 'n' roll.
Although Santilli initially linked the autopsy to the alleged July, 1947 Roswel
crash, he later quoted the elusive "cameraman" as saying that the film was bas
d on a crash that happened about a month earlier near Socorro, N.M.)

With an obsessiveness akin to JFK assassination buffs, discussions raged
all over the Internet about the minutiae of the film. What was the real
identity of the anonymous cameraman - and why wouldn't Santilli turn over
to Kodak or other experts any frames of the autopsy itself for verification,
rather than just a few old film strips? (Santilli's answer, in part: He
didn't trust Kodak.) They also wondered about such inconsistencies as why
those shots of former U.S. President Harry Truman that Santilli once promised
never appeared.

Ultimately, most of the leading proponents of a UFO crash at Roswell,
although lacking a "smoking gun," denounced the film as a hoax, worried
about its impact on the credibility of the original Roswell case.
"Big-time hoaxes cause big-time trouble," says Kent Jeffrey, organizer of
the 20,000-signature International Roswell Initiative that seeks to get the
U.S. government to disclose all UFO-related documents. They have a right to
be worried: Kal Korff's work not only finally nails down the case against
the autopsy film, but he's also uncovered disturbing evidence that paints
the 40 key witnesses to the sacred Roswell event - the UFO proponents' most
compelling case - as liars, wildly inconsistent or simply ignorant.

Korff found trickery both in the film itself and in its marketing.
After a frame-by-frame review of all of the footage Kiviat bought from
Santilli for more than $100,000 - supposedly a video master copied straight
from 16 mm film - Korff concluded, "There's no mystery here. It was filmed
on a set, and there's no (87-year-old) 'cameraman.' "

He found numerous examples of what he calls digital manipulation consistent
with a film that masks special effects and was likely shot with a video
camera: jump cuts, superimposed double images, blurred motion, even the
deliberate darkening of faces to prevent them from being identified. He
says he told Kiviat about these problems, who, Korff says, angrily called
Santilli. (Kiviat says no such call took place, and he charges, "He's making
assertions without evidence. This is all hearsay.")

Korff, who'll be illustrating the digital effects in his book, also used
computer programs to analyze the image of a standard set lamp with umbrella
reflected in the creature's black eye covering. He blew up the image and
used computer modeling to demonstrate that it was indeed a set light - which
only confirmed his analysis that, like on all sets, you never see a fourth
wall.

Korff has also zeroed in on the copies of the film-canister labels Santilli
has provided some researchers. It's important to recall that no independent
party has seen any actual 16 mm film of the alien autopsy, so Santilli has
just provided what he claims are official film-canister labels. Alleged label
from film canister containing autopsy footage. Although the cameraman is
supposed to be an American GI, the writing is distinctly German. Also, the
eagle seal is from the U.S. Department of Defense, which did not exist in 1947.

>>> Continued to next message...
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! Origin: The Learning Place BBS : 505-334-0199 (1:15/31)

Ä Area: META_UFO ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
Msg#: 4194 Date: 10-22-96 00:00
From: Julie Presson Read: Yes Replied: No
To: All Mark:
Subj: Alien Autopsy Vidoe [3/3]
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
>>> Part 3 of 3...

The labels, which are stamped with a fake government seal that didn't exist
in July 1947, also feature handwriting using an archaic German script - and
it seems to match the handwriting of Santilli's chief financial backer in
the project, Volker Spielberg, who has offices in Hamburg, Germany. Korff
had a friend retrieve a copy of Spielberg's business registration form in
Hamburg, and then compared its writing with the handwriting on the label.

Who actually made the hoaxed film, and was Santilli in on it? Korff isn't
sure who made it, but he and others are researching one associate of
Santilli who has ties to prop-making firms. And he says of Santilli, "At
the very least, he's an accomplice and an accessory in a legal sense; if
there was a criminal investigation, he'd get indicted." Santilli coolly
denies all the allegations Korff and other critics make against him.

Santilli coolly denies all the allegations Korff and other critics make
against him. "It's absolute nonsense," he says, arguing that there's no
question that the master video was copied from authentic three-minute
film rolls edited together. And he airily dismisses the label-forgery
charge: "It's laughable, it's rubbish." He claims that "millions of dollars"
have been spent by assorted experts studying the film, so "if the film was
a hoax, hard evidence would have been found."

Michael Hesemann also remains unfazed by Korff's findings as he continues
to lecture on the film's authenticity. "Korff's a debunker who spreads
lies," he insists. "If people want to call me gullible, they can, but I'm
the only one doing real research." In fact, he boasts of learning from one
source about yet another UFO crash in 1947: near the Hopi reservation in
Flagstaff, Ariz., where one of the aliens supposedly lived among the Native
Americans for five years dispensing wisdom. Alas, there's no photo of a
big-headed, six-fingered little creature in an Indian headdress.
"Native Americans don't like to photograph sacred objects," he explains.

So the never-ending quest for convincing UFO evidence continues.

... "META_UFO to Bridge the Gap on Fidonet"...
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30 [NR]
-!- Platinum Xpress/386/Wildcat! v1.1
! Origin: The Learning Place BBS : 505-334-0199 (1:15/31)