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... ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30 [NR] -!- Platinum Xpress/386/Wildcat! v1.1 ! Origin: The Learning Place BBS : 505-334-0199 (1:15/31) 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... ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30 [NR] -!- Platinum Xpress/386/Wildcat! v1.1 ! 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. (c) 1996 MSNBC ... "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)