Morristown: The hoax with the most
New Jersey again … only this time, people weren’t hearing about UFOs on the radio, they were seeing them with their own eyes, above the community of Morristown.
Those five lights were seen by numerous people, posted and reposted to Youtube, featured on the History Channel and broadcast by mainstream media outlets, who interviewed witnesses and experts who said, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the distant glowing objects were the real deal.
Except they weren’t.
Two men, Chris Russo and Joe Rudy, were responsible. They did it all with balloons, flares, duct tape and other supplies they cobbled together for a reported $80. They even filmed and documented the ‘UFOs’ construction and deployment, then outed themselves deliberately.
They weren’t just trolls (at least, that’s not how they saw themselves). The whole stunt was a social experiment, designed to draw UFO experts into the open and mercilessly crush their credibility while giving armchair UFO enthusiasts something to think about.
A judge ended up giving them a fine, and they had to put in a few hours of community service for their trouble:
Still, a year later, they said they’d totally do it again, and partnered with Skeptic Magazine to release their DIY UFO hoax videos (Part one is below).
In the article they wrote for the magazine, they don’t really seem to be trying to say UFOs themselves aren’t real, just that many people claiming to be “experts” on the supposed off-world visitors are either wrong, or deliberately faking it for attention and profit.
And you know, that’s a fair point … like we said, we doubt humanity is alone in the universe, but almost all reported UFO sightings have reasonable explanations. But it does rather spoil the fun a bit. Thanks a whole bunch, guys.
Alexander Hamilton is a big, fat liar
It seems Kansas rancher Alexander Hamilton, his son, and a hired hand were tending to their cattle when, alerted to some frantic mooing, they saw a sight that would have been considered incredible even if they WEREN’T in 1897 rural Kansas.
Hamilton said he saw a cigar-shaped vessel manned by six strange-looking beings. It seems they’d lassoed a calf, and had been trying to haul it aboard to do alien-y things to it, when it got caught in a fence.
The men struggled to free it – we invite you to imagine in as much detail as you can three dudes in rural Kansas in a tug-of-war with a spaceship over a cow – but it was no use. They were forced to disentangle the cow from the fence, and watched helplessly as it and its otherworldly captors vanishing into the distance.
A neighbour found the mutilated remains the next day, in the middle of a field with no tracks leading to or from it.
Hamilton told the story to the local paper, and got an actual sworn affidavit signed by 12 leading citizens to back him up. The tale raced across America and over to Europe, and experienced a revival in the 1960s.
Problem: It was made up. All of it.
In 1976, an elderly woman in Kansas , who claimed to have known him in his UFO-wrasslin’ days, came forward to say she’d heard Hamilton boasting to his wife of the story he’d made up, and that he was a known member of the local liars’ club.
Those 12 people who signed the affidavit could have been in on it too for all we know. So could the newspaper editor.
Never mind the alien stuff – what we think is the most outrageous part of the story is that there was an actual bona fide liar’s club. There must not have been a whole lot to do in 1890s rural Kansas.
It would be a huge let down if there WEREN'T aliens at Area 51
Everybody KNOWS Area 51 is real. And everybody KNOWS there’s shady goings on there. And everybody, of course, just KNOWS it’s aliens.
Ever since the 1947 crash of an unidentified vehicle (the Man said it was a weather balloon, but then, he WOULD say that, wouldn’t he?), Area 51, in Nevada, is permanently engrained in the minds of the public as the place where the Little Green Men live, either as captives of an unfeeling government, or partners in a global conspiracy.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Or something.
As usual, the conspiracy party was spoiled last year when the US government responded to an access request that had been brewing for years: Area 51 was totally real, and it is definitely a secret base.
Personally, we think the base’s actual purpose – research and testing of fantastically cool high-tech aircraft – is reason enough to be impressed, but of course, the actual info release last year still has a few redactions, and certainly will never satisfy folks who are convinced it’s UFO-central (although, c’mon U.S. government, you can’t run a top secret experimental aircraft base for decades and NOT people to think they're seeing UFOs).
And you know what? We’re kind of cool with that. Area 51 is a huge pop culture staple, and just the idea is all kinds of fun.
1994’s Independence Day? ‘90s hit show Roswell? Countless comic books and video games? Who cares if there are or aren’t aliens at Area 51 (spoiler: Sorry folks, there probably aren't any). The whole concept itself has been endlessly entertaining just on its own.
