FIntroduction to hoaxes                                                F                                                                      FIn the annals of UFO investigation, there are at least as many        Fhoaxes as there are genuine unexplainable phenomena.  Many            Fpeople, in trying to get their name in the paper or be on             Ftelevision, have devised some ingenius deceptions.  There is the      Fexample of two men in England who claim to have hoaxed all of the     Fcrop circles found there.  In fact, there is no way that they         Fcould have created them all, there are too many of them and not       Fenough hours during the summer season.  Many of the circles which     Fthey were able to prove that they created had been certified as       Fgenuine by crop circle experts.  (The crop circles listed in the      Fcrop circle section of this program were apparently not hoaxed by     Fthese men or any others).  The Guardian video tapes which seem to     Fshow a well lighted UFO in flight are generally believed to be        Fhoaxes.  See the video section for a clip of one of these tapes.      FThe best investigators of UFO activity and related phenomena          Ftreat everything as a hoax until it becomes apparent that it is       Fnot.  This section of the program deals with many apparent            Fhoaxes.                                                               F/                                                                     FUSA 1947 Maury Island, WA                                             F                                                                      FWhile on a boat in Puget Sound on a June day in 1947,                 FHarold Dahl, his son and two crewmen witnessed a UFO                  Fdropping debris into the water, onto the boat and nearby              Fbeach, and unfortunately injured Dahl's son and killed the            FDahl's pet dog.                                                       FIn addition to the UFO in distress were five other UFO's              Fthat left the area as the first ship was having trouble.              FThe witnesses described the craft as metallic, ring or                Fdoughnut shaped, 100 feet in diameter, and windows around             Fthe perimeter.                                                        FDahl gathered some of the debris on the following day.                FHe claimed another UFO passed overhead in full view while             Fhe gathering the samples.                                             FKenneth Arnold was called in and asked to assist in the               Finvestigation as well as two intelligence officers, Brown             Fand Davidson.                                                         FThe story as told to the investigators was conflicting.               FThe date was said to be June 21, 22 or 23.  Movie footage             Fclaimed to have been taken was never found and provided for           Freview, or provided but has not been seen since.                      FBrown and Davidson suspected a hoax and stated the same               Fto an intelligence officer at McChord Air Force Base just             Fprior to them leaving on a B25.  There are conflicting                Freports as to whether the plane was carrying the debris               FDahl had picked up from the site.                                     F20 minutes after taking off from McChord one of the B25's             Fengines caught fire and the aircraft crashed killing Brown            Fand Davidson.                                                         FThe general feeling is that Maury Island was a hoax, but              FDahl was never prosecuted and any tangible evidence                   Fhas disappeared.                                                      F/                                                                     FSWI 1975 Billy Meier Photos                                           F                                                                      FEduard "Billy" Meier is a one-armed farmer from Switzer-              Fland.  Over a period of years, beginning in 1975, he claims           Fto have been visited many times by beautiful, nordic-                 Flooking, blond haired beings.  One, who identifies herself            Fas "Semjase" has been his main contact for several years.             FSemjase claims to be from the star cluster we call the                FPleiades.  Mr. Meier has taken a very large number of                 Fphotographs over the years to prove his story.  Many of               Fthem are clearly fakes, however, there are some which stand           Fup to computer analysis and other tests.  The most extra-             Fordinary thing about the photos themselves is the fact that           Fthey are taken with an old box style camera by a man with             Fonly one arm.  Despite the seeming realism of many of the             Fphotos, they are still believed to be hoaxed as the lighting          Fand context is questionable.                                          FMany of the actual craft in the photos look more like hubcaps         Fthan anything unknown to man.  Some do not even cast shadows          Fbeneath them.                                                         FMeier's photographs, taken between 1975 and 1983 have been            Fpublished in a moderately successful series of books called           Fcalled "UFO...Contact From The Pleiades".                             F/                                                                     FUSA 1987 Gulf Breeze, FL                                              F                                                                      FDuring November 1987 Ed Walters observed and photographed             Fa UFO.  Furing the encounter he was hit with a blue light             Fand lifted into the air.  The incident was witnessed by               FCharles and Doris Somerby who saw the craft and the blue              Fbeam.                                                                 FWalters continued to have encounters over the next six                Fmonths and photographed some of them.                                 FSome have argued that a few of the photographs taken by               FWalters are hoaxed because the shading is wrong.                      F/                                                                     FUSA 1948 Aztec NM                                                     F                                                                      FAfter the Roswell crash of 1947 stories surfaced following            Fthe media that Roswell generated.                                     FThe reports state that a craft 100 ft feet in diameter                Fcrashed near Aztec.  The craft is said to have been                   Ftransported to Wright Patterson Air Force Base.                       FFurther details suggest the craft was lightweight and                 Fresisted cutting or burning and alien bodies were                     Frecovered.                                                            FThe information surrounding this case is told more like a             Flegend with the story getting better with the telling.                F                                                                      FNo one knows who started this hoax but it has been linked             Fto the disinformation associated with the Majestic 12.                F/                                                                     FUSA Area 51                                                           F                                                                      FDuring 1988 a man named John Lear became interested                   Fin stories he had heard about flying saucers that                     Fhad crashed.  Through his research he is said to have                 Ffound out about an installation at Nellis Air Force Base              Fin Nevada and another larger installation in New Mexico.              F                                                                      FThe installations are supposed to be underground and                  Finhabited by hundreds of aliens.                                      FThey are harbored at the aliens request to remain out of              Fthe public eye, in return for this favor they are aiding              Fhuman researchers with their technology.                              F                                                                      FOther claims include allegations that the military gave               Fpermission to the aliens to abduct humans for research                Fand for food.                                                         F                                                                      FArea 51 is said to have been mentioned in Project Blue                FBook's Report Number 13.                                              F                                                                      FThere has not been any evidence to support the exsistence             Fof these installations aside from hearsay and  word-of-               Fmouth.  No one associated with this story has ever admitted           Fto seeing an alien.                                                   F                                                                      FThis case is believed to have been a hoax started to create           Fconfusion.   A project that is mentioned with this hoax               Fis the Majestic 12.                                                   F/                                                                     F/                                                                     