- Albany, NY Fox TV UFO Case
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- At 07:30 hrs. (Pacific) on Monday morning, October 21,
2002, the National UFO Reporting Center received a telephone call from
a television news reporter, Mr. Dan Bazile, with FOX 23 news (a Clear Channel
Communication-owned station), who apprised us that one of their photographers
had inadvertently captured brief footage of a very bizarre object streaking
across the sky near Albany, NY. He described that one of their photographers
had been out on Sunday afternoon, October 20th, photographing aircraft
at a nearby airport, and that the peculiar object had been detected in
the news studio when the footage was being examined at slow speed.
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- From that first telephone conversation, NUFORC was not
left with a clear understanding of the nature of the object and its appearance,
but Mr. Bazile offered to forward to NUFORC still images from the tape.
NUFORC offered to help identify the object, if possible, and to put the
station in touch with photo analysts, who might be able to assist in further
analysis.
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- In a second conversation with Mr. Bazile on Tuesday morning,
October 22, he apprised NUFORC that the original video tape of the object
had been forcibly "confiscated" from the "young photographer"
by "four FBI agents," from the Albany, NY, FBI offices, a statement
which now is in question. (Please see paragraphs below.) Mr. Bazile went
on to describe how the agents had invited the photographer outside the
station, and that the agents had then "taken" the "original"
tape from the photographer, who had it on his person at the time of the
meeting with the FBI personnel. When NUFORC suggested that such an act,
in the absence of a court warrant, might be illegal, Mr. Bazile averred
that he agreed with that assessment. However, he stated that the station
still had in its possession several copies of the original tape.
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- When NUFORC asked Mr. Bazile whether FOX 23 was planning
to do a news report on the incident with the FBI, he responded that the
station was "considering" that possibility, but such a decision
was out of his hands. He then stated that in order to answer that question,
he would like first to speak with his "supervisor" about the
matter, and that he would call back "in a few minutes."
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- After approximately 45 minutes had elapsed, NUFORC telephoned
FOX 23 and requested to be put in touch with Mr. Bazile. After a short
period of time, he came on the line, but after only a very short conversation
he said he would like to put his supervisor, Mr. Dave Brown, Station News
Director for FOX 23, on the line.
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- During our 7-minute conversation with Mr. Brown, he stated
that a copy of the tape had been provided to the personnel from the FBI
by his station voluntarily, because his station "willingly co-operated
with members of law enforcement." He added that he personally had
provided the video to the FBI, that it had not been "taken" by
them, as had been suggested by Mr. Bazile. Mr. Brown stated that he had
arrived at work on Sunday evening "at about 8 or 9 o'clock,"
and that FBI personnel had been photographed in the station while they
watched the tape, and that that footage had been aired by the station on
Sunday night as a news report. Mr. Brown implied that this fact illustrated
that there had been no "mystery" surrounding the FBI's interest
in the footage, and that, in his opinion, no impropriety surrounded the
transfer of the tape to the FBI personnel.
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- Mr. Brown also added that he did not know whether the
original tape had been provided to the FBI, or whether they had received
a copy. However, he said that with digital tape, it really did not matter,
since very little fidelity was lost in a copied tape.
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- When asked how many representatives from the FBI had
been present at the station on Sunday night, he said that he did not know,
but there were at least two representatives from that office present. He
said there might have been more, but he could not be certain, since "there
were so many people present in the station that night."
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- Mr. Brown closed the conversation with the statement
that FOX 23 would not be devoting any more news coverage to the footage,
suggesting that the story was now old news, and that, in his opinion, it
did not warrant any further attention by his station.
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- Following our conversation with Mr. Brown, NUFORC contacted
the FBI offices in Albany [(518) 465-7551]. We spoke with Lisa Massaroni,
a public affairs spokeswoman, who apprised us that to the best of her knowledge,
the FBI office did have a copy of the tape, that their personnel were planning
to analyze it, but that she did not know the status of the investigation.
She directed us to her supervisor for any further questions, and added
that he would be out of his office until October 24th.
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- NUFORC also was contacted by a gentleman from Birmingham,
AL, Mr. Brian Huff, a forensic video analyst, who had captured the video
from the FOX 23 website, and who has analyzed the tape. We provide elements
of his video analysis with this statement. Mr. Huff has stated to NUFORC
that, based on his analysis of the footage, the object is genuine, and
that it is not a superimposed image. He also stated that the object is
on the other side of the clouds, which provides some perspective as to
the size of the object, and its velocity, which Mr. Huff concludes is considerable.
We extend our gratitude to Mr. Huff for sharing his analysis with NUFORC
and Jeff Rense.
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- Prepared by Peter B. Davenport, Director, National UFO
Reporting Center on
- October 22, 2002.
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- Peter B. Davenport, Director
- National UFO Reporting Center
- P. O. Box 45623 University Station
- Seattle, WA 98145
- director@ufocenter.com www.UFOCENTER.com
- Reporting Hotline: (206) 722-3000
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- Forensic Video Analyst Certifies Object Is
Genuine
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- Note - The following data is from Mr. Brian Huff
as sent to Peter Davenport...
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- From Brian Huff
- Birmingham, Alabama
- 10-22-2
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- 3d Forensic Graphics, Video editing, production and verification,
Virtual crime scene 3d walkthoughs, Expert Witness and Consultant. Specializing
in verification, visualization. and re-creation.
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- Goal 1 - Verify authenticity of video with respect to
object as an original embedded component.
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- Goal 2 - Clarify shape and size for analysis and comparison.
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- Goal 3 - Establish that object is not of the nature of
a small "close proximity "rod" (as identified in the research
of Jose Escamilla -ed) or insect illusion.
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- Object Verification
- Direct color inversion of non-enhance video still.
Objects in the atmosphere generally reflect the color of their environment-and
appear somewhat as monochromatic images.
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- Direct color inversion is useful for detecting
overlays, pasting, chromakey, and other methods used to "fake"
photo and film.
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- An authentic image should invert to an alternative
pseudo-monochromatic color scheme, with no obvious foreign colors or anmalies-sharp
lines, etc.
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- Object Definition---light source
- Object defined by contrast increase 61% and brightness
reduction of 18%.
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- Object Definition-Shape Visualization
- Reveals overal edges, suggests "capsule
shaped" appendages.
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- Object Definition
- Similar to traditional techniques of sharpening
images, but appling sharpening to each pixel irrespective of that pixels
"nearest neighbor" pixelation.
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- Advanced Object Definition (proprietary)
- Further suggests "capsule shaped" appendages.
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- Un-enhanced Magnification of Object.
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- Comment
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- Was It A Missile?
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- From John LeFrancois
- 10-26-2
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- In reference to your story:
- <http://www.rense.com/general31/nyalb.htm>
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- FBI Grabs Fox UFO Video - Expert Certifies Object Genuine,
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- the object in the video looks very much like a surface-to-air
missile. In would be interesting to discover who was in the plane that
was flying over at the time. It might be possible to find some indication
locally of where it landed or if there was an unexplained detonation sound
around that time.
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- Could this have been a botched pseudo-terrorist event?
Or perhaps someone like Senator Paul Wellstone was in one of the planes
flying over or landing at that time?
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- Apparently there are hundreds of variations of such missiles.
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- Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles
- Tube Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire Guided (TOW) Missile Weapon
System
- Surface to air missile non-comparision table
- UK
Guided Weapons Projects
- NASM rockets and Missiles
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- Examples:
- John LeFrancois
- jalefra@lanset.com
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- Comment
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- From Conway Costigan
c_costigan@canada.com
10-30-2
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- The analysis is interesting, but I tend to differ in
it's conclusion that it may be a surface to air missile.
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- Surface to air missiles (SAMs) tend to have a very visible
rocket exhaust, the footage showed none. Thus unless it was launched by
a rather large catapult or slingshot, it is not a missile.
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- Regards,
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- Conway Costigan Analyst/Consultant
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