Socorro UFO hoax revealed!

[rooth]

My alma mater has a very long legacy. My weak link to it is that the man prominent in part 2, John Shipman, taught me a great deal about unix (SunOS).

Part 1:
http://ufocon.blogspot.com/2009/09/socorro-hoax-exposed-famous-1964.html
After 45 years the truth is now revealed- one of the most famous UFO sightings in history was a hoax. The recent

Comments

[baphijmm]

As a NM Tech student, an avid prankster, a friend and neighbor of John Shipman, and a former protege of Dr. Colgate, I'm getting a kick out of these replies. :3

[rooth]

Tri-fecta! Hey, you know John too? He and I are also supposed to do lunch. We should optimize! ;)

[baphijmm]

Sure, we could do that! He lives practically across the street from me. :P

[mr_silvers]

I usually do quote blocks with a "textblock" ... Lesser than i greaterthan"textblock"lesserthan/igreaterthan ...

It is nice getting this stuff documented, but the way it is presented is almost as bad as how most UFO encounters are presented. It is rather shaky, with lots of "a friend of a friend" and "unnamed parties." Personally, I wouldn't mind if someone anonymously sent in the methods used, materials, escape route, etc. I really don't care about the names of people, but rather how it was done.

Also, I think this comment under the first article summed up my feelings quite nicely:

"Until the supposed hoaxers come forward - and after so many years, I see no reason whatsoever as to why they would not - and explain how they did it, this is just another story, no more or less convincing than the ET narrative in my books."

[rooth]

textblock didn't seem to work, but blockquote did. Thanks though! :)

In response to your concern about the vagaries being what they are, consider this article. Excerpt:

Shipman explains, “the envelope was a surplus weather balloon filled with natural gas. The payload consisted of a highway flare, a hundred-foot surveyors measuring tape made of steel, and a long fuse. The measuring tape was weighted at one end rolled up and secured with a piece of waxed string. After the prevailing wind had blown the balloon out over the north end of the range, the fuse burned to the end and lit the highway flare and burned the string around the steel tape. The radar operators were rather upset when a hundred-foot long radar target appeared suddenly on their screens. They scrambled several interceptor jets. The interceptors never found what they were looking for.”

(hmm, blockquote doesn't seem to work in comments, alas, shifting to italics)

[mr_silvers]

Sorry to hear the blockquote didn't work. The only thing I can make mine do is copy text over via highlight and drag, but it doesn't quote it, really. I wonder if there is another way