Post by uforn on May 24, 2010 5:08:58 GMT 1
Roswell Alien Autopsy
Within the UFOlogical community, an alien autopsy, a medical examination of an extraterrestrial being is supposed to have occurred in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico.
The supposed autopsy first gained prominence during the 1990s when Ray Santilli, a London-based video entrepreneur, promoted a 17 minute black and white film purporting to be footage of the autopsy. In 1995, the film was sold to television networks internationally and broadcast with high viewer ratings in more than 32 countries.
In 2006, Santilli admitted the film was not entirely authentic, claiming that it was a reconstruction of lost footage of an actual alien autopsy film that he viewed and that a few of the frames embedded in his video were from the original. After this admission, Santilli's film is largely considered a hoax.
While dismissed as fantasy by most people, belief that alien autopsies have been carried out forms a core component of a number of UFO conspiracy theories, though the term itself is used within UFOlogy, fiction, and in popular culture, regardless of the factual status of the imagery that is being presented.
The Santilli film
In 1995, Santilli instigated wide-reaching controversy when he claimed to possess footage of an "alien autopsy," shot by a U.S. military official shortly after the 1947 Roswell UFO incident. Santilli first presented his 17-minute black-and-white film to an invited audience of media representatives, UFOlogists, and other dignitaries at the Museum of London on 5 May 1995. The footage, purportedly of doctors performing an autopsy on an alien body in a tent, has subsequently been screened in more than thirty countries worldwide.
Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction
Fox television broadcast the striking footage in the United States on August 28, 1995 under the title Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.[1] The program caused a sensation with Time Magazine declaring that the film had sparked a debate "with an intensity not lavished on any home movie since the Zapruder film". Fox re-broadcast the program twice, each time to higher ratings, with the November 1995 broadcast winning its time slot again with 11.7 million viewers and a 14% share. Although in the broadcast version some parts of the autopsy were pixelized or edited out because of their graphic nature, the aforementioned editions have what Santilli claimed is the complete and unedited film, plus previously unreleased footage of a wreckage presented as the remains of the alien craft reported to have crashed in Roswell.
The Fox program features numerous well-known figures both in front of and behind the camera. Interviews with experts on the authenticity of the film include Oscar winning Special Effects Make-up artist Stan Winston, Cinematographer Allen Daviau, and noted forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who considered the autopsy procedures in the film to be authentic but stopped short of declaring the being an alien.
Film director John Jopson was engaged by producer Robert Kiviat to direct several portions of the Fox special including Santilli’s interview. Jopson has stated that he became immediately suspicious upon meeting Santilli in London and, after conducting further investigation, told both Fox and Kiviat that he believed ‘’the whole thing was a fraud’’ and explained their response as follows: “It was then made clear to me that if the footage was exposed as a hoax before the show aired, the ratings would suffer.” Jopson then enlisted the services of his friend, well-known private investigator William Dear, but again, according to Jopson, Dear was held back by the producers for fear the hoax would be exposed before the airdate, and Dear was limited to investigating the "mystery cameraman". Two of the program’s participants claimed their observations were distorted: Stan Winston and Kevin Randle, noted UFO author and investigator, both claimed they clearly stated in their interviews that they believed the footage was a hoax but their statements were edited out. Their claims were further supported in Jopson’s 1999 statement describing the behind-the-scenes arguments in the editing room. The special went on to become what was at the time the highest rated special in Fox television’s history.
Santilli's admission
In 2006, the events surrounding the release of the footage were adapted as a feature film, Alien Autopsy, a British comedy directed by Jonny Campbell and written by William Davies. The film gave a humorous reconstruction of the making of the Santilli film based on Santilli's statements, without giving a clear judgement about the veracity of his claims.
On April 4, 2006—two days before the release of the film—Sky broadcast a documentary, Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy, presented by Eamonn Holmes. In this program, Ray Santilli and fellow producer Gary Shoefield admitted that their film was only partially real (a "few frames," in their words) and stated that the rest was a reconstruction of twenty-two rolls of film, averaging four minutes in length, which Santilli had viewed in 1992 but which had subsequently degraded from humidity and heat. They said that only a few frames of the original were still intact by the time they had raised enough money to purchase it.
In the documentary, Eamonn Holmes repeatedly refers to the film as a "fake," while Santilli patiently insists it is a "restoration," because he maintains that his film is a reconstruction of an actual alien autopsy film he viewed in the early 1990s but has subsequently been lost.
Santilli and Shoefield stated that they had "restored" the damaged footage by filming a simulated autopsy on a fabricated alien, based upon what Santilli saw in 1992, and then adding in a few frames of the original film that had not degraded. They have not identified which frames or footage is original. According to Santilli, a set was constructed in the living room of an empty flat in Rochester Square, Camden Town, London. John Humphreys, an artist and sculptor, was employed to construct two dummy alien bodies over a period of three weeks, using casts containing sheep brains set in raspberry jam, chicken entrails and knuckle joints obtained from S.C. Crosby Wholesale Butchers in Smithfield meat market, London. Humphreys also played the role of the chief scientist undertaking the examination, in order to allow him to control the effects being filmed. There were two separate attempts at making the footage. After filming, the team disposed of the "bodies" by cutting them into small pieces and placing them in rubbish bins across London.
Alien objects, supposedly items recovered from the crash site, were depicted in the footage. These included alien symbols and six-finger control panels, which Santilli describes in the Sky documentary as being the result of artistic license on his part. These artifacts were also created by Humphreys. The footage also showed a man reading a statement "verifying" his identity as the original cameraman and the source of the footage. Santilli and Shoefield admitted in the documentary that they had found an unidentified homeless man on the streets of Los Angeles, persuaded him to play the role of the cameraman, and filmed him in a motel.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzmmlaZ9b9I
Within the UFOlogical community, an alien autopsy, a medical examination of an extraterrestrial being is supposed to have occurred in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico.
The supposed autopsy first gained prominence during the 1990s when Ray Santilli, a London-based video entrepreneur, promoted a 17 minute black and white film purporting to be footage of the autopsy. In 1995, the film was sold to television networks internationally and broadcast with high viewer ratings in more than 32 countries.
In 2006, Santilli admitted the film was not entirely authentic, claiming that it was a reconstruction of lost footage of an actual alien autopsy film that he viewed and that a few of the frames embedded in his video were from the original. After this admission, Santilli's film is largely considered a hoax.
While dismissed as fantasy by most people, belief that alien autopsies have been carried out forms a core component of a number of UFO conspiracy theories, though the term itself is used within UFOlogy, fiction, and in popular culture, regardless of the factual status of the imagery that is being presented.
The Santilli film
In 1995, Santilli instigated wide-reaching controversy when he claimed to possess footage of an "alien autopsy," shot by a U.S. military official shortly after the 1947 Roswell UFO incident. Santilli first presented his 17-minute black-and-white film to an invited audience of media representatives, UFOlogists, and other dignitaries at the Museum of London on 5 May 1995. The footage, purportedly of doctors performing an autopsy on an alien body in a tent, has subsequently been screened in more than thirty countries worldwide.
Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction
Fox television broadcast the striking footage in the United States on August 28, 1995 under the title Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.[1] The program caused a sensation with Time Magazine declaring that the film had sparked a debate "with an intensity not lavished on any home movie since the Zapruder film". Fox re-broadcast the program twice, each time to higher ratings, with the November 1995 broadcast winning its time slot again with 11.7 million viewers and a 14% share. Although in the broadcast version some parts of the autopsy were pixelized or edited out because of their graphic nature, the aforementioned editions have what Santilli claimed is the complete and unedited film, plus previously unreleased footage of a wreckage presented as the remains of the alien craft reported to have crashed in Roswell.
The Fox program features numerous well-known figures both in front of and behind the camera. Interviews with experts on the authenticity of the film include Oscar winning Special Effects Make-up artist Stan Winston, Cinematographer Allen Daviau, and noted forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who considered the autopsy procedures in the film to be authentic but stopped short of declaring the being an alien.
Film director John Jopson was engaged by producer Robert Kiviat to direct several portions of the Fox special including Santilli’s interview. Jopson has stated that he became immediately suspicious upon meeting Santilli in London and, after conducting further investigation, told both Fox and Kiviat that he believed ‘’the whole thing was a fraud’’ and explained their response as follows: “It was then made clear to me that if the footage was exposed as a hoax before the show aired, the ratings would suffer.” Jopson then enlisted the services of his friend, well-known private investigator William Dear, but again, according to Jopson, Dear was held back by the producers for fear the hoax would be exposed before the airdate, and Dear was limited to investigating the "mystery cameraman". Two of the program’s participants claimed their observations were distorted: Stan Winston and Kevin Randle, noted UFO author and investigator, both claimed they clearly stated in their interviews that they believed the footage was a hoax but their statements were edited out. Their claims were further supported in Jopson’s 1999 statement describing the behind-the-scenes arguments in the editing room. The special went on to become what was at the time the highest rated special in Fox television’s history.
Santilli's admission
In 2006, the events surrounding the release of the footage were adapted as a feature film, Alien Autopsy, a British comedy directed by Jonny Campbell and written by William Davies. The film gave a humorous reconstruction of the making of the Santilli film based on Santilli's statements, without giving a clear judgement about the veracity of his claims.
On April 4, 2006—two days before the release of the film—Sky broadcast a documentary, Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy, presented by Eamonn Holmes. In this program, Ray Santilli and fellow producer Gary Shoefield admitted that their film was only partially real (a "few frames," in their words) and stated that the rest was a reconstruction of twenty-two rolls of film, averaging four minutes in length, which Santilli had viewed in 1992 but which had subsequently degraded from humidity and heat. They said that only a few frames of the original were still intact by the time they had raised enough money to purchase it.
In the documentary, Eamonn Holmes repeatedly refers to the film as a "fake," while Santilli patiently insists it is a "restoration," because he maintains that his film is a reconstruction of an actual alien autopsy film he viewed in the early 1990s but has subsequently been lost.
Santilli and Shoefield stated that they had "restored" the damaged footage by filming a simulated autopsy on a fabricated alien, based upon what Santilli saw in 1992, and then adding in a few frames of the original film that had not degraded. They have not identified which frames or footage is original. According to Santilli, a set was constructed in the living room of an empty flat in Rochester Square, Camden Town, London. John Humphreys, an artist and sculptor, was employed to construct two dummy alien bodies over a period of three weeks, using casts containing sheep brains set in raspberry jam, chicken entrails and knuckle joints obtained from S.C. Crosby Wholesale Butchers in Smithfield meat market, London. Humphreys also played the role of the chief scientist undertaking the examination, in order to allow him to control the effects being filmed. There were two separate attempts at making the footage. After filming, the team disposed of the "bodies" by cutting them into small pieces and placing them in rubbish bins across London.
Alien objects, supposedly items recovered from the crash site, were depicted in the footage. These included alien symbols and six-finger control panels, which Santilli describes in the Sky documentary as being the result of artistic license on his part. These artifacts were also created by Humphreys. The footage also showed a man reading a statement "verifying" his identity as the original cameraman and the source of the footage. Santilli and Shoefield admitted in the documentary that they had found an unidentified homeless man on the streets of Los Angeles, persuaded him to play the role of the cameraman, and filmed him in a motel.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzmmlaZ9b9I