Have we finally acquired incontrovertible proof of extraterrestrial visitation? Or has someone well-versed in special effects gimmickry simply posted another in a long line of UFO video hoaxes on YouTube? Perhaps it is even an example of guerilla marketing, a precursor to more videos -- or movie trailers -- to come? All these explanations have been suggested in the past few days as millions have accessed the video (said to be one of three) of a UFO "mothership" and its attendant "fleet" of smaller UFOs caught skimming the cloud-fille skies above London. The video has, of course, gone viral.
First uploaded by alymc01 on June 24, the setting is London on a cloudy day. The viewer enters with the videographer running down a sidewalk near the BBC Building to a corner where several people on both sides of the street are already looking up at the sky. The viewer is then presented with several bright lights -- and several fainter lit images -- moving across the sky from the videographer's left to right. Bout one minute into the slightly more than two-minute video, a larger, brighter white disc appears and slowly performs a few rotating maneuvers before moving off.
The UFO video, entitled "UFOs Over London BBC Radio 1 Building," is accompanied by the caption: "Right - took over a week to get it....but finally managed to get these critters on camera on a clear day, and even get a close-up. It seems to be attracting quite a crowd now when they appear. Can anyone explain what on earth these lights are please?"
A quick glance below each of the uploaded videos (EllasVirgo currently has the most views, pulling in over 2 million views to date) and the answer to alymc01's question seems to have been in the affirmative. Many believe the video to be a hoax. Some are saying it is proof that the aliens have come. Some are saying it could be a marketing campaign for an upcoming science fiction movie, possibly "Iron Sky."
In fact, Benjamin Radford at Life's Little Mysteries, a sister website to LiveScience, posted a somewhat detailed debunking of the video, noting that the video's "crudeness" may be the best evidence of its "fakery."
Radford offers: "The mothership and its UFO siblings videotaped over London are among the absolute easiest images to fake: glowing ovals and dots. There's no detail, no flying saucer windows or aliens waving hello from high above. Just white moving dots that anyone with some video-editing chops could create with little effort."
Radford also points out the inordinate amount of time the videographer takes getting the reaction of the people looking up at the sky. Although this could presumably be explained by noting that the videographer could have been confused by what was causing the disturbance, but, as Radford points out, the videographer pulls the focus of the video from the skies above about halfway through the video to again pan the passersby. Radford believes this to be the strongest evidence of a hoax: Wouldn't someone recording an event like the appearance of UFOs be more interested in the UFOs than in getting the reactions of those observing the mysterious flying objects?
Radford is joined in his skepticism by Steve Mostyn at The Tech Herald, who notes that it is "worth noting that the footage was captured in close proximity to The Mill and Framestore, two of the world’s leading special effects houses for the movie industry."
Another possible indicator that the video is a hoax is its appearance on YouTube instead of on some media outlet website or television channel. An authentic video capturing the first images of possible extraterrestrial visitation would be of inestimable value. Of course, the videographer could be of a non-capitalist bent, a more free-share type of individual.
So... is it another hoax or is it an authentic video of a grouping of UFOs? Or, like the Phoenix Lights formation captured by several videographers in 1997, could it have a rational explanation as a sensational incident caused by more mundane events (like a string of slow-burning flares dropped by passing planes on military maneuvers)?
Regardless, videos and images like the London UFO "mothership and its fleet" will continue to draw interest, fake or not. It is part of human nature to question, to wonder, to quest, to discover, to solve. And even if all such images could eventually be explained, they are testament to the very human need to imagine and dream -- if only of what might be possible.
