Although we find that many breaking news stories these days are Fake News –often politically motivated— that is something UFO researchers have had to put up with for 70 years or more. In very many cases some people have been so anxious to believe in the supposed alien presence that they have swallowed such UFO/alien Fake News stories hook, line and sinker.
Here are just a few such Fake News cases which became UFO legends:-
(1) George Adamski’s claims of contact with Venusians in flying saucers in the 1950s. In the California desert he claimed to have met his alien friends and that he flew with them round the moon and also to the planet Venus.
(2) Travis Walton’s tale of his 5-day abduction by aliens in a UFO spaceship that descended into Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, AZ, in Nov. 1975.
(3) The Billy Meier megahoax featuring “beamships”, contact with ETs from the Pleiades, hundreds of faked photos of UFOs, Semjase, etc., etc.
(4) Bob Lazar’s 1989 claims of back-engineering flying saucers acquired by the US military at Area 51 (NV) & alien use of Element 115 for propulsion.
(5) Ray Santilli’s “Alien Autopsy” scam of 1995. Footage of an alleged autopsy on a “Roswell alien” body was fraudulent and faked in the UK.
(6) Linda Cortile’s ongoing alien abduction soap opera in NYC (1990s) was concocted by her and fed bit-by-bit to abduction researcher Budd Hopkins.
(7) Ed Walters’ 1987 photos of UFOs at Gulf Breeze, FL, and his alleged alien contact/abduction story. Although proved false, many still accept it.
(8) Whitley Strieber’s “Communion –A True Story” (1987). This abduction tale is, without doubt, horror fiction that took place solely in Whitley’s head.
(9) The “CARET drones” (from 2007) Internet hoax created by “Isaac”. Supposed ET technology but actually bicycle parts and many faked photos.
(10) The Roswell Slides hoax of 2015 in which “Anthony Bragalia”, Adam Dew & Joseph Beason deceived Don Schmitt & Tom Carey plus, of course, Jaime Maussan into announcing they had genuine photos of an alien corpse.
These days there is any amount of UFO/alien fake news and similar fake conspiracy theories out there on the internet. A 2016 hoax story of this variety about cattle mutilations –which some folk absurdly maintain is the work of aliens-- is typical of the genre. It can be found on the favogram website:-
FBI Perpetrated Thousands of Cattle Mutilations in 1970s, Says Ex-Agent | Favogram
The story rang false on so many levels. There was no evidence of an ex-FBI agent by that name. Also, there is no such newspaper as the San Luis Valley Herald… and no by-line on the story. Favogram bills itself as “the #1 viral website on the internet”. It’s a mish-mash of pop culture trivia.
One satisfying side to nailing this particular piece of fake news is that a thorough web search revealed the true identity of “Elias James Brown”, the supposed ex-FBI man in the story. In fact the photo shows Don Ritchie, an elderly Australian who, in his role as a Good Samaritan, has successfully persuaded dozens of depressed people who were going to commit suicide not to do so. See:
