Director, National UFO Reporting Center
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Albany, NY Fox TV UFO
Case
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
Prepared by Peter B. Davenport, Director, National
UFO Reporting Center on
October 22, 2002.
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
Forensic Video Analyst Certifies Object Is
Genuine
Note - The following data is from Mr. Brian Huff
as sent to Peter Davenport...
From Brian Huff
Birmingham, Alabama
10-22-2
3d Forensic Graphics, Video editing, production and
verification, Virtual crime scene 3d walkthoughs, Expert Witness and
Consultant. Specializing in verification, visualization. and
re-creation.
Goal 1 - Verify authenticity of video with respect
to object as an original embedded component.
Goal 2 - Clarify shape and size for analysis and
comparison.
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.
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. Direct color inversion is useful for detecting
overlays, pasting, chromakey, and other methods used to "fake" photo
and film. An authentic image should invert to an
alternative pseudo-monochromatic color scheme, with no obvious foreign
colors or anmalies-sharp lines, etc
Object Definition---light
source
Object defined by contrast increase 61% and
brightness reduction of 18%.
Object Definition-Shape
Visualization
Reveals overal edges, suggests "capsule shaped"
appendages.
National
UFO Reporting Center Case Brief
