Rob
McConnell, on his X-Zone Radio
program on Thursday, July 21, interviewed Charles Stansburge, who is a MUFON
State Section Director covering some fourteen counties in Texas. According to
what Stansburge said, at that time, he had taken a photograph, or he had a
photograph, that showed an alien creature and something described as a portal
close to a mutilation site. He said that he was told by MUFON officials that he
was not to share it with the public or the media.
McConnell
commented, “It seems that MUFON - that claims that the government is
suppressing information on UFOs and extraterrestrials is guilty of suppressing
information themselves. If this has happened in this case, how many more cases
is MUFON suppressing the information on?”
But
this was not the end of the story, and within days, Stansburge was back,
retracting the story. There had been no embargo on publication of the
photograph, by MUFON or anyone else, at least according to what was being said now. Stansburge wanted to
make that clear.
At
this point, all I had heard was that there had been a photograph of an alien
taken at a mutilation site, and if this was true, then it was big news.
McConnell asked me if I wanted to appear on his radio program and he was
attempting to get Stansburge on the show as well so that we would have an
opportunity to discuss all this. While it would be relatively late at night, I
agreed and learned a couple of hours later that Stansburge would be on as well.
McConnell
allowed me to conduct much of the interview and there were many things that I
didn’t understand. It seems that Stansburge learned of the mutilation of a
sheep through an article in a Houston, Texas, newspaper and contacted the
sheriff’s office to see if he might be of assistance. Stansburge is a retired
police officer as well as a MUFON field investigator, and as mentioned, a State
Section director.
According
to Stansburge, he was not involved in the original investigation, had not taken
the photographs, but had been given a complete set of them. They were taken
with a digital camera and the vast majority of them were of the mutilation.
There was only a single photograph that, again according to Stansburge, showed
a gray alien kneeling near a small copse of trees and there was some sort of
distortion to the right of the creature, near a larger tree that Stansburge
said was some kind of a portal, though he didn’t know where that portal might lead.
A
deputy took the photograph, as well as many others, and no one on the scene
noticed an alien or the portal at the time. In fact, they hadn’t noticed any alien when they reviewed the photographs later. It was quite a distance from
the lens and was back in the trees.
Stansburge
interviewed the deputies who had gone out, and I believe he also interviewed
the rancher. Stansburge said that the rancher had lost a number of sheep over
the months. Some had completely disappeared and a few (I believe) had been
found mutilated. When Stansburge finished his report, he submitted it, again I
believe, to the Texas State Director and that it was eventually sent to MUFON
headquarters. Interestingly, they all seemed to believe that the mutilation was
damage inflicted by predators or scavengers and had nothing to do with aliens.
It seemed that Stansburge was disappointed in those results, but that would
suggest that aliens had nothing to do with the mutilation and made the mutilation
irrelevant.
So
we returned to the picture. No one had noticed the alien until Stansburge saw
it on the photograph. As far as I know, there has been no analysis of it so
there is no report about that. All we have, at the moment, are our impressions
from it.
Now,
before everyone gets all worked up, while the interview was going on,
McConnell, who had a copy of the picture, sent it to me. I couldn’t find
anything in it because it covered my computer screen, but as soon as Stansburge
told me that everything of interest was at the top, I spotted the portal, and
then to the left of that, near the copse of tress, I saw the alleged alien.
When
you examined the following picture, remember I have cropped it so that the
mutilated animal is no longer visible because it provides no information. I
have only reproduced the small section of the photograph that shows the alleged alien
and the portal.
Photo copyright by Charles Stansburge |
While
it can be said that it certainly looks as if there is an alien kneeling in the
grass, it is a very small image, at the far end of the picture, and is more likely an
optical illusion. It is not a clear image. I believe the color of the alien
matches the color of some of the wood on the trees near it where the bark has
been rubbed off. suggesting optical illusion rather than alien creature. It just isn’t very clear and frankly could be about anything.
Photo copyright by Charles Stansburge. |
Here’s
my thinking on this, and I say this without having walked the site, is that the
deputy who took the picture didn’t see any alien. The sheriff and others who
examined the picture did not see any alien. It was only after some time that Stansburge
spotted what he thought was the alien. The resolution of the picture is such that we can’t get a
clearer image and the one that is there is open to various interpretations. The picture
is not of sufficient resolution for us to use as evidence of alien visitation.
It is an interesting anomaly, probably the result of the lighting, the
distance, and the type of camera giving the impression of an alien. If I lived in that area, I would return to
see if I could duplicate the picture and I would walk up to the trees to see
what had actually been photographed which is probably still there… but at this time, I don’t believe this is
a very important piece of evidence nor do I believe that it shows an alien creature.
I
want to thank Rob McConnell for allowing me to conduct the interview and
Charles Stansburge for his patience under my questioning. Stansburge was quite
the gentleman in all this.
Top picture. If you look 2 1/2 inches to the right of the "alien" you can also see a bigfoot standing in there... just sayin...
ReplyDeleteKevin,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the new mystery. My vote is inconclusive. The one question I have is the shadowing. It's probably me, but the tree shadows do not seem to be aligned correctly. Thereby there should be a tiny bit of shadow of the being. My view is the original photo doesn't look correct to my eyes.
Apologies for turning into a grumpy old man lately...but I mean, well, really!
ReplyDeleteIt's obviously a visual effect of light on grass showing through gaps in the tree trunks, combined with vegetation in front of the trees.
It's green with the same mix of shades as the other grass.
And no, I haven't wasted my time doing anything more sophisticated than just looking at it and applying past studies by others to other photos and considering the most likely answer.
No, I'm not having some sort of conversion to the sceptical camp, but this sort of thing infuriates me.
All -
ReplyDeleteI have updated the article because it seems that some didn't understand that I knew this was not an alien creature but an optical illusion. I thought I would provide the explanation before this story started "trending." Let me say again, it is clear to me that this is an optical illusion and is of interest only because of the interpretation that had been put on it.
Kevin:
ReplyDeleteHow right you are!
Now let's get back to the things that really matter, i.e. the next US election and 'Brexit'. Or do you think these are getting just a bit too much attention already?
....¿¿¿???
ReplyDeleteNo way im wasting my time with this article, I read everything from this site as soon as I can, but this...? a delayed aprils fool? no thanks.
El Sopa Cartoons -
ReplyDeleteSorry you missed the point here. This story was getting some national attention and I didn't want it to become another Roswell Slides. I wanted everything laid out so that we all could see that it was an optical illusion... I suspect, however, we will eventually see it on other UFO sites as a real picture of an alien (I worded it this way because it is a real picture... the alien is an illusion).
Anyone who bothers to squint at any pixelated photo can imagine just about anything. And yes I saw the big foot too!
ReplyDeleteIt's the same as seeing images in the clouds.
As a native Texan, I can assure you that is just grass growing upward near the trunks of local trees which tend to grow in clumps and in every direction imaginable.
I bet I could go into my back yard right now, take a snapshot, and "see" aliens in the bushes!
It's pareidolia, which is not the same as an optical illusion. Optical illusions appear similar to most people. Pareidolia is an individual interpretation, based of personal desires or prejudice.
ReplyDelete@Sarah,
There's also a greyish entity behind, and a little to the left of the green alien. His shoulders are about 30 degrees to horizontal, as if peeking around a tree.
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Good God People -
ReplyDeleteDid you not understand the purpose here? I was hearing a description of the photograph that suggested the alien was clear, that it was a gray, and that there was some kind of smudge that had been interpreted as a portal of some kind. When I received the photograph, and was told where to look, I saw the smudge and then to the right something that looked like an alien. It was not clear, it was not large and it was not obvious. In studying the picture under magnification, it was clear that the image was not an alien. I put together this article so that there would not be an ongoing discussion of a photo of an alien at a mutilation site.
Albert -
You can argue semantics all you want but to me this is an optical illusion because those I know who saw the picture thought the image looked like a gray... this is a good example of seeing what you wish to see in an ambiguous stimuli...
No one should assume that after I got a good long look at this that I thought it was anything other than a misinterpretation of the images.
Kevin,
ReplyDelete(joking) Did you just flunk us all in alien photographic interpretation?
Try as I might, I just don't see either an alien or a portal. I'm going with pareidolia influenced by a pre-existing belief. He sees an alien because he wants to see an alien. I bet nobody joins MUFON with the intent of disproving that aliens are behind UFO reports (but objective MUFON researchers often do just that). But rather most join to find that smoking gun case providing irrefutable evidence of aliens. I suspect this MUFON investigator's enthusiasm fogged his perception.
ReplyDeleteHa ha I see it maybe it is Gollum hiding in the woods :-) great optical illussion.
ReplyDeleteIf you look hard enough you will see more weird looking things (like in pictures they used to make of a forest and you had to find the animals hiding in it) An eerie looking hand,2 dark horses behind the 'alien', a dark figure behind a tree, a face in the grass, a dark door/entry to some mysterious forest etc.. :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree, just optical illusion. same thing happened with the noah's ark 'anamolies' on Mt Ararat, you can start seeing noahs arks all over the place, the mind plays tricks.
ReplyDeleteI do think its possible that aliens would appear somewhat transparent if they did at all due to them being in another dimension apparently, so I think its a possibility, who knows? But the photo isn't clear enough or definitive in any way at all.
@Kevin,
ReplyDeleteI don't thinks anyone here seriously thinks that there are alien(s), Bigfoots, or horses in the photo.
Henceforth, I will put :) in my tongue-in-cheek comments.
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Albert -
ReplyDeleteI get this... but I had received some private communications in which it seemed that those writers did not understand that I was not endorsing the picture as something alien. Speaking only for myself, I don't see bigfoot, but I did say, in the blow up that it looked more like a rearing horse than an alien.
I'm lost, the second picture in this article is where the alien is supposed to be hiding? If you go back to the first picture and zoom in more to the right above the u and the r in the guys name on the caption. You can clearly see an alien squatting in the grass, his head and his knees are poking up. Real or fake, something is there.
ReplyDelete