Tuesday, September 20, 2011

UFO NEWS | UPDATE: Petit-Rechain UFO Photo - Belgium UFO Flap (1989-90)


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Petite Rechain UFO Photo By Patrick Marechal
By Leslie Kean
Coalition for Freedom of Information
September 2011


Petit-Rechain UFO Photo - The Current Situation

Leslie Kean The photographer Patrick Marechal (PM) says he hoaxed it by making a Styrofoam model. One friend of his from the factory has been interviewed by one investigator, who stated that he helped make the model. He was not present when the picture was taken. This corroborating witness is the only evidence PM has produced to back up his claim of a hoax.

Working against him are the following points:
  • He refuses to give investigators the name and contact info of his girlfriend, now his ex-wife, who was there when he took the photo.
  • PM is trying to get money from the person he sold the copyright to, and is taking him to court to claim it. That person, Guy Mossay, a well-known journalist who worked for a leading Belgian press agency, states they had a written agreement giving him ownership of the photo, as was standard; PM claims there was no agreement. There are other contradictions in interviews with both of them. Mossay, who since moved to France, is trying to find the agreement. This battle could give PM a motive for claiming the photo is a hoax – to get back at Mossay – but this is pure speculation.
  • PM says he has 12 photos of the original model hanging from a wire, and that he would look for them, but he hasn’t produced them.
  • PM said he would recreate the model and the photo. When he presented his recreated photo to investigator Patrick Ferryn, it did not look like the Petit Rechain photo. PM says it’s because they no longer make the same bulbs he used at the time.
  • How was the ‘halo effect” as documented by Prof. Marion created by a Styrofoam model? Marion died a year ago, but this question needs to be posed to other scientists. Also, could the unique characteristics of the corner lights and their rotations, with a very different central light, have been created with light bulbs? If PM can’t recreate it, can someone else? The other scientists who analyzed the Petit Rechain photo need to be approached for a new look at the picture. And other analysts who have never seen it before could provide additional insights.
For now, we have to operate under the assumption that the photo was faked.

However, this is not a simple situation, and there are still unanswered questions. Greater proof is needed.

Patrick Marechal is a liar – either then or now – so his evidence must be discarded. But this does not impact all the hundreds of sightings that were reported during the Belgian wave, and this possible hoax must not be used to undermine the strength of the Belgian wave as an historic, well-documented event.

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