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Showing posts with label McMinnville. Show all posts

Monday, June 03, 2019

Military Pilots Had Ongoing Encounters with UFOs, Says Fmr. Commander Dave Fravor | VIDEO

A former Navy fighter pilot confirms that there have been dozens of recent intrusions of America by highly sophisticated, unknown crafts. Former Commander Dave Fravor, the same pilot who has a close encounter in 2004 with the so-called Tic Tac UFO off the coast of Southern California, told an audience in McMinnville Oregon, that he has since spoken with many military

By George Knapp / Matt Adams
www.lasvegasnow.com
5-31-19

pilots who have reported ongoing encounters with unknown craft along the East Coast, from Virginia to Florida.

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Thursday, September 25, 2014

Trent UFO Photos - the 'Best' of All Time - Finally Busted? | SPECIAL REPORT

By Robert Sheaffer
badufos.blogspot.com
9-25-14

Once again, farmer Paul Trent's famous UFO photos from McMinnville, Oregon are a hot topic in UFOlogy. Kevin Randle discussed the photos on his Blog A Different Perspective, and a torrent of comments from researchers followed. Not just frothy opinion, but highly detailed, meticulous comments about the camera angle and position, the weight and size of the hypothetical model, the load on the wires and a possible bend in them, etc. Ultimately this is important, but such matters are unlikely to give us a final answer. There is one thing about this case that everyone can probably agree with: as Randle says, "there are only two conclusions to be drawn about the pictures taken in McMinnville, Oregon. They either show a craft from another world, or they are a hoax. I do not see a third possibility."

1950: The Origin of the Photos

On May 11, 1950, farmer Paul Trent of McMinnville, Oregon snapped two photos of an object that he claimed was a flying saucer (the term "UFO" hadn't been invented yet). There are inconsistencies in Mrs. Trent's accounts of where her husband was when the object was first spotted, and who went inside to get the camera. They did not immediately tell anyone about the photos, or rush them off to be developed. Instead, the film containing the invaluable flying saucer photos was left in the camera until Mother's Day, so that a few unexposed frames would not be wasted. More general information on the photos is on my web page, debunker.com.

After the photos had been developed, a reported who came to interview the Trents found the irreplaceable negatives lying "on the floor under the davenport, where the Trent children had been playing with them."

The story first appeared in the local newspaper the Telephone-Register. This led to a sensational national story in the June 26, 1950 issue of Life Magazine, then one the largest-circulation magazines in America. . . .

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See Also:

The McMinnville UFO Photos; A Scientific Analysis By Dr. Bruce Maccabee (Redux)

Fight Over UFO Photos Pits Family Versus Newspaper

UFO Fanatics are Flocking to Oregon: 2014 McMenamins UFO Festival

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Sunday, December 23, 2012

The McMinnville UFO Photos; A Scientific Analysis By Dr. Bruce Maccabee (Redux)

At Long Last - Authentic Photographs of Flying Saucer Telephone-Register 6-8-1950

Dr Bruce Maccabee
www.brumac.8k.com
© 1977-2012

NOTE: The main text of this paper was started in 1977 and completed in 1981 and then submitted to the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) for presentation at the Second CUFOS UFO Symposium. The intent of this paper was to supplement the previous paper on the Trent photos, "On the Possibility that the McMinnville Photos Show A Distant Unidentifed Object," published by CUFOS in the Proceedings of the 1976 CUFOS Symposium. For various reasons this and the other papers presented at the Second CUFOS Symposium were not published until 1989 in the "Spectrum of UFO Research." Therefore, the previously published version includes the Addendum (1984) which provided further information on the analysis and further testimony regarding the Trents. Some modifications, clarifications and and additions to the original text have been made in April and May, 2000 and are designated by "(NOTE 2000:....)" . An Addendum (2000) has also been added to bring the status of the Trent case up to date (as of my own site visit to the "remains" of the Trent farm, May 11, 2000!)

I. INTRODUCTION

On June 8, 1950 the local newspaper in McMinnville, Oregon (USA) published two photos of a "flying saucer" which had been taken by a farmer, Mr. Paul Trent. There was also a brief description of the sighting of the object by the farmer and his wife. Copies of the photos are presented in Figure 1 and Figure 2 shown below:

-CLICK TO ENLARGE-

(NOTE 2000: see the photos associated with the previous paper.) Several other newspapers published reports of the Trent sighting based upon independent interviews and an International News Service (INS) newswire story about the sighting. The INS also obtained the original negatives, which were never returned to the Trents (nor did INS pay for the photos). The Trent photos subseqently appeared in many UFO books and articles. (NOTE 2000: as of the year 2000 the Trent photos have been published hundreds of times in newspapers, journals and books worldwide.) They achieved a unique measure of official recognition in 1968-1969 when the "Condon Report" (1) was published. In the report of that Air-Force funded study at the University of Colorado the photoanalyst, Dr. William Hartmann, stated that the photographic and verbal evidence in the Trent case was essentally consistent with the claim of the witnesses that "...an extraordinary flying object... tens of meters in diameter and evidently artificial, flew within the sight of two witnesses." Despite this strong endorsement, Hartmann admitted that a hoax could not be positively ruled out. (NOTE 2000: this was the first scientific analysis of this sighting even though the photos had been available for study for 17 years as 1967.)

Several years later an investigation by Philip J. Klass and Robert Sheaffer (2) argued that the photographic evidence used by Hartmann (1) was not conclusive and that, furthermore, there seemed to be some discrepancies between the photographic evidence and the witness' story. Moreover, the stories published in the newspaper accounts seemed to be inconsistent with what Klass would have expected if the story had been true, leading Klass to indicate that the photos were probably a hoax. After seeing the analysis of Klass and Sheaffer, Hartmann revised his opinion: "I think Sheaffer's work removes the McMinnville case from consideration as evidence for the exstence of disklike artificial aircraft...(and it) proves once again how difficult it is for any one investigator...to solve all the cases. Perhaps no one has the experience for that because there are too many phenomena and methods for hoaxing."(2)

My subsequent investigation (3, 4) of the original negatives confirmed Hartmann's original conclusion about the excessive brightness of the bottom of the image of the Unidentified Object (UO) and eliminated the claim (2) that there was a relatively long time lapse between the photos. Dr. Robert Nathan, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasedena, CA (NOTE 2000: now retired), also searched for, and failed to find, indications of a suspending thread. (NOTE 2000: in recent years the original negatives have also been studied by interested persons at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and also at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA. None of these independent investigations has turned up evidence of a hoax.)

At the same time I was carefully studying the original negatives and improving upon the photometric analysis of Hartmann and Sheaffer (between January 1974 and November, 1977, when the first version of this paper was written), I carried out an intensive investigation into the background of the sighting and into the subsequent developments . (NOTE 2000: I continued the investigation into the early 1980s and again in the late 1990's, long after the original version of this paper was presented at the 1981 CUFOS conference. Pertinent results of those investigations are included in this presentation.) I have concluded, from communications with many people who have talked to the Trents, that no one who has met them personally would believe that they would think of creating any hoax or perpetrating a hoax as successful and long lasting as their flying saucer report. Dr. Hartmann, who interviewed them in 1967, was convinced of their veracity (1). However, as mentioned above, he later changed his mind (2,6) after reading Sheaffer's analysis (7). I have further concluded, contrary to the opinions expressed in Reference 2, that it cannot be proven from either verbal or photographic evidence that the case was a hoax. Instead, the available verbal and photographic evidence indicates that the sighting was not a hoax. (NOTE 2000: Evelyn died in 1997 and Paul in 1998. They were last interviewed in 1995 by Terry Halstead for a video documentary. They repeated their story once again and avowed that it was the truth.)

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Sunday, May 15, 2011

50th Anniversary Triggered UFO Fest Idea

By Camille Jacobson-Ingram
News-Register
5-13-11

As locals and visitors join in ringing in McMinnville’s 12th annual UFO festival, it’s a good time to reflect on the history of the event.

McMenamins Hotel Oregon took the lead in establishing the event, and continues to be a central player.

As the McMenamin brothers were completing renovation of the four-story downtown landmark, they had company historian Tim Wells researching ways to tie the hotel to the community. He hit on a purported UFO sighting that made headlines around the world.

“The year we opened the hotel was the 50th anniversary of the sighting,” Wells said. “We decided to contact a famous UFO expert in Pennsylvania and have him come to Hotel Oregon to commemorate the event.

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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Fight Over UFO Photos Pits Family Versus Newspaper

By Dan Tilkin and KATU Web Staff
KATU.com
9-10-08

MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Two shots of a flying saucer over McMinnville are some of the most debated pieces of Oregon history.

Paul and Evelyn Trent took the pictures in 1950, and now their children are trying to get the negatives returned.

But the negatives are in the hands of the McMinnville News-Register newspaper, who believes they should be part of a permanent historic display in Yamhill County.

The story of how this fight developed begins on the Trent Farm more than 50 years ago.

Evelyn Trent was feeding rabbits, saw something strange in the sky and hollered for her husband, who grabbed his camera and started shooting. And then the saucer was gone.

The photos were printed in the local newspaper, which sold thousands of copies across the country.

Critics have long said that the Trents pulled off one of the most elaborate hoaxes in UFO history - that they took a pie plate or a hub cap and dangled it from power lines that run in front of the property.

The Trents always maintained they saw something. But the ridicule took a toll on the family.

"We were the alien family," said daughter Tammie Gochenour. "That's all that was talked about was the alien family."

When her parents died in the mid-1990s, the location of the negatives was a mystery. Daughter Linda Sayler eventually discovered they had been in the hands of navy physicist and UFO investigator Bruce Maccabee since 1974.

He told KATU he had called the Trents and asked to borrow the negatives so many years ago, implying that he would return them in a few weeks. But it took him longer than that – and he ended up keeping them for 25 years.

Maccabee agreed to return the negatives, and Sayler thought it would be safer if he sent them to the News-Register newspaper to pass on to her.

That was 2001, and she's been trying ever since to get the newspaper to give them back.

Phil Bladine ran the paper when the photos were first published. A letter from 1970 shows he helped get the negatives back from United Press International when they disappeared the first time.

Bladine is also the man who lent the negatives to Maccabee with the permission of the Trents three decades ago.

The fact that Bladine had the negatives to lend is the crux of why the newspaper now wants to keep them.

The newspaper argues in a letter sent to the family in 2004 that Paul Trent left the negatives in Bladine's hands "with the indication that he wanted nothing more to do with them."

The letter states the newspaper "believes that the negatives should become part of a permanent historic display in Yamhill County, with a mediated settlement as to access and other rights."

That's even after Maccabee made it clear in an e-mail that he "sent the negatives to Phil Bladine under the assumption that he would return the photos to the Trent children" and they should be returned to the family.

"The Trents' children are clearly the rightful owners since Mr. and Mrs. Trent never signed any documents giving the rights to anyone else," Maccabee told KATU.

Phil Bladine suffered a stroke several years ago and passed away this spring.

When KATU tried to talk to his son Jeb, who is the current publisher of the newspaper, he declined an interview due to the possibility of legal proceedings related to the UFO photographs.

"We maintain our belief that the negatives should become part of a permanent historic display in Yamhill County," Jeb Bladine wrote in an e-mail to KATU.

The Trent children said they don't have money to file a lawsuit and feel it is wrong to be forced to negotiate over something they feel clearly belongs to the family.

"We're not going to take them and try to make millions off them," said daughter Tammie Gochenour. "We just want to put them in like a safety deposit box, and have them locked up so we know where they're at."

"It's just something that belongs with the family," daughter Linda Sayler said.

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

McMinnville, Oregon: 9th Annual UFO Festival!

By www.ufofest.com
5-15-08

On May 16 and 17, 2008, McMenamins hosts the 9th Annual UFO Festival! Our keynote speaker is Richard Dolan, author of a 500-page study entitled UFOs and the National Security State (vol. 1, with vol. 2 to be released this year) and frequent guest on the History Channel, Sci Fi Channel, the BBC and other European networks.

We are equally as pleased to host Robert Nichol, a producer and filmmaker with Genesis Communications based in British Columbia, Canada, for a Saturday morning screening of his documentary Star Dreams about the mystery of crop circles, followed by questions from the audience. The film deals with the many possibilities of how these beautiful crop circles are created (more than 11,000 have been reported all over the world since 1980) and what they might signify, with commentary by top-rated ufology experts. Nichol is an award-winning director, producer and filmmaker with 25 productions to his credit. His motivation is to encourage the development of a new spiritual consciousness while seeking to bring about a new awareness for humanity’s purpose. Go to www.stardreams-cropcircles.com for additional information on the documentary and the filmmaker.

While overnight packages at Hotel Oregon are now SOLD OUT, go to the McMinnville Downtown Association for a list of local accommodations.

If you'd like email updates about our 2008 event, join our UFO Festival Mailing List.

About the UFO Festival
The festival began as a way to honor the famous 1950 Trent sighting in which two local citizens witnessed and photographed a UFO, said to be some of the most credible images of UFOs to date. Read a detailed history of the Trent sightings. Thanks to everyone who attended McMenamins Hotel Oregon's 8th Annual UFO Festival in 2007, the second largest in the U.S. and growing! Guests enjoyed a speaker's forum featuring alien abduction expert Dr. David M. Jacobs who discussed his research with people who believe they have had abduction experiences. Our second guest, noted UFO expert and best-selling author Peter Robbins, detailed the story of James Forrestal, the nation's first Secretary of Defense who, some say, knew too much about the UFO threat and met an untimely end.

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Monday, August 06, 2007

Scientific Proof of UFOs at Denver UFO Conference

By PR Inside
8-2-07

For the first time, UFO researchers will publicly display scientific proof of UFOs as concluded by Colorado scientists. Colorado artist Armand Guerrero will display a large accurate sculpture of the UFO and copies of the original photo negatives will be on display. This free display will be open to the public from August 10 - 12, 2007 at the Denver Tech Center Marriott in conjunction with MUFON's annual Symposium on UFOs.

The Mutual UFO Network, Inc. (MUFON) is a nonprofit scientific research organization that has been investigating the UFO mystery for 38 years. For the first time, MUFON will publicly display scientific proof of UFOs as concluded by Colorado scientists. Colorado artist Armand Guerrero will display a large accurate sculpture of the UFO and copies of the original photo negatives will be on display. This free display will be open to the public from August 10 - 12, 2007 at the Denver Tech Center Marriott in conjunction with MUFON's annual Symposium on UFOs.

Known as the 1950 McMinnville Oregon photos, this photographic evidence was studied by scientists at the University of Colorado. They were commissioned by the U.S. Government to scientifically study UFOs and concluded these photos to be 'one of the few UFO reports in which all factors investigated, geometric, psychological, and physical appear to be consistent with the assertion that an extraordinary flying object, silvery, metallic, disk-shaped, tens of meters in diameter, and evidently artificial, flew within sight of two witnesses.-

It was May 11, 1950 at about 7:45 PM. Evelyn Trent was out feeding the rabbits on her family farm in Dayton, Oregon, 11 miles south of McMinnville, when she saw a strange metallic object in the sky. "It was like a good-sized parachute canopy without the strings, only silvery bright mixed with bronze," she said at the time. "It was as pretty as anything I ever saw." She yelled for her husband, and he quickly grabbed a camera on his way out the door and was able to take a couple of pictures of the object. A friend of the Trent's then hung the pictures up in his bank's window. A reporter from McMinnville saw the pictures and printed them, and from there they hit newswires all over the country. They were even featured in a Life magazine story in June of 1950. The photographs were then analyzed 17 years later in a study of UFOs funded by the Air Force and conducted at the university of Colorado in Boulder called 'The Condon Report-.

A press conference on the scientific proof will be held on August 10, 2007 at 11:00 AM in the Bluebell Room at the Denver Tech Center Marriott. For more information please contact Barry Roth at b.roth@comcast.net or Alejandro Rojas at 888-817-2220, Option 4, then Option 3.

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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Considering Aliens U.F.O. Adventures Past and Present

By Joanna Hofer
The Vanguard
5-9-07

May 11 marks the anniversary of one of the most famous U.F.O. sightings in U.S. history. In 1950 in McMinnville, Ore., farmer Paul Trent and his wife Evelyn were doing their evening chores when they saw "a large, metallic-looking, disc-shaped object hovering silently in the sky." Mr. Trent ran to his house and grabbed his camera. The two photographs he was able to take were published in Life magazine in June of that year. Air Force investigators, FBI agents, and later the Condon Committee all scrutinized Trent's photos, but no one could ever prove them to be a hoax. For many years afterward, the national news media referred to McMinnville as "Saucerville."

U.F.O.'s in history

U.F.O.'s have been reported since before the time of Christ. What these objects actually are continues to be debated. Highly popularized educated guesses include: angels, weather balloons, secret government projects and, the most popular conclusion, aliens from outer space.

The Book of Ezekiel (circa 593 B.C.), and in particular the passage (1:16) describing "Ezekiel's wheel," is believed by some to depict a U.F.O. encounter. In Central Asia in 329 B.C., Alexander the Great is reported to have seen "two great silver shields" flying in the sky. On April 14, 1561, a woodcut by Hans Glaser records what some believe was a U.F.O. battle over Nuremberg, Germany. As reported by The Nuremberg Gazette, there was a "dreadful apparition" with "cylindrical shapes from which emerged black, red, orange and blue-white spheres that darted about." Five years later, another woodcut, this time from Basel, Switzerland, shows the town's sky covered with dark flying orbs. Even Christopher Columbus is said to have recorded a U.F.O. sighting in his diaries on his voyage to the New World.

There are various websites that chronicle U.F.O. sightings by year and location. If you believe these sites, the human population seems forever plagued by alien fly-bys. Whatever your opinion may be, it's interesting to examine the pictures and drawings of the sightings for similarities and differences.

As with humans, aliens seem to be concerned with vehicle style. While human automobile and aeronautical designs have changed radically over the past hundred years, aliens seem content to stick with three basic vehicular models: the sphere, the saucer and the cigar. Sometimes they fly in formation. Sometimes they have red lights. Sometimes they have green lights. Sometimes orange. All in all, U.F.O. sightings are remarkably similar given that they are reported from all over the world. Still, seeing is believing. Without seeing a U.F.O. for oneself, it is nearly impossible to believe.

Becoming a U.F.O. investigator

Want to do something that sets you apart? Not content to let others decide the U.F.O. mystery for you? Want to have something different to tell people at parties or merely an excuse to get someone you like out in the dark? Become a MUFON field investigator.

It's sort of like ghost busters but for aliens. Regardless of the unfortunate and clunky acronym, there might still be some glamour in this occupation. Think about how it would sound: "I investigate the existence of extra-terrestrial life--in my spare time." Perhaps weird, definitely different, and intriguing if you could manage some pictures you took in the field. Perhaps as you rise in status in the organization, you could get them to change their acronym into something, well, cooler.

All joking aside, becoming a MUFON field investigator is serious business. MUFON is a nonprofit organization founded in 1969 to resolve the mysteries of U.F.O.'s. At the MUFON branch right here in Portland, you can complete the requisite steps. First, you have to join MUFON. In exchange for $45 a year, both a monthly subscription to MUFON UFO Journal and a membership in MUFON can be yours. You will also receive a MUFON membership card displaying your photo (also good at parties). Don't despair if people ask you if you made this yourself.

Next you'll need to purchase a copy of the MUFON field investigator's manual ($28.50 for members and $38.50 for non-members). The manual contains information on everything from interviewing witnesses to dealing with the press. Attend a training class offered by your local MUFON chapter, take the open book test and you're almost done.

To become a MUFON field investigator, you must score at least 80 percent on the exam, providing correct answers to questions involving: "light and optics; sound; electromagnetic properties; measurements; physical traces; photography; radio and radar; celestial objects; atmosphere and weather; conventional vehicles; witness reactions; and the recent history of U.F.O. experiences." Particular attention must be paid to "investigative ethics, interviewing methods, collateral contacts and technical background." Finally, it is recommended that you accompany a MUFON field investigator on at least one live field investigation.

If you do see a U.F.O.

If you do happen across a U.F.O., you're not alone. There are dozens of organizations that would like to hear from you and take your report. MUFON advises above all to stay calm. Enjoy what may be the experience of a lifetime. If possible, record the event with a camera or a camcorder. Write down your observations as soon as possible.

Or, better yet, run like hell.

Eighth Annual U.F.O. Festival (May 18-19)

The Eighth Annual U.F.O. Festival will be held in McMinnville, Ore. on the weekend of May 18-19. The director of the International Center for Abduction Research (ICAR), Dr. David Jacobs, will present his views on how "ufology" has changed since the 1947 Roswell incident. The director of the National U.F.O. Reporting Center, Peter Robbins, will also speak. Along with a panel discussion and presentations, there will be live music, an alien pet costume contest and an alien costume ball.

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