All language subtitles for The.Proof.Is.Out.There.Alien.Edition.S02E06.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- [Tony] Tonight on "The Proof
is Out There: Alien Edition."

This image of a metallic
disc changed everything.

Is it the first flying
saucer ever caught on camera?

- Of all the famous
early UFO photographs,

this is perhaps the most famous.

Within months the country
knew the term flying saucer.

- [Tony] This photo
sparked a wave of reports.

Hundreds claimed that they saw
the same disc-shaped craft.

What did they see?

- Yeah, I think the fact
that hundreds of people

reported seeing something

means that something
was actually there.

- [Tony] A metallic disc
spotted near the Panama Canal.

Why do these strange objects

keep appearing in
Central America?

- There are UFO sightings
in Central America

pretty frequently,
usually around volcanoes,

so it doesn't surprise me

that someone would
think this is a UFO.

- [Tony] With UFO reports
at an all-time high,

we're examining the
most compelling evidence

caught on camera.

Tonight's focus,
classic flying saucers.

Our experts will
analyze the evidence.

- I was just mesmerized
with what I was looking at.

- [Tony] And then
we'll pass a verdict.

[man speaking in Spanish]

- [Tony] The proof starts now.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] Good evening everyone,

and welcome to "The
Proof is Out There."

We're currently living in the
second golden age of UFOs,

which obviously means there
was a first golden age.

It happened in
the 1940s and '50s

and one of the most
compelling pieces of evidence

was a photo of a flying saucer

that fascinated and perplexed
researchers for decades.

But was it a UFO or not?

- [Tony] It's around
7:30 PM on May 11th, 1950

in McMinnville, Oregon.

Evelyn Trent goes out
to feed her animals

behind the farmhouse she and
her husband Paul live in.

While attending to her chores,

she is astonished by
what she sees in the sky.

She runs towards the house

yelling for Paul to grab
their trusty folding camera.

They manage to snap
two photographs.

[dramatic music continues]

Both photos show a
large metallic-looking

disc-shaped object
hovering in the sky.

In one shot, power lines
can clearly be seen

above and below the object.

In another shot, the UFO appears
to be trapezoidal in shape

with what looks like
an antenna or a beacon.

- The 1950s were considered
the golden age of UFOs

for a couple of reasons.

In June 1947, we have
Kenneth Arnold, a pilot,

seeing some really strange
UFOs over Mount Rainier.

And the media coverage of that

gave us the term flying saucer.

In July of 1947, we have
the crash at Roswell,

which really kicked UFO
mania into high gear

in the United States.

- [Tony] Then, in 1948,

a veteran combat
pilot, George Gorman,

reports an altercation
with a speeding glowing orb

from the cockpit
of his P-51 Mustang

over Fargo, North Dakota.

By 1950 the
floodgates were open.

- [Erin] So in the midst of
all of these things,

you have the Trent case.

- [Tony] The Trent photos
were first published in 1950.

They went on to be
circulated and scrutinized

in newspapers across the country

for more than two decades.

But in 1981,

they would receive their
most exhaustive analysis yet

when Bruce Maccabee, an optical
physicist for the U.S. Navy,

conducted his own
examination of the negatives.

- [Erin] Bruce Maccabee
determined

that they were not
tampered with in any way.

And he also determined

that the line of sight
for the two photos

converged behind
the power lines,

which in his opinion meant
that the object was genuine.

- [Tony] The story of what
happened to the original

negatives is its own
controversy.

For some reason, Bruce Maccabee
held onto them for 25 years.

The family thought
they'd been lost.

A newspaper later
claimed ownership,

which prompted an ugly battle

between the paper and the family

over this incredible
piece of UFO history.

You can only imagine

what the UFO community
makes of all of this.

Let's see if our experts
can shed any new light

on this age old mystery.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] First off, we
take the photographs

to astrophotography
expert Andrew McCarthy.

He has his doubts about the
authenticity of the images.

- There's a few
ways you can produce

this type of effect in-camera,

throwing a hubcap
like a frisbee,

but I think that would
produce motion blur

that would be very
evident in the photos.

There is another way it
could be done, however.

You could simply tie an
object to the power lines

and have it dangle there.

Using nylon string it
might not be visible

and it would look like
the object was floating

some distance away.

I think the most
likely answer here

is there was some small
object that resembled a craft

that was hung from the
power lines in this photo.

- [Tony] But what would
the family have to gain

by staging such
an elaborate hoax?

- [Rich] There was no intent
on trying to make money

or selling a story.

In fact, their belief was
that what they were seeing

was something that might have
been from the U.S. government

and they were questioning

whether they should even
talk about it at all.

- [Tony] Hoffman acknowledges

that our military,
as well as others,

was experimenting with various
exotic flight technologies

at the time, including
VTOL vehicles,

which stands for vertical
takeoff and landing aircraft.

- [Rich] You have the
Avro disc that was created

to build, like, a flying
saucer kind of platform,

which had a jet engine
that was pointing down

with a large blade that would
help to lift the object up.

- [Tony] Hoffman also points out

that one examiner's careful
scrutiny of the lines of sight

and the relative position of
the power lines in each photo

eliminates the wire
dangling theory.

- [Rich] Dr. Bruce Maccabee
said,

"If I stood in this spot
and I took this photo,"

and he drew a line to where
that line of sight would be,

and then he moves
over to the next plot

where the object is now
seen in a different position

when it's tilted up,

where the lines
would converge at

would be beyond the
telephone wires,

which then indicates

that it was not connected
to the telephone lines.

- [Tony] Maccabee's analysis
proves the two lines of sight

don't converge directly
under the wires,

which is what we'd expect in
the case of a hanging model.

- [Rich] So I completely rule
out that it's a hoax

or anything contrived,

and I go with this being a UFO.

[dramatic music]

[sparkling music]

- [Tony] Our verdict?

We're calling this a genuine
UFO, at least for now.

The hard math in Hoffman

and Maccabee's line
of sight analysis

seems to blow up McCarthy's
power line theory.

And a lack of motion blur

contradicts any
thrown disc theory.

The debate proves one thing.

While the photos
can't be confirmed,

they are also quite
hard to debunk.

[dramatic music]

You're about to see one
of the most famous photos

ever taken of a flying saucer.

And decades later, it is still
raising some big questions.

November 1951.
Riverside, California.

Guy Marquand Jr. and
a couple of friends

are taking in the
scenic hillside

when something in the
sky breaks the stillness.

- Marquand reported
seeing this object

flying extremely fast overhead.

He ran to grab his camera,
then took this snapshot.

- [Tony] The black
and white photo

could hardly make
it any clearer.

In the sky above a sloping
hill soars a crisp-edged disc

with a domed top and a high
contrast metallic sheen.

And while this image
stunned Riverside,

it was part of a story
already unfolding.

As we mentioned,
four years earlier,

it was pilot Kenneth
Arnold's eyewitness account

of saucer-like objects
over Mount Rainier

that ignited the UFO craze.

- [Amy] In the months after
Arnold's original sighting,

more eyewitnesses
saw something similar

to what he described.

Within months, 90%
of the country knew

and was familiar with
the term flying saucer.

- [Tony] Among the
many flying saucers

and depictions that
followed Arnold's

came the Riverside UFO.

The big difference?

Unlike Arnold, Guy Marquand Jr.

had actual
photographic evidence.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Tony] Flying saucers have
kind of gone out of fashion.

In 2023,

the Pentagon's All-domain
Anomaly Resolution Office

dubbed orbs the most common
UFO shape among recent reports.

In contrast, discs or flying
saucers comprised only 2%.

So were flying
saucers ever real?

And if so, why are we
seeing different UFOs now?

And the big question:
is the photo legit?

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] We turn first to
astronomer Marc D'Antonio to ask

could a flying saucer even fly?

- Here I am moving a UFO
from one side to the other.

It went from here to here.

But what if I can make
it disappear from here

and just appear right here?

Maybe they're disc-shaped

because they're
particle accelerators

that allow them to pop
out of our four dimensions

and then pop back in.

- [Tony] Particle
accelerators produce beams

of electrically charged
atomic or subatomic particles.

They're often circular

so the beams can travel
in a continuous loop.

- [Andrew] The flying saucer
shape could allow the craft

to function as a centrifuge.

So you could simulate whatever
gravity your home planet had

by spinning it faster or
slower as its traveling.

- [Tony] This is
because a centrifuge

creates a sustained
rotational force

that causes your body's inertia

to press you against the sides

effectively simulating gravity.

If you've ever ridden the
Gravitron at an amusement park,

then you've experienced
this firsthand.

-[Andrew] So the flying
saucer may actually be

an ideal interstellar vehicle.

- [Tony] But then why has the
ideal interstellar vehicle

apparently fallen out of favor?

- [Marc] It's possible that
there are other types

of interstellar craft

that have reached us from
various civilizations.

We're seeing flying
saucers less often,

but it doesn't mean

that there aren't these
types of UFOs out there.

- [Tony] So is this flying
saucer a genuine UFO

or the result of some
kind of trick photography?

- [Andrew] When I analyze this
photo,

it actually appears
to be reflecting it

exactly as one would expect

something metallic
with that shape

to be behaving in
the sky like that.

So whatever this is,

it was captured
authentically in-camera.

- [Tony] Yet, while McCarthy
believes it's a real object,

he's not so sure it
can't be identified.

- [Andrew] If you take a look at
car styles at the time,

you'll notice that they
all had a common feature

called the hubcap.

- [Tony] Metal hubcaps
are less common now,

but back when this
photo was taken,

these shiny wheel
protectors were everywhere.

They often had a raised
part in the center

similar to the domed top
we see on this alleged UFO.

- [Andrew] The shape very
strongly resembles

this flying
saucer.

So I think that's a much
more plausible explanation

than saying we got
visitors from outer space.

- [Tony] And D'Antonio
sees that too.

-[Marc] When we look at this,

it's at an angle
compared to the camera.

Usually things that are
traveling in an arc

through the sky

are things that are say tossed.

It's like a hubcap being
thrown like a frisbee

off of this rock right here

and someone took
a picture of it.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] Our verdict?
Thrown metal hubcap.

The light, the angle, and
the car design of that era

just make it the most
likely explanation.

We can't say for sure,

but we think these fun
loving folks from the '50s

might have been
pulling a fast one

in the heyday of the
flying saucer craze.

- You know, often when we
hear about a UFO sighting,

it involves a lone eyewitness,

so it's easy to be skeptical.

But our next encounter

has reportedly been seen
by hundreds of people.

No wonder the
story is considered

one of the biggest mass
sightings in UFO history.

April 1966,
it's midday in Westall,

a suburb of
Melbourne, Australia.

- [Amy] Students and teachers
from the Westall High school

and the Westall State School

went outside to
enjoy a lovely day,

and they all saw something
strange in the sky.

- [Tony] This black and
white photo allegedly taken

by one of several
hundred eyewitnesses,

depicts a crystal
clear flying saucer

hanging in the sky
over the trees.

It has a domed top, a large
spotlight on the bottom,

and a rim of lights
wrapping around it.

Some eyewitnesses recall
multiple UFOs that day.

Others, just one.

Eyewitness Phyll Tierney,
who was 15 at the time,

recalls three in total,

but this photo matches
her recollection of them

almost exactly.

-[Phyll] They were very
streamlined,

just silver with a rounded
bottom, a middle platform,

and then rounded
area on the top.

I was just mesmerized with
what I was looking at.

- [Tony] Remember those claims
come from hundreds of people,

students and teachers alike.

Joy Clarke, who
was 12 at the time,

recounts what happened next.

- They went up in the sky

and they disappeared down
over to the back of an area

called the Grange.

Now, the Grange was
bush land, pine trees.

They disappeared down
there for quite a while.

And some of the kids had
actually jumped the fence

and taken off through the
Grange to catch up with them.

- [Tony] One of the students

who follows the UFOs
down to the Grange

is 11-year-old Terry Peck.

- [Terry] I ran through the
Grange,

and I just stood and stared

because it was really only four,
five meters in front of me.

- [Tony] After briefly
hovering in the Grange,

eyewitnesses say the UFOs
shot off into the sky

leaving hundreds of eyewitnesses
on the ground perplexed.

As the story spreads,
more eyewitnesses emerge.

- [Amy] This wasn't the only
sighting in the area.

A second photo emerged in
the wake of this incident

that was allegedly
taken just days earlier

showing a very similar silver
disc object flying in the sky.

- [Tony] Look odd?

We turned the photo on its side

and yet again we have a flying
metallic dome-shaped object.

But despite the avalanche
of eyewitness accounts,

some are quick to
dismiss these sightings.

- [Joy] The principal told us
it was a weather balloon,

and if we spoke to the
media or anybody else,

we would get into big trouble.

- [Tony] It's been speculated

that the alleged
balloon in question

was part of the
secretive Project Hibal.

- [Amy] The Hibal program was a
joint U.S.-Australian program

to test atmospheric radiation
levels in the 1960s.

So the object might have
been a high altitude balloon,

but the Hibal explanation
doesn't totally fit

what the witnesses
said they saw.

- [Joy] No way in hell do I
think that was a Hibal balloon.

- [Terry] How could a balloon
take off that fast

and turn on its side

and go like that
straight up in the air?

- [Phyll] We know what we saw.

They were some sort of
aircraft, but in saucer shape.

I would lay my life down
it wasn't a balloon.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Tony] Take a look
at these sketches.

This is what Phyll remembers

and this is what
Terry remembers.

See the dome tops?

This one even has those
lights around the rim.

They definitely look a lot
more like flying saucers

than deflated balloons to me.

So let's give these eyewitnesses

the investigation
this case deserves.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] Hundreds of witnesses

and two photos that
might prove it all.

Does that mean something
really did happen in Westall?

- [Mick] Yeah, I think the fact

that hundreds of people
reported seeing something

means that something
was actually there.

It doesn't mean that it
was an alien spaceship,

but it means that there
was something in the air.

- [Tony] So we don't think
the sighting itself is a hoax.

However, the same can't be said

for that black and white photo.

- [Mick] The lighting itself
seems weirdly inconsistent.

We have these very, very
dark trees in the foreground.

We have some light
on the grass here,

but that would be
coming from above.

This looks like it's
kind of lit from below.

It doesn't seem like something

that's actually
there in this scene.

- [Tony] And that could
be an important clue.

- [Marc] In the days of film,
and even with cameras today,

you could take a single
photo of a terrain like this

and then take a second
photo and overlay it on top.

And that appears to be
what's happened here.

It seems like a photo
was taken of this,

maybe it was a model,
maybe it was a lamp,

and overlaid into a
photo of the ground.

- [Tony] Chances are
whoever made this photo

heard the Westall
eyewitness accounts

and simply matched
their descriptions.

As for that other photo
from four days earlier...

- [Mick] I think what we're
actually looking at here

is probably
something like a ball

being tossed up in the sky
in front of this building,

and you can get very
similar looking effects.

I've done essentially
the same, replicated it,

and I just went and
I took the ball,

tossed it up in the air.

And if we were to
take this shot here

and just crop out the
bottom half of this,

we'd get a UFO.

[dramatic music continues]

[sparkling music]

- [Tony] Our verdict?

These two photos
are likely hoaxes,

but the Westall incident itself

with hundreds of
credible witnesses,

that still remains unexplained.

We may never know with certainty
what happened in Westall,

but we're pretty sure
it wasn't a balloon.

- [Tony] In earlier episodes,
we've featured videos from Italy

of oddities in the sky that
couldn't be easily explained.

But this next clip may be
one of the most compelling

to ever come out of
that ancient land.

Take a look and you'll
see what I mean.

In the early 2000s,

journalist Paola Harris is
handed a mysterious videotape

with an alleged UFO sighting.

Paola isn't told any
details about the recording,

including when it was filmed.

All she knows is
that it took place

near the town of Aviano, Italy.

- We didn't get the name
of the photographer.

There was no return address,

so I didn't know what I was
getting until I got home.

- [Tony] And when Paola
plays the cassette,

she is shocked by what she sees.

An aerial craft
shaped like a saucer

flies gracefully along what
appears to be a riverbed.

As the UFO gets closer to
the camera, we see it appears

to have several vents
flaps on its oval body.

- [Paola] It's a pretty big
object

and it's very clear
it's a classic disc.

And it almost had like lights

around the circumference of it.

- [Tony] Then, after
hovering for a few seconds,

we see the craft
start to move again

before quickly zooming
off into the clouds.

Writer MJ Banias says

Italy has a long history
of UFO sightings.

In fact, in June 2023,

former intelligence officer
turned whistleblower,

David Grusch made
a startling claim.

- [MJ] David Grusch believes
that the Vatican

was responsible for
the coverup of UFOs.

He makes the claim that in 1933

there was a UFO crash in Italy

and the Italian government
as well as the Church

essentially attempted
to hush it up

and secure the downed object.

- [Tony] And when it
comes to UFOs near Aviano,

this wouldn't be the first.

-[MJ] There is a bit of history
with Aviano and UFO encounters.

- [Tony] The area is
home to a NATO air base.

And on July 1st, 1977,

an Air Force guard
observed a strange craft

hovering over the base,

which housed two secret jet
fighters in a large hangar.

- [MJ] This particular object
had a sort of dome shaped top.

It was emitting
multiple colored lights,

and it was 45 meter in diameter,

about the size of the Navy
Pier Ferris wheel in Chicago.

- [Tony] A team of military
guards and radar personnel

purportedly tried to
capture that aerial object.

But when they did,

they were hit with a
mysterious power outage.

The craft disappeared.

But what about this craft

seen hovering over
the river near Aviano?

Is it an alien encounter
with a military base?

-[Tony] To date, the Aviano
footage has garnered

nearly 8.5 million
views on YouTube.

A number of netizens have
identified the location

as somewhere near this bridge

which crosses the
Cellina Stream.

But let's see what
our experts think

about what this thing really is.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] We begin

with military aviation
expert Tim McMillan,

who points out this UFO
flying over the river

may not be as
alien as you think.

- That particular
shape is not exclusive

to the UFO alien kind of lore.

And in fact, going
back to the 1930s,

the flying disc or lenticular
design was already identified

as really being an
exceptional aerodynamic shape.

- [Tony] One of
the most well-known

saucer shaped machines

is the Avrocar.

It was developed as part
of a U.S. military project

carried out in the early
years of the Cold War.

- [Tim] That particular program
never got off the ground,

both figuratively and literally.

The Avrocar was
only able to achieve

a few feet off the ground
for just several moments.

And there's a more
recent attempt at this

with a smaller drone
called the ADIFO,

which integrates fans

and then also a rotating
jet engine on it

to try to replicate this
flying saucer flight.

- [Tony] As the
footage was taken

so close to a military base,

could this be some sort of
early 2000s military craft?

Well, hold on.

McMillan notices something
off about the footage.

- [Tim] One of the major
problems that I see is the fact

that this object is flying
really close over the surface.

Just imagine a helicopter
that's flying extremely low,

that should be generating
significant displacement

on the ground.

We don't see that there.

How is it able to hover over

without having any type of
external effect on the ground?

- You don't have
an original video

and you don't have metadata
or anything to go on.

Could I create CGI
to look like this?

The answer is yes, I could.

- [Tony] For Hoffman,

the most suspicious parts of
the video occur at the end.

- [Rich] When I saw the object
become that indistinct

line or blur, to me that
suggested

it was more like a CGI
type of an artifact.

And I'm giving you the illusion

that it's taking off
at a very fast clip.

- [Tony] With the
red flags flying,

we head to our video forensics
expert, Michael Primeau.

- We don't know where
this file came from,

structural attributes
to be able to say

whether or not it's
a genuine recording.

With the reduction in the
quality becomes challenging

because we can't see detail.

- [Tony] But surprise,
unlike Hoffman,

Primeau doesn't detect the
use of any special effects.

- [Michael] No evidence of CGI.

No evidence of third-party
editing applications.

But again, those
things can be stripped

and anti-forensic technology
essentially can be introduced,

in which case the result

of this authentication
is inconclusive.

Without more information
about the chain of custody,

we can't opine as to whether
or not this actually occurred.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Tony] So this thing
remains unidentified,

and it is certainly flying,

but we're not certain if
this is even an object

or just a video hoax.

And with the ongoing military
presence at Aviano Air Base,

something tells me

we'll be seeing more
anomalous incidents there

in the future.

- [Tony] The UFO in our next
photograph

has been the subject of
debate for almost 20 years.

And some even believe the
photograph is evidence

that UFOs can bend the
rules of space and time.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] November 7th, 2006,

it's a typical day at
Chicago's O'Hare Airport

when just after 4:00
PM an airline employee

makes a surprising call
to the control tower.

- [Tony] But here's the thing,
it's not just one person.

Multiple airport employees
also report seeing

a strange craft
hovering over the gate.

And later an anonymous
source claims

to have captured
the UFO on his phone

and sends this image
to investigators.

A gray seemingly
saucer-shaped object

can be seen over
the airport gate.

The various eyewitnesses
differ on its size,

with estimates ranging
from as little as 10 feet

to as large as 88
feet in diameter.

They claim it immediately
accelerated at a steep angle

and punched through the
19,000 foot cloud ceiling,

leaving a hole.

- The FAA concluded

that airport employees

had confused a weather
phenomenon with a UFO.

But needless to say,

UFO enthusiasts do not
consider this case closed.

- [Tony] In fact, a
team of scientists

from the privately-funded
research group Applied Physics

has proposed that based
on the eyewitness reports,

the O'Hare UFO shows signs
of a propulsion system

called the Alcubierre
Warp Drive.

- [Erin] It was theorized by
Miguel Alcubierre in 1994.

It's a warp drive that
would allow a craft

to travel faster than
the speed of light

by bending space
and time around it.

- [Tony] The theory is

to stretch the fabric
of space-time in a wave

which would cause the space
ahead of an object to contract

while the space behind
it would expand.

The spaceship inside this wave

would then ride this warp
bubble of flat space.

- [Erin] The chief researcher of
Applied Physics said that

the ideal shape for a spacecraft
like this would be a saucer

because it's the
most efficient one.

- [Erin] So that kind of mimics

what was seen at O'Hare Airport.

- [Tony] Could warp drive just
like we see on "Star Trek"

be a reality one day?

Believe it or not,
scientists from NASA

have put their minds to it

and published papers
examining the possibility.

But did eyewitnesses really see

the O'Hare UFO jump
to light speed?

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] According to the FAA,

no airplanes were detected
on radar over the gate

or seen by air
traffic controllers.

They concluded what the
eyewitnesses thought was a UFO

was naturally occurring

and something called
a hole punch cloud.

- [Juan] A hole punch cloud
develops

where an airplane
traverses across a cloud

and causes an
instantaneous condensation

of those water droplets.

But hole punch clouds are
not normally seen this low.

They occur between
10 to 20,000 feet,

not at about 1,000
feet above the ground.

And for a hole punch
cloud to develop,

you need subfreezing
temperatures.

At the location and the
height that this was reported,

there were no subfreezing
temperatures at this time.

I don't think this
is a weather event.

- [Tony] But eyewitnesses
claim they saw an actual craft,

not just a hole in the cloud,

and that the craft
instantaneously

accelerated upwards to
disappear in a flash.

Is that burst of speed

what could have caused
a hole in the cloud?

Could it be the signature

of a UFO engaging its
Alcubierre Warp Drive?

-[Michio] I don't think so

because we're talking about
incredible amounts of energy

to compress space
in front of you.

It would be enough to
flatten O'Hare Airport

and take a good chunk
of Illinois with it.

- [Tony] And as for
that image in the photo,

it's so small and low res,
it's hard to authenticate.

In fact, NARCAP, the National
Aviation Reporting Center

for Anomalous Phenomena

examined the photo as soon as
it was anonymously submitted

during their investigation.

Their analysis determined
the image was manipulated,

and that the disc-shaped object

was inserted into the picture.

The smoking gun?

The NARCAP team located online

the original source
image of the airport gate

the UFO was cut and pasted onto.

[dramatic music continues]

[sparkling music]

- [Tony] Our verdict? Faked
photo.

But while this
picture isn't legit,

we still can't explain what
we heard in that recording

and why so many
people are certain

they saw not just a
hole in the cloud,

but an actual physical
object in the sky.

For now, that part of the
story remains unexplained.

- [Tony] There are more objects
flying in our skies

and orbiting in space
than ever before.

At any given moment, there
are as many as 20,000 planes

and nearly 5,000
satellites above our heads.

And that's not even
counting the drones.

So it takes something pretty
unusual to grab our attention.

And this next sighting

recorded near the Panama
Canal no less did just that.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] It's October 9th,
2019 in Panama City, Panama.

Jose Angel Castro is strolling
on a pedestrian bridge

when he suddenly notices
something strange

floating in the sky.

[man speaking in Spanish]

- [Tony] Take a closer look.

A thin smooth white disc is
simply floating in the sky.

Now if you've
watched this before,

you may think this
is just another case

of reflection or
optical illusion.

But there's no doubt in
Jose's mind what he's seeing.

[man speaking in Spanish]

[Jose speaking in Spanish]

- [Tony] Journalist
Erin McCarthy

isn't surprised by
Jose's reaction.

- There are UFO sightings

in Central America
pretty frequently,

usually around volcanoes
and things like that.

So it doesn't surprise me

that someone would
think this is a UFO.

- [Tony] In fact, just this year

a recently resurfaced photo

of this flying saucer in
neighboring Costa Rica

has been making headlines,

some calling it the best
UFO photo ever taken.

The image was captured
in September 1971

during a survey for a
hydroelectric project,

and estimated to be between
120 and 220 feet in diameter.

The photograph was
analyzed in France

and the United States by
different organizations

and confirmed to not be faked.

But what it is remains
a mystery to this day.

[dramatic music continues]

-[Tony] So we have a
50-year-old

UFO seen over Costa
Rica.

Now this mysterious white disc
seen near the Panama Canal.

What's going on here?

Is there something
drawing extraterrestrials

to Latin America?

We asked our experts
to take a look.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] In this footage the
object is so flat and long,

it sure doesn't look
like a plane or a drone.

And McMillan says
it doesn't look

or move like a balloon either.

- [Tim] If it was a balloon,

we should be seeing more
of a larger oval shape.

The lighter-than-air gasses
that are inside of that

that would be causing it to fly

would be distributed in a manner

where it wouldn't stay level.

And we don't see that here.

- [Tony] But
McMillan does observe

that whatever this craft is,

not everyone in the video
is as excited as Jose.

- [Tim] We can see the gentlemen
that are in the cherry picker,

but we can't help but notice

that they seem unaffected
by whatever this is.

So that's kind of a
red flag there to me.

- [Tony] Could this
footage simply be a hoax?

- Quite often you see people use

a Gaussian blur
defocusing technique

when they make fake videos,

but this looks more like a
proper out-of-focus video.

I can't see anything that
really stands out as fake.

- [Tony] So then is Jose right?

Could this be an actual UFO?

- [Mick] The thing about it
being a UFO

is that it doesn't do anything
particularly interesting.

It doesn't change direction.

It doesn't appear to hover
without any means of propulsion.

It doesn't really meet

any of the interesting
criteria of a UFO.

- [Tony] However,
West does have a clue

that meets his criteria
to solve the mystery.

- [Mick] We know it's a real
video shot in a real place.

We can look it up.

So here we've got Panama City,

and we can zoom in and find
the Albrook Mall right here.

And this is where
the video was filmed.

He's on this bridge
here, I believe,

and he's taking the
video in this direction.

- [Tony] West says that
Jose's location is the key.

- [Mick} Right behind
there is an airport.

Now there'd be these
buildings here,

which are obscuring the
view of the airport.

We can see the plane
would've started

down at this end of the runway.

- [Tony] Mick says the
brightness is caused

by the angle of the sun
reflecting off the wing.

It's the intense light rays

that obscure the
rest of the plane.

- [Mick] And it's pretty
consistent

with something like a
Cessna

with a high wing and
the fuselage underneath.

Some friends of mine
on my website MetaBunk

actually tracked
down an actual plane

that was taking
off at that time.

It's Cessna 182,

which will be white and
illuminated by the sun,

and that would give the
appearance of a saucer.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Tony] Our verdict? Airplane.

The angle and the
reflected sunlight

made it look like
a flying saucer,

but as of now, the
good people of Panama

and that crucial canal remains
safe from alien invasion.

- [Tony] At over 70 years old,

this first story is an
oldie, but a very goodie.

These images out of
Brazil have been called

the most sensational sequence

of flying saucer
photos ever seen,

and you're about to
see them right here.

May 1952, Joao
Martins, a journalist

from Brazilian weekly
magazine, O Cruzeiro,

and his photographer Ed Keffel

are on a routine assignment

to the Barra Da Tijuca
near Rio de Janeiro.

In the late afternoon,
Martins spots

what he thinks is an airplane
traveling at great speed.

But upon further inspection,

he realizes it was actually
no airplane at all.

Martins screams, "Shoot
it," and so Keffel does.

What they capture is astounding:

A saucer-shaped disc flying
through the sky at great speed.

They describe the object
as blue-gray in color

and completely silent.

Careful inspection of
these historic photos

seems to reveal the object
has three distinct layers:

A flat disc on the outside,
a raised rim in the middle,

and a small bump
on the top center.

Keffel is also able
to photograph

the bottom of the craft,

which appears flat

except for a raised
ring around the center.

The stunned men continue
shooting for a full 60 seconds

before the object
speeds out of sight,

cementing its place
in UFO history.

According to journalist
Eric Grundhauser,

when the reports are
published in O Cruzeiro

they create a firestorm.

- [Eric] Issues just flew
off the shelves.

It created a UFO
craze in Brazil.

People still
reference these photos

as some of the most
credible evidence

of extraterrestrial visitation.

- [Tony] The photos
get the attention

not only of the public,

but the Brazilian military,

which launches an
immediate investigation.

- [Eric] The Brazilian Air
Force determined

that they were in fact genuine.

One Brazilian investigator
has even called them

the most sensational
sequence of photos

of an extraterrestrial
ever seen.

- [Tony] The O Cruzeiro
photos are so groundbreaking,

they set off decades of
Brazilian UFO sightings,

many investigated with zeal
by the Brazilian Air Force.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Tony] 70 years ago, these
photos may have been

credible enough to make the
Brazilian Air Force take notice.

But can they stand up
to modern scrutiny?

Our experts are on the case.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] Some have speculated

the disc could have been
superimposed on the background

using double exposure

where the same frame of film

is exposed to two
separate images

without advancing the film role.

But astrophotographer
Andrew McCarthy says

the sharpness of these
images kills that theory.

- [Andrew] I'm not seeing any
kind of ghosting in this image,

which would be very common
from a double exposure.

This is also a very
high contrast image,

which also suggests that
it's not a double exposure

because the item in the
sky would be washed out

by that relatively bright sky.

So I think this was captured
with a single photograph.

- [Tony] So could it
just be a model saucer

tossed in the air for the photo?

- It's hard to say for sure

because generally you'd see
a little bit more motion blur

with an object that was thrown

moments before the
photo was being taken.

- [Tony] A fast exposure speed

could correct for motion blur,

but according to McCarthy,

the deep depth of
field in these photos

gives us critical info.

- The focal ratio used
for the shot was f/2.8.

That actually lets
a lot of light in

so they're able to
shorten their exposures

so they would be able to reduce
motion blur significantly.

However, it's actually
really hard to get an object

that's in focus, both
close to your camera

and far away like the landscape.

So I think what we're looking at

is actually much further
away from the observer

than any disc that
could have been thrown.

- [Tony] So if it's
not double exposure

and it's not a model
thrown in the air,

does that mean these
photos are legit?

McCarthy would say not
so fast in Portuguese,

if he spoke Portuguese.

- You can see the craft
appears to be illuminated

from the left and
behind the observer.

However, when you
look at the trees,

they appear to be
illuminated from the right.

So the shadows are actually
inconsistent in this image.

- I don't think the shadow issue

that was raised is a concern.

- [Tony] Hoffman insists

the shadows thrown in the
tree line can't be compared

to the shadowing in the
clear air above the mountain.

- [Rich] The things that
are up above that tree line

are gonna catch the sun

that are not being
exposed by the shadow

from the tree on the left side.

- [Tony] But McCarthy
sticks to his guns.

- In the days before Photoshop,
film was actually doctored

through a technique
called airbrushing.

They were essentially
drawing directly on the film.

In this case,

they could have very easily
drawn on these elements.

That may be what
we're looking at here.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Tony] Our verdict?

We're going to call it
an even split for now.

Hoffman says genuine
UFO, McCarthy says hoax,

and we're left uncertain,

especially with the shady
status of the lighting.

But even if it is a hoax,

if this incident inspired

a whole new field
of study in Brazil,

then perhaps some hoaxes
do some good after all.

Flying saucers have
been reported for decades.

Just one of many UFO shapes.

For those that seem genuine,

who or what is at the controls?

Our experts will continue
to search for answers.

Thank you so much for
watching this special edition

of "The Proof is Out There."

Please send us any
video, images or sound

that you think we
should investigate.

And remember to keep
those cameras rolling.

[dramatic music continues]