A classic authenticated UFO photo caused a sensation when published in LIFE in 1950

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Sean Esbjörn-Hargens. (2020).

Two notable sets of classic UFO pictures include the photos taken in McMinnville Oregon in 1950 and in Santa Ana California in 1965.

McMinnville Oregon 1950

Below are the two McMinnville UFO photos taken in 1950 by Paul Trent on May 11 around 7:30 pm. These pictures created a national sensation and were featured in LIFE magazine. These photos were included in the infamous Condon report, which, in spite of its anti-UFO bias, still concluded the pictures could not have been falsified. In fact, it stated,

“This is 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.”

Even until this day, these two photographs have resisted debunking. To be fair, however, neither have they been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Santa Ana California, 1965

Below are the four Santa Ana UFO photos taken in 1965 by Rex Heflin on August 3rd around 12:30 pm. These photos were recently subjected to a new round of scientific scrutiny and computer-enhancement analysis. An academic article detailing this process appeared in the Journal of Scientific Explorations in 2000. The authors concluded

“Our reanalysis of the August 3, 1965, Heflin photos confirms that Heflin’s account of the sighting is entirely consistent. With his pictures and reconfirms that the witness/photographer was not involved in a hoax.”

There are at least two things that have made these photographs so notable. First, the first three that show the truck window indicate that Rex was taking these photos as the object flew by – this would be really hard to fake. Second, the fourth “smoke-ring” photo that was taken as he stepped out of the truck captured the spot the UFO had been right after it took off and disappeared. The recent analysis has discovered, via computer enhancement, similar “smoke-rings” around the craft in the other photos and thus has reinforced the credibility of all four photos.

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