Background

The following case was submitted to The Black Vault / TBV Investigations on 06/11/2018 at 9:32 pm. It was assigned to TBV Investigations’ researcher Jim Kerr for investigation and analysis.

Witness Testimony

The witness submitted the following testimony, which is unedited and appears how it was submitted:

“I became interested in orbs after one showed up in a picture I took of my daughter on her 5th birthday. I began taking video at night (after kids in bed ) in our woods & saw a lot of activity. One night I was drawn to the river, so I sat down, began a video & saw this small light about 20 ft in front of me above the water.. as I went to stand up and began walking, it was suddenly right in front of me! It was tiny & the only way I can describe it, is ‘other dimensional’ it was almost like you couldn’t quite focus in on it & it was amazing. It was very playful, almost felt familiar? I was able to record it so I know i’m not crazy! I saw the same thing on several occasions. Probably 3-4xs each year for 2 years. Always in the late summer & fall I believe. I’ll attach a few videos. You can see it change colors & I put my hand around it to make sure it isn’t a cobweb reflecting the light from the camera. Whatever it was, it was definitelt INTELLIGENT as it was trying to communicate / interact with me in a playful manner. I came across Damien’s story on Australian Lights & thought ‘finally – this is pretty similar to what I’ve seen’… only his ars in the clouds and not so close like mine. I’ve never met or discovered anyone that had had this same experience & have been seeking information for a very long time now. Damien suggested I connect you all for an opinion, so here I am. i’m hopeful for some answers or at least some input from a professional. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you & many blessings, Jen”

The Evidence

The video below is also posted on the witnesses YouTube channel titled, “Friendly orb/ energy encounter.”

Note. The video below that was submitted to TBV is a edited version of the original video posted to the witnesses YouTube channel. The footage is cropped and enlarged and missing key information that led to my conclusions. The correct title to this video according to the witnesses YouTube channel is, “Friendly orb visiting I can actually SEE with my eyes.” 

The Analysis by Jim Kerr, TBV Investigations

I have a background in amateur astronomy, using a number of different types of telescopes and astronomical cameras. Since 1965 I have have had a passion for film photography, 8mm and 16mm motion picture film continuing to present day with professional DSLR cameras, lenses, and camcorders both consumer and pro engineering. I am experienced with lighting and the causes of lens flares that occur with different focal length and types of lenses. 

Since 2011 I have had an interest in the paranormal relating to orb sightings. In 2015, I assisted a MUFON investigator in New Jersey on several orb related cases he was working on. I provided him photos relating to strange blue orbs that had dots inside the orb. In reality the blue orbs were lens flares common to certain brands of cell phone cameras. 

While I have not spoken directly to the witness due to missed telephone calls and no response to questions from my last email, there is enough data in the witness videos and photos to resolve this case. 

The witness lives in the town of Alto, Michigan. Alto is an unincorporated community in Bowne Township, Kent County, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The terrain has forest areas, (wooded areas), sparsely located within the borders of Alto. The elevation is approx 1,072 feet above sea level. From any location within Alto it would be a short walk to any wooded area.

Source: https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/mi/grand-rapids/KGRR/date/2017-11-15

Celestial Objects Rendering a Significant Light Source

Searching Stallerium, (a planetarium software that shows exactly what you see when you look up at the stars), I was able to go back in the archives to view the night sky over Alto, MI on 11/15/2017 @ 1:00 am. There were no extremely bright celestial objects in the sky. The moon was a waning crescent that rose in the sky at 5:29 am and set at 5:18 pm.

Analysis of Video Footage

I downloaded both videos to my Sony Vegas video editing software for a detailed analysis of the footage. I was able to view sections of the video frame by frame, adjust lighting and contrast to bring out details in an effort to reveal the possible origin of the orbs.

In the video titled “Friendly Orb”, it is obvious in my analyzed video that the orb in reality is a reflective object attached to a spider web, a balled up clump of spider web or light reflection off the web itself. Other webs are also observed in the footage. The video was filmed in or near a wooded area with vegetation and home to spiders. The object was being illuminated by the video recording device light or flashlight. Reflective areas on a web is a common mistake made by individuals hunting for orbs. As the camera moves it will cause the reflective area to move as well making it appear as though there is a object / orb moving or floating in thin air. With the naked eye one may or may not see anything attached to the web.

The second video sent to TBV Investigations designated, (received_10155980884127518), is a edited shortened version of a video posted on the witnesses YouTube channel titled, (Friendly orb visiting I can actually SEE with my eyes). In my investigation I visited the witnesses YouTube channel to make sure TBV Investigations was receiving the complete unedited video of these events. With the video we received, important footage was missing that led me to identifying the source of this alleged orb. With out any doubt, in reality, the orb is a lens flare caused by a outdoor floodlight mounted on the eve of the building or house to the left of the video recording device. This can clearly be seen at time stamp 1:32 in the video posted to the witnesses YouTube channel. I downloaded the full video but there is no reason to analyze the footage in Sony Vegas. Also the YouTube download has tracking information on the screen for copyright purposes. Additionally, there is no way the witness could have seen this lens flare with the naked eye.

Video still removed from witnesses YouTube unedited video titled, “Friendly orb visiting I can actually SEE with my eyes.”

Conclusion

My intention in this investigation is not to upset the witness or anyone who hunts for orbs. I believe the witness is sincere and not attempting any deception. My conclusions are based on the video evidence along with years of experience operating cameras in various lighting conditions. Also observing lens flares and anomalies in my own videos, photographs and other peoples work. My hope is for those who view this investigation take the time to educate themselves on camera operation, what causes lens flares and other anomalies and the effects of lighting in a given situation. There is much information on this topic available on the internet.

In the first video the alleged orb is either a reflective object stuck on a spider web, a balled up clump of spider web or a reflection off the web itself caused by the light from the witnesses video recording device. The spider web can clearly be seen in my video analysis and the witnesses original footage. The second video the witness provided TBV Investigations is a edited version of her video, cropped and shortened in length. Upon further investigation I found the complete unedited version of the video on her YouTube channel. This unedited video showed the light source that caused the lens flare in both versions of the videos. It was the light source, (floodlight) that caused the lens flare.

Additionally, the witness reported the date of these sightings as 11/15/2017 1:00 am however, both her videos on her YouTube channel are dated 12/09/2016 and 10/19/2017 respectively. This fact would make the weather conditions in this investigation void. This fact does not affect the analysis or conclusions of this investigation as the video evidence speaks for itself. 

Based on the video evidence this investigation is solved.

The post Witness Describes “Friendly Orb” in Alto, Michigan first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

The post Witness Describes “Friendly Orb” in Alto, Michigan appeared first on The Black Vault Case Files.

Background

On January 16, 2018, the following post went “viral” on the Facebook wall of Kurt Norris, who appears to be one of the originators and the root of this story.

Although I do not “blame” him for the misinformation regarding this case, the internet as a whole did that part all on it’s own by forwarding, sharing and reposting the photos, most with allegations that aliens were attacking or that the government was using a particle beam weapons.  Many posts claimed that Facebook was deleting the evidence, and urged others to forward/share/like etc. which fueled the popularity.

Here are some examples of the photos that surfaced with multiple misleading headlines:

The story deepened, because on the same night, a meteor was also seen in the same area.  The internet as a whole, began connecting the photos you see above, with the following video that surfaced (among others):

The Analysis

Internet lore deepened the mystery, but when dissecting the events, one can determine that the above evidence, is unrelated.  The meteor falling had nothing to do with the original photographs with the “beam” along with the third photo in the array above, which appears to be onlookers looking at a fire in the distance (but lacks a “beam”).

It was determined that this third photo (lacking the “beam”), along with others that surfaced online, were taken near a garage fire in Taylor, Michigan.  According to MLIVE, which reported on the fire:

TAYLOR, MI – A fire that destroyed a pickup truck inside a garage in the metro Detroit community of Taylor was not started by a piece of falling meteor fragment Tuesday night.

Fire crews were called to a garage fire at about 8:24 p.m., Jan. 16, on Merrick Road after the homeowner noticed smoke coming from the engine compartment of a pickup he was working on inside the garage, according to the Taylor Fire Department.

The fire started at about the same time a meteor reportedly entered the atmosphere and several onlookers near the scene assumed the garage was hit, officials said.

The original Facebook poster, which arguably started the online craze after garnering more than 37,000 shares (at the time of writing this), even said the photos were taken of the garage fire. He updated his post with the following, well after the story went viral:

*Two of the photos are from the garage fires in Taylor, MI… the shake and meteor was near Detroit area. The shake and sound was the sonic boom from the speed and going through the atmosphere and causing a 2.0 earthquake. The last picture I just saw circulating from people posting in Taylor, MI area but no one claimed to have taken the photo so it could be a fake.*

The photographs with the “beam” have also been determined to be photographs of a controlled burn from the Canton Marathon Oil refinery in Canton, Ohio. Fox 8 in Cleveland reported on this story:

CANTON, Ohio – Drivers and local residents saw a huge fire at the Marathon Oil refinery in Canton Tuesday evening.

But it was all planned, according to the company.

A Marathon representative told Fox 8 that the fire is called a “controlled flaring” and is used as a “safety valve.”  He adds that “operational circumstances often require it.”

The burn still made for quite a blaze that could be seen for miles and miles.

A light pillar is an atmospheric optical phenomenon in the form of a vertical band of light which appears to extend above and/or below a light source. The effect is created by the reflection of light from numerous tiny ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere or clouds. The light can come from the Sun (usually when it is near or even below the horizon) in which case the phenomenon is called a sun pillar or solar pillar. It can also come from the Moon or from terrestrial sources such as streetlights.

As the photographs seem to be easily explained, that leaves simply the meteor story.

Since none of the “beam” photographs resemble anything related to the meteor, and have other easily verified stories attached to them to offer a viable explanation, it is safe to say that the incidents are not related, and the video of the meteor, is explained simply, as a video of a meteor.

Conclusion

With the evidence above, I believe we can label the case a “hoax” perpetrated by social networks and click bait sites that help fuel the story, and the dissemination of it to the masses.

In short – don’t fall for the online hype. 

The post What was this strange beam of light in Taylor, Michigan? first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

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Background

The following case was submitted to The Black Vault / TBV Investigations on December 29, 2017. 

The witness’ brother submitted the following:

“My brother filmed this UFO 12-17 in Detroit, Michigan at night at our uncle’s home, no airports nearby.

The UFO was yellowish in the center, circling around was yellowish in various colors moving like a jelly fish, but as he filmed this thing the circular UFO appeared white, and that field around the object broke up in box form as static, but its plain to see. 

It also made a right angle turn, then left before disappearing others witnessed it. I contacted local news fox2 here, no reply.”

The sighting occurred on the 4th, and the case was assigned to TBV Investigations’ researcher Dylan Santiso.

The Analysis

by Dylan Santiso, TBV Investigations

TBV Investigations received the original report from “Mike”, as he did not wish to disclose his identity in full.  After a calling Mike on January 4, 2018, it became apparent that Mike was reporting this case for his Brother, who we will refer to as “Hardy”.

I interviewed Hardy and asked for a better copy of the video that was submitted by his brother, Mike.   After numerous attempts to try to get a better quality and uncompressed version of the video, I was only able to obtain the following:

What I find interesting about the video is the first 3 seconds.  There seems to be two objects, one large and one small.  The small object jets away from the first one and is then out of the frame three seconds into the video.  Following, the object speeds up, then slows done at the 18 second mark, then seems to descend behind trees/buildings.

Witness Testimony/Interview

Harvey noted and answered questions regarding the before, after, and during recording periods:

1. What geographical location was the sighting at?: Palmer Park – Pontchatrain, and 6 mile Road, Detroit MI.
2. What direction was the witness facing at the time of sighting/recording?: Due East
3. What time of day was it?: Between 21:30 and 21:45 on December 17, 2017
4. What direction was the object flying?: East to also West
5. Did anyone else see the object?: Yes, there were “quite a few people filming on the street”, according to the witness. Also, people pulled over in their cars to view and film the object. Rough) 
6. What did you see before you started filming the object?: According to the witness, the object appeared to be a street light and was viewed by multiple people on Pontchtrain facing 6 mile road and eastward. The object was stationary, shot up, then down, then traveled toward the witness, slowly, in a westerly direction.
7. Style of Movement: Like a “jellyfish”. It had a “white membrane” with a point of orange light in the center.
8. Sound: None
9. Static Electricity: Phones seemed to be interrupted by some electric interference
10. Height: 1,000 ft.
11. The object was about 1/2 a mile away when filming occurred
12. Missing Time: No
13. Humming Noise or Feeling: No

Noted Airports in the vicinity: 

1. Coleman A Young International Airport (Due East of Witness)
2. Ford Airport (South Southwest of Witness)
3. Detroit Metro International (southwest of Witness)

It is important  to note that the witness felt that that this sighting was of “unexplained origin”.

Conclusion 

Unknown without better footage.  The video is highly pixelated and of poor quality.   However, the witness seemed honest, genuine, and lucid. 

The post UFO Filmed Over Detroit, Michigan – December 4, 2017 first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

The post UFO Filmed Over Detroit, Michigan – December 4, 2017 appeared first on The Black Vault Case Files.

Case File Status: Likely Explainable

Background

Report by Christopher Connelly, TBV Investigations

On 12/1/17, I came across a post on Reddit that that caught my eye.  The author of the post (Machinegamer), wrote the following describing what we are looking at:

“Was having a drink with my boss in his office today. I’m a conspiracy theorist and he picks at me from time to time regarding some of the stuff I share with him. So he goes “did I ever tell you my ufo story?”

I was like hahahahaha ok thanks for making fun of me, his face got serious and he goes “listen to this story…”

So he said “20 or so years ago I was driving in northern Michigan near glen harbor (sic) at 2:30am in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden my entire car lit up”.

He described this insane light and shrieking noise that hurt his ears… and he’s going on and on and im waiting for him to laugh and be all like gotcha!!

He had been taking pictures of northern Michigan cuz photography is his hobby, so he had a camera on the passenger seat of his car.

He said he got out and this craft was hovering over him for what seemed like a very long time, he was afraid. Then he remembers he had his camera, so he took it out and said he took pictures.

Still I’m waiting for him to laugh. I gave him a “ya ok” look…then he rolled his chair over to his file cabinet and started rustling around folders…

See the photos attached to this post…the hairs stood up on the back of my neck and my arms. My jaw dropped.”

The original pictures appear to come from an older model camera and the film was developed to what you see here. The only images available for investigation, was a photograph of the photographs, which is not ideal for analysis.

The pictures appear to have been taken at night, and there appears to be snow on the ground, leaning towards a low temperature.

It’s almost impossible to tell if there is any cloud coverage or any other meteorological formations. The ground is heavily illuminated, creating an almost complete coverage of the area. Light formations resembling pillars are seen rising from the middle of the illuminated area. The light has an almost blue color to it. It appears there are no other vehicles, personnel or animals in the picture.

There appears to be a sign to the lower right hand side of the photo, on the opposite side of the road, which may mean that these is a side road leading to this area or near it. The light appears behind the treeline but I cannot judge its distance from the witness. 

When I encountered these photographs, they were posted by an anonymous user of the website Reddit. This user was the coworker of the actual witness, so all details are coming from him/her. The actual encounter took place 20 years ago, date unknown. 

Per the co-worker: Witness was located outside of Glen Arbor, which is located in Northern Michigan. This area is known to be rural and a well known area that is the victim of hydraulic fracturing. The approx. time was 0230 when the witness was traveling down a snow covered road when his surroundings and his car began to light up. The witness then got out of his car to see a craft overhead. The witness described the craft as making no movement but sounding like a “Banshee.” No further information has been given.

The Analysis

There is no craft visible in the picture, but I can tell that there is a valley where the lights are coming from and upon further inspection, the lights do appear to be hitting some sort of low lying fog or small cloud formation. I believe that this may be a city, construction site or a fracking site. The lights resemble the amount of light that a small town or site would have.

The pillars may be explained by ice crystals, or “light pillars” which are defined as the following:

“A light pillar is an atmospheric optical phenomenon in the form of a vertical band of light which appears to extend above and/or below a light source. The effect is created by the reflection of light from numerous tiny ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere or clouds. The light can come from the Sun (usually when it is near or even below the horizon) in which case the phenomenon is called a sun pillar or solar pillar. It can also come from the Moon or from terrestrial sources such as streetlights.”

Based on the assumed temperature, forming in the air and the light reflecting off of such, this could be a viable explanation. With the witness being near the lake, I’d say that the temperature could easily be in the 20’s.

This “light pillar” phenomena is quite common in colder climates, such as Canada and Michigan where these photographs were taken.  

I have attempted many times to contact the witness, but have received no response. 

Due to this fact, it is difficult to put the story together, as it lacks many details and due to it being 20 years ago, human memory tends to fill in a lot of the gaps.

The Photographs

The post Strange Light Phenomenon, Northern Michigan, Circa 1997 first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

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