Phrase has simply are available of the passing of the optical physicist and UFO researcher Bruce Maccabee on the age of 82. Bruce was very well-known in UFOlogy for his detailed analysis of many UFO cases, together with the McMinnville UFO photographs, Kenneth Arnold’s sighting, the Phoenix Lights, the Gulf Breeze photographs of Ed Walters, the New Zealand movies, and so forth. He labored with all the main UFO organizations: NICAP, MUFON, FUFOR. He additionally discovered time to hang around with, and argue with, the likes of Phil Klass and myself. You possibly can read all about Bruce’s investigations on his Website.
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| Dr. Bruce Maccabee |
I knew Maccabee from the time once we each lived in Silver Spring, Maryland (about 1975-1980). He was a honest fellow who was satisfied, for causes which are exhausting to grasp, of the authenticity of sure very doubtful UFO circumstances, and he would boldly set forth his arguments. We had been each occupied with astronomy, and typically we might drive outdoors the suburban sprawl to arrange our telescopes beneath darker skies.
In some way Maccabee received his palms on the unique negatives of the McMinnville UFO photographs (apparently the information group had them in its information from once they had been first printed, till Maccabee inquired about them – about 25 years later! The negatives have since been returned to a Trent member of the family.) Bruce invited me to spend a day with him in a rented photographic darkroom, the place we ran print after print from the unique negatives, at totally different magnifications, exposures, and so forth. I have made high-resolution scans from those prints, and made them available to researchers. Maccabee argued strongly that the thing was massive, and much from the digicam, whereas skeptics like myself argue that it was a small object, suspended by strings from the phone wires above it. The late Joel Carpenter made a convincing argument that Trent’s UFO was actually an previous truck mirror, hanging from strings thrown over the overhead wires.
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| The Trent photographs as a stereo pair, by “Blue Shift” on ATS. The “UFO” is seen to be small, and comparatively shut. |
Maccabee’s UFO photograph analyses appeared pretty affordable, up to a degree. That time was handed when he received concerned with Ed Walters, the perpetrator of a sequence of UFO photographs from Gulf Breeze, Florida. These photographs had been so clearly bogus, and Ed’s tales so preposterous, that no critical individual might presumably imagine them. However Bruce disagreed. The Tampa Bay Times wrote a evaluation of the e-book by Ed Walters and his spouse, The Gulf Breeze Sightings (Feb. 25, 1990):
One’s first response to the photographs is that they will need to have been faked. (A colleague of mine commented, “I might search the man’s home for Chinese language lanterns.”) [RS: you can’t make this up. Exactly this has happened, and a ‘Chinese Lantern’ was indeed found!]. But they’ve been endorsed as genuine by Bruce S. Maccabee, a authorities analysis physicist, whose report is contained within the e-book. Maccabee, after investigating the websites and the cameras in addition to the photographs, concluded that there was no proof of a hoax.
“Having studied these sightings “each which approach’ for greater than a 12 months,” Maccabee writes, “I’ve concluded that they’re proof of the existence of UFOs. However what’s proof for one individual is just not essentially proof for an additional. What would persuade you? You need to make up your individual thoughts.
“The investigation is just not but full. Ed was kidnapped on Dec. 17, 1987, and once more on Might 1, 1988. The investigation into what occurred throughout these and former abductions is ongoing.”
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| Certainly one of Ed Walters’ UFO photographs from Gulf Breeze, Florida. |
I am unable to get into all the particulars in regards to the Gulf Breeze photographs and sightings right here. Tim Printy provides us a wonderful overview of what is wrong with the Ed Walters story. There has additionally been controversy over funds to Maccabee from Walters’ publishers for his favorable photograph evaluation, suggesting to some that Maccabee’s endorsement was ‘purchased.’ I do not assume that is the case, as a result of to begin with the quantity was not precisely life-changing, and secondly, Maccabee gave each indication of being sincerely satisfied of Mr. Ed’s veracity.
Bruce’s spouse Jan Maccabee apparently had a “bizarre expertise” of one thing like a ‘predator’ whereas looking within the forest.
she turned conscious {that a} bizarre visible “impact” was shifting rightward throughout her discipline of view at an obvious distance of perhaps fifteen to twenty toes. She described it as if wanting by means of “saran wrap.” Maybe a extra apt comparability could be like a mirage above a scorching street. She in contrast this distortion of the scene as being considerably just like the impact of the invisible creature within the PREDATOR film!
I by no means met Jan, as a result of she and Bruce did not get collectively till after I used to be already in California. This posting has since been removed from Bruce’s website. It’s discussed on Reddit right here.
Much more weird, in 2022 a video was posted (additionally since eliminated) of Bruce Maccabee (apparently assisted by his spouse) offering to sell an original copy of the Patterson Bigfoot film.
Daniel Perez reported within the March 2023 version of Bigfoot Occasions that 80 12 months previous Dr. Bruce Maccabee in Ohio is promoting a primary era copy that he acquired from Eric Beckjord. On this article, Daniel says that based on Patricia Patterson, she lent Eric the movie to make copies however he returned a type of copies to her as a substitute of the unique. Sounds just like the possession of it will be the topic of a authorized dispute. Asking value, $16 million.
The movie reportedly confirmed never-before-seen particulars on the finish, apparently involving a “littlefoot”. The voice of the person I heard on the video selling it was nothing just like the feisty Bruce Maccabee I used to know. He sounded hesitant and mentally confused, which isn’t unusual for an 80-year-old man. Maybe any individual saved a replica of the video so we are able to see it? I knew Beckjord, who died in 2008. I’m not conscious of him claiming to own the unique Patterson Bigfoot movie (a movie he studied to dying and virtually worshiped), however frankly this shenanigan does certainly sound like one thing that Beckjord would do. And I do keep in mind Beckjord turning up in Silver Spring, speaking with Bruce and Phil and I. So I do not know what the top of that story is, and who eliminated the video selling it.
