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Faking A Fortean Phenomenon (Have You Tried It?)

Tunn11

Tunn11

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Nov 23, 2005
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2,248
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Under the highest tree top in Kent
Just wondered whether anyone on here has tried to fake a Fortean phenomenon and is prepared to admit it.

Either a photo or video or artifact or playing a prank on someone. If you did what was the result?

I tried to fake a UFO photo when I was about 15 using an old non SLR 110 camera and a metal dish from a chemistry set. The lousy quality meant the string couldn’t be seen but not being SLR meant that I’d included a bit of TV aerial which looked like a stick that it could have been dangled from. I did ‘fess up to anyone I showed it to even the two gullible twits who believed me.

I was going to fake a ghost photo next but shortly after the UFO photo I saw a UFO and as I was shortly going to be left in the house on my own overnight for a couple of nights I chickened out!

So has anyone tried, even out of curiosity to see how easy/difficult it is?
 
Well, Tunn, this is very silly and half-hearted, but as you're asking.....

I am not a practical joker by nature, but one morning, on a complete impulse, I decided to have a bit of fun - I was bored, okay? - and sent the pic below to my brother's phone - or his wife's phone actually - saying I had just snapped this hovering over my neighbour's house and asked what he made of it :

20200521_102411.jpg


As it was a very obvious fake, I didn't expect any reaction. And that is precisely what I got : no reaction. It fell completely flat. Not a thing I will bother repeating anytime soon.

Below is the photo that I had zoomed in and doctored to make the image. It is what I can see from my kitchen window and the saucer-like look of that thing had often amused me. I had a new phone and a few spare minutes. Pathetic really.

20200521_100922.jpg
 
It is just the kind of person that I am.

I never joke or misrepresent at someone else’s misfortunes or experiences.

If I talked about a paranormal experience, it means I really experienced it.
 
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I've always fancied having a go; not to try and hoax anyone, just out of interest and to have a fun artifact at the end of it, but I've never got around to it.

The artist Patrick Woodroffe made some things he called 'tomographs', which were painted cut-outs photographed with real life elements, like a more sophisticated version of the Cottingly fairy photos; as an artist myself, I'd love to do something like that.

Oh, I just remembered, an ex of mine told me that he once used a Simon game hung from a piece of fishing line to fake a UFO (he picked pub kicking out time, so it would be dark enough to hide the line, but plenty of people around). It got into the local paper, apparently (Tavistock in Devon, very late 70s or early 80s, as the Simon was new enough to not be easily recognised, if anyone wants to go looking!)
 
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Can I just be clear that I’m not intending to question or judge anyone’s motives or morals. IMO there are plenty of quite reasonable reasons to try and fake evidence or photos. To determine other’s reactions., to see how easy or difficult it is, to try to reproduce an event purported to be genuine, even for a fictional film, etc.

It was my recollection of three things that got me thinking about this.

The photo of a group of UFOs taken by a teenage boy which were well received but later proved to be cut outs stuck to his window. (Can’t remember the case but someone will know it)

The Cottingley fairies which may have been an attempt to provide “proof” of a genuine experience or a hoax which got out of hand.

Chris Packham on an old BBC programme faking some bigfoot footage IIRC to debunk the Patterson Gimlin film. The result was absolutely pathetic and perhaps only served to strengthen the argument for the film’s authenticity.

Looking at some of the utter garbage shown on TV as authentic footage got me to wondering whether anyone on here had tried a fake, for whatever reason, and what the results were. We (I include myself) often cry fake but like Packham have we tried to make one and if so how easy was it and did you manage a convincing result?

Also wondering what is easier to fake, UFOs, Ghosts , Cryptids, etc.

There is also the time factor, was faking stuff in Conan Doyle’s day easier because the technology was less advanced or is it easier today because the technology is more advanced?
 
I have never tried. Nor would I ever. BUT. Daily exposure to the general public has taught me that people can be very trusting, very susceptible and very keen to 'fit in'. I suspect that it wouldn't take much gentle mental nudging to persuade some people that they had seen or experienced something Fortean.

I mean, I know a lot of people who are completely convinced their houses are haunted, on the strength of 'noises', things falling over, an 'atmosphere' or waking from a dream to see 'something' in their room. All of these things perfectly explicable, yet enough to get people leaving their homes, calling in 'exorcists' and the like.

So I think it wouldn't be too hard.
 
ChasFink said:
Just for fun and never to fool anyone, I faked a few photos when I was a kid. The best, and the only one I remember, was the starship Enterprise flying over my house at low altitude - a simple double exposure.
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I soooooo wanna see that photo, Chas!
 
My local makerspace had a thought that I quickly stamped out. They (many are thorough skeptics) wanted to fly a drone and take photos of it for April Fool's Day, claiming that it was a UFO.

I flat out said that I'd go to any and all media (pretty much just social media) and expose them immediately.

When they thought I was being a party-pooper, I had to explain that hey, I've seen weird shit and I wants answers, not some BS claiming to be real.

I hate hoaxes because yes, I want REAL answers.
 
MercuryCrest we must be kindred spirits because since the 4th grade I also have been looking for the real truth.

At my age I may never know the truth.
 
I have never faked any Forteana. But now I am thinking of which kind would be easiest to fake - and think that channeling dead spirits would be the easiest because no external evidence such as a photo or more than one person experiencing it is ever needed.

I must practice my technique.....

Edit: ps - this thread has me thinking of all the opportunities (for sleazy personal gain) which have passed me by in my life because I just never thought about them :)
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
I have never faked any Forteana. But now I am thinking of which kind would be easiest to fake - and think that channeling dead spirits would be the easiest because no external evidence such as a photo or more than one person experiencing it is ever needed.

I must practice my technique.....

Edit: ps - this thread has me thinking of all the opportunities (for sleazy personal gain) which have passed me by in my life because I just never thought about them :)
Click to expand...
Read a book on cold reading, a few Derren Brown books, and set yourself up!
 
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