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Greenhaw Photos: Falkville, Alabama (1973): Shiny / Metal-Clad Figure

Now that's what I call a blurry photo.....basically useless...is there a link to the tale?
 
The shiny suit figure clearly has exact human proportions, even the beer belly. No coincidence.
 
If the picture shown is of this officer at a later date it seems he got another job on the force. Judging by the uniform. (greenhow)

INT21.
 
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dr wu said:
^ That's not Greenhaw after the incident...he was only 26 at the time of the event...that's obviously many years later since that man looks far older than 26 to me. ...
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Then why is Greenhaw wearing a police uniform?

Multiple accounts state he was fired or otherwise left his job as Falkville police chief within as little as a month after the incident.

NICAP's UFO Investigator (October 1974; 1 year later) states:

"In the short time that has passed since that night, Greenhaw's wife has divorced him, his mobile home was burned, and he has given up his career as a law enforcement officer."
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SOURCE: http://www.cufos.org/UFOI_and_Selected_Documents/UFOI/103 OCTOBER 1974.pdf
 
Robert Darnell, a local native who was in the community at the time of the incident, wrote a set of memoirs entitled Biscuits & Firecrackers: True Stories from the Cotton Country:

https://books.google.com/books?id=cQ2MCwAAQBAJ&q=Greenhaw#v=snippet&q=Greenhaw&f=false

... in which he (Darnell) describes a separate hoax he and his brothers contrived during the October 1973 UFO mania as well as alluding to local knowledge that personnel from the fire department had perpetrated the incident as a hoax on Greenhaw.
 
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Finally, NICAP's January 1977 issue of UFO Investigator revisited the Falkville incident, reporting that following subsequent investigations, analyses, and interviews:

"... all evidence strongly indicates that Jeff Greenhaw and a young friend did in fact carry out a spaceman hoax on the night of October 17, 1973."

http://www.cufos.org/UFOI_and_Selected_Documents/UFOI/130 JANUARY 1977.pdf
 
EnolaGaia said:
Then why is Greenhaw wearing a police uniform?

Multiple accounts state he was fired or otherwise left his job as Falkville police chief within as little as a month after the incident.

NICAP's UFO Investigator (October 1974; 1 year later) states:



SOURCE: http://www.cufos.org/UFOI_and_Selected_Documents/UFOI/103 OCTOBER 1974.pdf
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Perhaps he became a policeman again years later...but that doesn't look like a 26 year old man to me.
Does that man standing there look 26 to you?

It's either a hoax.....or not.....there's no other option. And it certainly could be a hoax but why would a young police chief put his job in jeopardy...? Maybe it's an Alabama thing?
We would never do such a thing in Indiana.
;)
 
dr wu said:
Perhaps he became a policeman again years later...but that doesn't look like a 26 year old man to me.
Does that man standing there look 26 to you? ...
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I've known 20-somethings (in law enforcement and elsewhere) who've looked older than the guy in that photo.

If the age hadn't been given I'd have guessed upper 20's (given the 1973 timeframe) and remained unsurprised to learn it was as high as the lower 30's.

To be fair, the post-incident photos of Greenhaw at the scene are taken from newswire photos that have been 'faxed' and contain a lot of grainy textures. The pixellation that induces would make a baby look weathered.

In any case, Greenhaw moved to Mississippi at some point, apparently during that first year (or period of however many months) during which all the other tribulations came down on his head. I don't know how long he lived in Mississippi before eventually moving back to the Falkville area.
 
dr wu said:
... It's either a hoax.....or not.....there's no other option. And it certainly could be a hoax but why would a young police chief put his job in jeopardy...? Maybe it's an Alabama thing?
We would never do such a thing in Indiana. ...
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The autumn of 1973 - especially in the Southeast (US) - saw the biggest UFO flap I've ever known in that area. By mid-October the sightings, tales, and arguments had become a persistent, prolonged, and welcome respite from the wall-to-wall Watergate and Vietnam news. Lots of people got into the act as curious watch-keepers, serious lookouts, and yes, even outright pranksters and hoaxers.

Even in the Falkville area ... In his book (see above) Darnell writes that he and his brothers devised and perpetrated _two_ UFO-related pranks during that same period - one involving a foil-wrapped dummy and the other involving homemade illuminated balloons that were themselves reported in local newspapers as 'mystery UFO's / lights'.

If it was a hoax and Greenhaw wasn't in on it, I'd suspect other townsfolk ended up shunning him for being duped and making their fair burg look like a community of idiots. The more extreme - and conspiratorial - spin would involve the hoax being crafted specifically to humiliate Greenhaw and give the town an excuse to leverage him out of office.

If it was a hoax and Greenhaw was in on it, he could have been fired for that alone - regardless of any other grudges held against him.
 
EnolaGaia said:
The autumn of 1973 - especially in the Southeast (US) - saw the biggest UFO flap I've ever known in that area. By mid-October the sightings, tales, and arguments had become a persistent, prolonged, and welcome respite from the wall-to-wall Watergate and Vietnam news. Lots of people got into the act as curious watch-keepers, serious lookouts, and yes, even outright pranksters and hoaxers.

Even in the Falkville area ... In his book (see above) Darnell writes that he and his brothers devised and perpetrated _two_ UFO-related pranks during that same period - one involving a foil-wrapped dummy and the other involving homemade illuminated balloons that were themselves reported in local newspapers as 'mystery UFO's / lights'.

If it was a hoax and Greenhaw wasn't in on it, I'd suspect other townsfolk ended up shunning him for being duped and making their fair burg look like a community of idiots. The more extreme - and conspiratorial - spin would involve the hoax being crafted specifically to humiliate Greenhaw and give the town an excuse to leverage him out of office.

If it was a hoax and Greenhaw was in on it, he could have been fired for that alone - regardless of any other grudges held against him.
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What bothers me is that there is no proof of it being a hoax either....it's all hearsay and speculation...on both sides.
No one has come forward and named themselves as the ones who did it...have they?
My gut tells me it was most likely a hoax....but I seriously doubt Greenhaw would have done this to jeopardize his job unless he's an idiot. And why after all these years didn't he come clean if it was a hoax? So we probably have someone pranking him.....because the alternative is a real alien...and I have trouble believing that any self respecting space alien would go about in tin foil.

;)
 
Darnell (cited above) writes that he made a polite attempt to speak with Greenhaw by phone. He was told Greenhaw wouldn't speak with him and not to call again.

Whatever it may be, the burden Greenhaw carried forward from the incident is still painful and he won't go anywhere near it. This has been the sole 'solid' fact that's endured over the decades.

My take on the story hasn't changed in 40-some years - there wasn't any alien life form underneath the reflective wrapping, the story of the chase doesn't add up, and it was a prank or hoax that either backfired on Greenhaw as a participant or helped force him out of town if he wasn't involved (with or without that being someone else's goal).

I still don't see anything at all that supports the notion this was a 'real' encounter.

Falkville was, and still is, a small community - the sort of place where everyone knows everyone else too well and missteps aren't easily forgotten. I strongly suspect there's a substantial soap opera behind the curtains that no one in town wants illuminated and everyone quietly evades discussing.
 
October 17th...someone trying out their Halloween trick or treating costume?

The 'figure' does seem to be posing for the camera, rather than running or turning away.

Maybe it's not a hoax, just a simple misunderstanding, with someone who's got themselves all togged up not wanting to come forward and embarrass either themselves or Greenhaw further. Better to go down as a 'mystery' rather than the idiot who used up all his mum's Bacofoil.
dr wu said:
What bothers me is that there is no proof of it being a hoax either....it's all hearsay and speculation...on both sides.
No one has come forward and named themselves as the ones who did it...have they?
My gut tells me it was most likely a hoax....but I seriously doubt Greenhaw would have done this to jeopardize his job unless he's an idiot. And why after all these years didn't he come clean if it was a hoax? So we probably have someone pranking him.....because the alternative is a real alien...and I have trouble believing that any self respecting space alien would go about in tin foil.

;)
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Given that Greenhaw's life fell apart shortly after the event he reported, are there any reports of his mental state at the time of the event? Just musing here, but maybe his marriage was in trouble already? Is there a report in existence of how his house came to burn down?

I'm just wondering if my previous comment about the house burning down leading to the end of his marriage and his subsequent sacking from his job may have got things back to front, and that he might already have been in a state where losing his job and marriage were inevitable and so he decided to 'go out with a bang' so to speak.

The 'suited alien' looks just a little too 'human in a suit' to be really credible as an alien - maybe he never thought it would be taken as seriously as it was?
 
catseye said:
... The 'figure' does seem to be posing for the camera, rather than running or turning away. ...
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Another weird thing about the Greenhaw / Falkville story concerns the stimulus that made the mystery figure suddenly run away.

I don't know whether this bit traces back to anything Greenhaw said at the time, but multiple accounts claim it was apparently the flash photography that spooked the figure into fleeing.

Why did it take as many as 4 flashes / snaps to spook the mystery figure?
 
EnolaGaia said:
If it was a hoax and Greenhaw wasn't in on it, I'd suspect other townsfolk ended up shunning him for being duped and making their fair burg look like a community of idiots. The more extreme - and conspiratorial - spin would involve the hoax being crafted specifically to humiliate Greenhaw and give the town an excuse to leverage him out of office.
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I remember that Jenny Randles proposed this solution, maybe it was in the book UFOs that never were. Greenshaw was trapped by malevolent people who wanted to have him out of office and set up his sighting to discredit him and 'justify' a campaign of harassment against him.
In any case, the 'spaceman' does look like somebody in a firefighter special suit.
 
A bit of a coincidence perhaps but the outfit being worn by the shiny figure looks very similar to the astronaut outfit you could buy for your GI Joe / Action Man 12" figure you could buy in the late 60's. The outfit was a very good reproduction of what NASA astronauts wore at that time. (silver and shiny)IIRC also you could buy the actual real outfits at the time from either the manufacturer or government surplus stores since they made a good few.
 
Just saying folks, it was a hoax. If you want to know how i know, just go to Falkville Fire and Rescue's firehouse, go into the chief's office, and theres a old piece of paper from way back when detailing the hoax and the plan to scare Greenhaw. Back then most of the council and the PD as well as the firefighters were corrupt as shit, and they hatched a plan to get Greenhaw outta office, cause at that time Greenhaw wasn't as corrupt as people thought.
How i know? I took Firefighter 1 at Falkville's firehouse.
 
Thank you! that is a fantastic first post!

Do you have a photo of it?
 
alabamafirefighterEMT14 said:
Just saying folks, it was a hoax. If you want to know how i know, just go to Falkville Fire and Rescue's firehouse, go into the chief's office, and theres a old piece of paper from way back when detailing the hoax and the plan to scare Greenhaw. Back then most of the council and the PD as well as the firefighters were corrupt as shit, and they hatched a plan to get Greenhaw outta office, cause at that time Greenhaw wasn't as corrupt as people thought.
How i know? I took Firefighter 1 at Falkville's firehouse.
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for real?
 
Can anyone in or near Falkville check this out?
 
PeteS said:
A bit of a coincidence perhaps but the outfit being worn by the shiny figure looks very similar to the astronaut outfit you could buy for your GI Joe / Action Man 12" figure you could buy in the late 60's. The outfit was a very good reproduction of what NASA astronauts wore at that time. (silver and shiny)IIRC also you could buy the actual real outfits at the time from either the manufacturer or government surplus stores since they made a good few.
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I can't find any visual evidence online, but I clearly recall that the famous Hamley's toy emporium in London had (in the late 70s ' early 80s) an expensive and very realistic astronaut costume in the shiny silver Mercury / Gemini style, complete with helmet. I think it came in different sizes and therefore might have fit a slim and shortish man just as well as a tall 12 year old boy - which I suppose would be considered the upper age limit for such things, as cosplay etc. had yet to be invented. In other words, such outfits were available even without having to resort to NASA / Navy surplus and might be indistinguishable from the real thing at a distance in the right conditions.

Wasn't one of the explanations of the 'Welsh Triangle' humanoid sightings something to do with firefighting or military protective clothing being misused for laughs?
 
Andy X said:
I can't find any visual evidence online, but I clearly recall that the famous Hamley's toy emporium in London had (in the late 70s ' early 80s) an expensive and very realistic astronaut costume in the shiny silver Mercury / Gemini style, complete with helmet. I think it came in different sizes and therefore might have fit a slim and shortish man just as well as a tall 12 year old boy - which I suppose would be considered the upper age limit for such things, as cosplay etc. had yet to be invented. In other words, such outfits were available even without having to resort to NASA / Navy surplus and might be indistinguishable from the real thing at a distance in the right conditions.

Wasn't one of the explanations of the 'Welsh Triangle' humanoid sightings something to do with firefighting or military protective clothing being misused for laughs?
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I'd forgotten until you mentioned costumes that you could also buy this material by the roll (although probably not fire proof) even in the 60's. My mother used to make spacemen outfits for the local kids from it. Twas relatively expensive though.
 
After 46 years, an Alabama firefighter pops up to tell us the truth. How nice!
 
Seriously, there must be a real life Gully Bull who can check this out. It would be gold if it was accurate.
 
EnolaGaia said:
Robert Darnell, a local native who was in the community at the time of the incident, wrote a set of memoirs entitled Biscuits & Frecrackers: True Stories from the Cotton Country:

https://books.google.com/books?id=cQ2MCwAAQBAJ&q=Greenhaw#v=snippet&q=Greenhaw&f=false

... in which he (Darnell) describes a separate hoax he and his brothers contrived during the October 1973 UFO mania as well as alluding to local knowledge that personnel from the fire department had perpetrated the incident as a hoax on Greenhaw.
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interesting indeed :abduct:
 
i 've read & heard that the falkville alien was a stunt / practical joke that got outta hand ( seems like everyone in falkville knows who pulled the stunt ) . also , i read somewhere that greenshaw allowed mufon to examine the negatives & mufon found them legit , free of tampering . they also found what appeared to be ufo like objects on the negatives that dont show up in the pics ? . either it was a practical joke or the real thing , cant be both . whatever happened to the negatives ? , i wonder if mufon has them or greenshaw . i'd like to here from greenshaw if he is still alive today
 
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