The first seven photos in the National Archives’ brand new “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection” (UAPRC) show seven different camera angles of the quasi-famous and cheesy-looking UFO image above. A mechanic named Paul Villa shot the lot of them near Albuquerque in 1963.
“Clearly a hoax,” states researcher Rich Hoffman with the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies. “Hubcap shaped objects thrown in the air. Paul Villa claimed that three beings came out of these.” Hoffman’s verdict reflects the broad and longstanding consensus on the Villa pix, but you’d never know it here. The National Archives and Records Administration’s threadbare cutlines make no mention of the controversy and offer no explanation pro or con; instead, they merely let the images, uh, breathe.
But here’s the question: What are Villa’s photos doing in the UAPRC category labeled “Record Group 255: Records of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration”? How come there aren’t any actual NASA-generated photos here? Villa’s pictures are the sum total of the images in this category. Did he work for NASA? (No.)
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