Ep 186: Alien Autopsy? Part 1 — Astonishing Legends (2024)

“I come from a different school of thought, which is the psychology of magic, which is why this film was possible. It isn't showing you what you see, it's showing you what you think you saw and you believing what you think you saw.”

– Spyros Melaris

Indeed, there is no shortage of debatable evidence and probable hoaxes when it comes to the subject of UFOs and aliens. Yet as with any cultural phenomenon, there are those prime examples that rise to the top to become forever cemented into our collective consciousness. One such artifact is a 17-minute black-and-white film that became so iconic it is merely, and famously known only as "Alien Autopsy." The film sequence purported to show government or military Medical Examiners performing an autopsy on an alien lifeform supposedly recovered along with debris from an equally famous event, the 1947 Roswell UFO crash. One could argue that the film has become more well-known than the incident upon which it was supposedly based. The first public screening of the film occurred on May 5, 1995, in a small theater at the Museum of London. The organizer of the event who had possession of the film at the time, a music and television producer named Ray Santilli, had invited the Press, UFOlogists, and even clergy members to witness the extraordinary footage to generate buzz and controversy. Accomplishing both aims, news outlets around the world picked up on the story. But the biggest sensation sparked on August 28, of that year, when Fox Television aired a documentary Special featuring the footage titled,Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction. The Special was re-broadcast two more times, with each one generating millions of more viewers. The backstory Santilli stated then was that he purchased the footage from a retired military cameraman who shot the film during the actual autopsy at the Roswell Army Air Field. However, just before the release of a 2006 British comedy calledAlien Autopsy, which dramatized the story of the events surrounding the film, Santilli admitted that the film he and his partner Gary Shoefield released was a recreation of the original footage he acquired in 1992. He claims that in the time he first viewed the 22 original reels and the 1995 release, the film deteriorated so severely that his team needed to recreate the shots based on what he had seen. But Santilli also insists that they spliced frames from the original footage into the film they released – that an authentic, 1947 autopsy film existed. But that is his story, and as we all know, there are always more sides to one. Enter tonight's guest, magician and media producer Spyros Melaris. Spyros has a convincing story of his own, that he and his friend, sculptor and Special Effects artist John Humphreys created the film and everything seen in it – that there is no authentic autopsy film. Whatever you may decide after hearing part one of our interview with Spyros, one thing is sure: the Alien Autopsy film captured the imagination of the world and might be one of the greatest hoaxes of all time.

• The full, Alien Autopsy film by itself, on Spyros’ YouTube channel

• The original FOX television special Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction? with Jonathan Frakes on Amazon Prime

• Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction? on YouTube

• Spyros’ story segment for the BBC One’s The One Show on YouTube

• Spyros’ website for his involvement in the Alien Autopsy film

• Spyros Melaris presents the “Alien Autopsy 2019 Tour” promo

• Spyros’ YouTube channel page

• The Alien Autopsy episode of the British TV show, Eamonn Investigates, Part 1 of 4

• The Alien Autopsy episode of the British TV show, Eamonn Investigates, Part 2 of 4

• The Alien Autopsy episode of the British TV show, Eamonn Investigates, Part 3 of 4

• The Alien Autopsy episode of the British TV show, Eamonn Investigates, Part 4 of 4

• “Roswell ‘alien autopsy’ - full truth about 'jellified brains and body parts' emerges” from the Express 9-27-2017

• “Is this a REAL alien? Claims this is a ‘genuine1947 Roswell alien autopsy image” from the Express 9-28-2017

• “Is this a REAL ALIEN? Shock new twist in Roswell 'alien autopsy' case” from the Express 9-29-2017

• “Ray Santilli, Gary Shoefield Talk the Real Alien Autopsy and the New Film of the Same Name” on DreadCentral.com

• Ray Santilli on Wikipedia

• Sculptor and Special Effects artist, John Humphreys on IMDb

• The Alien Autopsy film entry on Wikipedia

• The Roswell UFO incident on Wikipedia

• Hollywood Special Effects legend Stan Winston

• Esteemed Hollywood cinematographer Allen Daviau

• The Bell & Howell 16mm “Filmo” motion picture camera

Location:

The northwest London, England neighborhood of Rochester Square, Camden Town where it’s claimed the Alien Autopsy was filmed in an empty “flat” or apartment.

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CREDITS:

Episode 186: Alien Autopsy? Part 1.Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2020 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.