With the upcoming release of previously classified unidentified flying object (UFO) documents to Congress due to take place very soon,aliens are so hot right now. Footageauthenticated by the Pentagonhas been released, Obama has weighed in, and now you have your chance to get your own little piece of "alien" history.
Aframe fromfamous footage of an "alien autopsy" that supposedly took place at Roswell, New Mexico, is to go up for auction as a non-fungible token (NFT). The footage is some of the most infamous "alien" footage out there, and has been referenced in episodes of TheX-files and Seinfeld.
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The 17 minutes of footage was first released in 1995 by London-based video producer Ray Santilli, who claimed he had received it from a retired US military cameraman, while he was attempting to obtain footage of Elvis Presley. The video supposedly showed a dead alien with a gaping wound in its leg being dissected by scientists following the crash of a "flying saucer" near Roswell in 1947.
The footage caused a big stir when it was released in a Fox television documentary titled Alien Autopsy: Fact or fiction?hosted by Jonathan Frakes (best known for his role as Commander William Rikerin Star Trek).
For years, the footage was believed to be real by many UFO enthusiasts, despitethe pretty shonky-looking alien involved and lack of confirmation. With a lot of attention being paid to the footage, several participants came forward to admit that the video was not authentic.
Spyros Melaris, a filmmaker and magician, admitted that heand others had used meat from a butcher, medical equipment props from a theater, and faked the autopsy in a London flat. According to Melaris, a friend who worked in special effects on Doctor Whocreated the alien, stuffing cow gizzards, a leg of lamb, andanimal brains into a latex suit that had been molded on his own 10-year-old son.
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Later, Ray Santilli himself would admit that the footage had been staged, though he insisted he had made it to "recreate" authentic footage he hadviewed himself inthe early 1990s.
“In 1993 or 1994 we saw the footage of the autopsy in its original form and brought it back to the UK. Within that year or so the footage had completely deteriorated. The only thing that was left was a few frames that we could use as reference," Santilli told Dread Central.
"What we did was restore the original footage frame-by-frame over a very long period of time. We set about a program that was just simply restoring what was very damaged film," adding "What we did was a restoration. It wasn’t a hoax. It was a carefully constructed restoration of the original work.”
In a documentary hosted by UK presenter Eamonn Holmes, Santilli would add that the autopsy had also usedraspberry jam and chicken entrails to get the look right, before disposing of the alien body in bins across London. A manthat was filmed supposedly verifyingthat he had shot the footage was revealed to be a homeless man they had found in Los Angeles, whom they had filmed in a motel.
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The NFT is now on auction on NFT auction site Rarible. The press release notes that in 2001 a report was submitted to the Pentagon byCIA scientist Kit Green which stated“the Alien Autopsy film/video is real, the alien cadaver is real, and the cadaver seen in the film/video is the same as the photos Kit saw at the 1987/88 Pentagon briefing," and that tissue from the alien wasstored at Walter-Reed Armed Forces Institute for Pathology Medical Museum in Washington D.C.
Fellow "reconstructor" Melaris does not appear to approve of the sale of the NFT, believing it to be misleading to claim that it has been "authenticated" by the CIA, as that is not the case. He goes as far as to say that there was no alien autopsy, suggesting that he at no point saw any "original" footage during the "reconstruction".
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If real, the actual footage of the autopsy is not on sale. What you can buy here is a frame of the reconstruction of a 1945 alien autopsy someone has claimed to have viewed in 1992, which was shot in a flat inCamden Town, London, and involved rummaging around in a pig's brain and various animal entrails. An absolute bargain at $1,184,399.96, I'm sure you'll agree.
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