How We Staged a UFO Hoax | Fakes, Frauds & Scammers

In 2009, residents in a New Jersey town started seeing UFOs. Was it aliens, the government, or something more sinister? Actually, it was two guys, some flares and balloons. But that didn’t stop the 911 calls rolling in, and the media picking up on the story.
Eventually, Joe Rudy and Chris Russo revealed their hoax to the public, saying it was a "social experiment". They were sentenced to community service for "disorderly conduct" but to this day say they would do it all again. We sat down with Joe and Chris to hear how (and why) they perpetrated the hoax.
In a series of candid interviews, Fakes, Frauds & Scammers relives some of the most audacious scams and fraudulent stunts of our time from the mouths of the perpetrators themselves. Whether it’s money, fame or simply an addiction to lying, we find out what motivated these tricksters and whether the highs, lows and ramifications were worth it in the end.
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[@UzumakiKhanHOKAGE]

“Someone even mentioned Al Qaeda”😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@littledudefromacrossthestr5755]

That had me dying 😂 😂

[@pythonner3644]

when those people were born: Their Mom:- it was al Qaeda

[@kishascape]

The Bush/Obama era was some of the most brain dead people

[@ChristianF15cher]

I love it when people ask me “do you believe in UFOs?”. I respond with “Are you asking if I believe that there are flying objects that are not identified?”

[@MariamPassionfruit]

Haha, also, unrelated, I love your profile picture-

[@YouOnUsPath]

I love it when people ask me "do you believe in UFOs?" I respond with "are you asking if I believe that there are flying objects that are military programs since operation paperclip?"

[@domantasdziakonis9629]

I've never heard anyone ask that. Peolle actually ask that? That's like asking do you believe in a McDonald's Big Mac while sitting in the McDonald's drive thru getting ready to order haha

[@神林しマイケル]

@@domantasdziakonis9629 People ask that because the term UFO has always been assimilated with them being "aliens". So much so that the pentagon now regards it as UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon).

[@1utube01]

Intelligent life probably exists, but not enough time has passed since we have started sending radio waves for anyone to detect us. 100 years is less than a blip of space where distances are measured in thousands of light years. The galaxy is too vast for us to coexist at the same time to meet. They are extinct, or we will be extinct, before we get that chance.

[@lehampton1]

I was making “UFOs” back in 1969 with dry cleaner plastic bags, plastic straws and birthday candles with strips of aluminum hanging off the bottom. My hometown had a SAC USAFB B-52 base and their radar picked them up. They also floated directly over the high school football game during halftime. There were articles written in the local newspaper with comments from the AFB PR officer. I was never caught and did this same stunt three more times with fewer results.

[@raulmachado182]

Nerd

[@parslowpongbert1566]

That’s a lot of wasted effort. Why not simply get Rupert Murdoch/Putin on board and their disinformation network will convince hundreds of millions of gullible people across the globe. You wouldn’t even need to fake any images, they’d just show an old frisbee or wheel hub cap and ppl would believe it was aliens.

[@mimo3151]

Did you make the UFO that was confirmed by the PENTAGON? Lol. Yeah. Didn't think so.

[@uranuuss]

good job mr alien you think we believe you? We wont lose this fight! I will do whatever i can to save earth and protect everyone.

[@Duo-eu4st]

@@mimo3151 pretty sure that is faked also lol

[@chrisw.4318]

Good to know my guy is still wearing his sock hat 12 years later.

[@Zilla__man]

Too hip

[@selfishstockton6123]

Who?

[@strhopper1]

Came here to say the same thing

[@0Freguenedy0]

Dude still wearing it with white hair

[@jaliscogrill8519]

He’s still wearing the beanie on his Grindr profile pic too

[@danielk8906]

"People were seeing what they wanted to see." Is the truest statement in the whole segment.

[@appletherapy]

What else do you expect? People descirbed spy planes as alien.. it didn’t mean black hawk planes didn’t exist. It would be foolish for Russian soldiers to dismiss black bird spy planes when they saw them.

[@danielk8906]

I expect people to be rational... but here we are.

[@lekisha48]

@@danielk8906Wow, was this predictive programming for last weeks "spy balloon" series? Funny how they used balloons even then..now they can trick people with collective flying drones!

[@beyoncesdaughter9128]

Yes the most deceiving one 🤣

[@interupted]

Yes peopne are hoping to see somthing real so I would never hoax them .. Anybody thats looked up real research there is absoutely real eaents out way rore eaents that have a normal explanation I think the answer isnt ho hoax out to support lagitimate research ultira ely im glad people can decide for themselves

[@alkh2624]

funny thing about flares they are well capable of causing a forest fire ...

[@boostedmiraculix]

thats not funny at all :(

[@malakapousti7658]

@@boostedmiraculix flares are timed, extinguished before hitting the ground, signed Army guy, Educate yourself.

[@Rolo-Tony]

@@malakapousti7658 lol dummy, you ever hear about road flairs?

[@Rolo-Tony]

@@malakapousti7658 "educate yourself"

[@walterismydog7284]

Cool man👍

[@lususlove]

They’re lucky this didn’t cause a fire. The baby gender reveal couple is facing 20 years for doing stupid stuff like this.

[@melikebigboomboom]

The gender reveal couple basically lit off fireworks in the middle of a fireban. These guys lit off flares in NJ. The risk is not comparable.

[@MrShitthead]

@@melikebigboomboom the risk is very comparable actually, it’s just much worse what the couple did. One of those helium balloons could’ve popped prematurely and dropped a hot flare (basically fireworks) into some dry shrubs, or even on someone’s property and really fucked up someone’s day. Don’t get me wrong, I love this prank, but the fire hazard is real.

[@melikebigboomboom]

@@MrShitthead the threat and damage are not comparable, as evidenced by the two ecosystems' very different histories with wildfires. NJ has had deadly wildfires, but the conditions that lead to such catastrophic incidents are much less common than out west, where the aforementioned gender reveal happened.

[@2011americanman]

Could’ve messed with a small plane as well. Useless prank. We don’t need anymore proof people are stupid.

[@mesostinky72]

This literally flew right over me. Both me and my parents saw it from opposite side of town. This is crazy to see this 12 years later.

[@kishascape]

The one time it actually was just weather balloons lmao. I have a high powered flashlight, i should come up with something like this.

[@Tetris521]

I love how crazy people are. Its an amazing example showing that people just make up crazy stories and others believe them. Then it blows up and ends up on a ufo hunter show.

[@TheRealOfficialWiseOwl]

Listen to me very carefully and listen to me well. I’ve seen a ufo the size of 5 stadiums hover over the ocean off the coast of Honduras. Rusty metallic spaceship straight out of this world.

[@CANControlGRAFFITI]

Pretty much our whole history is bullshit.

[@adityapratapsingh2518]

@@TheRealOfficialWiseOwl lol

[@user-mq9lx9im3x]

@@TheRealOfficialWiseOwl such cap 🧢

[@adityapratapsingh2518]

Bro people these day buy any bs available on internet. Lizard people Ufo Illuminati Climate change is hoax Flat earth Seriously just give them your theory with a pinch of broken logic they will agree to you.

[@Robocop_1987]

5:27 , these guys must have seen this on TV and probably died from laughing .

[@danteduzit4299]

I love your name robocop is the best

[@Robocop_1987]

@@danteduzit4299 I'm a big Robocop fan of the original not the new one .

[@danteduzit4299]

@@Robocop_1987 Same

[@mspaint93]

Idk why people are so mad at this. It's funny to see some goofy fluff once in a while.

[@DuckieMcduck]

The police calls and hysteria it caused was damaging. "White hat misdemeanor" is not a thing in the american justice system.

[@grnpeepers2683]

Mad respect actually! And I thought we pulled off some great capers when I was younger, but this wins hands down! Lol! 🎈🧨🎈🧨🛸😄

[@koffinkat666]

I will tell you why it's not funny, People like me who have literally had a life changing UFO sighting do not think this is very funny. I have seen REAL Ufo's not this fake bullshit, These guys are going to help people stay dumb and skeptical.

[@mspaint93]

@@koffinkat666 Lmfao mfers see a plane and think they've ascended

[@koffinkat666]

@@mspaint93 You have no idea what I saw? Did I tell you what I saw? How can you tell me what I saw? You must be a psychic! Well I don't believe in psychics.....Convince me.

[@Kelpwoud]

Lmao this is such a timely piece with their back then criticism on (social) media consumption. "Here is proof" yet people will still say "nope that's not good enough" while also proclaiming they were government agents.

[@JesusChrist2000BC]

Both the far left and the far right have this problem. The left with anything related to Trump and the right with anything related to government conspiracy. The truth as usual always lies somewhere in the middle. Social media is making people insane on both sides.

[@PartnershipsForYou]

@@JesusChrist2000BC were the left being the idiots and saying that trump/gates would “microchip” them? Were the left the ones that stormed the capital? You’re trying not to be bipartisan but it’s just not sound.

[@surgec]

Nah the right is pure conspiracy theory and will only listen to Trump's word

[@Baychimo]

@@JesusChrist2000BC Both have, but one side has a few crazies that may go overboard on occasion, but the "craziness" is still usually connected to facts (like russia meddling in your election, for example). The other one is almost completely devoured by lies, conspiracies and cult like behaviour, all the way from voter to ex-president. QAnon, pizzagate, attempting to interfere in the election by using force (and then blaming antifa for it), fear of communist takeover, "stolen elections," threatening their own people with death if they don't follow the great leader blindly, supporting corporations/elite (then saying that's what the left does) + thousands of other conspiracies, attacks, threats etc. The truth doesn't quite make it to the middle, in this comparison.

[@Kelpwoud]

@@JesusChrist2000BC "b-b-b-but both sides" is a false argument as if there's a balance in comparing those two. The fascination of left-leaning media with trump wasn't rooted in pumping out falsehoods like these q-anon conspiracies you get to see on right-leaning media nowadays.

[@clichepuffoodie]

Awwww I kinda feel bad for the people who tried to decipher what they saw So much time wasted for them

[@kishascape]

That’s on them for being fools. Also they should’ve released the balloons all at once to make more of a pattern and trick more people.

[@cphthegeek1921]

I am lost for words. Brilliant they pulled it off and the media were like pigs to a trough!

[@FreeAmerican2024]

Kind of like how some got you to put a mask on in your profile picture. Brilliant they pulled it off and the media were like pigs to a trough!

[@nareshbisht7620]

Media is not fools they fools us because it stuffs like these get views or TRP

[@immortalasirpa8117]

@@FreeAmerican2024 Chugged a fifth of Tucker Carlson last night, eh? And now you're here to spew it up? Enough with the death cult nonsense

[@Baychimo]

@@FreeAmerican2024 Just go back to 4chan.

[@FreeAmerican2024]

@@immortalasirpa8117 did your death cult tell you to say that?

[@paulpro1289]

This goes to show that people will believe what they WANT to believe. The truth is just secondary

[@therearenoshortcuts9868]

aye most mental processes are just Cope

[@MarMar-yr3me]

Fax believe what they see

[@charissa6648]

No, these people believed what was presented to them that mimicked real experiences or videos. This isn't even logical thinking. They created a hoax based upon known experiences to convince their audience that these were ufos, and even made them appear like footage that has been documented. Then when their audience believed they were UFOs they called them gullible, basically and revealed it was a hoax. This entire thing was ridiculous and wierd! That's not science or groundbreaking that's deceptive and manipulative. There is a lot of footage that is mistaken and can be identified then their is some that is still unknown. It's that simple.

[@We_Are_All_Vultures]

Your perception is your reality

[@charissa6648]

@@We_Are_All_Vultures Reality is reality and it's not subjective, however, perception is subjective. Perception is is a way of regarding, interpreting or understanding something. Reality, on the other hand, refers to the true state of something that may not be realized by individuals easily. Perception, in simple terms, can be defined as the way an individual thinks. The thinking patterns differ from one individual to another and the way of thinking is decided by several factors. Reality, on the other hand, refers to the true state of something that may not be realized by individuals easily. Reality is not subjective, rather objective truth.

[@TheNotoriousNemo]

I think it's funny, but when they came out, they should have been nervous on camera like they were being told to do it. It would of made a further rabbit hole of conspiracies lmao.

[@grnpeepers2683]

Morse code into the camera.... "Forced to say this".😬😜😅

[@ShatteredbyDecease]

That would be amazing...

[@thegreyavenger2]

Good for them. This was hilarious. People don’t realize that this was actually a UFO. Meaning an UNIDENTIFIED flying object since no one could identify it at that time. Not sure why people synonymously use the term aliens and UFOS.

[@amath_]

Exactly

[@rcchristian2]

The Grey Avenger said _"Not sure why people synonymously use the term aliens and UFOS."_ Very early on in the history of the United States, the government claimed to have captured a downed flying saucer with aliens inside of it. They were lying about the aliens to cover another event that they were trying to hide. A project called... Project Mogul. This project was a high altitude weather balloon that was being used to spy on the Soviet Atomic projects. It was incredibly secret and at the time each country was seeking nuclear capability .. in order to destroy each other. This was of the highest security in the world and one of their projects crashed in Roswell New Mexico (The Roswell incident) and was discovered by local people at the time. The military knew it could not disclose the fact that they were spying on the soviets in regards to nuclear capabilities, so they helped create an elaborate hoax in order to fool the public in to believing it was all aliens. An article was released right away in the newspapers as a cover story and then retracted. It was that aliens were downed and captured in Roswell new Mexico and this spawned tons of mythos regarding UFOs and aliens, which propagated in to the future. Also any story that the military wanted to hide, they could link to aliens, which would throw off many others in to the wrong direction, so they could hide super secret and possibly illegal projects they were working on, from the public. The Roswell incident (which happened in the 40s) took off and started to spawn copy cat situations and fed in to this whole mythos about UFOs... and that they were piloted by little aliens from Zeta Reticuli... 39 light years away. It took on a life of it's own... People started to claim they were abducted by aliens and experimented on. Natural events were linked to UFOs and aliens and literally a hysteria started to form. This played out in all the movies at the time, where UFOS and aliens would take over the world.. and a whole new movie genre was created. People like Betty and Barney Hill produced stories (which I'm sure they thought were real) about being abducted by aliens and taken in to space ships. (in the 60s) Many others started to fake actually craft for money purposes or other purposes like fame. Crop circles came about (probably the first incidents were caused by natural phenomenon known as plasma ball lightening) and then people started to recreate them and link them to this UFO lore... this was all going on in the 60s... At first the crop circles were just one little circle... and then two... and then grew to enormous sizes... and complexity. There were groups of people (Called the crop circle makers) that were talking to each other and going around creating very elaborate circles with mathematics in it... all faked and linked to the UFO mythos. Cattle mutilations started happening. These cattle mutilations could have been from meat companies, tracking mad cow disease outbreaks, or it also could have been from certain aspects of the military trying to track our food supply to find out if it was contaminated by underground nuclear testing that was being performed illegally and they wanted hidden. It could have been a combination of things. There were black helicopters that were cited near these cattle mutilations and this is how the Men In Black mythos came up about the military was half alien half man and there were alleged secret underground bases where humans were doing experiments on captured aliens and cross breeding them with men. (this was all happening in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Many things were being linked to the UFO phenomenon. Then came the Dulce base of horrors in the 80s. UFO proponents were claiming there were underground bases where they were doing experiments on aliens and had a whole city under the ground. These bases were linked up and you could travel underground spanning all of the United states if you wanted to and had access to them. It was proven to be a hoax as well propagated by a guy name William Cooper (Bill Cooper) Then came disinformation (in order to make money and the government were still using cover stories in order to hide their own projects) which influenced the public. Paul Bennewitz was fooled by William Moore (a prominent UFO-logist) and Richard Doty (who worked for the US air force) in order to hide projects. It became so serious that Bennewitz almost committed suicide and ended up in a mental hospital. See Mirage Men. It is about how the US government used mythology to cover up their advanced technology. Richard Doty, a retired Special Agent who worked for the US Air Force Office of Special Investigation. The military wants the public to believe that UFOs are alien in origin and they use this as a cover story to cover up the projects they are working on. This is also egged on by people who are trying to make money, and other gullible people. Then came Bob Lazar and his claims about Area 51 and he was a fraud. John Lear came out, Stanton Friedman and the hoaxed MJ-12 documents, and Lazar claiming he worked on secret alien craft which helped build the mythos of Area 51. Just before Lazar made his claims, he was filing for personal bankruptcy and he was a total fraud. Then came things like the book communion... about alien abduction.. and Dr. John Mak using hypnosis to try to regress alien abduction victims in to confessing about getting taken and experimented on by these little gray aliens from Zeta Reticuli... all of it was hoaxed and wishful thinking from people. Mak was leading on his subjects and the hypnosis was performed in really bad conditions, further adding to UFOs mythos. Then in the 90s, congressman Stephen Schiff of New Mexico, went on a campaign to get the documents on Roswell released (they were blocked by the military) and under the freedom of information act) it was finally released that the Roswell incident was Project Mogul... but at this time, the UFO mythos had a life of itself... nothing could stop it. Things like the Roswell alien abduction video came out (which many believed for some time) from Ray Santilli... looking to profit off this. All a hoax. My point about all of this is, that this was a manufactured psychosis coming from many angles and has an incredibly rich history of deception which basically spawned mythos for decades and will so in to the future. This UFOs = aliens has been hard wired in to our consciousness, intentionally and unintentionally through many decades of repetition and deliberation for many different purposes. It's coming from movies, from our military, from real people who are gullible, some trying to make money and profit, from all avenues of our society... This is what I've learned from studying UFO mythos since about the 80s...

[@thegreyavenger2]

@@rcchristian2 Wow. Talk about someone who knows how to apply Occam’s razor! Brilliant post my friend!

[@thepandadan]

Well the big implications of most ufo accounts is that they do things beyond human means, if you assume there isn't any secret or unknown commercial or military technology than most assume that it has to be coming from somewhere other than the earth. While many ufo accounts don't show this the ones that do are what leads people to connect the two, and what makes ufo in general such an interesting topic is trying to understand what they are and where they are coming from.

[@thegreyavenger2]

@@thepandadan perhaps however Let’s see the closest star to earth (other then our lovely sun of course) is Proxima Centauri which is approximately 4 light years away. While that might sound close that is approximate 25 TRILLION miles away. Now let’s assume in its Goldilocks zone a planet resides that harbors such intelligent life that can travel at light (6.706e+8 mph) that would take 4 years one way to get to earth unobstructed. Now our friend Einstein said thru relativity that nothing can travel faster then light and that the laws of physics are universal. Therefore it would take 4 years from the near exoplanet to travel to earth at the speed of light. If you want to argue worm holes til the cows come home such things should they exist would be so unstable that any matter going thru them would be at risk of collapse. Therefore I doubt any intelligent species would risk that journey. To quote the late physicist Robert Park "Choose the nearest star; decide how long you're willing to travel, how fast you will need to go to get there in that time, what you will have to take with you, and how many should be in the crew. Make it a one-way suicide mission if you wish. As a final step, calculate the kinetic energy that must be imparted to the spaceship to get you there in that time (one half the mass times the velocity squared.) I suggest you stay away from the relativistic limit; it complicates the calculation and won't help you anyway. The good news is that you will then sleep secure in the knowledge that UFOs from elsewhere in the galaxy are not subjecting humans to hideous experiments." --Bob Park

[@Quickshifter123]

Top phrase out of context “I was having thoughts in my head since 2004 about doing SOMETHING” I feel you my man

[@grandreddithotel8059]

Lol I heard that too. Think I might do something in 5 years.

[@itz_aljk2338]

Asian wedding: *releasing flying lanterns* American neighbors: *UFO!!!* 👽

[@skynoceros_]

When you troll your entire town and the history channel, all at the same time. Legendary.

[@vls3771]

Some time ago my son and friends went into the forest at the back of houses in North Canada placed a wireless speaker with a recording of them making strange screeching sounds then placed speaker up in a tree 40 ft up ....late one night started speaker sounds ....within days it was in the local papers and eyewitnesses said they had seen a YETI in the forest ......Ha Haaaa......people will say anything........

[@MrRecklessryan]

People will believe anything 🤣 that's awsome.

[@elsapoelsapo1821]

God that's great!!!!

[@cchris874]

An off duty commercial airline pilot claims one of the objects suddenly shot eastward towards JFK airport. It should be enough to prove that even experienced witnesses are not reliable when it comes to judging distances at night.

[@UNKNOWN-zb3qm]

Plot twist: A month after the hoax they get abducted

[@UniquelyGeeky]

Epic!! LOL!!!

[@therearenoshortcuts9868]

abducted.... by the FBI rofl

[@RobertAA90]

Jose Chung's from Outer Space. 😉

[@therearenoshortcuts9868]

@@RobertAA90 haha yes someone gets the reference that episode scared the crap out of me when i was a little kid (because it had alien abduction) years later i went back to "confront my fears" only to realize it was a joke episode

[@privatenoneofyourbusiness5292]

Same with the Bigfoot Patterson-Gimlin movie; Bob Heironimus admitted it was him in a suit and Philip Morris admitted he made the suit and yet Bf-believers say Bob and Philip are the liars and that this movie is the best evidence for the existence of Bigfoot.

[@elsapoelsapo1821]

Thank you.. 🤣😂🤣😂I love it

[@jeromepaul1300]

This is why if I dont see something in the daylight, I don't believe it

[@animal_shorts1]

Think twice 😂

[@harrywhite7639]

So stars are an illusions to you?

[@analyticalmindset]

@@harrywhite7639 you know what he meant lol

[@alanlees84]

jerome want to see ufos in daylight well 9/11 was in daylight and ufos disc and triangular craft were there as well go to alan lees channel you will believe why because it can not be debunked it comes from usa news coverage not home made leave comment fake or real ?

[@HostileGG]

Vice : "How we staged a UFO hoax" Guy on the phone : "i see some balloons/parachutes in the sky" Yep, you definitly got them Vice !

[@mason4683]

Nothing like letting extreme fire hazards out into the wild! So wholesome

[@jabe6935]

The History Channel clips 😭😂

[@badensnaxx5804]

I'd say that edition of ufo hunters didn't age well, but none of them do.

[@WastedTalent-]

And the History Channel still plays the episode.

[@gallogal7174]

The scammers coming into a ufo seeking community like: “yo lets fake a ufo and tell ppl to pay us 50 bucks to see it”

[@madphilip12]

Local legends

[@rush437]

everyone has a camera in there pocket now, a camera on every building, cameras on street lights, cameras everywhere and still no clear clean close up pics of a ufo.

[@adityapratapsingh2518]

Cause they are probably not real

[@JesusChrist2000BC]

Because UFOs are nonsense. Also none have ever crashed. None have ever had a malfunction. None have apparently ever been seen from the International Space Station. Etc etc. List goes on. Its nonsense.

[@KenjiMapes]

There is a broader lesson here for “true believers” of the improbable & “conspiracy theorists” They will believe anything & use every form of bias or delusion to keep the mirage alive

[@alidelatierra]

The same is too be said for people who never question anything

[@mugin11223344]

There is nothing in the physics we know that prevent Aliens form being here. Earth has "advertised" that there is life here for over 3 billion years, so if anyone has pointed a telescope that was large enough in our direction, they would not be in doubt that there is life here. Try to Google Self-replicating Von Neumann probe. The technology it requires to make Self-replicating Von Neumann probe, we are already working on.

[@alidelatierra]

@@mugin11223344 yea it’s a great mystery and to say anything as “scientific fact or certainty” is a misunderstanding of science. We don’t know. We simply make assumptions of what we are capable of observing at this point in time

[@mugin11223344]

​@softwhere30 Pentagon confirms that something is flying around that they cannot identify.

[@kevinbbadd]

Cia disinfo

[@NET-POSITIVE]

That was the smallest 4 to 5 foot tanks i have ever seen! More like they were 2 foot tanks!

[@grnpeepers2683]

That's what my observation was as well.

[@lc9072]

It could have been down an incline. Easy

[@ryanlong8967]

This is why no credibility is given to any sightings

[@ryanlong8967]

They should’ve been released that report ages ago. And force feeding me little bits of info. Like a 70s tech FLIR black white grainy video. Like they don’t have better footage of this. They have been playing us all along

[@ryanlong8967]

We had our proof long ago. Kecksburg pa raf rendelsham forest. And many others

[@pwoods100]

Skepticism: An American's worst nightmare.

[@scottc336]

A part of me is happy they exposed how quickly people jump to conclusions in excitement. Then there's another part of me that's pissed at them for reducing the credibility of real ufo footage. Unfortunately some people are just as willing to believe that everything is a hoax.

[@RealMonkeyB]

Real UFO footage meaning what? That it's really unidentified? Idoit. M. B. x

[@dethhollow]

I've literally never seen any footage of a supposed alien spacecraft that was even remotely convincing. It's always just lights in the sky, just like this, or a blurry smudge, which could be literally anything. And if alien spacecraft are real then you'd think that someone somewhere would get a better shot of one, right? I mean, look at how many people got footage of this hoax as it happened. This should lessen the credibility of other ufo footage because it shows just how easy it is to fake a set of lights in the sky and just how quick people are to make up facts and let the story get out of hand.

[@Quixotic5666]

True

[@anima6035]

Agreed

[@IhateAlot718]

There are no alien ufos, but there are ufos in respect of unknown, not alien in nature.

[@mrspam-u2p]

I always thought the Phoenix lights was big nothing burger. They looked very similar to this. I never understood why that got so much attention.

[@jdagreat4595]

This is history in a nutshell. People making up lies and turn them into truths

[@ComeAndSee101]

Yup

[@MatthewOfNineveh]

So is none of history true?

[@grnpeepers2683]

@@MatthewOfNineveh We'll never REALLY know now will we?

[@grnpeepers2683]

Bingo!

[@MatthewOfNineveh]

@@grnpeepers2683 I guess? Does anyone REALLY know anything when we capitalize REALLY? I guess not. But I don't live my life pretending to know nothing.

[@starduck8014]

We're so desperate for intelligent life

[@changez3336]

If these kids can hoax people with 10 dollars worth of items i can only imagine lol

[@charissa6648]

They didn't hoax anyone rather they manipulates and deceived them based upon real experiences or video evidences that are documented. The people saw what they wanted them to see. It wasn't a hoax..it was manipulation.

[@TheTimeReaper]

The goverments be like

[@normellow]

Vice needs to stick to videos about how drug use is cool.

[@皇帝ScottYee]

I want to see them live stream doing this, and people rejecting that they actually did it.

[@dabcorn]

they will still deny... don't you know it's all part of the cover-up/deflection... :)

[@caigeorgenowicki6886]

there was an episode of a debunking show that replicated a UFO sighting - turned out to be a local skydiving crew that does night jumps with glowsticks for video. The TV crew did the jump with them and had it filmed from the ground. People sent their own footage of the /publicized/ jump to the news.

[@BTCrrc]

People dont want to believe what they see but they want to believe what they imagine.😒

[@gheetuio8640]

welp looks like the phoenix lights guess this explains that one!

[@2011americanman]

Yea they found those lights were going in the direction of the wind.

[@gheetuio8640]

@@2011americanman lmao ofc. I know u commented this a month ago but yea makes sense.

[@dharma_mane]

Anytime I hear someone say aliens I physically cringe. Ufos doesn’t automatically mean aliens.

[@jamesjackson317]

They should have been arrested and thrown in jail for this not just fined. They could have started a fire somewhere. Besides you can see they are flares.Real ufos don't blink on and off like that

[@olssong7941]

"Real" Ufos have no specifics.

[@executivespectre]

@@olssong7941 try to recreate sharp 90 degree turns at around 100,000 mph and coming to a standstill and hovering, if you can, they all UFOs are simply hoaxes.

[@olssong7941]

@@executivespectre What?

[@chaddsinclairofficial]

anyone who fakes anything for publicity should be criminally charged

[@olssong7941]

For?

[@jackcimino8822]

They were fined $250 each and did community service for 2 days

[@howtoglove5672]

These are obviously paid actors.

[@TheOmengod]

Lol

[@megs4193]

The down side is, people who already struggle having really seen these things look stupid. There chances of being believed are cut down to nothing, I think it's awesome to be skeptics, but not at the cost of decent people going on television and having to deal with the fallout of it....just that little girl at school alone could have been bullied mercilessly, you do not know, you absolutely have the right to be skeptics, that's fine. My concern is the people on the ground. That were put on the news probably not even thinking about ufos before you "experiment" I live in Tasmania Australia where people could see a ufo and not really care, I know that from experience at 52, and this happened when I was 19, so 1989 there was no internet, no interest and this wasn't a vague light in the sky, this was a round craft with a beam of light coming out of it in to the water. I was sitting with my mum 6.30pm traffic, I said ..I think that was a ufo...she said it certainly looks like it. 🤷‍♀️ end of story drivers on the bridge absolutely would have seen it, because we first saw it through the bus drivers window, nobody reacted, even we only brought it up again years later. No one cared. Well they never seemed to it's tremendous mistrust and fear that we don't have that makes people hypervigilant. And now there's the internet...people were seeing thank when you young one weren't even a sparkle in your daddy's eye, before me, before my 73 year old mum and before technology was even a thing, when you can reproduce a whole craft that can hover close enough for people to see it and not know what they're looking at in real time, hallelujah 🙌 😉👍😄😄🙂 good try though lads.

[@followtheboat]

People are presented with facts, science and evidence and still they will not be convinced. Sounds familiar.

[@Uprising771]

"those aren't flares! ive served in the army and i know flares when i see them. it had a v formation, it has to be from another planet."

[@AK-pc1gn]

You blind?

[@CyberSystemOverload]

I just laugh at UFO and alien believers. Like flat earthers they cannot be reasoned with. You could launch flare balloons right in front of them and they'll still say the lights in the sky is a mothership from the planet Vega.

[@marsha-madness-super-badness]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@jeremycasper8686]

Why???! This screws up all the real sightings and confuses people

[@olivercharles2930]

There are no real sightings, genius.

[@youngknowledgeseeker]

It’s good to show how easy it is to manufacture these “sightings”. HOWEVER damn do these help discredit the ACTUAL unexplained UFO sightings 😓🥵. Oh well.

[@gtavtheavengergunnerlegend3340]

98 percent can be explained. 2 percent is absolutely real

[@AcapellaFella]

I'm gonna use led lights in my balloons for my hoax.

[@DonMarzzoni]

Genius

[@DonMarzzoni]

Use synchronized lighting too, you can control the timing and color!

[@sashaa6175]

"People see what they wanted to see " Religion in a nutshell

[@utkarsh5138]

True

[@grnpeepers2683]

Yep.

[@lj7169]

Yeah but religion isn't based on actually 'seeing' anything so not sure what analogy you're trying to make

[@JLUXEE]

You are exactly right, that’s how not only religion but our entire reality works besides obvious restrictions. But there are many other things that are in involution with that and that would require a very long precise explanation. Science in its early stages is barely making sense of this, one famous interesting discovery is the double slit experiment.

[@utkarsh5138]

@@lj7169 swap see with believe.

[@Ibrahimovic4life]

Imagine in a few years people stage such a thing hyper realistically with holograph technology (which is already there, see KZbin). That could hoax the whole world

[@IntellectOnly]

In college, my friends used to rent a room under an old church to make music. These guys sing death metal at 2am. A week later theb entire town said the church is haunted .

[@PatchsOhulahan]

6:19 NOTHING is better than a news caster pun!

[@QuasiTraction]

You guys are like the two guys in Glostershire who started making crop circles in corn fields in the 70's. 😆

[@soulsurviver319]

This is why we’re having a hard time trying to get this information and research rolled out seriously because of things like this

[@JustAnotherThisDJ]

exactly

[@grnpeepers2683]

Yep. It's like what "Q" & it's cult did for the truth community. And the qbies played right into their hands w/that psyop. 🙄 Don't let it stop you though, keep going! Peace🕊️😘

[@JustAnotherThisDJ]

@@grnpeepers2683 completely agree. Look what happened to the Q commentary community 🤣 Will never stop, ive witnessed these things up close. Gets very frustrating, NatSec has deliberately muddied the waters on this topic. Look at the snowden powerpoints and then say that isnt happening within the UFO sphere, the worlds most closely guarded secret. Best wishes.

[@WaxPaper]

If anything, stuff like this serves a role AS research. It illustrates just how easy it is for people to see things they didn't see, or remember it wrong, or just plain lie about something they saw. This should be a case study on how human observation fails us.

[@switchoffthelights2542]

just the fact that people can't believe that we're alone in this void universe

[@olivercharles2930]

There is believing aliens are cruising around on earth, but even scientifically speaking the chances of aliens not existing in the larger universe is absurdly slim.

[@SinCityRaider81]

ufo hoaxers: see I told they're fake! Person: thank you misinformation artist.

[@MrCoursair77]

I think this was a very outstanding test social test that people should learn from not everything that glitters is….UFO!

[@Mysticinvestigations]

Has anyone used a drone with fancy lights and sound effect speakers to do a UFO prank?

[@MiggsMultiple]

Still looks more interesting than what the Pentagon released....

[@yakub3962]

Reminds me of the "Russian interference" conspiracy theory

[@uprightape100]

Or the "Stop-The-Steal Bamboo-Ballot" idiot hoax? Or the "Bonespurs will be reinstated in August" hoax?

[@DonMarzzoni]

@@uprightape100 exactly let's keep that same energy 👏👏👏

[@FinnaRealtawk2323]

Notice how the clown had to use a rebuttal that involves an idea that some on the right had in their heads, compared to your example of how the media and bad Dems can push a conspiracy theory into two years of govt investigations and waste millions of tax payers dollars. Yeah, which one was worse?

[@DonMarzzoni]

@@FinnaRealtawk2323 yea its funny how those investigations led to arrests within the trump campaign ie Paul Manafort and Rodger stone. Yet Republicans refuse to investigate the domestic terrorism that took place on January 6th that killed a police officer and destroyed the capital.

[@PartnershipsForYou]

“Twump will be reinstated in Awgust :)” - a person in the advanced stages of Rightwingerism

[@moonfire41]

This is a good test for ufo investigators to see what ufos are NOT.

[@NikMwra90]

did he just say SoCiaL ExPeRiMenT

[@jasondaniels640]

And reading the comments on here, I think it's a pretty accurate description.

[@SandyRiverBlue]

I once followed a UFO for close to an hour in my car only to have to reach my apartment. There was a school soccer pitch behind my home and at the time there was a real market for amateur sports on the cable networks. What it ended up being was a Goodyear blimp that was hired to film a semifinal game for an over 40s league.

[@FinnaRealtawk2323]

If you purposely do something to fool people because you know it will fool them, what’s the surprise? Of course people are gonna think bright lights in the sky at night is a bit not right. Who the hell wouldnt? It’s like jumping out from behind a door to scare someone, and then calling them a fool for getting scared. Pointless.

[@Howdy8x]

EXACTLY !!! good point made clear .

[@FlyingAce1016]

Not pointless its to get people to stop believing in ufos being aliens. Life probably exist in the universe but its so vast they are definitely not here.

[@FinnaRealtawk2323]

@@FlyingAce1016 Who exactly are they hurting with their belief that lights in the sky could be aliens? Why is that such a terrible and horrible thing to believe?

[@FlyingAce1016]

@@FinnaRealtawk2323 I mean the same could be said about those that believe in religion. Education is a good thing and there is no harm in confronting false beliefs. It's how progress is made and so we all live in the real world.

[@Howdy8x]

@@FlyingAce1016 thats some psychological terrorism / warfare .

[@GatCat]

Producers can’t make a tv show about fake stuff without lying…

[@aaronwalakay]

I don’t trust anyone who wears a beanie like that in 2021

[@ZakkofAllTradesOfficial]

You can trust he's balding. *This comment has been brought to you by a bald guy*

[@StalkedByLosers]

This was a fire hazard. If those balloons popped before the flares went out and came down on someone's property with enough dry brush....😬

[@jessefleming1421]

I’m not not why everyone is so thrilled about this stunt. People like this, with the intention of making the news, make everyone lose credibility.

[@gaylonm.weasel4669]

I think this was super interesting because even though it was thankfully open fake news but it does prove in a way that anyway can get news out atleast

[@husseymangtv]

This is probably half of all the UFO sightings people see

[@alkh2624]

why not all...

[@tatchik77]

He's bent over filling the balloon from that "4 & a half - 5 foot tall" tank...that would make him about ten feet tall! 🤔

[@mrbobo86]

These guys should have gone to jail for this

[@roberth1700]

Hi Steve, I really cant talk right now. Ooohooohhh

[@jbeemz5554]

"helium tanks 4.5 - 5ft tall" yet tanks is lower than his knee

[@88tylor]

In all fairness it doesn't even look like a UFO lol

[@enesdapo4278]

Fun fact, it is a UFO until you identify it

[@88tylor]

@@enesdapo4278 Just because there is a light in the sky doesn't mean its "flying" it could be literally floating just like in this "hoax".

[@larky368]

I would have just said "So there are lights in the sky. Not being able to explain what they are is NOT evidence that they are aliens."

[@bifemen2]

Looks like the type of the thing aliens would do to cover up future sightings 👀

[@magnoliamike]

It’s amazing what people will believe. Too much ancient aliens on TV LOL 👽 📺

[@dcu21]

OMG i remember this from UFO hunters! High school days!

[@BigdadiSixty9GTC]

Plot twist..... Aliens butt probed this guy after this documentary 🤣

[@deeb3272]

Absolute madlaaaad!!

[@polishus8022]

I’m laughing. Bring the alien invasion already. I need a new light-show.

[@bloodmoneyhistory6845]

Who tf said Al- Qaueda😭😭

[@victorsupreme214]

I fake a pooh every day at work so I can have a cigarette and watch TikTok

[@thedreamtime3624]

Shut up.. just shut up no one wants to read what you have to write.

[@victorsupreme214]

@@thedreamtime3624 You back on the pipe?

[@louisgoldberg1755]

Social experiment or not, sensor data and trained US Air Force pilots say these things are out there. In the entire course of history this phenomenon persists. I've never seen a uap nor a 🛸 with my own eyes but I still tend to believe we are not alone and we may be being visited.

[@beer1for2break3fast4]

I have been within 30 ft of a brilliant ball of light about 2 ft in diameter that flew down over a bridge and then levelled off a few feet over the water and flew downstream.

[@tyronejay5510]

This should be a movie

[@Kurtos25]

The History Channel exposed!

[@hdgpapa6875]

A judge brought them back to earth LOL

[@disabledbeats]

Vice are more disabled than me, and that’s saying something.

[@TheMessenger012]

We are too smart now we look stupid...

[@03stmlax]

This dude has one of the most punch-to-the-face inducing personalities

[@tonythetiger1600]

Why u h8 on the guy he's just having fun

[@christopherbartel]

These guys should work for the CIA.