The McMinnville UFO

Wed 30 June 2010

The McMinnville UFO

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 19:16

On the 26th of June 1950 a photograph was published in LIFE magazine depicting a UFO. Evelyn Trent saw the unidentified flying object hovering in the sky over her farmhouse in McMinnville, Oregon. She told her husband, Paul Trent, to come outside and take a look at the slow-moving, metallic disk-shaped object. Paul Trent thought it was some type of secret military plane and took two photographs.

McMinnville UFO Photos 50 Years Later – Still A Mystery

Paul Trent may have had photos of the biggest news story ever to hit McMinnville, but all he did was put the camera away. Later, after finishing off the roll of film on Mother’s Day, he took it to a drug store on McMinnville’s Third Street to be developed.

“The reason I thought they were authentic was that the negatives were in the middle of the roll,” said Powell from his retirement home in Idaho Falls, Idaho. “He’d taken some more pictures so that he’d make sure he got his money’s worth when he developed the things.”

He hung one of the photograph where it was spotted by a local reporter who publicised the event and the images. This was the beginning of a 60 year debate regarding the legitimacy of the UFO sighting.

After LIFE published the photograph, someone misplaced the negatives, giving rise to conspiracy theories and more. 17 years later, the negatives were found and analysed. To date, no one has managed to prove the authenticity beyond a doubt nor show convincing evidence that it is a hoax.

The photographs are still regularly cited as the best evidence of the existence of UFOs and intelligent life in space. McMinnville now host an annual UFO Festival to commemorate the event.

…and on the 26th of June 2010, these intriguing and thought-provoking photographs prove that, despite the doubters, there is intelligent life on Twitter. Take a look at these Saturday scenes from talented photographers all over the world: