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{{about|the original footage|the 2006 feature film based on events surrounding it|Alien Autopsy (film)}}
{{Short description|1995 television film}}
{{about|the original footage|the 2006 feature film based on events surrounding it|Alien Autopsy (2006 film)}}
[[File:Alien_Autopsy_Fact_or_Fiction_vhs_cover.jpg|thumb|right|VHS cover of ''Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction'']]
{{more citations needed|date=May 2014}}


'''''Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction''''' is a 1995 [[pseudo-documentary]] containing grainy black and white footage of a [[hoax]]ed alien [[autopsy]].<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|2001|p=219}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Korff|1997|pp=203-217}}</ref> In 1995, film purporting to show an alien autopsy conducted shortly after the [[Roswell incident]] was released by British entrepreneur [[Ray Santilli]].<ref name="Frank2023p1101" /> The footage aired on television networks around the world.<ref name="saf">{{Scientific American Frontiers |8 |2}}</ref><ref name="Frank2023p1101">{{harvnb|Frank|2023|p=1101}}</ref> [[Fox television]] broadcast the purported autopsy, hosted by [[Jonathan Frakes]], on August 28, 1995, under the title ''Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction'', and re-broadcast it twice, each time to higher ratings.<ref name="New York Times">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/26/business/fox-s-point-man-for-perversity-world-s-scariest-programmer-starring-mike-darnell.html?pagewanted=all |title=Fox's Point Man For Perversity |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 26, 2000 |first1=Alex |last1=Kuczynski |first2=Bill |last2=Carter |access-date=April 23, 2010}}</ref> The footage was also broadcast on UK's [[Channel 4]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collections Search {{!}} BFI {{!}} British Film Institute |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150444668 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181101015724/http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150444668 |archive-date=2018-11-01 |website=collections-search.bfi.org.uk}}</ref> and repackaged for the home video market. The program was an overnight sensation,<ref name="Jose1">{{Harvnb|Levy|Mendlesohn|2019|p=32}}</ref> with ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine declaring that the film had sparked a debate "with an intensity not lavished on any home movie since the [[Zapruder film]]".<ref name=Time>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983764-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091216074850/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983764-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 16, 2009 |title=Autopsy or Fraud-topsy? |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |author=Corliss, Richard |author-link=Corliss, Richard |date=November 27, 1995 |access-date=April 23, 2010}}</ref>
The '''alien autopsy''' is a 17-minute black-and-white film supposedly depicting a secret medical examination or autopsy of an [[extraterrestrial being|alien]] by the [[United States military]].<ref name="DR">Barton, Steve (September 30, 2010). [http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/19884/ray-santilli-gary-shoefield-talk-the-real-alien-autopsy-and-the-new-film-of-the-same-name/ "Ray Santilli, Gary Shoefield Talk the Real Alien Autopsy and the New Film of the Same Name"]. [[Dread Central]].</ref> It was released in 1995 by [[London]]-based entrepreneur [[Ray Santilli]]. He presented it as an authentic [[autopsy]] on the body of an alien recovered from the [[Roswell UFO incident|1947 crash of a "flying disc" near Roswell]], New Mexico. The film footage was allegedly supplied to him by a retired military cameraman who wished to remain anonymous.<ref name="DR"/>


The program was thoroughly debunked. The autopsy footage was filmed on an inexpensive set constructed in a London living room. Its alien bodies were hollow plaster casts filled with [[offal]], sheep brains, and raspberry jam.<ref>{{harvnb|Frank|2023|p=1109}}</ref> Multiple participants in ''Alien Autopsy'' stated that misleading editing had removed their opinions that the footage was a hoax.<ref name="Time"/><ref name="Jose1" /> Santilli admitted in 2006 that the film was a fake, though he continued to claim it was inspired by genuine, but lost footage.<ref name="Jose1" />
In 2006, Santilli admitted the film was not authentic but rather a staged reconstruction of footage he claimed to have viewed in 1992, but which had deteriorated and become unusable by the time he made his film. He claimed that a few frames from the original were embedded in his film, but he never specified which ones. The existence of an original filmstrip of the alleged autopsy has never been independently verified.


''Alien Autopsy'' was derided in the media. In 1995, ''[[The X-Files]]'' featured alien autopsy footage that the skeptical Agent Scully decries as "even [[wikt:hokey|hokier]] than the one they aired on the Fox network".<ref>{{harvnb|Knight|2013|p=50}}</ref> It was satirized again in the 1996 ''X-Files'' episode [[Jose Chung's From Outer Space]].<ref name="Jose1"/><ref name="Jose2">{{Harvnb|Lavery|Hague|Cartwright|1996|p=17}}</ref> In 1998, Fox aired a new special, ''The World's Greatest Hoaxes and Secrets Revealed!'', which debunked the 1995 Alien Autopsy footage.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2019|p=32}} A fictionalized version of the creation of the footage and its release was retold in the comedy film ''[[Alien Autopsy (2006 film)|Alien Autopsy]]'' (2006).<ref name="HbXVs">{{cite news |last=Osborn |first=Michael |date=April 5, 2006 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4873284.stm |title=Ant and Dec Leap into the Unknown |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=February 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060409115034/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4873284.stm |archive-date=April 9, 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="JV1Xl">{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522130808/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2136617,00.html |archive-date=May 22, 2008 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2136617,00.html |title=Max Headroom Creator Made Roswell Alien |newspaper=[[The Sunday Times]] |date=April 16, 2006 |access-date=February 6, 2013}}</ref>
==''Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction''==
[[Fox television]] broadcast the footage, hosted by [[Jonathan Frakes]], in the United States on August 28, 1995, under the title ''Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction''. The program caused a sensation, with ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine declaring that the film had sparked a debate "with an intensity not lavished on any home movie since the [[Zapruder film]]".<ref name=Time>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983764-1,00.html|title=Autopsy or Fraud-topsy?|work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|author=[[Corliss, Richard]]|date=November 27, 1995 | accessdate=April 23, 2010}}</ref> Fox re-broadcast the program twice, each time to higher ratings, with the November 1995 broadcast winning its time slot again with 11.7 million viewers and a 14% share.<ref name="New York Times">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/26/business/fox-s-point-man-for-perversity-world-s-scariest-programmer-starring-mike-darnell.html?pagewanted=all|title=Fox's Point Man For Perversity|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 26, 2000 | first1=Alex | last1=Kuczynski | first2=Bill | last2=Carter| accessdate=April 23, 2010}}</ref> Although in the broadcast version some parts of the autopsy were [[Pixelization|pixelized]] or edited out because of their supposed "graphic nature", the earlier versions{{Clarify|date=January 2011}} contained, Santilli claimed, the complete and unedited film, in addition to the previously unreleased footage of the wreckage which was presented as the remains of the alien craft reported to have crashed in Roswell.


==Production==
The Fox program features numerous well-known figures both in front of and behind the camera. Interviews with experts on the authenticity of the film include [[Academy Award|Oscar]]-winning [[special effect]]s [[make-up artist]] [[Stan Winston]], [[cinematographer]] [[Allen Daviau]], and noted [[forensic pathologist]] [[Cyril Wecht]], who considered the autopsy procedures in the film to be authentic but stopped short of declaring the being an alien.
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On April 4, 2006, days before the release of the British feature film, ''[[Alien Autopsy (2006 film)|Alien Autopsy]]'', [[British Sky Broadcasting|Sky]] broadcast a documentary, ''Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy'', presented by [[Eamonn Holmes]].<ref name=fortean>{{cite magazine |title=Santilli's Alien Autopsy film |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703025506/http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/97/santillis_alien_autopsy_film.html |url=http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/97/santillis_alien_autopsy_film.html |archive-date=July 3, 2009 |date=May 2006 |magazine=[[Fortean Times]] |author1=Andy Roberts |author2=Dr. David Clarke}}</ref> In this program, Ray Santilli and fellow producer [[Gary Shoefield]] admitted that they had created the 1995 footage.<ref name="Eamonn1"/>


⚫
Shoefield and Santilli had filmed a simulated autopsy on a fabricated alien, based upon what Santilli claimed to see in 1992. According to Santilli, a set was constructed in the living room of an empty flat in Rochester Square, Camden Town, London. John Humphreys, an artist and sculptor, was employed to construct two dummy alien bodies over three weeks. He filled plaster cast sculptures of alien bodies with raspberry jam, sheep brains, chicken entrails, and knuckle joints obtained from a butcher to serve as organs. Humphreys also played the role of the chief examiner, to allow him to control the effects being filmed. There were two separate attempts at making the footage. After filming, the team disposed of the "bodies" by cutting them into small pieces and placing them in rubbish bins across London.<ref name ="Eamonn1">''Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy'', [[British Sky Broadcasting]]. First shown on [[Sky One]], April 4, 2006.</ref>
Film director [[John Jopson]] was engaged by producer [[Robert Kiviat]] to direct several portions of the Fox special, including Santilli's interview. Jopson has stated that he became immediately suspicious upon meeting Santilli in London and, after conducting further investigation, told both Fox and Kiviat that he believed "the whole thing was a fraud". He described their response: "It was then made clear to me that if the footage was exposed as a hoax before the show aired, the ratings would suffer." Jopson then enlisted the services of his friend, well-known private investigator [[William Dear (detective)|William Dear]], but according to Jopson, Dear was held back by the producers for fear the hoax would be exposed before the air date, and he was limited to investigating the identity of the "mystery cameraman".<ref name=Jopson>{{cite web|url=http://www.dirtypoetfilms.com/JcJarchives/Alien_Autopsy.html|title=Additional Insight on the Alien Autopsy|author=Jopson, John|date=January 15, 1999|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091217194004/http://www.dirtypoetfilms.com/JcJarchives/Alien_Autopsy.html|archivedate=December 17, 2009}}</ref> Two of the program's participants claimed their observations were distorted: [[Stan Winston]] and [[Kevin D. Randle]] (a noted UFO author and investigator) both claimed they clearly stated in their interviews that they believed the footage was a hoax, but their statements were not used.<ref name="Time"/><ref name=Jopson/>


⚫
Alien artifacts, supposedly items recovered from the crash site, were depicted in the footage. These included alien symbols and six-finger control panels, which Santilli describes as being the result of artistic license on his part. These artifacts were also created by Humphreys. The footage also showed a man reading a statement "verifying" his identity as the original cameraman and the source of the footage. Santilli and Shoefield admitted in the 2006 documentary that they had found an unidentified homeless man on the streets of Los Angeles, persuaded him to play the role of the cameraman, and filmed him in a motel.<ref name="Eamonn1"/>
Also on August 28, 1995,<ref>Due to time zone differences, it actually screened several hours before the US program.</ref> the UK's [[Channel 4]] screened ''The Roswell Incident'' as a special edition of its long-running ''[[Secret History (TV series)|Secret History]]'' documentary series, which included the purported autopsy footage.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Collections Search {{!}} BFI {{!}} British Film Institute|url=http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150444668|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181101015724/http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150444668|archive-date=2018-11-01|access-date=|website=collections-search.bfi.org.uk}}</ref>


⚫
==References==
==Santilli's admission==
{{Reflist}}
In 2006, the events surrounding the release of the footage were adapted as a British feature film comedy, ''[[Alien Autopsy (film)|Alien Autopsy]]'', directed by [[Jonny Campbell]] and written by [[William Davies (screenwriter)|William Davies]]. The film presents a humorous reconstruction of the making of the Santilli film based on Santilli's statements, without commenting on the veracity of his claims.


=== Sources ===
⚫
On April 4, 2006, days before the release of the film, [[British Sky Broadcasting|Sky]] broadcast a documentary, ''Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy'', presented by [[Eamonn Holmes]].<ref name=fortean>{{cite magazine|title=Santilli's Alien Autopsy film|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703025506/http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/97/santillis_alien_autopsy_film.html|url=http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/97/santillis_alien_autopsy_film.html|archive-date=July 3, 2009|date=May 2006|magazine=[[Fortean Times]]|author1=Andy Roberts|author2=Dr. David Clarke}}</ref> In this program, Ray Santilli and fellow producer [[Gary Shoefield]] admitted that their film was actually a "reconstruction" containing only, in their words, "a few frames" from the original twenty-two rolls of film (each averaging four minutes in length), that Santilli had viewed in 1992. They explained that, by the time they had raised enough money to purchase the original, only a few frames were still intact, the rest having been degraded beyond the point of usability by heat and humidity.<ref name ="Eamonn1">''Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy'', [[British Sky Broadcasting]]. First shown on [[Sky One]], April 4, 2006.</ref>
* {{cite book |last=Frank |first=Adam |title=The Little Book of Aliens |date=2023 |publisher=Harper |location=New York |isbn=9780063279773 |edition=Ebook}}

* {{cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Robert Alan |author-link=Robert Alan Goldberg |date=2001 |title=Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8e5YELGGFAC |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8e5YELGGFAC&pg=PA189 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, Connecticut |isbn=978-0300132946 |chapter=Chapter 6: The Roswell Incident}}
In the documentary, [[Eamonn Holmes]] repeatedly refers to the film as a "fake," while Santilli patiently insists it is a "restoration," maintaining it is a "reconstruction" of an actual alien autopsy film he viewed in the early 1990s, that subsequently deteriorated.
* {{cite book |last=Knight |first=Peter |title=Conspiracy Culture: From Kennedy to the X Files |isbn=9781135117313 |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |location=Oxfordshire, England |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QapJgNWilDoC&pg=PA50}}

* {{cite book |last=Korff |first=Kal |date=1997 |title=The Roswell UFO Crash: What They Don't Want You to Know |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Amherst, New York |isbn=978-1573921275 |url=https://archive.org/details/roswellufocrashw0000korf |edition=First}}
⚫
Santilli and Shoefield stated that they had "restored" the damaged footage by filming a simulated autopsy on a fabricated alien, based upon what Santilli said he saw in 1992, and then adding in a few frames of the original film that had not degraded. They have not identified which frames are from the alleged original. According to Santilli, a set was constructed in the living room of an empty [[Apartment|flat]] in Rochester Square, [[Camden Town]], London. John Humphreys, an artist and sculptor, was employed to construct two dummy alien bodies over a period of three weeks, using casts containing sheep brains set in raspberry jam, chicken entrails and knuckle joints obtained from S.C. Crosby Wholesale Butchers [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]] meat market, London. Humphreys also played the role of the chief examiner, in order to allow him to control the effects being filmed. There were two separate attempts at making the footage. After filming, the team disposed of the "bodies" by cutting them into small pieces and placing them in rubbish bins across London.<ref name="Eamonn1"/>
* {{cite book |title=Deny All Knowledge: Reading the X-Files |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=grY6uVffr4UC&pg=PA17 |last1=Lavery |first1=David |last2=Hague |first2=Angela |last3=Cartwright |first3=Maria |date=1996 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=9780815627173}}

* {{cite book |last1=Levy |first1=Michael M |last2=Mendlesohn |first2=Farah |title=Aliens in Popular Culture |date=2019 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=9781440838330 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lvaKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA32}}
⚫
Alien artifacts, supposedly items recovered from the crash site, were depicted in the footage. These included alien symbols and six-finger control panels, which Santilli describes in the Sky documentary as being the result of [[artistic license]] on his part. These artifacts were also created by Humphreys. The footage also showed a man reading a statement "verifying" his identity as the original cameraman and the source of the footage. Santilli and Shoefield admitted in the documentary that they had found an unidentified [[homelessness|homeless]] man on the streets of [[Los Angeles]], persuaded him to play the role of the cameraman, and filmed him in a motel.<ref name="Eamonn1"/> The documentary was also released, slightly modified, on DVD in 2006.<ref>''Alien Autopsy: The True Story'' (British Sky Broadcasting, 2006).</ref>

⚫
==References==
{{reflist}}


== Further reading ==
== Further reading ==


*{{cite journal |first=Joseph A. |last=Bauer |title=A Surgeon's View: Alien Autopsy's Overwhelming Lack of Credibility |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |volume=20 |issue=1 |date=January 1996 |pages=23–24 }} Reprinted in {{cite book |title=The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups |editor1-first=Kendrick |editor1-last=Frazier |editor1-link=Kendrick Frazier |editor2-first=Barry |editor2-last=Karr |editor2-link=Barry Karr |editor3-first=Joe |editor3-last=Nickell |editor3-link=Joe Nickell |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |year=1997 |ISBN=1-57392-131-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ufoinvasionroswe0000unse }} Also reprinted in {{cite book |title=Bizarre Cases: From the Files of Skeptical Inquirer |publisher=[[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal|CSICOP]] |year=2000 }}
*{{cite journal |first=Joseph A. |last=Bauer |title=A Surgeon's View: Alien Autopsy's Overwhelming Lack of Credibility |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |volume=20 |issue=1 |date=January 1996 |pages=23–24}} Reprinted in {{cite book |title=The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups |editor1-first=Kendrick |editor1-last=Frazier |editor1-link=Kendrick Frazier |editor2-first=Barry |editor2-last=Karr |editor2-link=Barry Karr |editor3-first=Joe |editor3-last=Nickell |editor3-link=Joe Nickell |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |year=1997 |isbn=1-57392-131-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ufoinvasionroswe0000unse}} Also reprinted in {{cite book |title=Bizarre Cases: From the Files of Skeptical Inquirer |publisher=[[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal|CSICOP]] |year=2000}}
*{{cite journal |first=C. Eugene, Jr |last=Emery |title=Alien Autopsy' Show and Tell: Long on Tell, Short on Show |journal=Skeptical Inquirer|volume=19 |issue=6 |date=November 1995 |pages=15–16, 55}} Reprinted in {{cite book |title=The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups |editor1-first=Kendrick |editor1-last=Frazier |editor1-link=Kendrick Frazier |editor2-first=Barry |editor2-last=Karr |editor2-link=Barry Karr |editor3-first=Joe |editor3-last=Nickell |editor3-link=Joe Nickell |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1997 |ISBN=1-57392-131-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ufoinvasionroswe0000unse }}
*{{cite journal |first=C. Eugene Jr |last=Emery |title=Alien Autopsy' Show and Tell: Long on Tell, Short on Show |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=19 |issue=6 |date=November 1995 |pages=15–16, 55}} Reprinted in {{cite book |title=The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups |editor1-first=Kendrick |editor1-last=Frazier |editor1-link=Kendrick Frazier |editor2-first=Barry |editor2-last=Karr |editor2-link=Barry Karr |editor3-first=Joe |editor3-last=Nickell |editor3-link=Joe Nickell |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1997 |isbn=1-57392-131-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ufoinvasionroswe0000unse}}
*{{cite book |title=Beyond Roswell: The Alien Autopsy Film, Area 51, & the U.S. Government Coverup of Ufos |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781569247815 |url-access=registration |first1=Michael |last1=Hesemann |first2=Philip |last2=Mantle |first3=Bob |last3=Shell| publisher=Marlowe |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-56924-709-9 }}
*{{cite book |title=Beyond Roswell: The Alien Autopsy Film, Area 51, & the U.S. Government Coverup of Ufos |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781569247815 |url-access=registration |first1=Michael |last1=Hesemann |first2=Philip |last2=Mantle |first3=Bob |last3=Shell |publisher=Marlowe |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-56924-709-9}}
*{{cite journal |first=David Park |last=Musella |date=July 2006 |title=Alien Autopsy Hoax Revealed – Again |journal=Skeptical Inquirer|volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=9, 11 }}
*{{cite journal |first=David Park |last=Musella |date=July 2006 |title=Alien Autopsy Hoax Revealed – Again |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=9, 11}}
*{{cite journal |first=Joe |last=Nickell |authorlink=Joe Nickell |title=Alien Autopsy' Hoax |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=19 |issue=6 |date=November 1995 |pages=17–19 }} Reprinted in {{cite book |title=The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups |editor1-first=Kendrick |editor1-last=Frazier |editor1-link=Kendrick Frazier |editor2-first=Barry |editor2-last=Karr |editor2-link=Barry Karr |editor3-first=Joe |editor3-last=Nickell |editor3-link=Joe Nickell |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1997 |ISBN=1-57392-131-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ufoinvasionroswe0000unse }}
*{{cite journal |first=Joe |last=Nickell |author-link=Joe Nickell |title=Alien Autopsy' Hoax |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=19 |issue=6 |date=November 1995 |pages=17–19}} Reprinted in {{cite book |title=The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups |editor1-first=Kendrick |editor1-last=Frazier |editor1-link=Kendrick Frazier |editor2-first=Barry |editor2-last=Karr |editor2-link=Barry Karr |editor3-first=Joe |editor3-last=Nickell |editor3-link=Joe Nickell |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1997 |isbn=1-57392-131-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ufoinvasionroswe0000unse}}
*{{cite book |first=Carl |last=Sagan |author-link=Carl Sagan |title=[[The Demon-Haunted World|The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]] |ISBN=0-345-40946-9 |place=New York |publisher=Ballantine |year=1997 |edition=2nd }}
*{{cite book |first=Carl |last=Sagan |author-link=Carl Sagan |title=[[The Demon-Haunted World|The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]] |isbn=0-345-40946-9 |place=New York |publisher=Ballantine |year=1997 |edition=2nd}}
*{{cite journal |first=Trey |last=Stokes |title=How to Make an "Alien" for "Autopsy" |journal=Skeptical Inquirer|volume=20 |issue=1 |date=January 1996 |pages=19–23 }} Reprinted in {{cite book |title=The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups |editor1-first=Kendrick |editor1-last=Frazier |editor1-link=Kendrick Frazier |editor2-first=Barry |editor2-last=Karr |editor2-link=Barry Karr |editor3-first=Joe |editor3-last=Nickell |editor3-link=Joe Nickell |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1997 |ISBN=1-57392-131-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ufoinvasionroswe0000unse }} Also reprinted in {{cite book |title=Bizarre Cases: From the Files of Skeptical Inquirer |publisher=[[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal|CSICOP]] |year=2000 }}
*{{cite journal |first=Trey |last=Stokes |title=How to Make an "Alien" for "Autopsy" |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=20 |issue=1 |date=January 1996 |pages=19–23}} Reprinted in {{cite book |title=The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups |editor1-first=Kendrick |editor1-last=Frazier |editor1-link=Kendrick Frazier |editor2-first=Barry |editor2-last=Karr |editor2-link=Barry Karr |editor3-first=Joe |editor3-last=Nickell |editor3-link=Joe Nickell |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1997 |isbn=1-57392-131-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ufoinvasionroswe0000unse}} Also reprinted in {{cite book |title=Bizarre Cases: From the Files of Skeptical Inquirer |publisher=[[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal|CSICOP]] |year=2000}}


==External links==
==External links==
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[[Category:1995 hoaxes]]
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[[Category:1995 in American television]]
[[Category:Alleged UFO-related entities|Autopsy]]
[[Category:Alleged extraterrestrial beings|Autopsy]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in science]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in science]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in the United States]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in the United States]]
[[Category:Roswell UFO incident]]
[[Category:Roswell incident]]
[[Category:UFO culture]]
[[Category:UFO hoaxes]]
[[Category:Fox network original films]]
[[Category:Fox Broadcasting Company original films]]
[[Category:Documentary films about conspiracy theories]]

Latest revision as of 03:51, 22 November 2024

This article is about the original footage. For the 2006 feature film based on events surrounding it, see Alien Autopsy (2006 film).
VHS cover of Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction

Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is a 1995 pseudo-documentary containing grainy black and white footage of a hoaxed alien autopsy.[1][2] In 1995, film purporting to show an alien autopsy conducted shortly after the Roswell incident was released by British entrepreneur Ray Santilli.[3] The footage aired on television networks around the world.[4][3] Fox television broadcast the purported autopsy, hosted by Jonathan Frakes, on August 28, 1995, under the title Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, and re-broadcast it twice, each time to higher ratings.[5] The footage was also broadcast on UK's Channel 4,[6] and repackaged for the home video market. The program was an overnight sensation,[7] with Time magazine declaring that the film had sparked a debate "with an intensity not lavished on any home movie since the Zapruder film".[8]

The program was thoroughly debunked. The autopsy footage was filmed on an inexpensive set constructed in a London living room. Its alien bodies were hollow plaster casts filled with offal, sheep brains, and raspberry jam.[9] Multiple participants in Alien Autopsy stated that misleading editing had removed their opinions that the footage was a hoax.[8][7] Santilli admitted in 2006 that the film was a fake, though he continued to claim it was inspired by genuine, but lost footage.[7]

Alien Autopsy was derided in the media. In 1995, The X-Files featured alien autopsy footage that the skeptical Agent Scully decries as "even hokier than the one they aired on the Fox network".[10] It was satirized again in the 1996 X-Files episode Jose Chung's From Outer Space.[7][11] In 1998, Fox aired a new special, The World's Greatest Hoaxes and Secrets Revealed!, which debunked the 1995 Alien Autopsy footage.[12] A fictionalized version of the creation of the footage and its release was retold in the comedy film Alien Autopsy (2006).[13][14]

Production

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On April 4, 2006, days before the release of the British feature film, Alien Autopsy, Sky broadcast a documentary, Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy, presented by Eamonn Holmes.[15] In this program, Ray Santilli and fellow producer Gary Shoefield admitted that they had created the 1995 footage.[16]

Shoefield and Santilli had filmed a simulated autopsy on a fabricated alien, based upon what Santilli claimed to see in 1992. According to Santilli, a set was constructed in the living room of an empty flat in Rochester Square, Camden Town, London. John Humphreys, an artist and sculptor, was employed to construct two dummy alien bodies over three weeks. He filled plaster cast sculptures of alien bodies with raspberry jam, sheep brains, chicken entrails, and knuckle joints obtained from a butcher to serve as organs. Humphreys also played the role of the chief examiner, to allow him to control the effects being filmed. There were two separate attempts at making the footage. After filming, the team disposed of the "bodies" by cutting them into small pieces and placing them in rubbish bins across London.[16]

Alien artifacts, supposedly items recovered from the crash site, were depicted in the footage. These included alien symbols and six-finger control panels, which Santilli describes as being the result of artistic license on his part. These artifacts were also created by Humphreys. The footage also showed a man reading a statement "verifying" his identity as the original cameraman and the source of the footage. Santilli and Shoefield admitted in the 2006 documentary that they had found an unidentified homeless man on the streets of Los Angeles, persuaded him to play the role of the cameraman, and filmed him in a motel.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Goldberg 2001, p. 219
  2. ^ Korff 1997, pp. 203–217
  3. ^ a b Frank 2023, p. 1101
  4. ^ "Alien Autopsy (1995 film), on season 8 , episode 2". Scientific American Frontiers. Chedd-Angier Production Company. 1997–1998. PBS. Archived from the original on 2006-01-01.
  5. ^ Kuczynski, Alex; Carter, Bill (February 26, 2000). "Fox's Point Man For Perversity". The New York Times. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  6. ^ "Collections Search | BFI | British Film Institute". collections-search.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-11-01.
  7. ^ a b c d Levy & Mendlesohn 2019, p. 32
  8. ^ a b Corliss, Richard (November 27, 1995). "Autopsy or Fraud-topsy?". Time. Archived from the original on December 16, 2009. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  9. ^ Frank 2023, p. 1109
  10. ^ Knight 2013, p. 50
  11. ^ Lavery, Hague & Cartwright 1996, p. 17
  12. ^ Levy & Mendlesohn 2019, p. 32.
  13. ^ Osborn, Michael (April 5, 2006). "Ant and Dec Leap into the Unknown". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on April 9, 2006. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  14. ^ "Max Headroom Creator Made Roswell Alien". The Sunday Times. April 16, 2006. Archived from the original on May 22, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  15. ^ Andy Roberts; Dr. David Clarke (May 2006). "Santilli's Alien Autopsy film". Fortean Times. Archived from the original on July 3, 2009.
  16. ^ a b c Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy, British Sky Broadcasting. First shown on Sky One, April 4, 2006.

Sources

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Further reading

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