Alien autopsy

For the 2006 lm, see Alien Autopsy (lm).

pathologist Cyril Wecht, who considered the autopsy procedures in the lm to be authentic but stopped short of
declaring the being an alien.

Alien autopsy was the name given to a hoaxed medical examination and dissection of a dummy depicted in
a black and white lm released in the 1990s by Londonbased entrepreneur Ray Santilli. He presented it as an
authentic autopsy on the body of an extraterrestrial being
recovered from the crash of a ying disc near Roswell,
New Mexico on June 2, 1947. The lm footage was supplied to him by a retired military cameraman who wished
to remain anonymous.

Film director John Jopson was engaged by producer

Robert Kiviat to direct several portions of the Fox special,
including Santillis 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 suer. Jopson then
enlisted the services of his friend, well-known private investigator 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.[4]
Two of the programs 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.[2][4]

The 17-minute black and white lm surfaced in the

1990s, but in 2006 Santilli admitted the lm was not authentic but rather a staged reconstruction of footage he
claimed to have viewed in 1992, which had deteriorated
and become unusable by the time he made his lm. He
claimed that a few frames from the original were embedded in his lm, but he never specied which ones. In
1995, before being exposed as a hoax, the lm was sold to
television networks and broadcast in more than 33 countries.

Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction

2 Santillis admission

Fox television broadcast the footage in the United States

on August 28, 1995 under the title Alien Autopsy: Fact
or Fiction.[1] The program caused a sensation, with Time
magazine declaring that the lm had sparked a debate with an intensity not lavished on any home movie
since the Zapruder lm".[2] 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.[3] Although in the broadcast version some parts of the autopsy were pixelized or
edited out because of their supposed graphic nature,
the earlier versions contained, Santilli claimed, the complete and unedited lm, 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.

In 2006, the events surrounding the release of the footage

were adapted as a feature lm, Alien Autopsy, a British
comedy directed by Jonny Campbell and written by
William Davies. The lm gave a humorous reconstruction of the making of the Santilli lm based on Santillis
statements, without commenting on the veracity of his
claims.
On April 4, 2006, days before the release of the lm, Sky
broadcast a documentary, Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy, presented by Eamonn Holmes.[5] In this program,
Ray Santilli and fellow producer Gary Shoeeld admitted that their lm was actually a reconstruction containing only, in their words, a few frames from the original
twenty-two rolls of lm (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.[6]

The Fox program features numerous well-known gures

both in front of and behind the camera. Notably hosted by
Jonathan Frakes of Star Trek:The Next Generation who
publicly commented that he needed the money. Interviews with experts on the authenticity of the lm include
Oscar-winning special eects make-up artist Stan Win- In the documentary, Eamonn Holmes repeatedly refers
ston, cinematographer Allen Daviau, and noted forensic to the lm as a fake, while Santilli patiently insists it
1

5 FURTHER READING

is a restoration, maintaining it is a reconstruction of what they're operating on!"

an actual alien autopsy lm he viewed in the early 1990s, In the intro to the Seinfeld episode "The Package",
that subsequently deteriorated.
Kramer complains to Newman that the alien autopsy story
Santilli and Shoeeld stated that they had restored the has been stealing all the headlines and distracting from
damaged footage by lming a simulated autopsy on a stories about activity in the Bermuda Triangle.
fabricated alien, based upon what Santilli saw in 1992,
and then adding in a few frames of the original lm
that had not degraded. They have not identied which 4 References
frames are from the original. According to Santilli, a
set was constructed in the living room of an empty at [1] Alien Autopsy: (Fact or Fiction?)". Internet Movie
in Rochester Square, Camden Town, London. John
Database.
Humphreys, an artist and sculptor, was employed to construct two dummy alien bodies over a period of three [2] Autopsy or Fraud-topsy?". Time Magazine, November
27, 1995. November 27, 1995. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
weeks, using casts containing sheep brains set in raspberry jam, chicken entrails and knuckle joints obtained [3] Kuczynski, Alex; Carter, Bill (February 26, 2000). Foxs
from S.C. Crosby Wholesale Butchers Smitheld meat
Point Man For Perversity. New York Times, February 26,
market, London. Humphreys also played the role of the
2000. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
chief examiner, in order to allow him to control the effects being lmed. There were two separate attempts at [4] Additional Insight on the Alien Autopsy. John Jopson,
January 15, 1999.
making the footage. After lming, the team disposed of
the bodies by cutting them into small pieces and placing [5] Andy Roberts; Dr. David Clarke (May 2006). Santillis
Alien Autopsy lm. Fortean Times. Archived from the
them in rubbish bins across London.[6]
Alien artifacts, supposedly items recovered from the
crash site, were depicted in the footage. These included
alien symbols and six-nger 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 Shoeeld admitted in the documentary that they had
found an unidentied homeless man on the streets of Los
Angeles, persuaded him to play the role of the cameraman, and lmed him in a motel.[6] The documentary was
also released, slightly modied, on DVD in 2006.[7]

References in popular culture

Alien Autopsy is a 2006 British comedy lm, directed by

Jonny Campbell, which relates the events surrounding the
alien autopsy lm.
UK punk rock band UFX released a video using allegedly
hoax footage including the original alien autopsy lm, the
hoax documentary Alternative 3 and Nazi ying saucer
photographs, for the title track of their album, Reverse
Engineering (2013).
The X-Files episode "Jose Chungs From Outer Space" includes a parody of the alien autopsy video called Dead
Alien! Truth or Humbug?" In the episode, it is implied
the men in black released the clearly fake video in order
to discredit the release of actual information on aliens.
The X-Files episode "Nisei" includes a scene where agent
Fox Mulder is watching a video of an alien autopsy and
Dana Scully remarks Mulder, this is even hokier than
the one they aired on the Fox network, you can't even see

original on 3 July 2009.

[6] Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy, British Sky Broadcasting. First shown on Sky One, 4 April 2006.
[7] Alien Autopsy: The True Story (British Sky Broadcasting,
2006).

5 Further reading
Bauer, Joseph A. (January 1996). A Surgeons
View: Alien Autopsys Overwhelming Lack of
Credibility.
Skeptical Inquirer 20 (1): 23
24. Reprinted in Frazier, Kendrick; Karr, Barry;
Nickell, Joe, eds. (1997). The UFO Invasion: The
Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government
Coverups. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-1319. Also reprinted in Bizarre Cases: From the Files of
Skeptical Inquirer. CSICOP. 2000.
Emery, C. Eugene, Jr (November 1995). Alien
Autopsy' Show and Tell: Long on Tell, Short
on Show. Skeptical Inquirer 19 (6): 1516,
55. Reprinted in Frazier, Kendrick; Karr, Barry;
Nickell, Joe, eds. (1997). The UFO Invasion: The
Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government
Coverups. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-1319.
Hesemann, Michael; Mantle, Philip; Shell, Bob
(1998). Beyond Roswell: The Alien Autopsy Film,
Area 51, & the U.S. Government Coverup of Ufos.
Marlowe. ISBN 978-1-56924-709-9.
Musella, David Park (July 2006). Alien Autopsy
Hoax Revealed Again. Skeptical Inquirer 30 (4):
9, 11.

3
Nickell, Joe (November 1995). Alien Autopsy'
Hoax. Skeptical Inquirer 19 (6): 1719. Reprinted
in Frazier, Kendrick; Karr, Barry; Nickell, Joe,
eds. (1997). The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups.
Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-131-9.
Sagan, Carl (1997). The Demon-Haunted World:
Science as a Candle in the Dark (2nd ed.). New
York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-40946-9.
Stokes, Trey (January 1996). How to Make an
Alien for Autopsy"". Skeptical Inquirer 20 (1):
1923. Reprinted in Frazier, Kendrick; Karr, Barry;
Nickell, Joe, eds. (1997). The UFO Invasion: The
Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government
Coverups. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-1319. Also reprinted in Bizarre Cases: From the Files of
Skeptical Inquirer. CSICOP. 2000.

External links
MY STORY by Ray Santilli (Insight on Roswell)
Dissecting Alien Autopsy
Ray Santilli at the Internet Movie Database
Video on YouTube

7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1

Text

Alien autopsy Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_autopsy?oldid=717831126 Contributors: Malcolm Farmer, Paul Barlow, Zanimum, Emperor, Julesd, Jeandr du Toit, Michael T. Richter, Hajor, Jeq, Northgrove, Sjorford, Moriori, Jredmond, JackofOz, Jooler,
David Gerard, Wolfkeeper, Lee J Haywood, Bnn, Sonjaaa, Joshuamcgee, Kuralyov, Kate, D6, Smyth, Bender235, Raemie, Pearle,
Joolz, Philip Cross, BRW, DonQuixote, Lordwow, TigerShark, GregorB, Rchamberlain, Pictureuploader, Emerson7, BD2412, Teon Don,
Rjwilmsi, Nightscream, CQJ, Bubba73, Radix~enwiki, Nihiltres, RexNL, Str1977, Wongm, BlueJaeger, Jaxl, Cleared as led, Anetode,
Scs, Misza13, Alex43223, BOT-Superzerocool, Pegship, TheMadBaron, Petri Krohn, Fram, MnJWalker, Ephilei, Katieh5584, SmackBot,
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Tktktk, WhiteShark, Rodrigue, JHunterJ, Bobbaxter, Zepheus, Hu12, Tawkerbot2, Andymease, Blackvault, Treybien, Henrymrx, Oogles,
Buckeyes1, AreDaval, John254, Ctu2485, Davidhorman, Steven25615, Ozzieboy, Quintote, Xhienne, Wasell, Coee4binky, ***Ria777,
Teapotgeorge, Indon, ClovisPt, Spellmaster, Champaign, MartinBot, J.delanoy, Ray Santilli, Klaptoot, AntiSpamBot, Morefun, Lights,
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7.2

Images

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Contributors:
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7.3

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