Alien Autopsy? Part 1

Indeed, there is no shortage of debatable evidence and probable hoaxes when it comes to the subject of UFOs and aliens. Yet as with any cultural phenomenon, there are those prime examples that rise to the top to become forever cemented into our collective consciousness. One such artifact is a 17-minute black-and-white film that became so iconic it is merely, and famously known only as "Alien Autopsy."  The film sequence purported to show government or military Medical Examiners performing an autopsy on an alien lifeform supposedly recovered along with debris from an equally famous event, the 1947 Roswell UFO crash.  One could argue that the film has become more well-known than the incident upon which it was supposedly based.  The first public screening of the film occurred on May 5, 1995, in a small theater at the Museum of London.  The organizer of the event who had possession of the film at the time, a music and television producer named Ray Santilli, had invited the Press, UFOlogists, and even clergy members to witness the extraordinary footage to generate buzz and controversy.  Accomplishing both aims, news outlets around the world picked up on the story.  But the biggest sensation sparked on August 28th of that year, when Fox Television aired a documentary Special featuring the footage titled, Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.  The Special was re-broadcast two more times, with each one generating millions of more viewers.  The backstory Santilli stated then was that he purchased the footage from a retired military cameraman who shot the film during the actual autopsy at the Roswell Army Air Field.  However, just before the release of a 2006 British comedy called Alien Autopsy, which dramatized the story of the events surrounding the film, Santilli admitted that the film he and his partner Gary Shoefield released was a recreation of the original footage he acquired in 1992. He claims that in the time he first viewed the 22 original reels and the 1995 release, the film deteriorated so severely that his team needed to recreate the shots based on what he had seen.  But Santilli also insists that they spliced frames from the original footage into the film they released – that an authentic, 1947 autopsy film existed.  But that is his story, and as we all know, there are always more sides to one.  Enter tonight's guest, magician and media producer Spyros Melaris.  Spyros has a convincing story of his own, that he and his friend, sculptor and Special Effects artist John Humphreys created the film and everything seen in it – that there is no authentic autopsy film.  Whatever you may decide after hearing part one of our interview with Spyros, one thing is sure: the Alien Autopsy film captured the imagination of the world and might be one of the greatest hoaxes of all time. 

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