The 'Best Ever' Photo of a UFO is Released After 50 Years

This image above is from 1971, and was taken with an old film camera by people working for the Costa Rican government. The negative sat in a file in some office somewhere until the 1980s before anyone noticed the obvious, almost cartoonishly stereotypical UFO near the edge of the frame. And now, thanks to "drum scanners," which are used to study transparent and reflexive surfaces at extremely high resolution, we've got the best look ever in the half century since this picture was taken.

Source -  A high-resolution image allegedly showing a UFO has been released more than 50 years after it was taken.

The original photo was taken in 1971 by a mapmaker named Sergio Loaiza who was flying over Costa Rica photographing the rainforest below for a hydroelectric project. ...

The picture – taken from 10,000 feet – appears to show a metallic disc flying lower over the land. 

The unidentified object was only spotted a decade later in the 80s when the negatives were studied for potential ways to connect Lake Cote with the nearby Arenal Lagoon.

Out of all the pictures, only a single frame, time-stamped at 8.25 am, contains the metal disc in it. Over the years, the object’s size has been estimated to be between 120-220 feet in diameter. ...

The image which has been analysed by various UFO researchers hasn’t been successfully debunked yet, giving enthusiasts hope of alien life.

Researchers have concluded that the object in the photograph appeared real and was not the result of double exposure or a deliberate fabrication.

 UAP Media in the UK spoke with several experts about this new and improved image for their prospective. Including New York Times journalist Leslie Kean, author of an extremely well-researched and credible book which I have read, 2010's UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record, who said:

“This photograph of a UFO may be the most extraordinary one ever released by government officials. We have no idea what comparable or even better images are hidden in classified files within the United States Department of Defense. I’m grateful to the government of Costa Rica for its transparency."

And Luis Elizondo, former director of the Advanced Aeronautic Threat Identification Program (AATIP), who added:

[P]ilot reports of smooth, shiny, lenticular craft are not new.  In fact, even to this day, pilots, both civilian and military, along with their air crew, continue to witness these types of craft and oftentimes displaying performance capabilities well beyond state of the art.  Thankfully, some of these newer incidents are finding their way to Congress due to the courage of our fine men and women in uniform.  During my time in AATIP, these incidents were surprisingly common."

I suppose I should learn not to always address the debunkers when I discuss this topic. But it's hard not to. In this case especially. Because if you choose to be a skeptic in this instance, think about what you're saying. Your argument against the validity of this photo means you are questioning the integrity not only of journalists and researchers, but an obscure department of the Costa Rican government. You're claiming that an agency cartographer named Sergio Loaiza decided to doctor a photograph so that he could shove it into a file drawer in some bureaucrat's office, then pull it out in a decade or so. Then wait another 40 years for the technology to advance enough that the image can be enhanced enough to impress people, so he can become mildly internet famous in 2022. And that he concocted this elaborate hoax about 25 years before Photoshop was invented. 

Then again, you can look at that craft and how it's a perfect representation of the "flying saucers" people have been reporting forever, and tell me that's some other thing. A weather balloon or swamp gas or a cloud or a plane seen at a weird angle. And good luck getting anyone to believe that nonsense. 

Or, following Occam's Razor, you can conclude, as all the experts (and believers like me who have no expertise) have, that there are thousands upon thousands of aerial photographs taken every year, and some are going to inadvertently capture perfect images of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. Which Loaiza did on this particular day in '71. And like Kean suggests, we have no idea how many such photos are in the custody of governments such as ours that have not be released to the public. For all we know, they have some that do make this one look like fakery. Which it is not. 

The truth, as always, is out there. And thanks to a Costa Rican mapmaker 50 years ago, it just got more true.