First UFO photo: Mount Washington, 1870

[TrumanB 248]

I would like to know what sceptics think of this photo. I read that it is proven to be authentic.

It was taken in from the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA in 1870.

[the13bats 4,484]

Really?!

Proven to be real by who, just how?

I didnt know what the devil its a pic of it as it has zero context, did someone make a black magic marker line on it?

Okay, so you say its a snow covered peak, now what?

[Carnoferox 5,115]

It's a cropped photo of a frost formation.

Quote

This is the complete and uncropped stereogram. It was sold as a series called "The views taken on the summit of Mount Washington During the Winter of 1870-71". This catalog lists all the pictures for sale of that series and their names. The Stereogram in question is number 17 (the one that is underlined in the image) we can see it is called 'Frost Architecture'. The entire series can be viewed here.

The UFO theory doesn't really match up with what we know about the stereogram. Wouldn't there be some sort of account from the photographer saying he saw something unexplainable? Wouldn't the picture be cataloged as something else like 'mystery flying cart' instead of 'frost architecture'? it seems like a waste, since they would have sold far more copies if it had an actual flying craft pictured.

It is because we are not looking at clouds and a flying craft in OP's post but frost shaped in an interesting way that sort of resembles clouds, then clouds behind it. Here is a similar image of the same series (No. 13), in this image we can see a clearer sense of perspective, we are looking at frost, snow, with clouds and sky behind.

I think the 'cigar shaped object' we are looking at was placed by the photographer on the frost to show a sense of scale. Unfortunately, we can't make out what that object is with certainty. My guess is: a harmonica or some sort of pocket instrument, a random piece of wood found on site, or maybe even an actual cigar.

Regardless, since this is a photograph of frost the scale is way too small to consider that the dark object (between the frost and the photographer) is a flying craft.

 

[TrumanB 248]

If anyone is interested, here is an article with many older photos that are allegedly having UFOs

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/3447508/UFO-sightings-140-years-of-UFO-pictures.html

[the13bats 4,484]

Okay, the whole idea this picture was sold like a view master slide and no mention of the black thing pretty much drives the nail in the coffin for me that it was of zero interest to the camerman or any involved and again it serves in no way to prove aliens are flying around our friendly skies.

[Sir Wearer of Hats 29,612]

It’s a black blob, probably the result of something on the lens or the film. 

[Dejarma 3,225]

6 minutes ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

It’s a black blob, probably the result of something on the lens or the film. 

yep

[TrumanB 248]

Here is a nice list of some of the most known UFO sightings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reported_UFO_sightings

[papageorge1 3,687]

2 hours ago, TrumanB said:

I would like to know what sceptics think of this photo. I read that it is proven to be authentic.

It was taken in from the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA in 1870.

 

Interesting. Is there the photographer's story that goes along with this?

[TrumanB 248]

Not that I know.

[Carnoferox 5,115]

1 hour ago, papageorge1 said:

Interesting. Is there the photographer's story that goes along with this?

Read post #3.

[papageorge1 3,687]

3 minutes ago, Carnoferox said:

Read post #3.

I did but don’t see the photographers account.

Believers and skeptic comments are always easy to find.

[Carnoferox 5,115]

16 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

I did but don’t see the photographers account.

Believers and skeptic comments are always easy to find.

This stereograph was in a Clough & Kimball catalogue titled "Views Taken on the Summit of Mt. Washington During the Winter of 1870-71" and was labeled as "Frost Architecture". It's a picture of frost on the ground, not clouds in the sky.

Edited February 9 by Carnoferox

[Carnoferox 5,115]

Compare it with another one of the photos from the series.

[papageorge1 3,687]

16 minutes ago, Carnoferox said:

This stereograph was in a Clough & Kimball catalogue titled "Views Taken on the Summit of Mt. Washington During the Winter of 1870-71" and was labeled as "Frost Architecture". It's a picture of frost on the ground, not clouds in the sky.

They still could have lucked into a UFO photo, right? And the OP said 'I read that it is proven to be authentic.'. I've never known a believer to overstate his case!!

[Carnoferox 5,115]

1 minute ago, papageorge1 said:

They still could have lucked into a UFO photo, right? And the OP said 'I read that it is proven to be authentic.'. I've never known a believer to overstate his case!!

If it was something extraordinary it would've been labelled as such. It matches with the other pictures in the series and is quite clearly frost on the ground.

[papageorge1 3,687]

1 minute ago, Carnoferox said:

If it was something extraordinary it would've been labelled as such. It matches with the other pictures in the series and is quite clearly frost on the ground.

It might be frost pictures but the black cigar shaped object is not frost!

[Carnoferox 5,115]

Just now, papageorge1 said:

It might be frost pictures but the black cigar shaped object is not frost!

It's likely an object for scale, possibly an actual cigar or a harmonica.

[Dejarma 3,225]

6 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

It might be frost pictures but the black cigar shaped object is not frost!

it is frost pictures- not might be! yep, definitely authentic.. the OP is correct= authentic pictures of frost..

why do you feel the picture is anything other than frost?

here ya go, papa; your chance to shut all the silly closed minded skeptics up--- go for it, let's see what ya got 

[ChrLzs 16,391]

Zos... er Truman, can you please elaborate on your use of the word "authentic"?

WHO proved it 'authentic', how, and in what context?

[ChrLzs 16,391]

In spite of my first impression I decided to take a bit of a closer look.

At first I thought it was a line drawn on the image/s, as it seems a bit too dark for the rest of the image (no other area has such dark colors..), but I now think that effect is due to it being such an over-exposed, yet mostly low contrast pair of images...

On examining the 3D stereogram (I'll explain how I did that if anyone is interested, but it involves a bit of work...), the 'thing' appears to be a real, very dark, object, probably placed deliberately on the frost formation as stated earlier for a sense of scale. The thing itself has consistent detail, and it also matches position perfectly (within a pixel) on the formation on both images, yet the two images were obviously taken separately and at slightly different angles.  It would be very difficult to explain that with a marker pen...

Thing is, that formation looks to be quite close to the camera - I'd suggest it's not more than about 15 feet high - likely less, based on the perspective. 

 

I'm not the only one, I see:

https://www.nhmagazine.com/July-2014/Is-This-the-Oldest-Known-UFO-Photo-One-NH-Researcher-Finds-Out/

[the13bats 4,484]

Thats just dandy now true belivers will say its a ufo landed on the frost...

[Trelane 1,330]

Hilariously not real. Prove me wrong.

[toast 13,027]

I think the key problem is that the UFO-heads dont take into account that the common cam shutter speeds in 1870 were not that short to freeze a flying object in the sky as shown in the image.

[stereologist 16,244]

On 2/8/2019 at 5:20 PM, Carnoferox said:

It's a cropped photo of a frost formation.

 

The instant I saw the photo I recognized it as a tree or rock covered in ice.

The photo shows the interesting ice formations at or above tree line.

Seen this over a hundred times in my ascents of mountains. It is common. The photo is more likely a pile of rocks covered in ice. These deposits can be from a couple of centimeters to 30 or 40 cms of beautiful ice.

This material is not hard and easily breaks as you walk on it or hit it.