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From the cryptozoology files, we're going to look today at rods, those magical, mystical living UFO's that inhabit the invisible shadowlands of Earth. Rods are said to be flying creatures, from a few inches to a few feet in length, that are invisible to humans, but visible to cameras, both film and digital, both still and video. Their bodies are shaped like long thin rods, and their only appendages are wavy wings, one on each side, stretching the full length of their bodies. They move through the air by undulating these wings, like eels swimming through water. A gentleman named Jose Escamilla claims to be the discoverer of rods. On his web site, Roswellrods.com, he says that he first captured rods on video in 1994. He says he was taping UFO's when he accidentally filmed the rods as well. Since Mr. Escamilla did not recall seeing any such thing in person while he was taping, he decided the most likely explanation for his video is that he'd discovered a new species of flying creature that is invisible to humans, and only shows up on film or video. Since then, innumerable photographs and videos have surfaced that purport to show rods. Search the Internet, and you'll find hundreds of them. If rods are as ubiquitous as it would seem they are, why is their existence not generally accepted? Justification for the existence of rods requires that four basic claims be proven or at least shown to be reasonable:
As you might expect, there is indeed an alternate explanation, and a simple procedure to take a picture showing rods. Picture yourself standing with the sun at your back, facing a large shaded area, such as the shaded entrance to a cave. Dragonflies (or other insects) are flying everywhere, darting back and forth at around 20mph, which is about 29 feet per second (dragonflies can hit 60mph). Take a photograph, with a common shutter speed of 1/30th of a second. In that time, the dragonfly will travel about 12 inches. Because your exposure is set for the dark background, the path traced by the dragonfly's transit will be overexposed and will appear solid white. The dragonfly will make one full wingbeat in in that time (some insects would beat their wings twenty times in 1/30th of a second), so the path described by its wingtip on your film image would be one full sine wave period, twelve inches long. There would be one of these sine waves down each side of the twelve-inch-long rod shaped track traced by the dragonfly's moving body. This phenomenon is so common that most any professional photographer can tell you about being plagued by it while trying to take outdoor photographs or video in similar lighting conditions. Nevertheless, the resulting image is strange enough that someone not familiar with photography basics might conclude that the subject in the photograph was in fact twelve inches long with undulating wings, and the photographer would be absolutely correct in stating that he did not see any twelve inch long flying creatures with his naked eye. The conclusion from all this is that rods are a well known, well established, and well understood byproduct of photography. The proposed alternate explanation, that they are an unknown and invisible lifeform only seen by cameras, requires that some pretty outrageous claims about invisibility and photography be proven. Until they are, or until a rod is captured and can be studied, I see no reason to suspect that such things might exist.
References Discuss!5 most recent comments | Show all 16 comments Remember, you should always read with skepticism the comments of anyone too lame to put their real name & city. Dudes, I doubt you saw one while on your roof, and when was the last time a rod was spotted hovering? Phil Brady, Okalahoma How can you see a light spectrum in a photograph that you cannot see with your naked eye? It must be magic! Unbelieveable, Rio Rancho, NM For starters when you talk about invisibility, they wouldn't have to be invisible to go unseen by the naked eye. Joshua, Hogeye Arkansas I think you just need to see my no-huddle offense in action and you will believe in rods. I love you. Gus Malzahn, Tulsa, OK Make a comment about this episode of Skeptoid (please try to keep it brief & to the point). Anyone can post: You can also discuss this episode in the Skeptoid Forum, hosted by the James Randi Educational Foundation. Join the Skeptalk email discussion list. |
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Well I too was a skeptic but yesterday while working on my roof one flew right by me. I was from 18 to 24 inches long and made a sound similar to a playing card attached to a bicycle spokes.
Doc Wirebaugh, Ohio
April 24, 2008 7:51am