THE MOVIE Crosa
The problem of the analysis of video footage of UFO phenomena
Giuseppe Stilo
In recent years it has been repeatedly brought to the fore the environment UFO Italian movie, filmed in 1987 in a small Calabrian , which shows a kind of hard to maneuver in the sky bright notturno.Testimoni event people gathered to attend a series of alleged apparitions of which would still starring two young people of Calabria. The case has also reached the general public through the transmission of the movie in a program RAI the autumn of 1988.
This movie, in the opinion of writer, is the source of many technical teaching and reflection on a field of study, that of the video footage of alleged UFO phenomena, which are increasingly spreading and on which we certainly need to acquire a much more extensive analysis. 
During his summer vacation of 1987, the journalist Anna Maria Turi, who lives in Rome and a passion for the paranormal and religious apparitions [1] he went to Calabria, where he learned that in a village in the province of Cosenza, a statue of the Madonna tear and that would appear in the sky "a luminous globe." She went there and watched the movie, Turi falls within the capital, where the Roman daily Il Tempo, 15 August, giving the first news of the event, following which the journalist was contacted by some members of an association UFO, the Centre National UFO. is only the beginning of 1988, however, that events take a new turn when the actress Maria Rosaria Omaggio, which is preparing for a program to Raidue bets on the world of the unusual entitled Incredible, learns of the matter and decides to ask the man who shot the movie, which will be bought by RAI - apparently - for the sum of three and a half million lire [2].
At the end of May of that year, the presenter went to Incredible Crosia where he made a service, which will be broadcast on the evening of October 17, 1988, during the episode of the program devoted to UFO. On this occasion the authenticity and reliability of the UFO movie are described and commented on by some members of the CUN, which "shall" in the case with an enthusiasm that, based on the facts, you can not really hesitate to define excessive [3]. 
the findings of fact is the afternoon of May 23, 1987. In a dilapidated church near Crosia, a country located on the Ionian coast province of Cosenza, two boys discover that an old plaster statue of the Madonna would begin to tear spontaneously.
In the days after the news spread and thousands of people, including representatives of local authorities, pouring on the spot while the press to take care of each other. During an evening prayer meetings, a few days later, the young Vincent Fuller (15 years) and Anna Biasi (12 years) began to have visions and receive messages from the Virgin Mary manifested themselves.
And so Pasquale Campana, a hairdresser, then twenty-six, residing in the hamlet of Myrtle, 7 km from the village, decided to "place day and night with a camera before the church where usually these strange things were done "[2].
umpteenth appearance during one of the evening (we will discuss later the question of the exact date), the seer Vincent Fuller gets up and warn people to leave the church and "watch the sky." Also Bell, who is returning to the scene, he goes outside, looks up and discovers a strange light as a plane that was too much light "[2]. Holding the camera" resting on shoulder "Bell begins to film the" globe that turned on itself "[4].
The footage broadcast by RAI, the movie has a duration of about six and a half minutes, but it should be noted that it is only a part (even , the assembly of some sequences) of the entire movie, which really would have a much greater duration. This finding should lead to a first consideration, since the missing part of the recovery could show much more than trivial details in order for a critical evaluation of the facts.
is also worth noting that nobody has ever bothered to make known the technical data relating to the camera, which still use the common format VHS and had to be able to provide modest performance. Even time does not refer unambiguously: the various sources, however, speak of a time between 22 and 22.30.
As the movie shows it real, against a background completely dark, a big bright spot on the move but apparently originated from a light source property. The oscillating movements and clicks seem to be solely due to impact people around the operator and the instability of the car on the shoulder of Campana. Moreover, the lack of movement is evidenced by the absence of a final scene that shows any removal of the phenomenon as well as by the presence in the lower right visual field, a street light that appears and reappears several times in the same position relative the unusual light.
The particular lamp post is the only external visible throughout the shot: it disappears when the light spot is blown out of proportion until it assumed the appearance of a bright circle with a border, one inside a little 'paler, a central hole and two dark moldings, a higher, wider, and a lower , triangular, smaller [see photo 1].
At first glance, the impression is of a very fast approach and removal of the body, however, takes the appearance of a large bright spot when the field of view widens, and again shows the aforementioned lamp.
The soundtrack can be heard many voices but also some confusing comments in Calabrian dialect, of people who seem to have seen also something unusual in the sky. Among the witnesses the parish priest and manager of the apparitions, sixty-five Don Luigi Mazza. No noise seems to come from the luminous phenomenon.
no contradiction
In fact, as already mentioned, some fundamental elements that are still unclear and the way they were presented certainly has not helped to increase the solid feel of the case.
You can start even with the uncertainty about the date on which the movie was filmed. Were in fact mentioned on several occasions and from different sources, three different days.
Initially, at the time of the August 15 1987 Anna Maria Turi spoke explicitly of the "June 4th". On a later source, however (Seven, supplement to the Corriere della Sera on March 5, 1988), the same journalist in changing the date "May 30" The same date is mentioned soon after by some ufologists [5] and in another article about " visions "of Crosia appeared on a popular weekly [6]. The same day will also be discussed during the program dedicated Incredible, October 17, 1988, in large measure to the fact in question.
But then, almost simultaneously, is the same Incredible presenter, Maria Rosaria Omaggio, to speak a third time in the pages of his book sull'insolito, written after the previous TV experience [7]. The movie was made the "June 2, 1987."
In any case, nobody thought to provide an explanation of changes in the timing of the facts and the way in which the date would have come true. What can be stated is that, after the publication of the Book of Homage, even UFO enthusiasts have adapted the latest version with no comment at all [8].
even bigger and the gap relative to the number of people who have witnessed the phenomenon visually. Here are several figures which have been suggested:
- "hundreds" (Stop the June 5, 1988);
- "five or six hundred texts" (statement Tribute during the Incredible)
- "hundreds, perhaps thousands" (7 of March 5, 1988);
- "more than nine hundred people" (News UFO No 112-113);
- "nine hundred and sixty" (!?) (statement of Corrado Malanga of CUN in the Tyrrhenian Sea on 12 April 1990);
- "more than a thousand witnesses" (C. Malanga, R. Pinotti, "The phenomenon BVM", p. 77).
Apart from the significant differences, it seems we are given to understand that the number of observers was very high. Well, in this respect, one can not be seen as, in such cases, the emphasis on the celestial phenomenon in the local press (which followed the daily apparitions) would be very large. And yet, the publications of the place (the daily newspaper La Gazzetta del Sud and the weekly The Crotonese) contain no mention of the period in question, the appearance of "hard" [9].
In contrast, we are faced with a desperate poverty of collateral evidence to confirm the presence of something very unusual in the sky of the Calabrian town.
Here and there mentions "the cries of the people," the presence of "a star or apple in half" or "a round ball that was coming" (Incredible 17 October 1988). The same Pasquale Campana in an interview describing the phenomenon as "something very similar to a star that was going through the sky above "and cites" the people who knelt [2].
The presenter mentioned the gift in place of the "butcher of Ross [8], but apart from some other very little reference there is no trace the publication of detailed accounts of hundreds of witnesses who describe the details of "extraordinary" visible in the movie. Everything seems to be consistent with the hypothesis of the presence in the sky Crosia a light source far more trivial, the presence of which - not forget - probably turned, after the announcement of a "sign" by Madonna, the hopes of many locals.
One of the alleged anomalies the movie was instead argued, lies in the fact that the effects of distance and approach of the phenomenon can not be attributed to zooming since "the operator swearing that he had never touched," and because "the light source literally squirted back with a speed that makes it impossible to imitate this phenomenon by manipulating the zoom manually [10].
He then attempted to enhance the soundness of the movie trying Crosia similarities with alleged UFO events preceding and following [11], for example by comparing it with footage shot in recent years in Belgium, which we will discuss below. But to judge
adequately the story of our interest is necessary to focus on all the internal parts to the question.
A FORMER NORWEGIAN?
For several years he was known in the UFO literature the case of a movie, filmed in southern Norway February 20, 1976, which appears to have similarities with the phenomenon of Crosia and the analysis of which is a source of profits for some preliminary lessons understand the nature of the effects in the movie that reached us from the province of Cosenza.
the evening in question, to Steinsholt, a village situated about one hundred kilometers south-west of Oslo, and filmed the couple saw a small bright red ball that was heading north the sky is completely dark. The association
UFO-Norge kept on a detailed investigation [12]. These were the interesting views expressed Solar Observatory of the Department of Astrophysics, University of Oslo, "we measured the blackening of the film with our microdensitometro [13]. This showed that the camera was out of focus, while all the images have a ring of light just inside the edge of the Light [detail riscotrabile visually in the frames of the movie Crosia, ed.] This is also evident on the negatives of the film. "
"If you look at the relationship of the witnesses, the size apparent object are described of 0.5 degrees (a pea), but the film shows them about two degrees. This indicates that the system of adjustment of the camera was out of focus. "
Even the captains and A. Brandtzeg A. Knutsen, photographic laboratories Kjeller, after reviewing the movie, stating that the machine was out of focus and also found a lack reference points [which unfortunately also is noted in the case of Crosia].
On top of the phenomenon started to Steinsholt is also a black spot that seems to cut the top section of the disc. The nature of these and other " trim "look more or less like this on several occasions to return later. UFO - Norge is not expressed on the possible nature of the body movie. What matters here is the quote from some technical details that, as we shall soon see, are, along with many others, converged to a conventional explanation of the phenomena in the film by Pasquale Campana. The technical explanation
An important development took place in August 1990, however, when the French UFO Gilles Munsch, an engineer specializing in mechanical engineering, he sent a French UFO associations and other countries (Italy at the Italian Center for UFO Studies) its analysis of five pages on one of the footage shot during the Belgian and the recent wave of Crosia. The report concluded that the ghostly images in the film were only due to the effects of zooming. Munsch began by underlining the curious lack of perspective of the body Crosia movie.
was almost by chance that in the course of an investigation in northern France, Munsch made a movie of the area where there had been a UFO report. To his surprise, in view after the sequence, the investigator saw the light shapes appear on the screen very similar to those of films of interest. Looking at the facts, it was clear that the unusual images appeared only during a time of zooming and bounce in a row of street lamps. Such images disappear instead ended when the auto focus [see photo 2 and 3]. At that point, Munsch continued, could make three assumptions:
1) that the images come from a special optical camera;
2) that were generated by a characteristic of electronics equipment, especially by the CCD sensor LCD;
3) that were due simply to a particular form of the specific street lamps. The latter possibility was ruled out, however, produced the same effect as taking Munsch other lamps Road (picture 6).
Everything seems to indicate a cause inside the camera.
The difficulty of finding detailed blueprints of the equipment used by Munsch, Japanese construction [14], was overcome by a careful examination of the machines. Running the unit discovered that around the position of maximum zoom is a piece of metal whose contours are similar to those strange lights in the grooves filmed [see drawing]. The shape of these pieces may still vary depending on the various camera models. This occurs only when one approaches the maximum zoom, where the auto iris is completely open and is about to end focus. Then
Munsch reproduced this phenomenon with daylight, the camera focusing on the sidelights of a helicopter. Of course, concluded Munsch, lack of technical information about whether Crosia not able to conclude with absolute certainty that the phenomenon was there again due to similar causes.
But a more detailed explanation of the phenomena was given later by the expert photographic association SOBEPS Belgian UFO, Patrick Ferryn [16].
Ferryn also noted, by analyzing some footage made by witnesses during the astonishing wave of "triangles" in Belgium, the effects similar to those described above. This time, in addition to providing an even more appropriate technical explanation, the SOBEPS in the course of his investigation seems to be able to identify the source of light source of two of the three films under consideration. Already a Gemmenich November 30, 1990, a village near Eupen (Liège) a Dumbruch Etienne had taken over during the evening, an extremely bright, which was held motionless in the sky. The SOBEPS immediately suspected that the causes of the effects of enlargement of the repeated sequences were detectable in the light due to zooming, but early attempts to riprodurrelo same phenomenon with another camera gave negative results.
However, comparing the astronomical data relating to the sky to Gemmenich for the evening in question, it was clear that the luminous body movie was nothing but the brilliant planet Jupiter.
phenomenon instead almost identical to that in the movie Crosia was shown in a report carried by Radio-Television Belgian during the Easter holidays of 1990. In it we see a big bright spot to become a disc with notches (two upper and one lower) with a central dark. This time the movie was the work of an inhabitant of Amay, Province de Liège, and it was made sometime in February 1990 [see picture 4].
Subsequently, the head of the investigations of SOBEPS Patrick Vidal made it known that this time too Jupiter, this had been filmed without a tripod and a lens autofocus [17].
Finally, the daily La Libre Belgique on 1 April 1990 reported that some Joaquim Sferrazza, with his wife, had filamto a curious round disc "on Flémalle, near Liege. In the second half is observed separately for about twenty seconds a flying body showing a central point but also two dark triangular grooves on top and another bevel, also triangular, along the bottom edge. Since the movie is clear: zoom (x 6) of the camera.
"Despite the initial failure to reproduce the unusual effects - writes Ferryn - the study of all the documents received by the SOBEPS seemed to confirm that the suspects were immediately directed towards the optical system of the cameras. "Indeed, by comparing the sequences, which turned out (just like in the movie to CROs) to each" puff "of light source corresponded to the original appearance of the image of "disc with the moldings along the edges." The phenomenon observed optically by these corresponded instead to a scene far more banal.
In most cases, the effect coincided with an upturn done in a position of maximum zoom (f: 54 mm f: 72 mm) or the time at which the operator had zoomed in progress. In the final analysis, the autofocus system of cameras that are equipped with a CCD sensor system operating in VHS, VHS, VHS C 8 or caused, to any modification dell'inquadratra a new search for the maximum possible clarity. This included a defocusing momentarily framed subject to the next level off autofocus. This aberration is amplified with optical zoom in (f: f 9 to: 54 for a zoom x6 or to f: 72 for a zoom x8).
Ferryn then highlights the instability of the quasi-permanent video camera, very light and only straight from the shoulder of the operator (as CROs) and whose movements seppr mild conspicuously affect the final result, with great difficulty in focusing also an astronomical body such as the planet Jupiter, whose angular velocity is so small as to be considered firm for which we are concerned no.Tali-movements caused by the operator, as mentioned, seem to be the only detectable in the film shot in Crosia.
As for the presence of notches on the edge of the disc, the pattern of the tube with a camera, played a part, shows that it is simply due to the shape of some parts located almost at the end of the tube. Location, number and shape of these pieces vary from one model to another, causing even slight differences in molding. Finally
Importantly, says Ferryn, that all effects described so far can not be played using any camera model, because of different quality and design of optical systems used. In general, the material more sophisticated and therefore more expensive to offer a valid defense against this type of problem.
the "hole" CENTRAL
At this point, for the sake of objectivity, it should be noted that some of the films examined here present, in the middle, a darker area as a kind of hole, apparently circular. The same
Gilles Munsch, in reporting the results of his analysis, he observed that his experimental video did not exhibit this characteristic.
A writer seems that the defense of the genuineness of the resumption of UFO Crosia on the basis of that finding offers little hope. In a brief note in a circular of CUN, for example [17], the above is the only element that is inherent in the movie as opposed to the detailed technical explanations offered by many.
However, as we have said, according to the results of the investigation SOBEPS Amay the movie, which also presents a dark hole in the middle is actually a simple shot out of focus of the planet Jupiter.
Moreover, even in mid-May of 1989 the writer, in his As a contributor to the unusual magazine Il Giornale dei Misteri, had received a letter from a Roman university student who, unfortunately, chose not to disclose the names and addresses. The letter is in favor of causes to explain the unusual optical effects film Crosia.
Among the objections voiced by the young man were listed: the clear presence of a zoom effect, the apparent lack of emotion in the voices in the background of the people to the fact, the anti-aerodynamic body position, and especially the lack of external reference points in the movie. This fact alone, it would still be a way to diminish the interest of any significant recovery UFO. Just from the one detail of this type, lamp post, you have another confirmation of the cause of phantasmagoric effects. In fact it is only visible in the absence of the zoom. In this situation the object is nothing but a big point of light. The lamp disappears, however, when, with the narrowing of the visual field, the object becomes the "big disk with moldings and a central hole."
Following the Roman university bodies with a video camera and an ordinary light bulb pea similar to those used for decoration of Christmas trees (6-12 volts, 100-140 mA, 5.5 mm in diameter and length of 18 mm) tried to reproduce the phenomenon by placing light bulb in a dark room at 10-15 mm from the machine and the joint operation of the zoom. The result is an image identical to that of Crosia, complete with the "mysterious" central eight-pointed star, moldings, upper and lower edge and raised in the central and left.
A cause astronomical?
Of course, it is not clear what was the source which, taken for granted the good faith of those who carried out the shooting, was the basis of the effects already widely described and explained. This source, however, no features to suggest a few anomalous phenomenon.
As movements seem to be present caused only small movements of the camera, it is not impossible that the little light was completely immobile, apparently at a height rather modest corner.
The hypothesis of an origin does not seem entirely scartabile astronomical, considering also the identification of the Belgian movie Amay. However, the apparent size of the bright point of Crosia may seem excessive for such an eventuality.
However, similar effects to that of the "disk Crosia" can be produced from renewable astronomical phenomenon is further confirmed by a research team from the movie Shade Cerreto di Borgo a Mozzano (LU), directed by Moreno Tambellini, during a night sky watch made June 24, 1990 at the Apennine village of Passo Hops (LU), on the border between Tuscany and Emilia.
dawn of that day, in fact, the officer to video footage of the group saw "a point of light that rose from the horizon in a slow and steady". With emotion, group members saw the emergence control monitor a form similar to that found in our archive relevance. After careful scrutiny, however, it was clear that the strange body was none other than the brilliant planet Venus. Once again, the form "date was only made by the zoom on the point of light and the internal characteristic of the camera [18].
Finally, it should be noted that a suggestive interpretation, for the writer's opinion, should not be taken lightly. It was noted that during the episode of the Incredible program in which the fact was presented, was broadcast an interview with Maria Rosaria Omaggio by Mr. Bell at the place from which he was able to shoot the movie. Well, the day showed footage behind the well-known lamp that serves as a reference point, a rather steep hill and quite high. From this we get the vague impression that, perhaps, the light source is not necessarily to be identified - whatever their nature - in a body in the sky, but in a light fixed to the ground. The feeling is apparently supported by the fact that, by superimposing a frame of film and a tribute to Bell's interview, the profile of the hill also covers the point at which he was to be the source of light.
and that the interview was made at the point where the shooting was carried out near-perfect analogy would seem confirmed by size in the two cases presented by the famous lamppost.
course, both because of the astronomical hypothesis that the most prudent suggestion just made can not find solid support (or denial) without a detailed investigation on the spot, which so far seems to be no trace. But what can you say, even when there are unexplained contradictions dell'avvenimanto the date and we have no details of celestial coordinates in which presumably was the source of light?
Conclusion
In a related story of the movie Crosia, it is likely that the increasing popularity of video cameras, now also available for a considerable proportion of the Italians, ports in the coming years to an explosion in the number of movies in our UFO provision. During the recent wave of Belgium, for example, have been built more than twenty.
would be desirable to begin to gear up, both conceptually and technically prepared to deal with this new aspect of the phenomenon that, until a few years ago, at least in Italy had a rather marginal importance. This is also in order not to repeat the mistake made by most of the UFO community until the late '70s, when - even for an almost total inability technique - hundreds of alleged UFO photos disseminated mainly by research groups were routinely ignored or regarded as mere curiosity and not one of the many areas in which to acquire a growing professionalism and skills of critical appreciation. In the matter of
Crosia, however, we had an example of what we do not want the UFO was and what is still today, unfortunately, sometimes continues to embody.
Pictures Clipboard investigation of Turi.
[7] Maria Rosaria Omaggio, "My journey in the incredible" TECHNIPRESS Italian, Rome 1989.
[8] C. Malanga and R. Pinotti, op. cit., p. 10; UFO Newsletter, No 112-113 of January to December 1990; Since May 8, 1991 (statement of R. Pinotti) Stop 8 May 1991 (interview with C. Malanga).
[9] To be precise, in a short article appeared on June 3, 1987 The Journal of Southern states that "someone said Sunday that he saw the risen Christ and, finally, a boat." The date reported is still different, May 31.
[10] C. Malanga and R. Pinotti, op. cit., p. 78.
[11] Some attempts to find twice UFO equal, as in the case of significant (and disappointing) story of the "photo of Rouen" and that of Mc Minniville, see the article by Willy Smith: "The photo Rouen" No on Orbiter 25, July-August 1990, pp. 6-7.
[12] Nordic UFO Newsletter, No 2, 1982, pp. 8-10.
[13] microdensitometro (or microfotometro) is a precision optical instrument designed to measure the most minute details of the density of photographic negatives.
[14] It was a Philips VKR 6850 Secam and a Panasonic MV-N7-F.
[15] Patrick Ferryn, "Des 'disques à encoches' et des infortunes de la video" on Inforespace # 79, SOBEPS, Brussels, novembre1990, pp.25-30, and again in the chapter "Video films et photographies" the book "Vague d'OVNI sur le Belgique, SOBEPS 1991, pp. 398-401.
[16] UFO - UFO Magazine Information n.9, gennaio1991, p.8.
[17] Direct Line No. 10, May-December 1990, p.2.
[18] Letters of the UFO Shado Section Fiorentina of 08/03/1990 and 01/14/1991, and Shado Documents No. 5, January 1991.
[CISU © 1992 - taken from UFO - UFO news magazine of the Italian Center for UFO Studies No 11 July 1992]
http://www.cisu.org/r11crosa.htm
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