Legends, Hoaxes and the Big Lie: Doubly Exposed Parties

Tommy Smith and Hank Bolland weren’t the only teenagers involved with the Gulf Breeze UFO hoax. Ed and Frances Walters often hosted parties for their son, and his friends. Consequently, they had access to a number of teenagers. But unlike some chaperones who would avoid the party in some other room and be on call for an emergency, or others who would watch every minor every second for any signs of hanky-panky, the Walters seemed to actively engage the teenagers in attendance. As Tim Printy noted, researchers found rumors of strange, if not untoward behavior at these parties:

In a series of interviews that summer, [conspiracy theorist Zan] Overall learned much about the parties thrown by the Walters and circumstances surrounding the photographs. He discovered that the parties were often ritualistic, had seances, and highlighted Ed's ability as a storyteller and trickster. The kids recounted numerous stories that Ed had told. Many of these tales seemed to have been made up on the spot! Frances, demonstrating that she tended to be involved with Ed's pranks, also played a part. It seemed that these parties were far from what Ed and Frances tried to present.

MUFON relied heavily on the analysis of naval optical physicist Dr. Bruce Maccabee in declaring the photos genuine. Part of Dr. Maccabee’s opinion stemmed from his disbelief that Ed Walters had sufficient photographic knowledge to fake a UFO picture by means of double exposure. While admitting Walters could have taken the photos that way, Dr. Maccabee nonetheless pointed out the difficulty in doubly exposing a photo using a Polaroid camera. In order to do that, you’d have to have the coordination to activate the button, keep the print from ejecting out, and keeping your hands out of the range of the camera lens at the same time. A bit tricky, but far from impossible.

One of the teenaged partygoers, Nick Mock, told investigator Don Ware that Walters indeed knew how to make double exposures using a Polaroid, and had discussed the matter with him. He mentioned a specific photo in which Walters superimposed a sort of ghostlike image of a demon behind the smiling face of an unsuspecting young lady. Moreover, Mock said that Walters ruminated about something he called “the ultimate prank.”

Walters reacted to Mock’s insinuations by labeling a troublemaker, a druggie who most likely had a criminal record. Furthermore, Walters said that he had to eject Nick from one party, and subsequently banned him from future ones.

Investigators found that Mock had no criminal record, or history of drug abuse. And he wasn’t quite the rowdy described by Walters. Moreover, Mock could provide concrete evidence he was telling the truth. He simply went to the girl in the ghost-demon photo, and asked her for it. She gave it to him.

Figure 1. Ghost demon photo

The above image is a reproduction of the original photo, so the details of the ghost image aren’t as clear as they are in the original, a fact that Printy and others point out. But taken in account with other information, it becomes clear that this is a double-exposure.

Walters first claimed that he created the effect by playing around with the focus. The effect cannot be reproduced that way. Defenders tried to say that the image was caused by a reflection from a glass door on the other side of the room. Dr. Maccabee instructed Walters to recreate the effect. Ed took some similar photos using balloons as a subject. The reflection provided by the door produced ill-defined blobs of light, but nothing resembling the ghost image.

With nothing else to account for the image, the only thing one can conclude is that it is a double-exposure. Thus Walters knew how to fake Polaroid shots before the UFO photos he produced in November 1987.

That would appear to end the discussion of whether Walters hoaxed UFO photographs. But there’s one big nail for this coffin, and it comes from one of the most spectacular of the photos.