On 11 May 1950, Paul Trent allegedly took two photographs of UFOs in McMinnville, Oregon.
This incident is Case 17 in Isaac Koi's "Top 100" article, since it was referred to in 90 of the books covered by that article.
UFO skeptic Robert Sheaffer has written that “Many UFOlogists rate this case as the strongest photo case on record”.
This incident featured as the fourth best incident in a documentary produced by Paul Kimball entitled “Best Evidence: Top 10 UFO Cases”, purportedly based on the results of a survey conducted by Paul Kimball in 2005/2006 of “a select group of the world’s leading UFO researchers”.
These photographs have also featured in:
* a list of the “Top 10” UFO cases produced by James Carrion (in 2006),
* a list of five noteworthy cases produced by Richard Dolan (in his book “UFOs and the National Security State: Volume 1”)
* a list of the “Top 10” UFO cases produced by Stanton Friedman as part of a survey by the Fortean Times in 2007.
* a list of seven UFO cases produced by Brad Sparks (in 1999)
* a list of twenty UFO cases produced by Bruce Maccabee
* a list of the best four photographic UFO cases produced by Ronald Story
* a list by Paul Kimball of his own nominations for the top 10 cases.
Isaac Koi’s “ICES” Rating for this sighting = 21,840 (out of a potential score of 14*14*14*14 i.e. 38,416)
(1) “Impact” Rating of 14 (out of a potential score of 14), because it is Case 17 in Isaac Koi's "Top 100" article.
(2) “Credibility” Rating of 10 (out of a potential score of 14) because while many ufologists suggest that the Trents could not, or at least did not, hoax the images a few other researchers (notably Robert Sheaffer) have put forward some reasons for considering the photographs to have been hoaxed.
(2) “Expert” Rating of 13 (out of a potential score of 14). It is given this high rating because (at the time of writing) it has been included in quite a few of the short lists of the best cases produced by various UFO researchers that have been compiled by Isaac Koi (see the “Best UFO Cases" article at PART 3: Existing lists by various individuals).
(4)“Strangeness” Rating of 12 (out of a potential score of 14). The sighting has a relatively high strangeness rating since it would be very difficult to reconcile the images and accompanying witness evidence with a misperception or misidentification of a mundane stimulus. The key issue is one of the credibility of the eyewitnesses and photographs.
Sections below: