An employee of Orange County, California, Mr. Heflin took a series of four UFO images with his office Polaroid while checking road signs that were being blocked by vegetation in 1965. Here's his first photo:
Note how the dust on the ground directly underneath the object stands straight up. That is clear evidence for physical nature of UFO phenomenon.
The brilliant and fearless Anne Druffel studied the pictures and reported:
Excerpt...
Computer enhancement also confirmed that the UFO in Heflin’s photo is a large object, approximately 20 feet in diameter and more than 100 feet from the camera, as first estimated by Heflin. Kelson also independently detected an unusual blurring effect around the craft which he stated was not due to motion, camera focus, or to the gaussian effect. This correlates with Dr. Nathan’s finding 30 years prior of an unexplained fuzziness in the craft image.
Our reanalysis of the Heflin UFO photos in 2000 has led to the following conclusions:
1. The photos are totally consistent with Heflin’s written and verbal testimony regarding the sighting.
2. The photos depict a solid unidentified craft which is moving through the air, leaving a trail.
3. William Spaulding’s hoax conclusion in the mid-1970s was derived from faulty data.
4. The smoke-ring photo is linked by computer-enhancement data to the other three, by cloud and trail data which were previously unavailable.
There is evidence that for 28 years, three of the original four photos were in the hands of unknown persons who took good care of them while possibly accessing data from them. Why they were returned to Heflin under totally inexplicable circumstances remains an unsolved mystery.
The UFO field’s study of Rex Heflin’s incomparable photos continues, and will continue in years to come. Ongoing studies into more technical aspects are being conducted presently by Dr. Kelson, and there is more evidence emerging that the unexplained blur around the object might possibly be evidence of ionization, long speculated by many researchers and scientists in the field to be involved in UFO propulsion.
Source(via Wayback Machine Internet Archive):
http://www.anndruffel.com/articles/ufo/goodbyerexheflin.htm
There’s a fourth pic, which was taken as the thing departed, that showed a smoke ring.
Mr. Heflin was in the right place at the right time, with his camera at the ready, because photographing traffic accidents and roadway hazards were part of his job. Were it me that day in his stead, I likely would not get a single photo. Heck, I’d probably still be staring with my jaw on my chest.
What UFOs
are, I don’t know. I do know the subject deserves scientific study. For those who wonder, “Why bother?” The answer is we might learn something. For some reason, that thought seems to frighten many people.