Jose Escamilla

{{ufology}}
'''Jose Escamilla''' was a [[ufologist]] and general [[woo]]-meister, whose claim to fame was the discovery of the mysterious "[[rods]]" over [[New Mexico]]. He described himself as a "producer-director" and said he had "editied film and video for over 20 years."<ref>[http://www.roswellrods.com/je.html Jose Escamilla's biography on Roswellrods]</ref> Thus it raises the question of whether or not he edited them to support his own nonsense.

==UFO documentaries==
Prior to his death in December 2018, he released two "documentary" films, covering the so-called [[UFO]] [[cover-up]] [[conspiracy]]. 

In the first, ''UFO, The Greatest Story Ever Denied'', he began by referring back to his since-discredited<ref>[http://www.amsky.com/ufos/rods/ The "Rods" Hoax]</ref> discovery of the flying rods, before going on to discuss everything from the [[Roswell]] incident to the [[Moon landing hoax]] as if they were real events. He even told the viewer how to capture "invisible" UFOs on film, in broad daylight. However, besides telling you you need identical cameras, one in night mode, he only made reference to a "special conversion" to the night mode camera, leaving you with no idea how to actually set up the cameras.<ref group=note>As quoted in the film, from 2:30 onwards.</ref>

The film is accompanied by the obligatory grainy and blurred "UFO" photos to the accompaniment of dramatic music, as well as interviews with people who claim to have been high up the conspiracy ladder, who would be willing to "testify before [[Congress]]."

He followed this up with ''Moon Rising'', where he explained how he had the sudden revelation that the Moon's surface cannot be concrete-grey, despite what astronauts and [[Moon]] rocks might say. So he came up with the bright idea of looking at [[Earth]]'s colouration from high altitude and applying similar gradients to the Moon's surface. Clearly he forgot about the small fact of the Moon having ''negligible'' atmosphere.

Also in ''Moon Rising'' he stated that Kunowsky A, a minor satellite crater of the main Kunowsky crater, is a UFO hovering over the lunar surface. So confident was he of this fact that he even included the image of it in his original movie poster artwork.<ref>[http://greymoon.hubpages.com/hub/UFO-The-Greatest-Story-Ever-Denied-Part-II---Moon-Rising--Is-it-a-Hoax UFO Hall of Shame Jose Escamilla Moon Rising 2012]</ref>

Surprise, surprise, he found that using this technique reveals that the Moon is simply covered with alien bases, towers, and vehicles (one of which is "10 times the size of LA"). He went on to use this as a basis for the fake horizon lines in NASA's Moon photos (because they reveal ancient artifacts in the background), and to the fake Moon landings, because the occupants of the Moon had warned Earth authorities off on ever landing there again. In true [[David Icke]] style, he went on to raise the conspiracy of why all the world's space agencies feature a chevron design in their logos, before concluding with the fact that [[SDI]] is not a myth and was in existence long before [[Reagan]] dreamed up the idea, and that nuclear weapons are in space, but in order to defend Earth from [[space aliens]]. It's a virtual [[Gish Gallop]] of every alien conspiracy you can think of.

==Comeuppance==
In 2010, Escamilla was due to premier a re-edited version of his film at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. However, his backers withdrew at the last minute – presumably having been confronted with what they were putting their names to – forcing him to cancel the premier and leaving him in serious debt.<ref>[http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread588931/pg1 The implosion of "Jose Escamilla": The UFO Hoaxer]</ref>

In fact, the situation was so bad, that he resorted to pleading for donations both on his TBN Films page,<ref>[http://tblnfilms.com/help.html Listing a whole ''four'' donors so far]</ref> as well as on his [[Facebook]] page,<ref>[http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000669186984&v=wall Escamilla's Facebook Wall]</ref> where he appeared to swing between begging for money and blaming Dr. Steven Greer, founder of the Disclosure Project, for his failures.

==See also==
*[[Rods]]
*[[Lunar anomalies]]
===Want to read this in another language?===
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==External links==
*[http://www.roswellrods.com/ Roswell Rods, Escamilla's home page]
*[http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthread.php/99976-jose-escamilla.html Jose Escamilla] thread at the [[BAUT]] forum (with his participation)
*[http://podcast.sjrdesign.net/shownotes_065.php Exposing PseudoAstronomy Ep 65: José Escamilla's Movie "Celestial"] - Skeptical analysis of Escamilla's latest film.

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Ufology]]
[[category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[category:Pseudoscience promoters]]

Categories: Ufology, Conspiracy theorists, Pseudoscience promoters