Photographs of Freddie

Ikwipedia

Photographs of Freddie

File:Freddie head front Reed examination.pngFront-view photograph of the small being "Freddie", said by Jonathan Reed to have been taken during his home examination in Seattle in October 1996 — the most widely reproduced image from the case. 35 mm slide film, attributed to Reed.

Photographs of Freddie are a series of 35-millimetre slide film photographs that Jonathan Reed says he took in October 1996 of the small, humanoid non-human intelligent being he called "Freddie", made while he examined the being at his home in Seattle, Washington in the days after the Jonathan Reed forest incident near Snoqualmie Pass. Reed stated that he shot approximately four rolls of film on a Nikon camera, documenting both the being and the levitating obelisk from the same encounter. The photographs were displayed at UFO conferences, reproduced in Reed's 2000 book LINK: An Extraterrestrial Odyssey (co-authored with Robert Raith), and broadcast internationally on Jaime Maussan's programmes in Mexico; together with the home video, the forest video and the audio recording of Freddie they are among the most widely circulated pieces of alleged visual evidence from the Reed case, the front-view image of the being's face being the most often reproduced.

The photographs' authenticity is disputed. The Seattle UFO-Paranormal Group concluded that the case was a fabricated hoax and that "Jonathan Reed" was a pseudonym, the debunking site UFO Watchdog reported that the Kodak slide film Reed said he used was not manufactured until after October 1996 — meaning it did not yet exist at the time of the alleged incident, a discrepancy that would affect every photograph in the corpus, and the television programme Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files (Syfy, 2010) concluded the imagery could be reproduced using a fabricated prop head under controlled lighting. Set against this, Art Bell scanned the physical Kodak originals himself on the 11 November 1998 Coast to Coast AM broadcast, presenting the physical handling as proof the images were not computer-generated: "These are original Kodak photograph of an alien encounter." Red-eye retinal reflectivity visible in the eye close-ups has likewise been offered as alleged evidence of a living subject rather than a prop.

The photographs

Face photograph

The photograph of Freddie's face is the most widely reproduced image from the Reed case, showing the head of a small humanoid figure with large dark oval eyes approximately two inches across, a small mouth, no visible nose cartilage, and no visible hair or ears — consistent with Reed's verbal descriptions of the being in interviews. Reed stated the being was photographed while stored in a chest freezer at his home in Seattle in the days following the forest encounter. Visible red material on the being appeared to be blood following Reed's strike with a tree branch during the forest incident; Reed described the skull as having been breached, stating: "from the photograph of the injury, the skull was breached."

The image was displayed at UFO conferences and included in LINK: An Extraterrestrial Odyssey (2000). It was shown alongside the home video, the forest video, and the audio recording of Freddie during presentations by Maussan in Mexico, and broadcast in the Otro Rollo segment on the Reed case (26 June 2001), which was reportedly rebroadcast 14 times across 21 countries. Reed also presented the case internationally, travelling to 14 countries to show the evidence to private groups, with video material scheduled for broader public release in the period following his 2001 Coast to Coast AM interview. The image became the central visual element of the Reed case and remains in circulation in UFO documentary and discussion media.

Side view

File:Freddie head side view.pngSide-view photograph of the being's head, showing the ear-canal region; from Reed's October 1996 home examination.

A photograph showing the lateral profile of Freddie's head, including the ear-canal region. Reed stated that an additional side-view photograph of the being's head, released after the initial 1998 disclosures, showed the ear canal in detail.

Back of the head and skull wound

Photograph showing the wound on the back of the being's head; from Reed's October 1996 home examination.

A photograph allegedly documenting the wound inflicted during the initial forest encounter, where Reed reportedly struck the being with a tree branch, leaving a two-inch hole in the back of the head. Surrounding tissue and dried red material described by Reed as blood are visible in the image.

Eye close-ups

Photograph of the being's eye held open by Reed's hand, showing alleged retinal detail; from Reed's October 1996 home examination.

File:Freddie face closeup redeye.pngClose-up photograph purportedly showing retinal reflectivity (the red-eye effect); from Reed's October 1996 home examination.

Close-up photographs of Freddie's eyes, with one image reportedly showing Reed using his hand to hold the eyelid open. Retinal reflectivity visible in these close-ups has been cited as alleged evidence the being was a living creature rather than a fabricated prop, on the argument that a model or mask would not produce the same red-eye effect visible in the images. The "OMG Alien Footage" YouTube compilation presented the eye analysis as one of several arguments for authenticity.

Film negative

File:Freddie head film negative.png35 mm film negative of a photograph of the being, presented as alleged evidence the images predate digital manipulation.

An image of an original 35mm film negative, presented as alleged evidence the photographs predated digital manipulation capabilities. Bell emphasized during the 1998 broadcast that the photographs were physical Kodak 35mm originals rather than digital files: "I scanned these photographs, Kodak 35 millimeter photographs, myself." On a 2013 Dark Matter broadcast, Reed stated the photographs were taken "prior to digital photography" using "35 millimeter slide film."

Obelisk photographs

Main article:

Photographs of the obelisk

Photographs of the obelisk artifact were taken on the same rolls of film. Reed stated on a 2013 broadcast that the obelisk photographs in their original physical form were unusually clear, and that later versions circulated online appeared lower-resolution by comparison.

List of known photographs

Photo Year Location Source Status
Front view of Freddie's head ("face photo") 1996 Reed's home, Seattle Coast to Coast AM (1998 broadcast); LINK: An Extraterrestrial Odyssey (2000) Released
Side view of head with ear canal 1996 Reed's home, Seattle Reed's website (uploaded years after 1998) Released
Back of head / skull wound 1996 Reed's home, Seattle Coast to Coast AM (1998 broadcast) Released
Eye close-up (eyelid held open) 1996 Reed's home, Seattle OMG Alien Footage compilation Released
Eye close-up (red-eye effect) 1996 Reed's home, Seattle OMG Alien Footage compilation Released
Film negative 1996 N/A (negative scan) Coast to Coast AM / online circulation Released
Obelisk artifact photographs 1996 Forest incident site / Reed's home Coast to Coast AM (1998); LINK (2000) Released; original quality disputed
Additional unreleased photographs (alleged) 1996 Unspecified Reed's stated four rolls of film; majority not publicly disclosed Unreleased / disputed existence

The total photographic corpus is poorly documented. Reed's claim of approximately four rolls of 35mm film implies on the order of 100–144 exposures, of which only a small number have ever been published. The 1998 broadcast described "approximately six 35mm photographs with three posted publicly," and additional images surfaced on Reed's website in subsequent years.

Provenance and authentication

Reed stated all photographs of Freddie were taken prior to widespread digital photography, on 35mm slide film loaded into a Nikon camera, with approximately four rolls exposed during the incident and its immediate aftermath documenting both the being and the obelisk artifact. The first public release occurred on the 11 November 1998 Coast to Coast AM broadcast, where Art Bell held the physical Kodak originals up to the studio camera and personally scanned them for online display, presenting the physical handling as alleged certification against digital manipulation. The broadcast described approximately six 35mm photographs in the released set, with three posted publicly at that time and additional images noted in possession. Reed continued releasing additional photographs to his website over subsequent years, with side-view ear-canal images being among the later disclosures.

The Seattle UFO/Paranormal Group investigation, directed by Charlette LeFevre and Philip Lipson, concluded the Reed case was a fabricated hoax, asserting that "Jonathan Reed" was a pseudonym for one Jonathan Rutter and that the alleged encounter near Snoqualmie Pass never took place. Separately, the debunking site UFO Watchdog reported that the slide film Reed claimed to have used was not manufactured by Kodak until after October 1996 — a point attributed to Tony Edwards of the company's Product Information Department — a dating discrepancy that would affect every photograph in the corpus. Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files (Syfy, 2010) examined Reed's photographic evidence in its "Sasquatch Sprint/Alien Attacker" episode and concluded the imagery could be replicated using a fabricated prop head under controlled lighting conditions. A commenter identifying herself as a former associate of Reed, whose messages were read aloud in a YouTube video, alleged that "Freddie is a doll made of papier-mâché" and that "Valerie did Freddie's videos with his Microsoft team."

A counter-argument drawn from the eye close-ups holds that the retinal reflectivity visible in them would not be reproducible with a static prop and is alleged evidence of a living subject. Biological analysis presented by Maussan reportedly linked the photographic and tissue evidence, claiming Freddie possessed 46 chromosomes — the same number as humans — with nine pairs resembling those of dolphin and sea tortoise, alongside nanotechnology devices found in the being's brain. The tissue itself was said to have been examined by a University of Washington team that included pathologist Rodger Haggitt and research chemist Michael Wessels, both of whom died within months of each other in 2000 before any results were published — a coincidence read, by those who hold the case to be genuine, as a deliberate effort to suppress the findings.[citation needed]

See also

Sources

References

Source ratings:

(Color-coding) (

[1 Wikipedia-grade]

·

[2 Questionable]

·

[3 Reporting/Analysis]

·

[4 Speculative/Hearsay]

·

[5 Ungrounded]

). (To change source ratings,

edit this page

.)