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TILTED UFO OVER UTAH, 2004
PROVO — It's not a bird and it's not a plane.
So what was the unidentified flying object hovering over Provo Canyon that Tommy Woodard captured on film this week?
"Until they come up with a reason or an explanation, it will still be a UFO to me," Woodard said.
Woodard, who serves as photo librarian for the Utah Film Commission, spent Tuesday afternoon in Provo Canyon taking pictures of a local Scout camp that could serve as a possible film location.
But the beauty of the canyon prompted him to take several more digital photos for personal use. While browsing through those pictures later, he noticed one that had a dark speck on it.
Curious, the 22-year-old enlarged the image and couldn't believe his eyes.
"It appeared to be a flying saucer," Woodard said.
The enlarged photograph shows a purplish object hovering high above the trees that bears a striking similarity to UFO depictions in art and film.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think someone was filming 'Men in Black: 3' up there," said canyon enthusiast Brandon Ortega. "It seems like a joke, but it's too eerie to laugh about."
Though he is an admitted "sci-fi buff," Woodard said that he has been skeptical in the past about photos that claim to be of UFOs.
But since he shot the photo himself and couldn't see the object on any of his other photographs, Woodard has become a believer.
"A lot of the photos that are shown on television look really cheesy. Some of them — it's really obvious that they're fake," Woodard said. "But I've seen some photos that look just like mine. It's unbelievable."
Just last week, photos taken in March by Mexico's Air Force were released, showing 11 blobs of light detected by infrared cameras.
Scientists quickly disputed UFO rumors, however, and declared the lights to be a rare occurrence of "ball lightning."
But attempts to identify the object in Woodard's photo have been fruitless thus far.
Woodard said that initial reports from the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle indicating the object in question is actually a bird have now been abandoned.
A representative for Hill Air Force Base also said that it had "no aircraft at that time" in the Provo Canyon area.
Of course, this isn't the first time that Woodard has seen unidentified objects flying in the air.
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As a 10-year-old boy, Woodard said he noticed "three gray, blurry spheres moving up and down" nearby while he played Little League baseball.
But like this most recent incident, Woodard said those objects remain unexplained.
"I'm a little more excited now because this has kind of sparked my interest a little bit more," he said. "This has got a lot of people excited and wondering."
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BEAMS Comment: This now proves to be one of the best UFO pictures ever taken!!
