Last year's winner:
Midnight UFO by Kate Davies
REMINDER: It's contest time, and the deadline is nearing! Have you always wanted to capture an image of a ghost, a crypto creature, or a UFO, but just weren't lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time? No problem. Just make one. Not for the purposes of fooling anyone, just for the purposes of our contest. Yes, it's time for our annual Paranormal Photo Hoax contest! Put your best photo editing skills to work and create a phony picture of ghosts, monsters, UFOs or some other weirdness your brain can concoct. You have until May 15 to create your masterpiece. Get the details.
Comments
All paranormal stuff is a hoax!
I’ll willingly discuss my viewpoint on msn @
stephaniebexon@hotmail.com
As Shakespeare says in Hamlet,”There are more things in heaven and on earth, Horatio, than are dreampt of in your philosophies”…
Photoshop -.-”
auhsashuhushuashuas
I took a Photoshop class and loved it. The way that I look at it, why not have some fun with it.
I think it is in very poor taste to encourage people to create fake photos and fake videos of paranormal and/or ghosts.
Whether or not they are stamped fake on this site, the creator has the original and can post them elsewhere or use them however they wish and deceive people. There is so much garbage videos on YouTube that are fake that I no longer look at any of them.
Rather hypocritical, in my opinion, to have such a contest and yet write the following in the description:
“Hoaxes such as these – intended to deceive – can hinder and even harm legitimate paranormal research, and all such attempts are to be condemned.”
Hoaxes that are intended to deceive are wrong. Hoax photos for fun are fun. Nothing hypocritical there at all. They are also educational, it’s good to be able to see what people can create and it makes it easier to weed out hoaxes.
Creating a photo of a near likeness to an actual experience is alright if thats how you explain it. Hoaxes are wrong because your not convincing the disbelieving public certain strange things exist on and around this planet that honest people have seen.
I think this contest has always been a great idea. Fake and false positive photographs have always existed long before editing software became so easily available. Creating these fake images should help set the bar when it comes to understanding just how easily it is to create fake images and hopefully help keep them from being peddled by paranormal bloggers and investigators who seem to have little understanding in not only how to create these images, but how to explain normal camera images that are touted as “paranormal” without being critically reviewed.
My only wish for this contest is to also include a video contest as well since there are so many convincing videos on UFOs and ghosts as well as a lot of horrible Bigfoot videos being churned out and believed as well.
It would seem this hoax contest is in violation of the core purpose of About.com, who claims to provide expert level content. Encouraging people to intentionally hoax a site known for expert content seems more than inappropriate.
Taken from the About.com website:
Since 1996, About.com has continually maintained its relevance to users by routinely providing expert information on a large range of topics.
The combined power of expert, quality content and a user-focused site helps the About.com user to efficiently and effectively navigate the “Need. Know. Accomplish” process. For more than 15 years, About.com has been a trusted source for our users to solve the large and small needs of everyday life.
The About Group is part of The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2010 revenues of $2.4 billion, which includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, BostonGlobe.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.
It really does not matter the nature of the requested hoax content; why would an organization owned by the New York Times and trusted as expert information encourage a hoax by its readers? Another fail for the media.
Relax, Bonnie. Did you read the article at all? The intent is not to fool anyone with the pictures, it’s just for fun to see how creative our readers can be. An far as I know, not one of the pictures created for past contests has been used to fool anyone or to create an actual hoax. Chill.