'Rod' Phenomenon: Alien Aircraft or Something Even More Unbelievable?

Back in 1994 while taping in New Mexico, film editor José Escamilla and his wife Karen made a startling discovery on some of their tapes. When replaying the tapes they noticed a number of cylindrical shaped objects flying around in front of the camera at a very high rate of speed. As the shots were slowed, the video revealed that these objects closely resembled 'rods' to Karen, which she had seen under a microscope, thus they began calling them by that name. When they went public with this discovery it became a controversial find amongst scientists, ufologists, cryptozoologists and others.

The first thing skeptics questioned, naturally, was Escamilla's skill with the camera. Could these be merely lens flares or a fly by of an insect or a bird? But Mr. Escamilla's expertise as a professional in the field quickly quieted those concerns. If that were not sufficient, mass sightings and tapings from all over the world, and a great number of US States caused more than a few eyebrows to be raised. What was this phenomenon? Every camp had it's own theory, each seemingly slanted to their area of study. Ufologists naturally wanted to believe they were UFO's while cryptozoologists hailed it as the discovery of some prehistoric animal, that had long dwelt alongside us, undetected due to the rapid speed at which it travels.

There are numerous videos on the net where you can view these rods for yourself and make your own determinations, but skeptics beware! While UFO's come in a variety of shapes and forms, what is captured on these videos seem to be strangely consistent. Watching rod videos slowed down, it is easy to make out the overall shape of the object or animal. It is centrally a cylindrical bodied 'creature' , semi transparent , with a flowing outer 'wing' type structure, which appears to be either soft or segmented and undulating. The basic shape and motion greatly resemble a knife fish, which has led some to call these phenomenon by the name 'skyfish'. It is also easy to see the microbiological resemblance as well. Look to a resource such as the Kent State microbiology web site to view bacteria and you will see why Karen Escamilla made the connection. It is an amazing resemblance!

While the jury remains out on what this phenomenon might be , there is plenty of opportunity for the average person to capture rods on video for themselves. It seems that it is far easier to capture a rod on tape than it is your run of the mill UFO, as the skies are literally full of them. The best way to do this? Originally those who who followed Escamilla and believed his claims ascribed to the method of pointing the camera into the direction of the sun, but blocking the actual full on brunt of the sun with a large shielding object such as a tree or house. In this way you had the effect of full sunlight, without the glare (or possible retina damage) that would occur if you pointed your camera directly at the sun. Still film can capture rods, but you will fare much better with video, as it would take thousands of stills to cover just a few minutes of video. Newer rod seeking techniques suggest the use of infrared cameras to view them easily in broad daylight, which is when rods are normally sighted as they emit no light.

Get out there and give it a try, perhaps you will be the one to unravel the mystery~ is it a dragon, an alien, or a virus?