McMinnville UFO photographs
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🛸 Case
Contents 4
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| Also known as | McMinnville photographs, Trent photographs |
The McMinnville UFO photographs are two photographs of a disc-shaped object taken by farmer Paul Trent on his farm near Sheridan, Oregon, about 13 miles south-west of McMinnville, on the evening of 11 May 1950. Published in Life magazine, they became among the most famous UFO photographs ever taken and were long regarded as one of the strongest photographic cases, though later analyses have concluded they most likely show a small model hanging from a wire.[1][2]
The photographs
According to Paul and Evelyn Trent, at about 7:30 p.m. Evelyn was feeding rabbits when she saw a slow-moving, metallic, disc-shaped object approaching from the north-east. She called her husband, who fetched a camera from the house and took two photographs before the object flew away to the west. The Trents said they did not develop the film until they had finished the roll weeks later.[1][3]
The pictures appeared on the front page of the McMinnville Telephone-Register on 8 June 1950, were distributed nationally by the International News Service, and were published, cropped, in Life on 26 June 1950.[1][4]
Analyses
In 1967 the original negatives were found in the files of the news agency United Press International, and astronomer William K. Hartmann examined them for the Condon Committee. He concluded that the evidence was consistent with the claim that an extraordinary flying object had been photographed, while noting that it could also be a small model hanging from a nearby power line.[1][5]
In 1975 physicist and UFO researcher Bruce Maccabee argued the photos were genuine. In the 1980s skeptics Philip Klass and Robert Sheaffer argued that shadows on a building in the photos indicated they were taken in the morning, not the evening as claimed, and that the object hung directly beneath overhead wires; after Sheaffer's work, Hartmann withdrew his favourable assessment.[1][6] A 2013 study by the French group IPACO concluded the object was most consistent with a small model suspended by a thread from the power lines.[1][7]
Legacy
The photographs inspired the annual UFO Festival at McMenamins Hotel Oregon in McMinnville, which grew into the largest such gathering in the Pacific Northwest.[1][8]
References
- McMinnville UFO photographs — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- John Killen, "UFO photos taken near McMinnville in 1950 still raise questions", The Oregonian · oregonlive.com · archived copy
- Bryan Denson, "Fifty years of UFO, the truth is still out there", The Oregonian · oregonlive.com · archived copy
- "Farmer Trent's Flying Saucer", Life (26 Jun 1950) — Google Books · books.google.com · archived copy
- Condon Report, Photographic Case Studies, Case 46 · files.ncas.org · archived copy
- Robert Sheaffer, "The Trent UFO Photos, McMinnville, Oregon – May 11, 1950" · debunker.com · archived copy
- A. Cousyn, F. Louange and G. Quick, "The McMinnville pictures", IPACO (2013) · ipaco.fr · archived copy
- "The day the Earth stood soaked at Oregon UFO Festival", USA Today (2013) · usatoday.com · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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