# Roswell Rods **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2002, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492 "2002-07-17T22:42:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Natims](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/dc4da7/32.png) [@Natims](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Natims)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/21 "2011-01-26T07:21:23Z")
The Fox network photographer was detained over 4 hours by the FBI and the film sent to homeland security, (after it was broadcast nationwide on Fox), for his video of a jet taking off from an airport. A 100? ft flying object shot straight up towards the plane,(with wings), and just disappeared before it hit the clouds. The photographer was on all the morning shows and a few night ones. I think it was about 1994. (I still have the video) The FBI and Homeland couldn’t debunk the video. Trick photography? I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/22 "2011-01-26T08:10:26Z")
> [@Natims](#): > > These animals have been shown on every major network and many info shows. ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, DISCOVERY, in search of, and a few others have done specials on these. Do you really think they would risk their credibility and reputation without absolute compelling evidence? Yes. Yes, I do. People will do all kind of bollocks to get their faces on TV. Appearing on a TV show, even one that is aired on such illustrious and objective channels as Fox and Discovery, is evidence of nothing more than a desire to appear on a TV show. Rods are demonstrably an artifact of the way video/photographic technology fails to perfectly capture images of quite ordinary winged animals in flight. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/23 "2011-01-26T10:53:37Z")
> [@Natims](#): > > These animals have been shown on every major network and many info shows. ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, DISCOVERY, in search of, and a few others have done specials on these. Do you really think they would risk their credibility and reputation without absolute compelling evidence? You’re talking about television stations. Have you ever been around the people that work in places like that? They’d sell their own mother to the gypsies for a chance at making a big scoop. To them they don’t care if it’s true or not. Half-wits ranting about conspiracy theories and alien bugs makes for good television. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/24 "2011-01-26T12:17:22Z")
> [@Natims](#): > > These animals have been shown on every major network and many info shows. ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, DISCOVERY, in search of, and a few others have done specials on these. Do you really think they would risk their credibility and reputation without absolute compelling evidence? Wow, it has been almost a decade since I have heard of any Rod spottings. I thought that went the way of Benevolent Angelic Space Aliens, or Killer Clowns in Vans as obsolete urban legends. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/25 "2011-01-26T13:48:00Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Wow, it has been almost a decade since I have heard of any Rod spottings. I thought that went the way of Benevolent Angelic Space Aliens, or Killer Clowns in Vans as obsolete urban legends. They would have, as this thread was dead about 9 years ago - until our Google-ing visitor turned it up and decided to rant about how apparently something that’s shown on TV must be real. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/26 "2011-01-26T14:02:18Z")
Rod Spottings is my porn star name. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/27 "2011-01-26T14:31:59Z")
> [@Natims](#): > > The Fox network photographer was detained over 4 hours by the FBI and the film sent to homeland security, (after it was broadcast nationwide on Fox), for his video of a jet taking off from an airport. A 100? ft flying object shot straight up towards the plane,(with wings), and just disappeared before it hit the clouds. The photographer was on all the morning shows and a few night ones. I think it was about 1994. (I still have the video) The FBI and Homeland couldn’t debunk the video. Trick photography? I don’t think so. There WAS no Homeland Security in 1994. Didn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/28 "2011-01-26T15:07:13Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > There WAS no Homeland Security in 1994. Didn’t exist. Oh it existed, you just didn’t have the security clearance to know about it. Shhh, someone is listening…gotta go. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/29 "2011-01-26T18:11:58Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Rod Spottings is my porn star name. Rod Spottings are what is left in a hooker’s panties after a busy night. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/30 "2011-01-26T18:45:11Z")
Oh yeah, Rods are a total misunderstanding of photo/video artifacts - I have a picture of some Orbs, and I can tell from the way they are arranged that they too laugh at theidea of “rods”… Best of all, my aluminium foil hat keeps my head dry during light showers, and snow falls . which attract the Orb creatures. they also like my camera flash, and refuse to let them slves be photographed unless I use it! Regards Captain (ret) El Fritzo-Bananaloaf ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/31 "2011-01-26T21:10:56Z")
> [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](#): > > What is it about this particular Urban Legend/wacky rumor that makes it so damn persistent? > > Here’s how I understand the story: > There are these rod-objects that are real. They can be of variable size, two to (what?) twenty inches long. But unlike all the other real objects of this size you and I have ever experienced, they can’t be seen with the naked eye. You can only see them in photographs. > > No tellers of the rod story seem to noodle through the above and reason that if the rod-objects can only be seen in photos, they might somehow be a function of photography. > > Why? Photography also shows auras and ghosts that we can’t see with the naked eye. Tape recorders do as well. So do magneto-thingies. The real question, then, is why we aren’t using magneto-thingies to enhance our knowledge of rods? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/32 "2011-01-26T21:20:25Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Rod Spottings is my porn star name. Do you mostly star in PSAs about condom use? ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/33 "2011-01-28T00:37:55Z")
Cogswell Cogs? ---
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/34 "2011-01-28T01:33:42Z")
Rod Zombie? Y’know, Rob Zombie’s lesser known twin brother. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/35 "2011-01-28T20:21:28Z")
> [@](#): > > These animals have been shown on every major network and many info shows. ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, DISCOVERY, in search of, and a few others have done specials on these. Do you really think they would risk their credibility and reputation without absolute compelling evidence? They aren’t risking their credibility for the same reason I’m not risking my multi-billion dollar fortune. Now, they _do_ have a reputation, but that’s just reinforced by running stories like this. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/36 "2011-01-30T02:23:15Z")
Roswell Rods sounds like a 1950s teen gang who hold illegal street races. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/37 "2011-01-30T02:39:34Z")
> [@buckgully](#): > > Rod Zombie? > > Y’know, Rob Zombie’s lesser known twin brother. Rod Argent was a Zombie. Coincidence? I think not! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/38 "2011-01-30T02:50:52Z")
> [@Natims](#): > > These animals have been shown on every major network and many info shows. ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, DISCOVERY, in search of, and a few others have done specials on these. Do you really think they would risk their credibility and reputation without absolute compelling evidence? Hell, yes. They do it frequently and often. It’s called entertainment, not news. As a photographer I find claims of “rods” to be anything other than a common photographic artifact absolutely ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/39 "2011-01-30T03:16:02Z")
Wow…this is a REALLY old thread. I remember reading this one when I was still a lurker! 😛 Does anyone still believe in the mysterious ‘rods’ these days? I don’t remember even seeing one of those dippy In Search Of shows on this subject in a while. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492/40 "2011-01-30T03:20:59Z")
Stupid woo ideas never die, they just come back to haunt us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roswell-rods/119492.md?page=3)