“The Fourth Kind” Feature – Mockumentary
The 2009 movie, “The Fourth Kind”, has repeatedly generated discussions on many websites including this one when my original blog was posted in 2009. Comments were posted again when the movie went to DVD and now again while it’s running the satellite and cable TV network. Many viewers enjoy the movie but also realize it’s all a hoax. Still there are other viewers who believe the movie is based on real events. Those who believe it’s based on real events, yet can not find actual evidence to support it, just brush off the lack of evidence as a cover-up. Conspiracies are running rampant and people are very concerned our government (the FBI) is withholding valuable information from the public. I do agree they withhold information, but not about this movie. I strongly believe it’s a hoax and it preyed upon the misfortunes of actual missing individuals to benefit the financial gains of the studio. Over 20 million was generated when it originally came out and more since the DVD was released. There are a few more fatter cats out there in movie land because of it.
Now the concerns certain people are having are real and shouldn’t be completely brushed off. This movie has circulated a lot of information about alien abductions which is very real and that is a plus all by itself. Yeah I know, some out there don’t believe in alien abductions, but if you believe life exists outside this planet, and believe there’s a possibility ET can visit this planet, then you have to consider ET would have the technology to swoop down from time to time and pick up a human, or two. The issue we have to look at is, evidence or the lack of it. As an investigator I run my investigations looking for solid evidence but will also close an investigation for lack of it. There are just too many good cases out there to research and investigate which can point us in great directions, so we really don’t have the time to mess with the crap oozing from the movie studios. So let’s look at “The Fourth Kind” again, and put a few more stakes through this fictional abduction’s heart.
The following information is accessible through the Internet and can be verified. And “No”, I have no future plans to travel to Nome Alaska looking for false information generated by a movie studio whose sole purpose was to generate income by using scare tactics.
Many Hollyweird movies including this one are filmed at a location other than where their story took place. The Fourth Kind is set in Nome Alaska but the film was actually shot in Bulgaria and Squamish, Canada. The mountainous scenery of Nome in the film doesn’t resemble the real Nome Alaska which sits on flat tundra off the shore of the Bering Sea. Some residents from Nome have actually said they prefer the Nome in the film over their Nome, because the vegetation is more lush. If the movie is going to talk about Nome Alaska, then “Gosh Darn-it” they should have at least picked a place which resembled Nome. How about Nome?
In an article by Kyle Hopkins with the Anchorage Daily News posted September 2009, the writing posted some very interesting information. Kyle’s research showed that no one has heard of the psychologist Abigail Tyler, including the state licensing board and the president of the state psychologists association. Jan Mays the state licensing examiner stated in the article that, “She can’t find records of an Abigail Tyler ever being licensed in any profession in Alaska.” Not only that, the article also states, “No one by that name lived in Nome in recent years, according to a search of public record databases.”
When you Internet search Abigail Tyler, one site pops up called the “Alaska Psychiatry Journal“. The website presently posts information on different types of Panic Attacks, which are basically just links on a crapy website. Kyle’s article also states “Ron Adler is CEO and director of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute. Denise Dillard is president of the Alaska Psychological Association. They’ve both said they’ve never heard of the Alaska Psychiatry Journal, or of Abigail Tyler.”
The article also stated another site, “alaskanewsarchive.com”, which featured stories from the Nome Nugget about Abigail moving to Nome for research. The information on the website was credited to Nugget editor and publisher Nancy McGuire, who said in Kyle’s article, “It was baloney, I never wrote it.” If you search the website now, it doesn’t exist. Further examination of the website shows:
Registrar: FastDomain Inc.
Provider Name….: HostMonster.Com
Domain Name: ALASKANEWSARCHIVE.COM
EXPIRED DOMAIN
This domain has expired and will soon be deleted at the registry.
If this is your domain, and you would like to retain control, please
call customer support to have your domain restored.
Created on…………..: 2009-08-12 16:44:47 GMT
Expires on…………..: 2010-08-12 16:44:47 GMT
Last modified on……..: 2010-09-13 17:01:53 GMT
Status: Locked – Pending Delete
There was a another site, a faux medical journal which was registered on August 13, 2009. It had a biography of Dr. Abigail Tyler and her supporting articles. It no longer exists either.
NOTICE: This domain name expired on 08/13/2010 and is pending renewal or deletion
So why don’t these websites exist? It’s not because a secret division of the government shut them down to secure information, it’s because the marketing department of the studio no longer needs them.
Here is some other very interesting information pulled from Wikipedia:
“The Blu-ray release of the film includes extra footage not included in the original theater release. One of these clips shows the murder-suicide documentary footage. With the volume turned up, a person off-camera can be heard yelling “Action!”
“Actress Charlotte Milchard was credited as a “Nome resident”, bearing a striking resemblance to the supposed real-life Abbey Tyler seen in the documentary footage. Her IMDB status has since been updated and confirms that she is indeed the English actress who played the real Dr. Abigail Tyler.”
This next bit of information came from the Alaska Dispatch dated November 2009:
“The Alaska Press Club, in cooperation with The Nome Nugget and other Alaska newspaper publishers and news Web sites, put Anchorage attorney John McKay on the case, and he announced this week that a settlement has been reached with NBC Universal to stop using Alaska news stories, or bogus news stories attributed to Alaska publications, on a fake news Web site in order to promote the movie. Universal will also pay for its past abuses of fact spun into fiction, and fiction presented as fact. The Press Club is getting $20,000 plus a $2,500 contribution to its Calista Scholarship Fund.”
Let’s meander from newspaper articles to Nome itself. What type of town is this, and how could such horrific alien abductions occur without being leaked outside the city? Well to understand Nome, we need to learn about Nome.
According to the 2008 State of Alaska certification, the city’s population is up to about 3,570 people. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.6 square miles of which, 12.5 square miles of it is land and 9.1 square miles of it (41.99%) is water. Yep, just over 40% of Nome is under water.
The first residents of Nome were the Inupiat people. They hunted game on the west coast of Alaska from the prehistoric times and there’s archaeological evidence they had a settlement in Nome. Then in the summer of 1898 the “Three Lucky Swedes” Jafet Lindeberg, Erik lindblom and John Brynteson, discovered gold on Anvil Creek. News spread of their discovery and by 1899 Nome’s population sky rocketed to over 10,000 and was organized as the “Nome Mining District”. From 1900 to 1909 Nome’s population was estimated at 20,000 eager gold entrepreneurs. After the gold rush was over, by 1919 Nome’s population dove down to a mere 2,600 brave souls. Gold mining still plays a major role for that city as does oil exploration. Also Santa has his hand in a business there too! Alaska’s Reindeer Industry is a significant part of Nome’s economy :-O ho :-O ho :-O ho
Yep, visit this website and you learn some Geography too! Now we know a little bit about Nome, so let’s look at the possibility Nome had a strain of alien abductions. First we need to look at reported UFO sightings which occurred there.
As of this writing, the National UFO Reporting Center has 234 sighting reports listed on their database for Alaska. Not one report is from Nome. This doesn’t mean sightings didn’t occur there, its just means none were reported to the Center. I did find one website that had reported sightings.
The website, IOPIA “Investigation of Paranormal Alaska”. Here’s a couple.
01/03/1908 – A strange light at sea, far out over the vast expanses of frozen ice, was visible to the residents of Nome. The officers at Fort Davis reported that the light was visible for intervals of fifteen minutes and that it changed color constantly from red to white and green.
07/18/1950 – At 3:40 PM a brilliant round silver object was witnessed by many approaching from the West, hovered 5 seconds then moved South. At 4:07 PM the object streaked rapidly Southwest towards Lawrence Island.
02/14/1969 – 4:40 PM A silvery tube shaped UFO spouting orange flames from the tail seen by the villagers in Nome and Unalakleet was traveling rapidly Northwest. (Project Blue Book)
Other sightings were mentioned in Project Blue Book in 1957, 1958, 1960, and 1967. I don’t have my trusty Project Blue Book handy to describe the sightings in detail, because my book was borrowed by one of my investigator friends, and hey! I think he’s had it long enough. geeesh
So we do know UFO’s are seen and reported coming out of Nome, Alaska. What does this tell us Dorthy? Auntie Em asks? It tells us people from a town of 3,500 talk and communicate with not only each other but the outside world as well. And yes they report UFOs! Small town populations do have a tendency to “spread the word”. Remember the Andy Griffith Show? Oh that Barney, everyone knew Thelma Lou was his girl…. In your face Bill O’Reilly!
As a follow-up I did try to get information based on public opinion, directly out of Nome. I called Nome’s Visitor Center, got a recording and left my number. As of this writing I have not received a response, probably because I said I wanted to talk with someone about the movie and I was going to blog on it for my website, UFOnut.com. (ok that was a mistake) Then I contacted their City Hall looking for a PR department and was immediately referred back to the Visitor Center. Ok, now I understand what they’re doing. But not to be totally defeated I thought, “Who could I call over in Nome and have an opportunity to speak with?” How about, let’s say, the average Joe, or uh, Joan? So I searched and found the number to Nome’s Community Center.. Ah ha! They’ll pick up the phone. And they did! This is what the “name on file” person told me, I’ll refer to her as Abigail. heh heh
Well when Abigail originally heard about the movie and what is was about, she knew right off in an instant it was a hoax and refused to go see it. People in town who saw it (and this is a town of 3500, less than the amount of people who shop Walmart daily) were, well they were pretty darn mad. Abigail waited for the DVD release and then finally watched it. Her decision? It was ridiculous! When I asked Abigail what the public was saying, she stated:
“People were upset in the community because of the lies and misinformation about Nome.” “They were also mad because of the way the movie portrayed Nome.” Nome’s current slogan is, “There’s no place like Nome”. (Of course this is not to encourage any future visitations from our alien neighbors)
When I asked Abigail about the 24 disappearances the FBI investigated, she said she agreed with their findings. When bodies of missing persons are found, there’s usually no signs of trauma, just hypothermia. So I asked her if there was a higher than average crime rate there, and she said, “No, this is a nice place to live.”
So there you have it. The movie was a hoax, the people of Nome are pissed, yet there are still people out there who are convinced it really happened. One has to consider the thought or premise if you will, the movie about Nome was really releasing information about real abductions elsewhere. You now change the name of the real town while throwing the attention some where else.
It could happen, but not likely. Information does get leaked out and investigators would have caught wind of it. There would have been at least an abduction case reported somewhere, especially considering how horrific the incident was portrayed in the movie. Ok, enough said, or typed, let’s put this one to bed and start concentrating on the real cases. If you’re going to remember anything about the movie, “The Fourth Kind”, remember this. “There’s no place like Nome”.
Category: Chuck Zukowski, Movies, Pop Culture, The Z-Files
