DISPUTEDCRAFT
The McMinnville (Trent) Photos
1950 · McMinnville, Oregon · USA
WHAT IT IS
Among the most analysed UFO images ever taken. Skeptics favour a small model or a mirror hung from the wires; defenders argue the photos hold up.
THE CASE FOR
Condon-committee-era analysis judged the images consistent with a large distant object, and the Trents stuck to their account for the rest of their lives without ever cashing in.
THE CASE AGAINST
Later photogrammetric re-analyses argue the geometry better fits a small model suspended from the visible overhead wires — the hoax reading has never been closed off.
WHERE IT STANDS
Disputed. Serious questions remain about how it was made or what it shows, and neither side has settled them.
STATUS IS OUR CURRENT ASSESSMENT, NOT A VERDICT · REVIEWED 3 SEPT 2026
THE RECORD
- DATE
- 1950
- PLACE
- McMinnville, Oregon · USA
- RECORDED BY
- Paul & Evelyn Trent
- TECHNICAL
- Consumer roll-film camera · 2 frames · negatives circulated and degraded over decades of re-analysis
