Background: I finally had finished all the necessities on this latest Back Home trip, and decided to see if some "fun" was possible. I hauled down one of the 30 or so unsorted boxes-full-of-paper from the SITU collection, and began turning the pages. Most [95%?] were news clippings about UFO cases, so it was a little more entertaining than most. Buried within the clippings was this.
An accompanying letter [not overwhelmingly clarifying, but perhaps all the writer could do at the time] said that this was a photo taken at Crater Lake [I assume Oregon] in the summer of 1971. The photo was shot as a "postcard-type" beauty shot, which makes the next thing part of the puzzle: the photographer [and friends] saw nothing of the sort next to the pine tree while photographing [nor anytime else]. This then is one of those "where the heck did THAT come from?" photos.
Just so everyone starts at the same place with any speculations: Both the photographer and the correspondent looked closely at the negative and can see nothing funky there. Supporting the not-a-problem-with-the-negative position is the striking fact that the "object" shows, pretty clearly that it is right next to the tree and has the tree's shadow marked on it.
So, at first glance, we have a rather large object, which no one saw, nevertheless photographed, which does not seem to be a camera or film problem, but rather existent in the outside world. Hmmmm.... something's weird at Crater Lake.
"I'm telling you, Bullard, there's weird goings-on at Crater Lake!!"
