The Lake Cote Photograph
A Costa Rican government survey plane photographing a lake for mapping captured a sharp, metallic disc in a single frame.
What was reported
On 4 September 1971, a plane from Costa Rica's National Geographic Institute was flying at about 3,000 metres over Lake Cote, taking aerial photographs for a hydroelectric project. Its mapping camera fired automatically every few seconds.
When the film was developed, one frame showed a disc-shaped, apparently metallic object over the lake, which did not appear in the frames before or after. The crew had not seen anything unusual.
Explanations offered
Several analysts found no sign of a hoax or film defect. Sceptics suggest an object near the plane, such as a balloon or a piece of debris, a reflection, or a bird caught in mid-flight, and note that one frame is not enough to judge size or distance. The original negative is kept by the institute.
- When
- 4 September 1971
- Where
- Lake Cote, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
- Witnesses
- A government mapping camera; the crew saw nothing
- Status
- Unexplained
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