In October 2017, an intriguing post appeared on the Facebook page “Art Bell’s Midnight In The Desert Feat Heather Wade.” The post featured a daytime photograph of a “UFO” in the desert, with a helicopter hovering above the scene. The accompanying text read: “I’ve had these photos for 10 years, and it’s time to share them. They were taken in July 2007, during a radar test at our field in the Mojave Desert. I’ve always hesitated to show them, but here they are now.”
Philip Mantle, who later shared the discovery, reported that his curiosity was piqued upon seeing the images, prompting him to seek more information from Keith Bradshaw (real name in the file). He sent a private message asking for further details. The next day, when he checked, the post had been removed, but Keith responded to his message. Keith made it clear from the start that he was hesitant to disclose the photos because they had been taken illegally, and he regretted posting one of them on Facebook. However, he revealed that the images were captured at China Lake, California, around 11:30 AM.
In the following days, Mantle and Keith exchanged numerous private messages on Facebook, and Keith eventually shared the story behind the photos in question. He also sent Mantle five photographs in total.

This was Keith’s account of them:
“I grew up in a town called Ridgecrest which is a U.S. Naval base in the Mojave Desert. As a kid it was very easy to get onto the base and everyone in town had passes that would allow you through the gates to get to school, swimming pools, the movie theatre etc. Everyone knew someone who worked on the base so you would get to know where the different parts of the base were. They had the bombing range and the radar range. I grew up with a kid who after High School joined the Navy. After he retired he moved back to town and got a job working in the civil service on the base monitoring radar. He said it was the world’s most boring job but he did tell me about interesting things that went on out there. Things like them having jeeps and tanks scattered all over the desert and then flipping a switch and they all would disappear. Turns out that’s what fiber optic camouflage does. People would talk about unbelievable things that turned out to be true. Planes would come from all over the world to use the radar test range out there. I have pictures of that too. Planes with markings from other countries. While I was in between jobs in 2007 I went back to town to visit some of my old friends.
While I was in town I stopped by this friend’s house and after a few drinks he started telling me how that week he had been monitoring a flying saucer. When I asked him how he knew that’s what it was he told me- first of all, in all the years he had been doing that job he never had two generals and three other men with top security clearance recording and watching everything he did. He explained how it was very simple. There were two signals on the radar screen. One would appear very low in altitude, go up to a certain higher altitude and then click off. There would be a countdown for a certain amount of time- five; four, three, two, one and then it would click back on. When this happened the first time the people in the room got very excited. The object on his screen would lower in altitude until it was no longer on the radar, move to a different position and repeat the same thing over and over at different altitudes. All the while the other signal on the radar screen would remain constant.
Curious as to what it was he was monitoring he asked around. People that he knew who physically worked on the radar range and would see what was out there told him that believe it or not it was a flying saucer. They described it as being shiny like a mirror and smooth like glass all over inside and out. It had no doors or windows only a hole cut in the top (I got the idea that the hole had jagged edges like it was cut with something) they described the inside as only having three small seats surrounded by a bird nest of fiber optic cable. The seats were molded out of the floor rather than attached to the floor. This thing was one piece with no seams anywhere.”
It is important to note that Keith emphasized that the description is merely a rumor about what the object looked like. He did not see it personally but was informed about its characteristics.
“Being in between jobs and having nothing to do the next day I made my way out there. ( I’m not telling you how I was able to get there but I will say I walked a very long distance) as I got closer I could hear a helicopter so I peeked up over a hill and down in the small valley below sure enough I could see this silver disc out there. There were a few tan-colored trailers and other military vehicles on the North End of the valley. This thing would wobble along close to the ground very unstable. I don’t believe anyone could have been riding on the inside but got the idea that helicopter was remotely controlling it.It was very wobbly as it moved along close to the ground and then it would freeze in position, go up to a certain height and sit there for a few minutes perfectly still. It made no noise that I could hear over the helicopter. It would go back down and wobble to the next position. It looked like whoever was controlling it was having fun with it sometimes because they would do little tricks with it.
Like one edge would be pointing towards the sky and then it would do a U-shaped flip to where the other edge was pointing towards the sky then back down and wobble along the valley floor close to the ground to its next position.
At first I was too afraid to take any pictures but then it got really close to me so I started snapping some photos figuring that if I was going to be caught I might as well have some pictures. I also took a short video but then to save space on my camera I started deleting the blurry pictures. I spent maybe 10 minutes total watching this thing. I then turned around and got out of there as quickly as I could. I took my shirt off thinking the color of my skin would blend in with my surroundings better than the color of my white shirt. About halfway back I got scared and hid the camera in the desert.
That night I went back over to my friend’s house and when I told him what I had done he laughed in disbelief until I told him the path this thing followed from the North-West side of the valley to the South-East. When he realized I was telling the truth he got very angry and threw a plastic cup at me. He basically chased me out of the house telling me never to go get those pictures. I let them sit there for two days and then went back and got the camera. When I looked at the pictures there was no video and I realized that what I thought was a blurry picture was actually a blurry video that I deleted. I still kick myself for that one every time I think about it. A few years later I went back to town and ran into him at Walmart and he pretended he didn’t even know me. This is someone that I have known my whole life. We went to school together and played on the same Little League baseball teams.I’ve been holding on to these pictures ever since. That is all there is. Sorry it’s not more exciting. I really don’t know how you would write an article about it.“





Some experts were consulted about the photos, including Jason Gleaves (UK), Dr. Bruce Maccabee (USA), Tobias Lindgren (Sweden), among others.
Jason Gleaves said:
“At first glance, the images seemed authentic, but with current technology and software (Photoshop etc.), you really can’t trust the authenticity of the image, no matter how good it looks.”
Dr. Bruce Maccabee said:
“After spending some time analyzing the available testimonial and photographic evidence and considering the actions or activities of the object in question, I conclude that there is not enough evidence to prove that the object was simply an unusually shaped drone operating under the control of the person(s) piloting the helicopter.”
Tobias Lindgren in his first analysis said:
“High likelihood of a hoax. No obvious connection to the China Lake Naval Base, except for a similar environment. ‘Photoshop’ or a physical object smaller than 10 cm. A small object could be a toy.”
In his second analysis, he said: “I still have no idea what the object could be. Maybe it’s a ‘toy’ controlled by radio that the military is testing, just as stated in the witnesses’ story. The military obviously knows what it is because it’s not a coincidence that it looks like this, if it’s not computer-generated images.”
In an attempt to get to the bottom on these alleged UFO photographs the have been analysed by five different people from around the world. Jason Gleaves from the UK is of the opinion that they are the genuine article. Dr Bruce Maccabee from the USA is not sure whether they are fake or real and the same goes for Tobias Lingren in Sweden. And last but not least Ricardo Varela and Inajar Kurowski in Brazil left us in no doubt that they believe the photographs in question to be fake.
Until the date of publication of these analyses in 2017, the author of the photographs chose not to identify themselves. More information and details can be found by clicking here.