Now, that documentary, which paraded out several "experts" (including Hollywood makeup men) to account for the veracity of the autopsy footage, has been shown to be a fake.
Believe it or not, it's Fox itself that has "exposed" Alien Autopsy. The news is revealed in, you guessed, another hokey sensationalistic special scheduled to air on the network.
In fact, World's Greatest Hoaxes: Secrets Finally Revealed, hosted by Lance Henriksen and airing December 28 at 8 p.m., is executive produced by Robert Kiviat, the same guy who made the ratings-friendly Alien Autopsy.
Kiviat says that the idea to do a special on hoaxes came about when he was looking at footage for inclusion in his 1997 Fox special, UFO's, The Best Evidence Ever Caught on Tape. He wondered how some of the stuff was created.
According to a flamboyant Fox press release, the latest hourlong special uses "NASA-type video enhancements" to shed new light on how the peep into alien innards--"one of the biggest hoaxes of all time"--was accomplished.
Kiviat, who says he always doubted the truth of the alien autopsy, describes his specials as having "a documentary spin." Digital enhancement revealed a previously invisible face in a segment of very dark footage. Four months of what he calls "Woodward and Bernstein-type journalism" enabled his researchers to track down the actor with that face.
Turns out the autopsy was not shot on film in 1947 when aliens reportedly landed near Roswell, New Mexico. It was shot on video in 1994.
Other segments in the special, in which "informants, experts and modern technology expose the truths behind these myths," target as frauds the people who shot footage of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and various UFOs.
For the benefit of future fakers (and perhaps future Fox specials), Kiviat not only shows why footage such as the 1977 pictures of Nessy is too good to be true, but also "offers insight on how easy it is to create a hoax" by "simulating a modern-day sea monster video."
At least one man reportedly stands firm against accusations of fakery. Despite what the program calls "massive evidence against him," including kiss-and-tell details from his ex-wife, Swiss farmer Billy Meier is shown defending his UFO footage, which he insists was not created using "models and everyday household items."