Crop Circle Painting from 1913

[tofu]

http://www.whoisbenjaminstove.com/

This guy's blog is a bit long-winded, but the gist of it is that he bought a tacky painting of some crop circles at a garage sale. He assumed the painting was fairly modern. He had occasion to break the frame, and when he did so he found that it was dated 1913. He also found a note claiming that the painting depected an actual event from 1913.

I just thought I would pass this on in case anyone wants to discuss it. It sets off my hoax sensors for several reasons. 1) I've never seen a frame big enough to obscure an artist's name. 2) who puts a note inside a frame? What is the point? 3) if this were an actual event then the local papers would have written about it and this guy would be able to authenticate it by spending an afternoon at a local library.

[paulie jay]

All of your points leapt into my mind as I was reading your post.

I always wonder in cases of things being found in picture frames - why did the person break the frame in the first place?

Of course the other big point is the date. If I scrwal 1936 on by bedroom wall that doesn't suddenly make that wall 70 years old.

[aurora]

On the other hand, some bored kids in 1913 might have gone into a field and stomped down the crop in some large circles.

It's not like you would need modern technology to do that.

[SolusLupus]

Stick and rope. Useful tools.

[tofu]

why did the person break the frame in the first place?

well, according to him he had some trouble at the airport. The frame ended up broken anyway so he just tossed it in the trash and (presumably) rolled up the painting and took it home.

Of course the other big point is the date. If I scrwal 1936 on by bedroom wall that doesn't suddenly make that wall 70 years old.

Yeah. He needs to have it dated by several sources.

And anyway, what if it is from 1913? Did anyone ever really believe that an advanced alien race traveled billions of miles so that it could disturb vegetation and scare people? Come on.

[Wolverine]

It's marketing of some kind, perhaps for a novel or something. While surfing around I noticed this in the adbar on a blog site I was reading:

[sophia8]

It's certainly some sort of game, or maybe viral marketing. The website's forum just introduces more puzzles - some of these posters just don't sound real.
www.whoisbenjaminstove.com belongs to a Florida outfit called GMD Studios:

Somehow, you became curious about us. Color us flattered. We suspect it's because you're wondering what GMD Studios is all about or is currently up to, rather than how the weather is in Orlando today.
We have ten years of experience with having a hard time explaining what we do here at GMD Studios. We've become exceptionally good at it.
That's because our experimental outlook on how connected media, traditional media and community interact with each other frequently requires us to be the odd ducks out in any particular room. Sometimes we're brand builders, sometimes we're entertainers, sometimes we're programmers, sometimes we're analysts... but the concept of communities and conversations is always lurking in the heart of whatever it is we are doing.
Sometimes our experiments involve brands we own with partners, sometimes they involve collaborators and the brands they own, and sometimes they end up as musings somewhere on the Web or on a panel somewhere. Since connected media is all about conversations, we'd be happy to have one with you.

EDIT: GMD seem to be independent film producers. This is from their blurb for a film of theirs (my bold):

Supported by a complex and realistic world of websites (which were launched even as the film was shooting), "Nothing So Strange" became a laboratory in which we learned new approaches for engaging the press and fans and extending the story told in the film.
Most of all, "Nothing So Strange" makes our list of favorite projects for the intense mixing of fiction and reality in every layer of the experience - from Flemming's expert positioning of actors in real life settings, to the fans who extended the story in ways that we would have ever imagined.

So look out for the film.... Terrific-looking websites, though.

[tbm]

Methinks Tucker Darby is looking to jump start some sort of writing career.

tbm

[sophia8]

Methinks we've all fallen for a viral marketing trick.

[tofu]

Now that it's been identified, I want to say that I think it's kind of cheap, maybe even dangerous. Some people will see a movie and then google it and find what appears to be a true story behind it. That's just great. That's just what our society needs, more bad info.

Cheap, cheap, cheap. Shame on them. If your movie is entertaining then people would go see it and none of this crap would be needed. If you could come up with your own ideas, then you wouldn't have to blindly copy The Blair Witch Project over and over again. Nothing but hacks, I say.

[R.A.F.]

The website's forum just introduces more puzzles - some of these posters just don't sound real.

Forum?? Heck, I didn't even notice that...

After reading some of it...yeah, it's a hoax and they are trying to sell "something".

One of the 'posters" on the forum wrote, (paraphrasing) "what's the harm if it is a hoax, it's entertaining".

Problem is...it's not even remotely entertaining. Add me to the list of those who suspect that some of the "posters" there are actually the originator(s) of that site and that their intent is to "drum up" business.

[sophia8]

Not even a convincing hoax - that website is way too slick and professional (uses Movable Type, too - not cheap!).
For an example of an entertainment-linked site that really does look like it was cobbled together by an amatuer enthusiast publicising an amazing discovery, take a look at this.

[Scapegoat]

Hi there. I'm just here to explain what this site is about. It is an Alternate Reality Game(ARG).

Add me to the list of those who suspect that some of the "posters" there are actually the originator(s) of that site and that their intent is to "drum up" business.

Actually, in Alternate Reality Games, there often are posters there who are "puppets" so to speak. Almost all people there, though, are actually game players, or "ARGonauts".

In case you are interested, here are some examples of past ARGs:

• I Love Bees
• Last Call Poker
• The Art of the Heist

Here is a presentation about The Art of the Heist, that explains a bit more.

And finally, here is the main ARG site of them all: Unfiction.

I just hope that some of you will keep an open mind when looking at this stuff. Ok, thanks for you're time!

[Fr. Wayne]

Your welcome, whoever you represent.

[01101001]

I just hope that some of you will keep an open mind when looking at this stuff.

Oh, yeah, I always keep an open mind when exposed to marketing tools. I trust marketing. Marketing has never lied to me!

[Lianachan]

I've not looked at the link, but the replies in this thread reminded me of Werner Herzog's Incident at Loch Ness. There were websites making claims about Loch Ness monster sightings, missing people, etc, and it was was extremely annoying. Absolutely none of it was true, and it was all because he fancied doing a Blair Witch kind of thing about Nessie. Some of the discussions I got into with people online at the time, even though none of it stood up to 5 seconds worth of scrutiny.

Ah - here's the film, in fact.