Felix Moncla - 2006 "Great Lakes Dive Company" Hoax

2006 "Great Lakes Dive Company" Hoax

In late August 2006, an email from a "Preston Miller" was sent to UFO researcher Francis Ridge which contained a quoted excerpt from an Associated Press story. The quoted "news story" claimed that a group of Michigan divers had discovered Moncla's F-89 that vanished in 1953. The location of the claimed discovery was at the bottom of Lake Superior in the approximate location where the F-89 had disappeared from radar. The email also contained a link to a website that had recently been created for the group of divers; they called themselves the "Great Lakes Dive Company". Francis Ridge forwarded the email to the Internet website "UFO Updates", a popular forum and message board for UFO researchers and writers. As a result, news of the purported discovery quickly spread through the UFO community and news media sources. Several reporters attempted to contact the "Great Lakes Dive Company" to obtain more information about the discovery. The reporters were placed in contact with a person who claimed to be the spokesman for the Great Lakes Company. He called himself "Adam Jimenez", and he discussed the "discovery" with several investigators and journalists. "Adam Jimenez" was even interviewed by UFO researcher Linda Moulton Howe on the nationally syndicated, late-night radio talk show, Coast to Coast AM.

The company website initially presented two images of the claimed discovery, both images stated as being output from side-scan sonar. The fuzzy, high noise images depicted an almost completely intact aircraft resting on the lakebed, its nose in the silt, with one exposed wing, tip tank and the upswept tail characteristic of the F-89 "Scorpion" clearly displayed. The discovery initially caused excitement, as many felt that the discovery of the crashed jet would at last provide an answer as to what had happened to Felix Moncla in 1953. However, as journalists and ufologists delved deeper into the case, their suspicions were raised as the story became more and more elaborate. It was soon stated that an unexplained metallic object had been found near the F-89 and "sonar images" of this discovery were soon published on the website. It was speculated that the "teardrop-shaped" object was possibly the UFO that the F-89 had merged with on radar.

Several factors about the alleged discovery led journalists to claim that the discovery was in fact a hoax. Several investigators began efforts to track down more information about the "Great Lakes Dive Company" and their spokesman, "Adam Jimenez". All efforts to find evidence of the existence of the "Great Lakes Dive Company" led to the conclusion that the company did not exist. Efforts to obtain any biographical data on "Adam Jimenez" also turned up nothing. The only contact information anyone obtained for Jimenez were an email address and cellphone. Only three weeks after the discovery, the company's website suddenly disappeared without explanation and "Adam Jimenez" stopped answering emails and cellphone calls.

An investigation by James Carrion, the International Director of MUFON, the largest UFO civilian research organization in the United States, revealed the following: There was no evidence the Associated Press had written the original "news story" that was quoted in the initial notice of the discovery to MUFON; there is no record of the existence of the "Great Lakes Dive Company" beyond its fleeting presence on a website; "Adam Jimenez" refused to provide any further information on the principals of the company, the type of vessel they used, or any other information which might help to establish the existence of the organization.

Carrion's investigation showed that many of Adam Jimenez's statements about the discovery of the F-89 jet were untrue, including his suggestion that the Canadian government had withheld permission for site survey work to be resumed. It turned out no such permission had been requested.

Brendon Baillod, who is active in Great Lakes shipwreck hunting and maritime history circles, and is a director of the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History, stated that he had never heard of Jimenez or his group and that nobody he knew associated with the history of the Great Lakes had heard of him either.

Baillod said that the sidescan images taken seemed to be authentic, but dismissed Jimenez's claim that they had been made with a fish finder, particularly in 500 feet (150 m) depth of water. He further said that the images could not have been made with a hull mounted transducer as was claimed by Jimenez, but would have required a towfish (a towed scanner). As of 2009, the general consensus among journalists and UFO researchers who have investigated the purported "discovery" is that the entire incident is a hoax, and that Felix Moncla's F-89 jet remains undiscovered.