AP Meteor Crash Report Was a Hoax

[CShine]

New York Associated Press editors were forced to retract an earlier report that a meteorite might have hit near Olympia, Wash., this morning after discovering that a source, one Bradley Hammermaster, claiming to be an astronomy professor, had perpetrated a hoax.

"An early report that a meteor might have hit turned out to be false," said AP spokesman Jack Stokes. "It looks like a version (of the story) was killed because it talked about a meteorite hitting." He said AP was reviewing how the error occurred.

The original story, which AP released at 7:03 a.m. EST, stated that someone identified as Bradley Hammermaster, and purported to be a University of Washington astronomy instructor, had told KIRO Radio in Seattle that a piece of meteor "about the size of a small car" had hit just before 3 a.m. PST. The radio station also quoted the man as saying "a team was being assembled to head for the area where the object was believed to have hit near the tiny southwestern Washington community of Chehalis."

This version was picked up by dozens of news sites, most of which later deleted the Hammermaster references. The bogus report followed genuine reports of bright lights being seen along a 60-mile stretch of the Puget Sound, which National Weather Service and U.S. Coast Guard officials were investigating as either a streaking meteor or other outer space activity, AP reported.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000524192

[kalian]

1. "Crash" might have been a hoax....but....

flashes sure as hell weren't:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1227246

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

2. They'll report it as a weather balloon.

:tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[okieinpain]

3. damn, where's muldur when you need him.

just like the bush admin, nothing to see here, move on.

[crossroads]

8. Yeah right!

Wierd times right now!
:scared: :tinfoilhat:

[Bruce McAuley]

4. The meteor was real, the "crash" was false

The local regional TV conglomerate, NWCN, reported the meteor was seen all the way over to Idaho, and a local woman from Omak saw it head eastward.
Nobody yet is reporting any meteorite pieces found on the ground, and I personally doubt any will be found. Wish I had been awake at 2:45 AM when it went over.
:hi:

Bruce

[buycitgo]

6. I just talked to somebody who was awake at the time

she said there were two HUGE booms that shook the house

scared the life out of her

HARD.....as if a truck hit it

they heard about the story later that day

sonic booms


she said it was the size of a basketball, according to local news

[pfitz59]

11. 2:43 AM......

Sonic boom woke me up. Shook the house. SOMETHING entered the atmosphere!

[Snow]

5. Hmmmm. Burt Rutan taking Spaceshipone up for a preliminary spin?

Course he's near Edwards, and that's a bit of a haul to Seattle, but at mach 3?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. Gotta love corporate media's factcheckers!

[Don_G]

9. AP Put A "Withhold" On The Story

When they had a legitimate story, checked the 'Net and couldn't verify a call from an expert in the field at 3 to 5 in the morning outside of web-cams and multiple witness reports.

AP deserves the benefit of the doubt in this case.

[absolutezero]

10. car sized?

I'd believe something the size of a basketball or a grapefruit, but if a car sized meteor hits the ground in washington state you can kiss most of the pacific northwest goodbye, it would be like a nuclear weapon went off

[allalone]

12. something came down

it was 2:45 am in Clinton Wa. I was still awake. there was a bright flash of light followed by loud sounds like the navy was shelling from ships. There followed concussion waves that blew my bedroom curtains in and out at least 7 times. My reaction was "what the bloody hell was that?" and I kept looking out the window all night to see if any red glow or anything across the bay. I didn't check radio or tv in case it was something horrible and I didn't want to know right then. So it was real, my friends. Most likely all broken up by the time it landed.