On November 24, 2020, intermedia.ge published a video with a caption “Five cars that disappeared! These facts have been caught on traffic cameras.” The video collage posted on the website contains the videos shot at different times in five different places and it apparently shows the disappearing cars.
The video collage posted on intermedia.ge is a fabrication. The cars disappear using video editing tools. Moreover, the Geolocation API made it possible to identify those places where the authentic video footages were shot. The purpose of video fabrication is to make people believe in paranormal events.
Video No.1
The first video showing the cars moving on the bridge was shot in Bratislava. A ship-shaped building with an inscription River’s Club shown at the top left corner helped us identify the location.
The place with the identical name and appearance can be tracked in Bratislava and it is a club located on the Danube River. The photos of the same location are also added to Google Map. The location of the club, bridge lights and its rail systems helped us ascertain that just this place was shown in the video. It is worth noting that no information can be searched on the Internet about “disappearing vehicles” or similar paranormal incidents in Bratislava.
In addition, after checking out the video, we identified several signs of video editing:
1. Shortly before the car disappears, a white lens flare appears in the footage and the car moves back from similar flare that raises doubts about using Optical Flares in After Effects. Optical Flares is designed to create a lens flare that can be used for hiding an altered footage.
2. It is also interesting that other vehicles are moving on the opposite side at the moment when the car disappears. If the footage showing the disappearing car had been authentic, not edited, drivers of other cars would have paid attention to it, prompting them either to stop or slow down their cars that did not happen.
Video No.2
The next video shows a moving car, which suddenly “disappears” and never returns back.
The video is inauthentic and it is confirmed by the fact that several versions of the same footage are circulating on the Internet.
The video footage about disappearing car
The same video footage spread on the Internet.
It is worth noting that other cars again paid no attention to the “disappeared” car and did not slow down their movement.
After Effect’s Fade-in and Fade-out effects where the image slowly disappears and appears again have apparently been used in this case.
Video footage
Video No. 3
After looking closely at the video, we determined that it was shot in either the United States or Canada. The truck with a KYS logo moving on the opposite side of the highway where the car “disappeared” enables us to claim that this is a freight transportation company operating only in 48 States of America and Canada, according to the company’s website.
It is worth noting that the video has been edited, apparently, using Optical Flares in After Effects.
It is also confirmed by the fact that part of traffic signs also disappears along with the car. Further, an intense light accompanying the disappearance of the car is not reflected on the glass of the vehicle moving alongside.
Noteworthy that the intense light and disappearance of the car should have drawn the attention of other vehicles moving nearby, prompting them either to stop or slow down their cars that did not happen.
Video No. 4
This video, considering its time marker, was apparently shot in 2013. Its full version can also be searched on one of the Russian-language websites, showing that a white car, which later “disappears,” speeds up and moves forward. Soon after this maneuver, a turning on the right as well as a parking lot is seen in the video from 00:26 second. Given the fact that the moment of “disappearance” of the car is not seen in the video, the white car apparently continued moving just in that direction, while the car where the video was recorded from moved forward.
Video No. 5
Apparently, Optical Flares was again used when editing the video. It is confirmed by the fact that the light emerging amid “disappearance” of the car is not reflected on the nearby hill, though it was expected considering its inclined angle.
- Similar cases of video fabrication
The spread of videos about the cases of disappearing cars and other paranormal events is not a new tendency. Similar video footages went viral in other countries during previous years. For example, the video of flying cars shot in China went viral in 2018. Zebra crossing stripes, which disappeared and appeared again along with the flying cars, proved that the video was edited.
One more video related to the disappearance of cars was spread in 2019. The video shows the cars and bikes seemingly disappearing as they drive off of a bridge. In fact, such visual effects are created by optical illusion. The bridge in question was not a bridge at all, but a normal road, and what looks like a river below is actually the roof of a parking lot these cars were driving into – the video was shot from above.
The purpose of video fabrication is to make Internet users believe in paranormal events.
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