Atari's Landfill Adventures, I now have the proof it's true.

[Nukey Shay]

Wasn't the idea that the landfill would eventually be turned into a skate park? Or maybe that's just how I remembered it (due to being into boarding at the time). Or maybe that's just what they tried to reassure the residents with?

 

Don't worry...eventually, this dump will be turned into a park for all to enjoy...and not a bypass.

[Spud]

The Library had some of the articles on microfilm those I printed out, not great quality, they also had huge volumes of past newspapers in these huge books, I filmed those, better quality. I tried to make a print screen picture of the article showing the pit while paused in file player, it just doesn't work, turns out black where the video is.

 

It may be a few days before I get it all on here. I've got some fun hospital visits due to a slipped disk in my back in the next day or so I need to take care of but I'll get all the videos and such on here soon.

[Spud]

Here's something, not a large pic, but something. I never knew editing video was such a pain. I was able to do a screen capture off of my Studio 8 screen I'm using to edit with, it's small but you can get an idea of the size of the pit.

 

Also, The guy I interviewed that works for the city said the area may be tuned into a park in the future. Skate park, I don't know, maybe part of it.

 

Bruce S.

[+Random Terrain]

It may be a few days before I get it all on here. I've got some fun hospital visits due to a slipped disk in my back in the next day or so I need to take care of but I'll get all the videos and such on here soon.

Just try to overcome the pain and do it soon (have someone drag the computer over to your bed) because if you wait until April 1st, no one will believe you no matter how good your stuff is. There are some naysayers around here who would rather die than believe that the story might be true. I hope you have good quality evidence because some of them really should die. It's about time.

 

If you're involved in an April Fools joke, I'm sure hundreds of AA villagers carrying torches and pitchforks will hunt you down, so it won't be the naysayers who will be dying.

[Spud]

If you're involved in an April Fools joke, I'm sure hundreds of AA villagers carrying torches and pitchforks will hunt you down, so it won't be the naysayers who will be dying.

 

I did get all the sports score correct didn't I on the one page??

[sidcrowe]

Has anyone alerted the wire services about this?

 

 

I believe it. It's almost like currency. The carts had to be wrecked to stave off inflation. It didn't help anyway, as other manufacturers made tons of bad carts anyway

[A.J. Franzman]

I did get all the sports score correct didn't I on the one page??

No, you put in 4 pairs of teams but only 3 pairs of scores! :wink:

[chrisbid]

how close is this town to roswell new mexico?

[+Nathan Strum]

There is the rumor of the I, Robot machines that got dumped en route to Japan....

 

Well that one's not a rumor.

 

 

Sorry about the grainy photo. It's dark down there!

[+FujiSkunk]

According to Snopes, the story is true, though curiously the article doesn't offer any proof in the way of links to other articles or web sites...

 

There is a reference to a New York Times article from 1983.

 

...except for that one.

 

I somehow managed to overlook that link while reading the Snopes article. For the record, I stand corrected.

[Inky]

how close is this town to roswell new mexico?

 

About 75-100 miles west south west.

[Dones]

This thread is starting to sound a lot like the knight rider thread....

[MayDay]

When I first saw the image spud posted from Studio 8, I thought my initial reaction was wrong, because the picture looked like a dead-set effect fake. I used to work in television and still have some decent photo-editing software on hand, so decided to take a look.

 

My impression of the pictures seemed to be inaccurate, I would say with 99% certainty that the pictures of the articles are real. With the exacting information from the first scan, I realized it wouldn't be that difficult to track the information down. However, I am unable to find any information for M.E. McQuiddy (and found it curious he would be both a reporter and a photographer at a daily newspaper, but not beyond the realm of possibility).

 

So, I fired up the old horn, and gave the newspaper's publisher a holla. I was told that noone currently working at the paper was working there at the time, and that it was too late in the day to send someone to the archives searching for it. They are going to check for me in the morning, and I am going to call him back after I get off work. If I find the article is indeed genuine, I would be happy to forward the man's information on to an administrator of this site for double verification (I realize I'm still a newbie and that one of them would be much more trusted). However, I would please ask that nobody else call, as they may be a little overwhelmed and/or irritated if 50 people call and ask for the same thing. So, with that, until tomorrow...but know that I believe!

 

Jason

[Bryan]

MayDay,

 

I found this link which mentions a journalist named McQuiddy covering stories in Roswell.

 

-Bry

[MayDay]

I know it didn't show his first name, but I believe that would be one Art Mcquiddy A little more research has yielded a man named Marian E. McQuiddy who worked for the New Mexico Business Journal from at least around 1991 to 1993. More importantly, all of his articles are in reference to Alamogordo, NM. The stories can be found here:

 

http://www.findarticles.com/p/search?tb=ar...+E.+McQuiddy%22

 

Oh, another note, the publisher said he would be happy to fax something if he found anything, but I don't have a fax machine (or care to go through the chain of command at work). I didn't figure a scan of a fax would do anything but encourage the nay-sayers anyway.

 

That's all... happy hunting everyone!

 

-JD

[flyinghippo]

I heard of this happening on a video game documentary. It was all their lefotver E.T. Carts. I thought atari was wasting gtheir money doing that.

[homerwannabee]

I am an official believer now. This would be an awesome road trip to take to New Mexico. Well I am having spring break in a couple of days. I may just go for a drive

[Bryan]

I am an official believer now.  This would be an awesome road trip to take to New Mexico.  Well I am having spring break in a couple of days.  I may just go for a drive

 

The landfill site is going to become like this.

 

-Bry

[nudicle]

According to Yahoo People there's a Marian McQuiddy residing in El Paso TX, which, according to Mapquest, is less than 2 hours from Alamogordo.

 

I derived that from a Yahoo People search for that name spanning the entire U.S. The El Paso M. McQuiddy was the only response returned by the query for that name.

 

For whatever it's worth, that's a heck of a coincidence.

 

p.s. google also has references to a Marian McQuiddy in Texas discussing his/her (are we sure it's a he?) desire to start an Optimist Club. These references give an email address for him (although it might not be current). I have no idea if it's the same person, of course, but with the apparent scarcity of that name I'd bet it is.

 

If it turns out that the articles are 100% genuine and verified, it might be interesting to see if this El Paso McQuiddy is our reporter and, if so, politely ask for any recollections of these events.

[sku_u]

I am an official believer now.  This would be an awesome road trip to take to New Mexico.  Well I am having spring break in a couple of days.  I may just go for a drive

 

The landfill site is going to become like this.

 

-Bry

 

Ah, yes, the infamous Money Pit. I thought you were going half and half with me to buy that island so we could bury all our extra Air Raid carts there. :wink:

[Nukey Shay]

When I first saw the image spud posted from Studio 8, I thought my initial reaction was wrong, because the picture looked like a dead-set effect fake.  I used to work in television and still have some decent photo-editing software on hand, so decided to take a look.  

 

My impression of the pictures seemed to be inaccurate, I would say with 99% certainty that the pictures of the articles are real.  With the exacting information from the first scan, I realized it wouldn't be that difficult to track the information down.  However, I am unable to find any information for M.E. McQuiddy (and found it curious he would be both a reporter and a photographer at a daily newspaper, but not beyond the realm of possibility).

 

So, I fired up the old horn, and gave the newspaper's publisher a holla.  I was told that noone currently working at the paper was working there at the time, and that it was too late in the day to send someone to the archives searching for it.  They are going to check for me in the morning, and I am going to call him back after I get off work.  If I find the article is indeed genuine, I would be happy to forward the man's information on to an administrator of this site for double verification (I realize I'm still a newbie and that one of them would be much more trusted).  However, I would please ask that nobody else call, as they may be a little overwhelmed and/or irritated if 50 people call and ask for the same thing.  So, with that, until tomorrow...but know that I believe!

 

Jason

 

Um...

So you are checking to see if the article is real??

 

I think that what some people are saying here is that sometimes articles are faked.

 

In which case, it won't make any difference what you find.

 

 

 

 

Atari - even when they are throwing things away, they are brilliant!

[nudicle]

If the Alamogordo articles are not faked (as in were really published with quotations of locals and, hopefully, better scans showing evidence of Atari stuff there) and Atari never forced a correction of the nytimes article, it seems to me at least that the burden shifts to those who think it's all fakery to show why a reasonable person should think that.

 

Which is to say, I guess, that if the Alamogordo articles really existed in 1983 as purported, the "conspiracy theory" faction becomes those who want to claim it's all a massive lie. I agree the existence of the articles won't convince people who think those articles were themselves faked, but in the absence of any evidence to think those articles were all lies I don't see how the evidence is anything other than very much in favor of their veracity.

 

There is no evidentiary parity between 1983 articles from Alamogordo talking about the dumping of Atari stuff (assuming the articles themselves are supported by evidence included in pics and quotations within the articles themselves) in Alamogordo's own back yard and people saying "it's all faked!", unless the people yelling conspiracy have somthing to back it up other than their obstinate commital to the idea that it never happened.

 

That said, I await confirmation that these articles were genuinely published as reported by Spud. Without that, there is nothing.

[moycon]

I'll save my comments till after the 1st.

[Dolt]

FWIW, it's common for a lot of small/local publications to have people who write and take photos. I do it all the time for the trade magazine I work for.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

In addtion Hawgwild who posts here, was both the article writer and photographer who covered my OKGE event last year for his local paper. So it is very common.