In 1971, a government surveyor named Sergio Loaiza was 10,000 feet above Lake Cote in Costa Rica, mapping land for a hydroelectric project, when his camera caught one frame he never saw with his own eyes — a solid, metallic disc hovering over the water. It sat quietly for years until it worked its way into the national press, and it’s still called one of the clearest, most scrutinized UFO photographs ever taken.
This week, documentary filmmakers Adam Pillon and Megan Woomer join Cocktails & Conspiracies to talk about “The Cote Photo,” the film they spent two trips to Costa Rica building around this image.
We get into how they earned the trust of a photographer who’d stayed quiet about it for decades, why the frame keeps surviving every attempt to wave it off as a hubcap or a lens flare, and what it actually means that the object works out to roughly 84 meters wide if it were sitting at ground level.
We also follow them down the USO rabbit hole — the theory that some of these craft are just as at home underwater as they are in the sky — and what that has to do with a lake that, as the locals tell it, no business built beside it ever survives.
As always, we lay out the case for it and the case against it. You decide.
“The Cote Photo” is streaming now on Amazon Prime and Apple TV, or available to rent/purchase at thecotephoto.com.
Key takeaways:
The origins of the Cote Photo and its significance in UFO lore.Insights from the filmmakers on their journey and the challenges they faced.The cultural impact of the photo in Costa Rica and its connection to local legends.
Watch:
Website: https://thecotephoto.com/watch
Apple TV: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-cote-photo/umc.cmc.4v71qp3eed55cy1ggbl32jb70Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0HFWLH3KM
Follow the film
X: https://x.com/TheCotePhoto
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecotephoto/
Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and conspiracyrealist.com
New episodes Friday nights, 8:30pm ET
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:39 The film is out
03:10 Kelli’s wall
05:29 Earning Sergio’s trust
12:22 Silence by order
17:51 Sergio the experiencer
23:17 The mapping camera and 84 meters
27:53 The volcano clip
29:57 Costa Rica as culture
33:55 La Nación and Esteban’s TED talk
39:15 USOs and Lake Superior
48:35 What do you think it is
59:54 Where to watch
Keywords:
Costa Rica UFO photo, The Cote Photo documentary, Lake Cote UFO, Sergio Loaiza, government UFO photograph, USO underwater UFO theory, aerial mapping UFO, gimbal video comparison, UFO disclosure Pentagon tranches, Arenal Volcano UFO
