Ashton Forbes@AshtonForbes
Ross Coulthart sent this to Scott Roder after he wrote his message in support of my work.
I'm only posting this because Scott told me Ross contacted him and mentioned this letter so I pinged Ross here on X and in response Ross blacklisted Scott on the spot.
What do you make of this letter?
"Hi Scott. If you ever wanted to have a conversation with me before you entered into a public debate where you support Ashton Forbes’ false theory in conflict with me about MH370, I would have always been happy to do that. I don’t know if you realise how viciously he’s been slurring me for questioning his claim the video he champions is a satellite feed.
As someone who counts you as a friend, I also doubt that you realise that he’s going to use your expert support for his claims to further push a narrative which is attacking me, to the point where I am actually being threatened with my life.
I’m sure you don’t know that supporters of that unhinged man have threatened me with violence and death because he has incited them to the false belief that Iam part of some Govt coverup. I don’t dismiss the possibility that MH370 was downed in a US led coverup at all - I just don’t think Forbes has the evidence he thinks he has.
I was going to respond publicly in detail to Ashton Forbes but his attacks on me became so scary. I decided to go quiet because I was actually getting death threats from people for presuming to challenge His claims. This is the detailed response that I prepared based on what I know from my sources:
Based on my own research, I am entitled to hold a contrary opinion to him about the authenticity of the video he relies on. Just because he demands I respond to him in his online rants doesn’t mean I have to. I merely observed that my sources had told me that the imagery Forbes relies upon to support his MH370 conspiracy theory bore no resemblance to the imagery take they know from that particular satellite.
The irony is, Ashton Forbes has actually agreed with me and he then changed his claims, presumably to fit his new conspiracy narrative. He’s now suggesting it was a system called Gorgon Stare.
My view is that Ashton Forbes’s claims about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 being caused by advanced technological “orbs” that teleported the plane through a wormhole or portal are baseless and unsupported by credible evidence. His more recent assertion that the alleged MH370 videos are authentic footage from the U.S. military’s Gorgon Stare surveillance system has also been thoroughly debunked.
Forbes’s central claim is that videos circulating online show MH370 being surrounded by three glowing orbs, which then teleport the plane through a wormhole or interdimensional portal. This narrative is rooted in conspiracy theories and lacks any grounding in verifiable evidence.
Multiple analyses by visual effects (VFX) professionals have demonstrated that the videos are fabricated. For example, a VFX artist identified that the cloud imagery in the videos matches stock textures available on a high-definition texture website, predating the MH370 incident (March 8, 2014). These textures were used to create the background, indicating the videos were digitally manipulated. I note Forbes claims that these images were supposedly added to the stock textures archive after the MH370 disappearance in an elaborate cover-up but multiple sources have told me this is just not possible.
The “portal” effect in the videos has been traced to a 1990s VFX asset pack, commonly used in video editing software. This effect was not unique to the MH370 videos and is a clear sign of digital fabrication.
The Corridor Crew, a group of VFX experts, conducted a detailed analysis showing how the videos could be created using standard VFX tools, including motion blur effects for the orbs and masking for the glowing effects. They concluded the videos were not authentic.
The smoke trail in the video, which Forbes claims stops abruptly due to a wormhole, has been explained as a VFX artifact. The trail’s displacement and the orbs’ behavior are consistent with 3D rendering techniques, not real-world physics.
Despite Forbes’s claims of a supernatural or advanced technological event, physical debris from MH370 has been recovered. Confirmed wreckage, including a flaperon, washed up on Reunion Island and other parts of the East African coast, consistent with ocean current patterns from the southern Indian Ocean. This directly contradicts the idea that the plane was teleported or removed entirely. I appreciate that Forbes might argue that the wreckage was planted and it is a weakness that MH370 has not been found. Note: I am not ruling out foul play in the disappearance of MH370 involving a hostile Government but we need solid evidence to investigate that possibility.
The absence of a debris field in the South Indian Ocean, as Forbes suggests, is misleading. The ocean is vast, and deep-sea searches are challenging. The recovered debris aligns with a crash scenario, not an otherworldly disappearance.
Mr Forbes’s claims about orbs manipulating gravity, creating wormholes, or using “magnetic monopoles” and “zero-point energy” are speculative science at best. Such capabilities may exist in the black world but there’s no evidence to support the claim that the US or any other nation has that ability at this time.
The idea of orbs as plasma fields or advanced technology is also speculative and unsupported. Forbes references unverified claims by figures like Bob Lazar, but these lack peer-reviewed evidence or scientific consensus.
The abrupt disappearance of the plane in the video is better explained by VFX editing (e.g., cutting the footage) than by invoking unproven physics.
MH370’s last radar contact was over the South China Sea, after which it deviated westward and was tracked by military radar and satellite pings over the southern Indian Ocean. This trajectory is consistent with a deliberate diversion, possibly by the pilot, and a subsequent crash, not an encounter with orbs. I have reported on this evidence extensively for Australian TV and I have seen no evidence to support any contention that the satellite pings are part of an elaborate coverup, which I presume is what Mr Forbes is suggesting.
Forbes dismisses the official narrative (a crash in the southern Indian Ocean) as a cover-up, but he provides no credible alternative evidence. His reliance on unverified videos ignores the extensive data from Inmarsat satellite pings, radar, and debris analysis.
Forbes has no formal credentials in aviation, VFX, or physics, yet he positions himself as a “lead investigator.” His arguments often rely on cherry-picked data and misinterpretations of technical details.
He has been criticized for blocking critics on social media, creating an echo chamber, and dismissing expert analyses (e.g., from VFX artists) as part of a government conspiracy. This behavior suggests a lack of openness to scrutiny.
In at least one instance, Forbes has made serious mistakes he continues to overlook. He was reportedly scammed out of $3,000 live on stream after claiming to have obtained “top secret” files proving his theory, further damaging his credibility.
Forbes’s latest argument, as of May 2025, is that the MH370 “satellite” video is actually footage from the U.S. Air Force’s Gorgon Stare Increment 2 surveillance system, integrated with ARGUS technology, and that this proves its authenticity. He also claims Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) papers explain the “plasma orbs.” This argument is equally flawed and has been debunked by experts.
Gorgon Stare is a wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) system used on MQ-9 Reaper drones, designed to capture large areas at low frame rates (2–6 frames per second) for persistent surveillance. The MH370 video, however, appears smoother and is not consistent with Gorgon Stare’s frame rate or resolution.
Arthur Holland Michel, author of Eyes in the Sky: The Secret Rise of Gorgon Stare and How It Will Watch Us All, explicitly debunked Forbes’s claim, stating the video does not match Gorgon Stare’s technical characteristics.
The video’s high-resolution depiction of a plane and orbs is inconsistent with Gorgon Stare’s purpose, which is to monitor broad areas, not to capture close-up, high-fidelity footage of fast-moving objects.
Mr Forbes’s Gorgon Stare claim does not address the fact that the video contains stock VFX assets (clouds, portal effects) and CGI elements, as established by prior analyses. Rebranding the video as Gorgon Stare footage ignores these fundamental issues.
Forbes pivoted to the Gorgon Stare narrative after years of claiming the video was satellite footage, without adequately addressing the earlier debunkings of its CGI elements. This happened straight after I raised expert criticisms that there was no way this imagery was from the satellite he claimed it was from. He has spent years being strident that this imagery did come from a satellite and when challenged about it he just changed his story.
Forbes has also claimed that Air Force Research Labs’ papers describe “multi-purpose plasma orbs” that explain the orbs in the video. However, these papers likely refer to theoretical or experimental research, such as plasma physics or directed energy, which are unrelated to the fantastical capabilities (e.g., wormhole creation) Forbes attributes to them. No credible source links AFRL research to the MH370 videos. His reference to Eric Davis’s work with AFRL is speculative and lacks context. Davis’s research focuses on advanced propulsion theories, not operational technology capable of teleporting planes
In conclusion, my analysis is that Ashton Forbes’s claims about MH370 being taken by orbs are unsupported by available evidence because they rely on demonstrably fake videos, lack physical or scientific evidence, contradict known facts, and are driven by speculative and unverified assertions. His Gorgon Stare argument fails due to technical inconsistencies, reliance on debunked footage, and a lack of credible corroboration. Expert analyses, physical debris, and established data about MH370’s trajectory all point to a crash in the southern Indian Ocean, not a fantastical teleportation event.
Just between us agreed!!"