Three decades after a Gulf Breeze building contractor released eerie photos of circular UFOs to local media and set off a year-long skywatching phenomenon, the so-called "Gulf Breeze Sightings" have become part of American lore.

Ed Walters claimed he shot the photos from his yard on Nov. 11, 1987. And now, even 30 years later, people are still divided on what really happened in Gulf Breeze in late 1987 through 1988.

Even the nation's most legendary UFOlogist, fictional FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder from the 1990s hit series "X Files" weighed in on the Gulf Breeze sightings when it was revealed the character investigated the Panhandle sightings and wrote an essay on the phenomenon for Omni magazine.

“I really don't have a good opinion on whether they're faked or not. There was so much controversy about it and MUFON went back and forth about it for years.”

George Williams, state section director of the Florida Mutual UFO Network

"When I first saw the Gulf Breeze photos, I knew they were a hoax,'' Mulder said in a classic 1994 episode "E.B.E."

And Mulder was a person who famously always wanted to believe.

But he's not alone in concluding the controversial Walters photographs were a hoax, an opinion that became more widespread after Walters moved from his home and in 1990, the new owner found a model of a "flying saucer" wrapped in old drafting paper in the attic. The model was made out of foam pie plates, cardboard, paper and tinted plastic gel.

Walters claimed the model was planted, but most thought — and still think — Walters' photos were a hoax. (There were witnesses who alleged knowledge of the staged UFO.) News Journal reporters and photographers later used the model to stage their own UFO models that seemed identical to the ones taken by Walters. 

Using the model that was found a Pensacola News Journal photographer fabricated this UFO photo.

Craig Myers was the lead reporter on the story for the Pensacola News Journal during the Gulf Breeze sightings and subsequent controversy. He wrote a dozen stories on the sightings — and specifically Walters' claims — and later wrote a book on the Gulf Breeze sightings. Today, he works as an editorial assistant for Middle Tennessee State University, where he still gives the occasional lecture on the Gulf Breeze sightings.

Myers is confident the photographs were faked by Walters, who was known as a prankster, according to news reports from the time.

Former Pensacola News Journal reporter Craig Myers wrote a book about the Gulf Breeze UFO sightings titled "War of the Worlds: The True but Strange Story of the Gulf Breeze UFO."

"Maybe it started as a fun prank,'' Myers said. "But then it just took off and snowballed. "He's probably the smartest guy in the room in most of the rooms he walks into."

(Walters could not be reached for comment, but has always maintained the photographs he took were authentic. He also wrote a book on the topic titled "Gulf Breeze Sightings.")

And even now, there are those who believe Walters' story — and the validity of his photographs — including noted UFO researcher and physicist Bruce Maccabee, who has written numerous research papers and technical papers on the Gulf Breeze sightings.

Ed and Frances Walters wrote a book entitled "The Gulf Breeze Sightings."

"I think they're real,'' he said of Walters' photographs, dismissing the model found later. "I think the model is a hoax. Hoax squared."

Even if you dismiss Walters' photographs, Maccabee said, there were too many other witnesses who claimed to see UFOs in the Gulf Breeze area, and not all of them can be ignored.

"You had politicians reporting seeing objects,'' he said. "There were so many sightings that you have to account for, unless you believe there was massive collusion on the part of the residents of Gulf Breeze and Pensacola."

On Feb. 20, 1990, Gulf Breeze City Councilwoman Brenda Pollak holds a photograph she took at night of a bright red light hovering over Gulf Breeze near the Gulf Breeze United Methodist Church.

Danise Boone was living in Gulf Breeze at the time with her daughters, who were then 6 and 8 years old.

"My daughters and I saw something spinning just barely above the trees at dusk,'' she recalled. "We were on Central Drive off Highway 98 looking west toward the Sound side. They saw it first and came inside to get me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I know I saw something in the sky that rotated. It wasn't a plane or copter. "

There are countless stories like that. Hundreds of people began watching the skies over Gulf Breeze, most congregating at watch parties at Shoreline Park. Dozens reported sightings, but no one came close to matching the clarity and proximity of Walters' photographs.

"I really don't have a good opinion on whether they're faked or not,'' said George Williams, state section director of the Florida Mutual UFO Network in Tallahassee and the field investigator who has investigated the Gulf Breeze sightings extensively. "There was so much controversy about it and MUFON went back and forth about it for years. ... But he made a model and buried it in the installation? That just doesn't sound right, but I don't know."

But no matter Walters' photos, Williams said Gulf Breeze and Pensacola remain a "UFO hotspot." 

"We still get reports of interesting stuff in the area,'' he said. "And in 1987, you had hundreds of people besides Walters reporting sightings. It's always been an interesting area."