I don't think they were hoaxing or being hoaxed, not deliberately.
I see a pattern, though, one I've seen with other witnesses when it comes to evidence. They are very excited about what they have, looks good to them, and probably is, but when taken out of the context of personal experience, it becomes quite thin, not nearly as convincing, and ... sort of falls apart. It does not mean they were hoaxing, it only means they were kidding themselves about how solid their evidence is .. and to them it probably is, to someone outside the experiences, it isn't. I've had this happen to me with a number of witnesses.
An example is a guy .. anonymous .. who contacted me about activity a back corner of his property that occurs each year in late winter / early spring for 2-3 weeks. He had nothing to gain by BS-ing me, then vanishing. I think he just didn't have anything strong enough to back up his story stand-alone. His location and the time of year are viable and would explain a gap in my data.
MIB