Documents / FOIA release

The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

Central Intelligence Agency · 2001-03-12 · 186 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This is a copy of "The UFO Evidence," a report published in May 1964 by the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in Washington, D.C. and edited by Richard H. Hall. The CIA released its copy in 2001. The report draws 746 sightings from more than 5,000 signed reports and argues that unexplained UFOs are real, artificial objects under intelligent control. It criticizes Air Force secrecy and calls for a Congressional inquiry into Project Blue Book and a larger scientific investigation.

  • p. 19 …seconds Section III (a)1953Anaco, Venezuela Round gray Pilot Approached airliner, paced it for 40 minutes…
  • p. 26 …Cases shaded in gray are detailed following chart). Date & Location Witnesses Description 8-29-42Columbus,Miss…
  • p. 28 …1-29-53 Presque Isle, Maine F-94 and other pilots Gray oval UFO. 38. 2…
  • p. 30 …I saw that it was a dark gray oval-shaped object, smaller than my T-6…
  • p. 37 …The pilot described the object as cigar-shaped, dark gray or gunmetal in color and giving…
  • p. 38 …divided into two sections, one half light gray in color, the other half black. The estimated…
  • p. 74 …The body appeared to be metallic and was of a light gray color, similar in appearance…
  • p. 104 …skippered by collections director Capt. W. B. Gray and his assistant, Emil Hanson. "We were traveling…
  • p. 110 …the so-called "administrative classification" is the gray area of secrecy, where no clear standards delimit…
  • p. 136 …Avensa Airlines pilot reported round gray object paced plane. X 1953--Navy Carrier-based Squadron of…
  • p. 137 …photographed. VIII September 15, 1954--Bihar, India. Gray disc hovered, emitted smoke and climbed away at…
  • p. 142 …Photographs and visual sighting of unidentified object "like a piece of paper," gray-white. Observed to…
  • p. 143 …A student saw a gray, apparently spherical UFO with a central row of yellow lights. Apparently…
  • p. 144 …The UFO made a sharp turn, headed toward the observers, changing color from orange to gray…
  • p. 147 …shiny or bright) 34 5.9% --- ----- Continued Gray 19 3.3% 5 .2% Silhouette (dark or…
  • p. 148 …Luminous disc,top gray,underside bright. (c)around edge. September20,1954 Cuyahoga Falls,Ohio --- Circular,dark…
  • p. 153 …Section VII. 10-3-60 Cressy, Australia Gray cigar-shaped UFO with vertical bands (5 to…
  • p. 157 …noon (1) gray, shape not specified hovered 8 minutes, arced back & forth about 150, returning to…
  • p. 172 …The cast was turned over to Richard Gray, research physicist at Case Institute of Technology for…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0

Date	Location	Witness	Description
November 5,1955	Cleveland,Ohio	Minister	“Like two saucers,the uppermost inverted and resting on the edges of the lower one”[Section VII.]
August 20,1956	Citrus Heights,California	Family	“Like two soup bowls,one inverted on top of the other”
August 20,1957	Nr Trujillo,Venezuela	Lawyers	“Like two soup plates clamped together by their rims”
November 6,1957	Nr Montville,Ohio	Plasterer	“Like a saucer with another inverted one resting on top...”[Section XII]
January 16,1958	Trindade Isle,Brazil	Ship's crew	“A flattened sphere encircled at the equator by a large ring...”[Section VIII]
March 20,1958	Henrietta,Mo.	---	“One saucer inverted over another”
July 1,1960	Nr Leefe,Wyoming	---	“Shape of two dinner plates face to face”
October 2,1961	Salt Lake City,Utah	Businessman/pilot	“Shaped like a pair of saucers,one turned upside down on top of the other”[Section I]

## Color

UFOs observed in daylight rarely have shown any particular color. Common descriptions have been "silver" or "white". Occasionally some "glow" or "shine" has been observed in daylight or twilight, appearing to be self-illumination rather than reflection. At night, UFOs have most often appeared as bright light sources, occasionally as silhouetted objects (sometimes with body lights). The color of the light sources or body lights have ranged across the spectrum, and sometimes UFOs have shown more than one color or changed color during the observation. (See part C of this section for color change study.)

	NICAP(575 Cases)	Air Force*(2199 Cases)
Silver or Metallic	88	15.3%	389	17.7%
White	81	14.1%	517	23.5%
Reflective(shiny or bright)	34	5.9%	---	-----

Continued
Gray	19	3.3%	5	.2%
Silhouette (dark or black)	31	5.4%	57	2.6%
Night or Twilight
Red	62	10.8%	179	8.1%
Orange	25	4.3%	221	10.1%
Yellow	28	4.9%	159	7.2%
Green	21	3.7%	144	6.5%
Blue	26	4.5%	93	4.2%
Purple	0	0.0%	5	.2%
[*Project Blue Book Special Report No.14, page143,tableA65]

## "Portholes"

an often observed feature of UFOs seen at relatively close range is markings, apertures, or lights on the body of the object. The appearance is that of "portholes" or "windows", as many of the witnesses have stated. In the sample of 50 "porthole" cases

charted here, the markings are of three general types:

(a) Circular; (b) Rectangular (or square); (c) Row of lights; [(d) Not specified.]

Date & Location	Time	UFO&Maneuvers	Number&Pattern
April or May 1932 Durham,N.H.	---	Silvery,saucer-shaped;passed slowly overhead.	(c) on underside of edge
July 23,1948 Montgomery,Ala.	2:45 a.m.	Cigar-shaped,fiery exhaust;sped past airliner,rose.	(b) two rows [Section V.]
August 20,1949 Las Cruces,N.M.	10:45 p.m.	6-8 rectangles arranged in elliptical pattern,apparent connecting glow.	(b) Section VI
March 31,1950 Little Rock,Ark.	9:29 p.m.	Circular with flashing light on top;arced above airliner.	(a) 8-10 in circular pattern on underside [Section V]
August 31,1951 Metodor,Texas.	12:30 p.m.	Pear-shaped;spiraling climb.	(d) "porthole" on side.

Cases discussed

About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 186 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.