Documents / FOIA release

The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

Central Intelligence Agency · 2001-03-12 · 186 pages · text by 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. 7 …Allen Hynek (Chief scientific consultant to the Air Force on UFOs) said: "...there are more reports…
  • p. 30 …Air Force. (Originally reported in Cleveland Press, picked up by United Press International, July 30, 1952…
  • p. 34 …I collected a few names of individuals present, as I intended to report the UFO to…
  • p. 44 …Gordon Pendleton, Irish International Airlines Globular UFO with antenna-like projections, streaked below his Viscount. Section…
  • p. 55 …Often this argument is used by skeptics to imply that UFO reports result only from careless…
  • p. 71 …Reports of the UFO came into the Baltimore Filter Center for about an hour the first…
  • p. 72 …It was "more distinct than the daytime moon," Walker reported. 36 ## Rendezvous of Two UFOs February…
  • p. 77 …Teletype report and letter on file at NICAP 2. Reports obtained by Cleveland and Akron UFO…
  • p. 97 …According to a report which Mr. Purdon submitted to NICAP, the UFO was first motionless for…
  • p. 98 …Miller, who reported September 18, 1960: The UFO "quite probably is a cinch mark. . . it could…
  • p. 110 …Project name changed to "Grudge." Because of internal disagreement about the significance of UFOs, reports were…
  • p. 119 …The original report released by the Air Force PIO at Truax AFB, Wisc., stated that contact…
  • p. 122 …Wherever man travels on the globe, UFOs have been sighted. Ships at sea have reported strange…
  • p. 123 …At Ezeiza International Airport, Buenos Aires, December 22, 1962, a UFO was sighted about 3:00…
  • p. 126 …An Aer Lingus (Irish International Airlines) pilot reported a globe-shaped unidentified object which flew beneath…
  • p. 127 …International News Service (INS) reported that an Italian Air Force radar station at Practica Dimare, 40…
  • p. 129 …Norris reported that "during early November UFO reports came from all Australian states except Tasmania." The…
  • p. 130 …However, the reported size of the UFO was far too large to be explained as a…
  • p. 131 …Report and sketches published in Japan International UFO Investigation, J. I. Takanashi, Editor; Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan…
  • p. 137 …Week of UFO sightings investigated by military authorities. Scores of residents reported strange glowing objects maneuvering…
  • p. 142 …Three people reported a round, orange UFO which moved rapidly east to west, stopped and hovered…
  • p. 144 …Once the reports had been publicized, the planet Jupiter also was reported as a UFO on…
  • p. 163 …Unofficial report of elliptical silvery UFO seen by aircraft workers; launched two small discs which maneuvered…
  • p. 164 …Air Force called press conference on UFO sightings, attended by more than 40 reporters. Suggested UFOs…
  • p. 171 …missile range, reported an egg-shaped UFO which descended over the base. A report on this…
  • p. 173 …May 14-16 - Several UFO reports from Bahia Blanca, La Rioja, and La Barrera. In the…
  • p. 182 …However, once it is determined that a given UFO report is not evidence of an attack…
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 under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 186 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.