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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. 20 …Luminous disc Airline pilot Observed circling at sea level;UFO ascended"with incredible speed"to level…
  • p. 31 …way from Klagenfurt, Austria to the Adriatic Sea. This occurred on a "lone wolf" mission at…
  • p. 43 …Griffin, BOAC; also PAA crew; ship at sea Ring-like UFO, passed above plane and over…
  • p. 84 …s for three weeks, curving over Baltic Sea. 2000--3500 mph. 52 G, V September 4…
  • p. 89 …Many of the citizens of Alaska along the Bering Sea Coast have reported seeing missile-like…
  • p. 91 …In one movie I even saw Moses hold back the waters of the Red Sea. These…
  • p. 93 …The hypothesis that the objects were out of focus sea gulls was considered by the Air…
  • p. 104 …Two fishermen at sea, George Korkan and Jack Curry, said the substance settled on their boat…
  • p. 105 …I seemed to recall, far out to sea on occasion. "At the time I assumed that…
  • p. 113 …20, 1952; North Sea, three color photographs taken on board an aircraft carrier. Aug.12,1953…
  • p. 122 …Ships at sea have reported strange objects For example see Section II; U.S.S. Supply…
  • p. 123 …regularly over the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Central America See December 6, 1952 Gulf…
  • p. 124 …The object maneuvered under the plane, hovered, then dove toward the sea. 21 July 14, 1959…
  • p. 125 …Mainbrace, extensive naval maneuvers in the North Sea on and about September 20, 1952, UFOs were…
  • p. 127 …Reports in southern Europe and over the Mediterranean Sea have been as frequent as in any…
  • p. 129 …OCEAN & ANTARCTIA UFOs have been sighted at sea, in the islands of the major oceans, and…
  • p. 130 …dry $ 7 4^{\circ} \mathrm{F} $ , wet $ 6 7^{\circ} \mathrm{F} $ , sea $ 7 9^{\circ…
  • p. 132 …over the front lines and out to sea. The UFO at one point passed in front…
  • p. 136 …cattle bolted. XII September 19, 1952--North Sea. Spherical UFO photographed from U. S. Navy aircraft…
  • p. 139 …Natives in small boat, saw UFO, descend vertically, hover about 20 feet above sea boat saw…
  • p. 141 …Cigar-shaped UFO with "portholes." XII May 22, 1960--Majorca Isle, Mediterranean Sea. Palma Observatory reported…
  • p. 151 …accelerated rapidly and pulled away out to sea. Section IV. 1-29-52 Wonsan, Korea Revolving…
  • p. 152 …of light around edge hovering just over sea about 40° off port bow; UFO then shot…
  • p. 153 …object, it darted away East toward the sea. Section X. 9-28-60 Arlington, Texas Star…
  • p. 161 …altitude is given as altitude above mean sea level. To convert to altitude above station level…
  • p. 162 …Coast Guardsman saw two discs circle station, head out to sea.
  • p. 164 …Force Pilots flying a formation of jets above the North Sea observed a shiny sphere approaching
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.