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. 15 …I had never heard of flying saucers and had no idea what we had seen, but…
  • p. 29 …Photograph never made public. 47. 6-30-54 Brookley AFB, Alabama Control tower operators Radar-visual…
  • p. 34 …It never did drop below the horizon--just faded away. The fading, of course, was due…
  • p. 50 …airports for 16 years." Sonner said, "and never before have I seen an aircraft like it…
  • p. 56 …5 minutes."It was something I had never seen before."UFO finally ascended straight up out…
  • p. 57 …Each "ship" also had, emanating from the "stern" portion, two "tails", seemingly streaming out horizontally, never…
  • p. 58 …It did not flicker, it burned steadily the weatherman said, but its light could never appear…
  • p. 72 …it went over the first hill and never over 1000 feet during my observation." Mr. Hahn…
  • p. 87 …was first being developed, and they have never been acceptably explained. The celebrated Washington radar sightings…
  • p. 88 …It has never been known to occur, there is no theoretical basis for believing that it…
  • p. 89 …The UFO showed on the film as a round, bright spot. (The film has never been…
  • p. 93 …NICAP has never obtained any negatives for analysis. Prints show disc from five different angles. Critics…
  • p. 94 …Picture reportedly showing unexplained circular light source, never made public. See "Report on Unidentified Flying Objects…
  • p. 96 …The many other reports from alleged additional witnesses were never received from Mr. Stanford. His background…
  • p. 97 …The first possibility to cross our minds was a polyethelyne type balloon, but we have never…
  • p. 98 …at least three consecutive frames, you'd never find it. Moreover, internal lens reflections (also countless…
  • p. 112 …Congressional hearings were contemplated See Section XIII but never came about. Instead, Air Force Congressional Liaison…
  • p. 113 …Film Data reportedly analyzed by USAF, but never released to public See Section VIII: Apr. 27…
  • p. 114 …Therefore, I never saw it in its published form. However, since I had prepared it - as…
  • p. 116 …I have never heard anyone claim anything to the contrary. . . ." ODE D"CLASSIC" - SEAGULLS (FROM COLORED…
  • p. 118 …proved highly impressive to one who had never before seen the Nation's Capital.) The interrogation…
  • p. 121 …could be a jet tanker refueling operation. Never having witnessed refueling operation at night, I am…
  • p. 125 …As far as is known, the pictures have never been published and no explanation of the…
  • p. 126 …I have never seen anything like it before." 42 ## The European Continent On the Continent, UFOs…
  • p. 129 …The USAF analysis report has never been released. ## C. OCEAN & ANTARCTIA UFOs have been sighted at…
  • p. 134 …Lincoln LaPaz, Institute of Meteoritics, said: "There has never been a rate of meteorite fall in…
  • p. 135 …film submitted to Air Force, never released. VIII UFO; film submitted to Air Force, never released…
  • p. 138 …I've been observing the skies since 1914, and I've never seen any meteoric fireballs…
  • p. 164 …which was also photographed. (The pictures have never been made public). The UFO was seen moving…
  • p. 165 …One of the most intriguing accounts, never fully investigated, described a whitish oval-shaped object observed…
  • p. 174 …Since most of the material presented to the Committees is classified, the hearings are never printed…
  • p. 175 …to a newsman's question: "UFOs have never been accurately explained. I think there is as…
  • p. 183 …things, is that the raw data almost never permit of measurement. It should be carefully noted…
Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0 Sample Cases:

Date	Location	Description
10-2-61	Salt Lake City, Utah	Disc-shaped UFO seen by pilot, hovered with slight rocking motion. [Section I.]
7-9-62	West New York, N.J.	Disc with rotating central ring hovered with swaying motion.

## b. Pendulum/Falling Leaf Motion

A curious, but fairly common, flight characteristic of UFOs is a pendulum-like motion (swaying back and forth) during hovering, slow climb, or descent. Witnesses frequently have compared this to the gyrations of a falling leaf.

## Sample Cases:

October 11, 1951. J.J. Kaliszewski (then Supervisor of balloon manufacture for General Mills, Inc.) and Dick Reilly were flying near Minneapolis, Minnesota, observing a balloon at 6:30 a.m. They noticed a bright glowing object overhead moving at high speed from east to west. The UFO had a dark undersurface, and a halo of light. Finally it slowed, and started climbing "in lazy circles." Kaliszewski: "The pattern it made was like a falling oak leaf inverted." [Section VI.]

February 9, 1957. At 1:00 a.m. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Roger Standeven observed a white oval-shaped UFO with a red light visible on top. The object would stop, "fall like a leaf," speed up again, and repeat the sequence, gaining altitude each time it sped up.

[For other examples; See Section XI, Chronology: 9-20-52, 9-26-54, 11-25-56, 2-28-61.]

POHANG, KOREA; Fall 1954
U.S. Marine Corps Weather Observer John A. Potter observed a formation of seven bright orange UFOs moving north to south about 11:00 p.m. The objects,

U.S. Marine Corps Weather Observer John A. Potter observed a formation of seven bright orange UFOs moving north to south about 11:00 p.m. The objects, travelling at "a very rapid pace," individually fluttered from side to side as pictured.

## (c) Side-to-Side Oscillation

A very similar pendulum-like motion, occurring as a UFO travels in a horizontal plane (rather than ascending or descending) has been noticed occasionally. It consists of a side-to-side oscillation as the UFO proceeds in a constant direction.

(c) Side-to-Side Oscillation

Date	Location	Description
3-29-50	Ironwood, Mich.	Round UFO moving with "slipping and sliding sideways" motion. [Section V.]
10-9-50	Nr Williamstown, Vermont	Two cylindrical UFOs swinging back and forth like "flying pendulums."
3-10-52	Oakland, Calif.	Two dark hemispherical UFOs, one following straight-line course, second swaying back and forth "like a pendulum" across the path of the first. [Section VI.]
10-54	Pohang, Korea	Formation of 7 discs; individually "fluttered," swaying from side to side.
9-22-56	Williston Plains, No. Dak.	UFO (appearing alternately circular and delta-shaped) moved slowly past, oscillating from side to side.
10-30-61	Derry, Penna.	Four luminous blue discs "oscillated" from side to side, on constant course. [Section I.]
6-19-62	London, England	Disc "oscillated" from side to side, "hemitating sometimes and practically stopping in midair," on constant course.

Sample Cases:

b. Pendulum/Falling Leaf Motion

Date	Location	Description
6-24-47	Mt. Ranier, Wash.	Nine flat shiny UFOs moved with skipping motion.
7-7-47	Nr Medford, Ore.	Disc on edge moved S to N along eastern horizon, bouncing up and down as if following contour of hills. [Section XII; July 1947 Chronology.]
1-7-48	Columbus, Ohio	Round or oval UFO in level flight estimated at over 500 mph, making "elevator-like" motions.
5-29-51	Downey, Calif.	Large formation of glowing UFOs, maneuvered, moved with undulatory "skipping" motion.
8-3-51	Nr Pinckney, Mich.	Yellow light "moving in an undulating path." [Section VI.]

## (3) Violent & Erratic Maneuvers

In a sample of 40 cases in which erratic maneuvers were reported, there is a noticeable repetition of certain motions which appear to be characteristic of many UFOs. All of the cases involve UFOs which abruptly altered direction and/or speed, usually more than once during the observation. Of the total, 63 percent occurred during night hours.

## Reported Shapes:

43 percent round or elliptical UFOs, 50 percent light souces only (no shape discernible).

## Witnesses:

28 percent scientific or experienced; 33 percent good; 39 per cent average.

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.