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

Date	Time	Location	Description
23	---	Culver City, Calif.	Unofficial report of elliptical silvery UFO seen by aircraft workers; launched two small discs which maneuvered, returned on board; parent object climbed straight up out of sight.
	---	Braintree, Mass	UFO tracked on radar, seen by ground observers as blue-green light. F-94 saw and chased UFO, locked on with radar, UFO pulled away and disappeared. [10]
	11:35 p.m.	South Bend, Indiana	Capt. Harold Kloth, USAF, saw two blue-white objects arc over the city.
24	3:40 p.m.	Nr Carson Sink, Nev.	Two USAF Colonels (both Command Pilots) saw three triangular objects in tight V formation; approached their B-25 at one o'clock position, banked past less than 1000 yards away at estimated speed of over 1000 mph. Investigation showed no aircraft, balloons or other devices in area. "Unknown." [11]
26/27	8:00 p.m. after midnight	Washington, D.C.	UFOs tracked by CAA radar, chased by jet interceptors; some visual sightings.
	8:15 p.m.-9:46 p.m. Civilian pilots saw glowing white lights moving at high speed on four occasions:
 Nr Andrews AFB, Md.
Nr Herndon, Va.
Beltsville, Md.
Nr Andrews AFB, Md.	National Airlines pilot,
United Airlines pilot,
CAA inspection aircraft pilot,
CAA inspection aircraft pilot. [12]
	10:25 p.m.	Newcastle, Delaware	Fighters appeared on CAA radarscopes, were vectored on unknowns; one saw four lights ahead of him but could not catch them.
	10:49 p.m.	About 10 miles E of Mt. Vernon, Va.	Same pilot saw "steady white light"; light disappeared in about a minute.

In a special article for International News Service, July 29, CAA Radar Specialist James Ritchey (who tracked the unidentified targets both weekends) said that one of the airline pilots mentioned above got close to a UFO. "He reported to us that he sighted a yellow light that appeared to turn red and then back to yellow again," Ritchey said. "The object appeared to be about two miles away and to be flying parallel with him. Radar confirmed that he was between two and three miles from the object."

The Washington Post (July 28, 1952) reported that long-range radar at Andrews AFB registered the UFOs from about 7:30 p.m. (EST) to about 11:00 p.m. (The CAA report on Washington radar sightings, although it has a column for that purpose, does not mention any Air Force radar sightings on either July 19/20 or July 26/27).

26	night	California	Air Defense Command radar tracked a UFO, F-94C scrambled, locked on with radar, crew saw large yellow-orange light. Ground and airborne radar both showed that when jet would get close, UFO would suddenly accelerate and pull away, then slow down and let jet catch up again. Object"Unknown"[13]
27	10:40 a.m.	Ann Arbor, Mich.	Scientist observed 15 glowing UFOs in formation. [Section VI.]
27	6:35 p.m.	Manhattan Beach, Calif.	Eight people, including aviation engineer, watched maneuvers of seven discs in formations of two and three. [Section VI.]
27	7:30 p.m.	Riverdale, Md.	Air Force Lt. Wales, Andrews AFB, saw dark disc moving slowly NE with"oscillating rolling motion." Clouds were moving SE. UFO entered base of clouds. [CAA Report. See Section VIII; Radar.]
	10:00	Andrews AFB, Maryland	Air Force Major Turlin reported unidentified yellow light which"moved slowly, stopped, flickered, moved in arc." [CAA Report]
27/28	1:00-5:00 a.m.	South Central Indiana	Round UFOs with visible"exhausts" were seen by police, Civil Defense, military personnel and hundreds of citizens in 20 or more counties.
	1:00 a.m.	Shelby County, Indiana	State policemen at opposite ends of county watched a maneuvering starlike object which alternately hovered, moved up and down, back & forth.
	3:00 a.m.	Franklin, Indiana	Civil Defense and police saw one orange and one white light chasing each other as if in a dogfight.
	2:30 a.m.	Nr St. Paul, Minn.	Air Force radar tracked UFOs, which appeared visually to pilots as rapidly moving lights. [14]
28	7:55 a.m.	Geneva, N.Y.	Hovering elliptical UFO sighted. Vapor trails, apparently from interceptors, converged on object, it rose straight into cloud bank.

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.