Documents / FOIA release
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.
“United Press”33 pages
# Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0 Miller said, "and reappeared in a like manner - standing still much farther to the north." A rumbling noise appeared to be associated with the UFO. When the local newspaper printed Miller's report next day, several other citizens called to confirm his sighting. Miller called nearby Williams Air Force Base, and determined that there were no unusual aircraft in the area at the time. [45] ## CLERGYMEN A formation of UFOs which paused, made a sharp turn, then sped away, was observed February 20, 1952 by Rev. Albert Baller, NICAP Board Member. Rev. Baller currently is pastor of the German Congregational Church, Clinton, Mass. "[It] was an exceptionally beautiful day at Greenfield, Mass. There were no clouds and the sky was a 'cobalt blue.' Also, no wind. At three o'clock p.m., I boarded the New York train at the Greenfield station, took a seat away from the station and near a window opening onto a vast expanse of sky to the north and east. A minute or two afterward my attention was drawn to the sky by a sharp flash of light about 35 degrees or more above the horizon. Looking carefully toward this flash, I was quite astonished to see three, perfectly circular, silver objects approaching in Vformation... [In an accompanying diagram, Rev. Baller added that the UFOs were "like highly polished silver; appeared approximately 2/3 size of a full moon."]. "They moved without vapor--or smoke--trail and at approximately the speed of a second hand on a watch. At this speed and in this formation they came to a point almost overhead but not quite, since I could still watch them from my window. There they stopped and hovered for perhaps ten seconds. Then I noted that the lead object was slowly reversing and appearing to pull into a line with the other two between them. After this brief shift, there was another quick motion by all three (I am not too sure just what) and they began to depart in a direction at right angles to their approach... "My astonishment increased as I saw them leave, because they went with such speed that they dwindled to specks and were out of sight in not more than six seconds. I could not tell whether they made any noise, as there was such a racket about the station. However, I doubt that they did, since nobody standing on the station platform seemed to be aware of them... "I first tried to fit it into the conventional--balloons, jets, etc. But it just would not fit. Obviously they were not planes, and on second thought, they were just as obviously not balloons..." [46] Between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m., November 5, 1955, Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth R. Hoffman saw a large elliptical UFO, with light shining from square "ports" like windows. At the time, Rev. Hoffman was pastor of the Grace Lutheran Church, Cleveland, Ohio. Rev. and Mrs. Hoffman were interviewed by C. W. Fitch, NICAP member in Cleveland. "We were driving south on Lee Road on our way to the Cleveland-Hopkins Airport just at dusk...Shortly after crossing Fairmount Boulevard our attention was attracted to a row of bright lights in the sky directly ahead over Lee Road...Mrs. Hoffman saw them approaching on an arc course and stop... "We watched the lights as we drove, speculating the while on what they were and continued on across North Park and Shaker Boulevards. At a point on the south side of Shaker Blvd., we stopped the car in order to get a better look at them. We could then discern that the lights were coming from a huge oval-shaped object, similar in appearance to two saucers, the uppermost inverted and resting on the edges of the lower one. Around the portion of its perimeter visible to us were eight large windows from which shone an intense white light. It was the light shining from these windows that we had first seen. "Viewed from this point the strange object appeared to be hovering almost directly over the Van Aken-Lee intersection at a height we estimated as not being over five hundred feet. From the fact that it filled the sky above the highway beyond the width of the street we felt it must have been close to one hundred feet in diameter. "At this point, which was our closest approach to the craft, we were, in all probability, not more than half a mile away from it. The body appeared to be metallic and was of a light gray color, similar in appearance to weathered aluminum. Mrs. Hoffman described it as being a pearly aluminum color. "The windows were clearly defined as were the dark spaces between them. We estimated that each window must have been at least 8 feet by ten feet in size with a two foot space between them. An intensely white glow or beam of light shone steadily downward from each window at about a 45 degree angle. The light rays were so bright that we could see the air dust in them. "We watched it for about ten minutes, then started the car and drove south on Lee Road hoping to get under it. When we were at Fernway Road, it began to slip westward over the treetops. It moved slowly and noiselessly and did not appear to rotate. It disappeared from view, the trees blocking our vision. When we reached the Van Aken intersection, which is an open area, within a matter of a minute or less, the object had completely disappeared." (Rev. Hoffman then described their mental reactions to the experience: "We decided it would be best to keep the matter to ourselves since we felt it might have certain undesirable repercussions if it were made public, our principal concern being the possibility of ridicule and disparagement. As time passed and we heard and read of other persons having seen strange lights and objects in the skies, our feelings underwent a change. We hereby grant permission to publish or use this account, all or in part, as you may see fit to inform or enlighten others.") [47] Rev. Jack L. Sanford, First Congregational Church, was among a group of people who witnessed an elliptical UFO October 9, 1960, in Longpoint, Illinois. "When we turned west onto Longpoint Road [about 6:30 p.m.]," Rev. Sanford said, "It was very bright and clear and attracted our attention readily." There hovering in the sky in a tilted position was a football-shaped object. Its lower portion was distinct and golden-colored; the upper portion "hazy as when steam heat rises from a radiator." The bottom portion was tilted toward the observers. Stopping the car, the group got out and watched the UFO for 8-10 minutes as it hung motionless. "Then when it pulled up horizontal," Rev. Sanford continued, "it began to become smaller. We knew it was moving, so we chased it in the car. It just pulled away rising slightly until it was too small to see anymore. We chased it 3-1/2 miles." [48] ## NEWSMEN After a three day aerial search during the first widespread UFO sightings in the United States, Dave Johnson, aviation editor of the Idaho Statesman, observed a maneuvering disc July 9, 1947. Ground observers at Gowan Field confirmed the sighting. "For 45 seconds, I watched a circular object dart about in front of a cloud bank," Johnson reported. [49] The object was round...it appeared black, altogether, as it maneuvered in front of the clouds. I saw the sun flash from it once. "I was flying at 14,000 feet west of Boise, near the end of my third mission... Frankly, I had given up hope of ever seeing one of the objects. I turned the plane toward Boise, to begin a circular let-down over Gowan Field, and over the nose of the aircraft I saw the object... clearly and distinctly. I turned the plane broadside to it and pulled back the Plexiglas canopy so there would be no distortion. The object was still there. "It was rising sharply and jerkily toward the top of the towering bank of alto-cumulus and alto-stratus clouds. At that moment it was so round I thought it was a balloon. The object was turning so that it presented its edge to me. It then appeared as a straight, black line. Then, with its edge still toward me, it shot straight up, rolled over at the top of the maneuver, and I lost sight of it. "The object could have been ten miles away, or forty, I do not know. If it was a great distance from me, its speed was incredible...This circular thing was maneuvering very swiftly." In a story datelined Albuquerque, N.M., August 2, 1952, Scripps- Howard Staff Writer Doyle Kline detailed a personal UFO sighting which "made a flying saucers believer out of me." [50] At 9:50 p.m., August 1, Mr. Kline observed about 10 glowing objects which "resembled nothing I had seen before. Their flight was soundless and graceful." The UFOs shifted formation in a coordinated maneuver as they passed overhead, Kline reported. They appeared to be about 1/3 the size of the full moon. Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0
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.