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. 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

divergent interpretations of some of the cases in this report, we suggest two books which present the skeptical position:

Flying Saucers and the U.S. Air Force, Lt. Col. Lawrence J. Tacker, (Van Nostrand, 1960).

The World of Flying Saucers, Dr. Donald H. Menzel, (Doubleday, 1963).

Both books argue that UFOs have been adequately investigated, and that there is no evidence indicating they are anything other than misidentified conventional objects or phenomena.

This report contains a total of 746 UFO sightings. The main chronology [Section XI] lists 575 cases, with cross-references. (Statistics based on the main chronology are reported in Section XII) The witnesses in $50\%$ of these cases were trained or experienced observers. An additional 171 cases are included in separate chronologies [Section XII] which show the major concentrations of UFO sightings.

The reports come from 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Central America, 6 South American countries, 10 European countries, 4 African countries, 5

Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand, major oceans and numerous islands.

States with the highest frequency of sightings, as indicated by the selective process used, were: (1) California; (2) Ohio; (3) New Mexico; (4) Florida; (5) Illinois.

Other countries: (1) England; (2) France; (3) Canada; (4) Japan; (5) Brazil.

Of the 575 cases, two UFOs were observed in 41 cases, three UFOs in 30 cases, more than three UFOs in 81 cases. The remainder were observations of single objects.

Richard Hall

Washington, D. C.

May 1964

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.