Documents / FOIA release

The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

Central Intelligence Agency · 2001-03-12 · 186 pages · text by GLM-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. 34 …Los Angeles Times; November 6, 1957. 55. Japan Times; July 20, 1958. 56. Col. Headrick is…
  • p. 36 …Summer 1944 Normandy, France George Todt, now Los Angeles columnist, other officers Pulsating red object approached…
  • p. 37 …shaped object about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Calif. The pilot of the Navy plane…
  • p. 47 …NICAP member, was reported in the Los Angeles Times, November 26, 1955. ## Commercial Plane Follows UFO…
  • p. 55 …Los Angeles, which attained national prominence in 1952 after being publicized in Life and Time. Dr…
  • p. 57 …Felix Gelber and Grover Kihorny, both of Los Angeles, were also passengers. The night sky appeared…
  • p. 63 …In a letter to the President of CSI of Los Angeles, Dick Beemer, aviation photographer for…
  • p. 72 …Hahn, a jewelry designer, was flying from Minneapolis to Los Angeles aboard Western Airlines flight #61…
  • p. 77 …Washington Times-Herald and Washington Daily News; September 22,1952 12. Los Angeles Daily News; September…
  • p. 82 …23,000 ft. 16 G June 1, 1952 Los Angeles, Cal. Hughes Aircraft radar tracked UFO…
  • p. 90 …Between that time and midnight, police switchboards throughout the Los Angeles area were flooded with hundreds…
  • p. 95 …Ralph Benn, Los Angeles, Calif., was alerted to some UFOs by his eight year old son…
  • p. 96 …Miller subsequently viewed the films, which were processed in Los Angeles, several days before they were…
  • p. 97 …which, as stated above, were processed in Los Angeles and examined by Max Miller before they…
  • p. 100 …Miller in Los Angeles for analysis. (NICAP paid for the printing of one copy of the…
  • p. 106 …Ridgley Drive, Los Angeles, Calif.). E-7. Report to NICAP E-8. Aerial Phenomena Research Organization…
  • p. 113 …Ralph Benn of Los Angeles, using a 3x telephoto lens, took about six and a half…
  • p. 123 …Los Angeles News, March 14 & 15, 1950, Mexico City (UP)--Hundreds of persons said they saw…
  • p. 127 …Germany, directed the Civilian Saucer Investigation of Los Angeles. CSI was the first prominent UFO investigation…
  • p. 131 …Los Angeles Times; February 19, 1956 47. Report on file at NICAP, available to Congressional investigators…
  • p. 132 …Los Angeles columnist George Todt, in a party of four Army officers including a Lt. Col…
  • p. 135 …rapidly, circle area. I June 1, 1952--Los Angeles, Calif. Crew of Hughes Aircraft Co., radar…
  • p. 139 …Los Angeles, California. Airline passenger saw elliptical UFO flying low over ground below plane. VII November…
  • p. 141 …each night) saw a distinct round UFO hover and maneuver slowly. Los Angeles NICAP Subcommittee investigation…
  • p. 157 …of violent maneuvers." A 4-8-49 Los Angeles, Calif. day (1) silvery disc high speed…
  • p. 169 …11 Nr Los Angeles, California Day Elliptical, silvery UFO observed moving low above desert, from airliner…
  • p. 181 …Later he was convicted in Los Angeles of selling Doctor of Divinity degrees, mainly to other…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

# Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0 Photographic Cases (Continued) paper photographs were forwarded to NICAP in

September 9, 1954; New Zealand (Case 27) Drawing from photograph, by Eric Aldwinckle

August 30, 1951; Lubbock, Texas (Case 11) Drawing from photograph, by Eric Aldwinckle

With this background, there was some natural suspicion about the authenticity of the 1959 film. However, NICAP representatives who have talked to Mr. Stanford were impressed by his sincerity, and examination of the films by NICAP and Max B. Miller found no evidence of fakery or tampering with the films (which, as stated above, were processed in Los Angeles and examined by Max Miller before they were viewed by Mr. Stanford himself). We conclude that the films themselves are authentic records of some object in the sky, but that they do not substantiate the verbal report and do not constitute significant evidence of UFOs as the matter now stands.

Comments by Max Miller (quoted from SAUCERS, Vol. VII Nos. 3 & 4):

"The 8 mm footage lacks sufficient resolution. . The 16 mm film is excellent, but the UFO sequence is extremely short, comprising not more than three or four feet. However, one or two scenes are identical in the 8 mm and 16 mm films, making simulation exceedingly improbable. . .

It is [my] not inexperienced opinion that the cameras did photograph a visible object, and that super-imposure or double-exposure could not account for the images produced. What the object was, of course, remains an enigma. The first possibility to cross our minds was a polyethelyne type balloon, but we have never heard of any of the shape recorded. . "

43. Mike Schultz, Newark, Ohio. The Newark Advocate, Nov. 15, 1958 published three pictures and the story. Some excerpts from the article and a black and white print of the newspaper photographs were forwarded to NICAP in January 1959 by a member. Using an inexpensive camera and telescope, Mr. Schultz photographed what looked like a bright star in the sky. Then the object moved and stopped, and he took the second picture. This was repeated once more. According to the member who submitted the photographs, each picture is a double-exposure of one object (the images are double in each case) because of unavoidable motion of the camera and telescope. The pictures in NICAP possession (poor copies with no negatives) strongly resemble internal reflections in the telescope as might be obtained by an inexperienced amateur astronomer using poor equipment. Without more complete data, no final judgment can be made.

44. James M. Purdon, Jr., Imperial Beach, Calif. Mr. Purdon, an engineer with a west coast aviation company, obtained several feet of color movie film of a bright object with a halo around it, observed by him and his family between 4:20 and 4:50 p.m. The equipment used was a Kodak camera with telephoto lens on a turret.

According to a report which Mr. Purdon submitted to NICAP, the UFO was first motionless for a long period of time. While he was phoning a newspaper, his wife saw the UFO disappear. Minutes later he obtained footage of a moving bright object (about 20 seconds of which, he states, "came out rather good").

According to his report, the UFO "hove into view from one direction, slowed up to almost a stop, then proceeded at a 90 degree angle toward the ocean. It accelerated quite rapidly at first. Then it oscillated up and down." A TV antenna in the foreground furnishes a reference point on the film, and the object moves behind a "Christmas tree" (presumably planted in his yard).

August 20, 1957; Japan (case 33) Drawing from photograph, by Eric Aldwinckle

Cases discussed

About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 186 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.