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.
“Office of Special Investigations”19 pages
# Approved For Release 2001/04/02 Photographic Cases (Continued) March 1954; Rouen, France (case 24) Drawing from photograph, by Eric Aldwinckle May 11, 1950; Oregon (Case 7) Drawing from photograph, by Eric Aldwinckle January 16, 1958; Trindade Isle, Brazil Drawing from photograph, by Eric Aldwinckle Because the same film contained family scenes of great personal value to Mr. Purdon, he was not willing to risk loaning it for analysis. He did agree to show the film to any NICAP representative, but the nearest NICAP personnel were not able to make the trip for that purpose. To the best of our knowledge, the film has not been analyzed. 45. Redmond, Ore., FAA Case. After a great deal of difficulty and lengthy correspondence, a copy of motion picture film taken by an IGY "All-Sky" Camera site in Redmond, Oregon, was obtained from the Cornell University Aurora Archive, Ithaca, ## CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0 N. Y. The camera had been in operation on the night of an important UFO sighting by Federal Aviation Agency personnel at Redmond airport [Section V], and it was felt that an unusual opportunity for objective confirmation of the sighting was available. However, the film was not received until August 1960 and the covering letter stated: "You have been a victim of the testing of the film copying process here at Ithaca, and we have just received the first copy. . You should bear in mind that the camera gives a very small image of the sky, and it is seldom possible to see star sized objects unless they are very bright. ." Max B. Miller projected the film and viewed it frame by frame. In his report to NICAP, Mr. Miller stated the film was "in such deplorable condition as to be almost worthless. There are thousands of dust specks and processing specks. . . So unless the UFO were of spectacular brilliance or dimensions, or were recorded on at least three consecutive frames, you'd never find it. Moreover, internal lens reflections (also countless) create an additional problem." The attempt to find photographic confirmation was therefore totally inconclusive. (For data about All-Sky cameras and their use, see IGY General Report Series, Numbers 5 & 6, September 1959, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, Washington 25, D. C. The instruments consist of a convex mirror and a 16 mm motion picture camera adjusted to time-lapse photography). 46. J. J. Rehill, Miami, Fla. According to a story in the Miami Herald, December 6, 1959, Seaman Rehill while on leave saw a flash of light in the sky while taking a picture in the city. He used an Argus C-3 camera and color film. When the picture was returned after processing, it showed five white spots, one disc-shaped followed by a white streak. The paper reports: "The transparency itself was undamaged. There was no evidence whatsoever of any monkey business with the original film." Norbert Gariety, then editor of a UFO publication in Coral Gables, telephoned Rehill and interviewed him after the Herald story appeared. Mr. Rehill stated he had been interrogated by Air Force investigators, and they had examined his camera and the roll of pictures. NICAP wrote the public information officer at Mr. Rehill's base on January 4, 1960, but did not receive any reply. 47. Joe Perry, Grand Blanc, Michigan. The Detroit Times, March 9, reported the story of this photograph, stating that the FBI was investigating it. While pursuing his hobby of astronomical photography, Mr. Perry obtained a color photograph (slide) reportedly showing a UFO which was "disc-shaped with a dome and leaving a green trail." (The image on the print examined by NICAP is similar to a black disc viewed edge-on, but not perfectly symmetrical, and the "object" is surrounded by green coloration resembling a glow.) The FBI turned Mr. Perry's slide over to the Air Force for analysis. Later the Air Force stated their opinion "that the blue spots [sic] on the slide are not images but result from damage to the emulsion during the developing process." A color print of Mr. Perry's photograph was analyzed for NICAP by Max B. Miller, who reported September 18, 1960: The UFO "quite probably is a cinch mark. . . it could either be foreign matter which attached itself to the film during processing or undeveloped emulsion, and I'm inclined to say the latter. . . the Appearance of typical lens flare sometimes mistaken for UFOs; caused by bright light source reflecting from camera lens. (Drawing from photograph, by Eric Aldwinckle)
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.