Documents / FOIA release

FBI file: UFO, UFO Part 13

Federal Bureau of Investigation · 148 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This Federal Bureau of Investigation file section collects 1954 to 1961 correspondence and memoranda about flying saucers. Most of it concerns the Detroit Flying Saucer Club, which the Detroit office reported on from informants and chose not to investigate, while Bureau headquarters said saucer matters belonged to the Air Force. It also includes public letters to J. Edgar Hoover, a 1955 North Carolina sighting report, Leonard Stringfield's 1961 anonymous warning call, and policy reviews that restate the practice of referring reports to the Air Force.

  • p. 39 …Air Force Base, Ohio). The same source also reported that STRINGFIELD regularly communicates with FRANK EDWARDS…
  • p. 54 …However, a check with air bases disclosed no military jets were in the bay area Friday…

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

A WORD FROM "SILENCED" BUT NOT FORGOTTEN FRANK EDWARDS: Many hundreds of letters have been received asking for "inside"details behind Frank Edwards' dismissal from radio. Many have voiced their anger and, many like Shirley Watson of Vienna, Va., have vociferated their feelings to Mr. Meany, AFL President. CRIFO owes a lot to Frank Edwards, so Iwro Frank recently and asked him for a statement. Here is Frank's reply of August 26, 1954 in part:

"The facts are that for a long time I had been fighting the encroachment of sorship imposed by Meany. The final straw came when on Aug. 2nd this year sent me a memorandum imposing conditions which my attorneys regard as violation of my contract ... and conditions under which I could no longer continue to produce the same type of broadcast which had built my program to of the top three ... according to AFL statements.

"Meany's Aug. 2 memo notified me that the AFL censor would tell me what items MUST be carried. Still disguised as an 'editor' the censor would ins the scripts and stand by to see that I carried the material as directed.

"Am glad that I was able to be of assistance to you in the dissemination of tl material in which we both, along with millions of others, are so deeply interested." Best wishes,(Signed) Frank Edwards

Readers will be interested to know that Frank Edwards has written an article entitled "SPIES IN THE SKIES?" which is to appear in the Nov. issue of Re magazine. Says Frank: "It deals with some of the little known aspects of the greatest news story of our times." DON'T MISS IT!

MYSTERY METAL IGNITES ROAD: Woodside, California officials and residents were baffled by a shower of white-hot metal pellets, Aug.27,1954. The furore was triggered when a woman motorist saw a "circle of fire" along Pertola Road. Later firemen found scores of small pieces of flaming metal burning the pavement over an area about 70 by 250 feet. The blacktop bubble where the metal burned into it and grass fires were started where the metal burned along the shoulders of the highway. A resident, Ignacio Miramontes reported hearing a loud explosion about 4:15 P.M., but saw nothing.

According to U.P. release, "Metallurgists and AF officials offered no solution for the white-hot pellets." San Mateo officials reported the pellets ranging in si from a dime to a 50 cent piece, and according to Woodside Fire Chief, John Volpaino, the metal shower burned holes in the road surface a quarter of an inch deep. "I just can't figure it out," he said. "It has me completely mystified." Deputy Sheriff Robert Benassini said the metal scraps had irregular marking and appeared to have come from a "cylindrical object."

An Air Force spokesman advanced the theory, the metal came from jet plane exhaust pipes which reach extreme temperatures in flight. However, a check with air bases disclosed no military jets were in the bay area Friday. (Thank to Perry G. Powers of Duarte and an unnamed informant who sent in the sto from San Francisco Call Bulletin.)

THE "SPLOTCHED PAINT MYSTERY": On the same date in Little Hollywood in a community in the valley by the bay just north of San Fransisco County line, residents were baffled by a "splotched paint mystery"! About half of the approx mate 300 homes in the area were affected. One white stucco house turned pink a gray house splotched, a green house came out looking like a "marble cake." None of the residents had an explanation.

Cases discussed

About this file

FOIA release, from the fbi-vault 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. 148 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.