Documents / FOIA release
This FBI file release, Part 14 of the Bureau's UFO file, collects correspondence and memoranda from 1960 to 1968. Much of it concerns Joseph Perry of Grand Blanc, Michigan, whose moon photograph appeared to show a saucer-like object. The FBI passed the slides to Air Force OSI at Selfridge AFB and said repeatedly that it was not investigating. The file also covers a Denver lecture about space people, an anonymous Dallas informant, a NICAP subcommittee, and form replies stating that UFOs fall outside FBI jurisdiction.
“Office of Special Investigations”16 pages
When word got around that Perry had the slide, things began to happen. Since then he's had at least 50 letters and calls about it. One of the letters concerned him greatly. It was from the National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena. The committee had noticed an article about Perry's find in a Detroit paper. "From past experience with photographic evidence," the letter continued, "we consider it unlikely that you will ever see your picture again." The letter said NICAP wanted the picture made public. All Perry knew about the whereabouts of the picture was that it was in Air Force hands. The FBI would only say that it was in "proper hands," Perry said. So last week Perry wrote to the President telling him he can't find out where his slide is and asking assurance that he will get it back. ## 111 "The only way I'll be satisfied, fied if I don't get it back is if the Government tells me it's top secret," said Perry later. He has had offers for the slide from groups that indicate they would go into court to gain possession of it from the Government. For those who want to buy it, Parry has a stock answer: "It's not for sale." Perry, whose hobby is expensive, admits that some financial gain wouldn't be a bad idea. But he declared "if I get it back, it's for everybody." He said he was informed a national magazine wants to use it. Perry is confident that his slide shows some sort of space vehicle. He bristled with indignation when asked if anyone had suggested that the saucer might help sell pizza. His pizza, he declared, is its own best advertisement. ## 111 Perry said K shouldn't take an expert long to tell if the slide is legitimate. The Government, he believes, wouldn't look kindly on a hoax and would make a fool of a person trying to fake such a picture. Perry said he did not see the object through the scope. He was unaware of it until the slide was processed. He does his own processing. The object, Perry said, looked as if photographed from the side. It is surrounded by blue-green radiation and has the appearance of being in motion. "Everybody who has contacted me about it seems to know more about it than I do," he commented. All these people sounded serious, he observed, even the fellow who called long-distance and said he had ridden in a flying saucer and wanted a picture of one to show his friends. Perry said he didn't take him seriously, however. Asked if he had advice for others who might come up with a picture of an unidentified flying object, he said: "Yeah, make a copy."
FOIA release, from the fbi-vault 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. 141 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.