Documents / Official release

Washington State ‘UFO’ Investigation, 1952-1960

Federal Bureau of Investigation · 1952 · 55 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This Federal Bureau of Investigation Seattle field office file (100-18945) gathers flying saucer material from 1952 to 1960. It holds newspaper clippings, citizen complaint forms and agent memoranda about sightings over Pasco, Kennewick, Seattle, Richland and the Hanford reservation, Spokane and other Washington locations. The file records 1952 agreements with military intelligence on passing reports to OSI and the Air Force. One Hanford sighting from 1953 was attributed to a meteorological balloon. The FBI itself carried out no investigations.

From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 Incident: July 1952-1960, Washington State, United States. This file details an investigation of various sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) in Washington state between July 1952 and August 1960. This file includes memoranda and correspondence between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Air Force regarding UFO sightings.

  • p. 4 …was held at the offices of Col. SPENCER RAYNOR, Commanding Officer, 20th District, Office of Special…
  • p. 10 …The above information was furnished to Colonel SPENCER RAYNOR, OSI; to SA SULLIVAN of IFO #3…
  • p. 15 # 1015 Second Avenue Seattle 4, Washington August 10, 1953 Colonel Spencer Raynor Commanding Officer 20th District…
  • p. 24 …Sincerely, 1 Incl Newspaper Clipping Spencer H. Raynor SPENCER W. RAYNOR Colonel, USAF District Commander cc…
  • p. 25 …Dir OSI Sincerely, SPENCER W. RAYNOR Colonel, USAF District Commander
  • p. 27 …Sincerely, 1 Incl Newspaper Clipping Stunned 8 / 25 / 59 col Spencer H. Raynor Sry cc: Dir…
  • p. 33 …Raynor SPENCER W. RAYNOR Colonel, USAF District Commander oo: Dir OSI
  • p. 40 Colonel Spencer W. Raynor, USAF District Commander 20th District, OSI McChord Air Force Base, Washington Re…
  • p. 41 …Colonel Spencer W. Raynor, USAF District Commander, OSI Re: Unidentified Flying Objects Date: June 12, 1956…
  • p. 43 1015 Second Avenue Seattle, Washington October 17, 1956 Colonel Spencer W. Raynor, USAF District Commander 20th…
  • p. 45 # 1015 Second Avenue Seattle 4, Washington November 15, 1957 Colonel Spencer W. Raynor District Commander 20th…

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# DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE WASHINGTON

# THE INSPECTOR GENERAL USAF 20th DISTRICT OFFICE OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS McCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, McCHORD FIELD, WASHINGTON

20D OSI 24-0

10 June 1954

Mr. R. D. Auerbach Special Agent in Charge Federal Bureau of Investigation 1015 Second Avenue Seattle 4, Washington

Dear Sir:

Re: (Unclassified) Reporting of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOB) SPECIAL INQUIRY

Attached is a copy of a newspaper article reference subject, which appeared in the Tacoma News Tribune, afternoon edition, 3 June 1954.

Major EUGENE L. ZECHMEISTER, Director of Intelligence, 25th Air Division (Defense), McChord AFB, was queried on 4 June 1954 as to the information contained in this newspaper article. Major ZECHMEISTER stated that no report on this UFOB had been received by his office and that information contained in the newspaper article was not of sufficient substance to warrant investigation by the USAF.

On 4 June 1954 at 0810 hours, the information contained in the newspaper article and the information received from Major ZECHMEISTER was telephonically reported to the Duty Agent, Seattle Field Division, FBI.

The above is for your information and no investigation of this matter is contemplated by this district office.

Sincerely,

1 Incl Newspaper Clipping

Spencer H. Raynor

SPENCER W. RAYNOR

Colonel, USAF

District Commander

cc: Dir OSI

8/25/59 and

110-168945-52

ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED EXCEPT WHERE SHOWN OTHERWISE

JUN 1 21954

N.W. FEATURE

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

Official release, from the pursue 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. 55 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.