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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2. Any report of a flying saucer or similar matter received from a complainant by the FBI would be disseminated to all intelligence agencies if the report was an immediate one, that is the sighting had just been received and it appeared to be a matter that the other agencies would not know about. It was agreed, however, that if it was a sighting that had occurred some time before, that all that was necessary was for a letter to be written to the OSI for their referral to Air Force Intelligence.

## PARACHUTE LANDINGS

There was a general discussion concerning parachute landings and it appeared to be the consensus of those present that the most important thing to determine on a parachute landing was if it came from an unidentified plane. This can only be determined through a check with Air Force Intelligence through OSI. It was suggested, therefore, that OSI maintain a liaison with Air Force Intelligence at McChord Field, who received reports of incidents such as unidentified planes, parachutes, etc. from the Civil Air Patrol, Civilian Defense Air Watchers, etc., so that if a parachute report was received from Air Force Intelligence as coming from an identified plane that the information could be immediately disseminated to all intelligence agencies. There was some discussion about the recent incident of a parachute landing which occurred in the vicinity of Walla Walla, Washington, where there was approximately a ten-hour delay before the information was received from OSI, McChord.

As concerns submarine sightings, it appeared that all agencies desired to be notified immediately of sightings of submarines that were not identified as friendly. It also appeared that Major Bosse, Regional Office No. 3, was most anxious to receive any kind of report, whether it be flashing lights, flying discs, etc. immediately for referral to his headquarters.

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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.