Documents / Official release
This section of the FBI's 1947 flying disc file (62-HQ-83894) collects correspondence between FBI field offices and Army Air Forces intelligence. It includes a Portland prospector's claim to have seen disc objects near Mount Adams on June 24, 1947, an Air Force report on the August 1 crash near Kelso, Washington that killed investigators Davidson and Brown, and the Maury Island claims of Dahl and Crisman. Other items are an MIT analysis of cast iron fragments from New Hampshire, the A. C. Urie Twin Falls sighting, and the Bureau's decision to stop its disc investigations.
From the source:Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: N/A, N/A. The FBI's 62-HQ-83894 case file includes investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968. The records include high-profile incident accounts, photographic evidence from sites like Oak Ridge, TN, and technical proposals regarding potential propulsion systems. Additional topics include convention programs, researcher accounts, and extensive media coverage from the period. This file is partially posted on FBI vault with more redactions and some pages missing. Included here is the complete case file with several newly declassified pages and only minor redactions.
August 19, 1947 the CPISZ.!AN- DAHL story in Tacoma. A'lliOID informed S:ITH at this time that after receiving this letter he had called PAL2::R by telephone in Chicago as a result of which call PALMER had forwarded him ~200 . 00 expense money for covering the story. Shortly thereafter, at about 7 :YJ P. 1'. HAROLD n~HL arrived at the Hotel room and the discussi oh began among the four men present as to what DAHL and CRISllAN had seen on Maury Island. DAHL professed reluc tance to tell the story, claiming that several unfortunate incidents had occurred subsequent to his seeing the flying discs and he believed the entire incident had brought him bad luck. In this connection he stated that four or five days subsequent to his sighting the flying discs, a man called at his home and had a conversation with him the course of which DAHL was warned to forget all about everything he had seen on or near kaury Island. In addition to that, DAHL stated that his sixteen year old son had run away from home following the incident and had been picked up by the police somewhere in Montana. After some further discussion DAHL finally agreed to tell hi s story of the flying disc incident in front of SUITH after eliciting a promise from SttITH that he would not discuss the matter for at least two weeks . It should be noted that DAHL had previously told his story to A:'..NOLD and GRISHAN. At this point DPJ!L related the incident which has already been described and which he alleged had taken place on or about June 23 or 24. ~'hile relating the incident DAHL mentioned that he had taken pictures of t he fl,ying disc vhich he had seen but that the printed films were marred with ,vhite spots. ;hen DAHL had concluded his story, CRimiAN related that he had gone the fol lowing day to 'faury Island to verify what DAHL had told him concerning the fragments and had at this time picked up several fragments and taken them with him. At this time CRISMAN related that he also saw one of the flying discs hovering over the Isl:and but that it had disappeared into a cloud. ,ben DAHL and GP.IS.IAN had finished telling their story ARNOLD told the group that he had earlier in that evening called Captain DAVIDSON and Lieutenant BROfl~, Army Intelligence officers and that they vrere on their way to the Hotel room. At this point DAHL protested that he did not wish to tell his story before anyone else and he was advised by ~ITH that if such was the case why didn' t he just leave and not be there when they arrived. CRISUAN, DAHL and :::UITH then left the room and went downstairs . DAHL departed alone. CRIS'!'!AN drove SllITH back to Boeing Field near Seattle where &.'ITH desired to pick up his own personal car, which he did. They then returned to the Hotel where they found Captain DAVIDSON and Lieutenant BRO.IN in room 502 with KZNNETH ',P.NOID. .ARNOLD met them at the door and seemed excited, explaining to S!~ITH that Captain DAVIDSON had just drawn a reproduction of a freak disc which had supposedly been seen by a woman in Arizona and that this drawing was an exact reproduction of the flying disc which he, ARNOLD, had seen several weeks before, nearing lft . Rainier. SBTH states that shortly after this c:.n~rAN seemed very anxious to tell his and DIBL1 s story to the Anny offi cers. Before this was done, however, s..aTII· had a discussion with Lieutenant BROdN, infonning him that they had promised DAHL not to release the story for t,,o weeks and that if CRIS!lAN were allowed to tell the story at this time, Bno·m and DAVIDSON must agree not to release the story for one month. Following this agreement, CPISUAN related D.JfL I s and "tis story of the flying discs over !fa.ury - 9 -
Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 190 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.