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 call. After returning to the Hotel room, a Tacoma Times reporter called attempting to gain information, but they did not give him any. Later, a ~r. ~'OPJBILO of the United Press called and ~~ITH spoke to him on the telephone but refused to give out any infonnation. s:rITH further relates that while the four men were in the room at this t~~e, an envelope was shoved under the door and that he retrieved it from the floor . s.J:ITH states that the appearance of this envelope seemed to startle CPIS?.!AN considerably and tbat in fact, CRIS:UiN turned white as a sheet until s:;ITH read the note unsigned ,,hich was a commu nication to the Hotel advising that a strike of Hotel employees was eminent and ~ that guests should not expect room and telephone service much longer. Shortly after this incident DAHL and CRI~U~N left the Hotel room after promising to take f.fu'JCLD and S''ITH to !!aury Island the following morning, (Saturday) . ARNOW and SiITTII then went out for dinner and on their return, ruITH found a note in the box requesting him to call a certain telephone number. Pe did this from the Lotel room and was answered by LANTZ, Tacoma Times reporter who requested SMITH to go out and call him from a !)ay station. SUI'rH compl ained and was. informed by L:'1.NTZ that two anonymous telephone calls had been received by him that a discussion regarding flying discs had been taking place in room 502 at the ,finthrop Hotel which involved ~nny Intelligence officers . From the information which LANTZ had received, s::ITI-i was convinced that the anonymous caller must have been present at the discussion also, as L.i\NT~ was seemingly in possession of pertinent remarks which had been made in the room. S!.ITTH states that he did not give L.NTZ any further information and that in conclu sion of the call, he returned to the Hotel room and he and ARNOID retired for the night . On Saturday morning, august 2, 1947 ~IITH redeived a tele phone call from ~• .UFICE RODDY in Chicago, but l,as unable to give him any further infonnation. en 'ITH advised him, ho,·1ever, that he would call him back at 2:30 that afternoon. DAHL then called from a coffee shop nearby and ARr'OID and S!.:ITH joined DA!'L, CRI.51.!AN and an unknovm man in the Coffee Shop for breakfast . The unknown person was discussing some lumber business with DAHL and left after breakfast. On leaving the coffee shop, S:lITH asked D;J-IL about the negatives of the photographs wrich he claimed to have taken of the flying discs. DAHL said the negatives were in the glove compartment of his car, but a search of the instant elove compartment was fruitless . The four then pro ceeded in CRIS:.!AN 1 s car to the dock where they were to embark for Haury Island. The boat, however, could not be started and the trip was postponed until later in the day. "hile at the dock, however, s:lITH asked to be shown the damage to the boat which had allegedly occurred when the fragments showered dovm on :.ra.ury Island. CRIS1:Af'! pointed out what may have been repairs to the windshield and lights on the boat, but S!.!ITH was not personally sat isfied that these repairs were made as a result of any such incident . C1Is.>:AN and DAHL then drove APr,rom and ~IITH back to the Hotel at approximately 10:45 A. U. and CRISiiAN told them he would call them later on and that they would go to !!aury Island . On return ing to the Hotel, S:lITH called LA'JTZ at the Tacoma Times as a result of llhich call he and ARNOLD met L\NTZ at th.e Coffee Shop across the street from the - 11 -
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.