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Official reports, hearing transcripts, case files and releases: the paper behind the cases. 2,872 documents, 2,610 mirrored with their text, 53,529 pages indexed, so a search reads inside them and lands on the page.
New in the library The PURSUE files The Department of War's UAP release, mirrored in full: the videos, recordings and images, each beside its case file.Documents438 records · page 1
This book was prepared and edited by John MacPhilpin of Tuam and published in Dublin by M. H. Gill & Son in 1880. It reprints Tuam News reports on the apparition of the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist, which about twenty people saw on the south gable of Knock chapel, County Mayo, on 21 August 1879. It also gives the witnesses' official depositions, which a commission of priests appointed by the Archbishop of Tuam judged trustworthy. It lists cures recorded in Archdeacon Cavanagh's diary.
This is a secret War Department outgoing classified message, number WAR 86184, dated 2 January 1945. It was sent from Bissell of the Military Intelligence Division and signed by Ulio, addressed to G-2 at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces in Versailles, France. It notes press reports of red balls of fire flying alongside planes in flight, which air personnel called "Foo Fighters," and asks for an explanation if one is available.
This memo, dated 16 January 1945, went from Headquarters XII Tactical Air Command, A-2 section, to the First Tactical Air Force (Prov). It quotes the 415th Night Fighter Squadron's December 1944 report that crews were followed by blinking, color-changing lights that came close, flew formation with their planes and unsettled them, and it asks for more information. In an endorsement dated 20 January 1945, First Tactical Air Force says no similar instances were reported and asks for details on color, size, altitude, timing and behavior.
This secret 415th Night Fighter Squadron intelligence report, dated 30 January 1945, was sent to XII Tactical Air Command in reply to that command's 23 January 1945 endorsement. It quotes pilots' sortie reports from December 1944 to January 1945 describing red, orange, amber and white lights near Strasbourg, Hagenau, Worms, Luneville and Weissembourg that followed aircraft and then disappeared. Squadron crews called these lights "Foofighters." Each time a pilot asked GCI Control about aircraft in the area, the answer was negative.
This SECRET indorsement chain, dated 4 and 5 February 1945, comes from Headquarters XII Tactical Air Command and the First Tactical Air Force (Provisional). It forwards earlier indorsements about unexplained phenomena to the Chief Intelligence Officer, Air Staff SHAEF. The First Tactical Air Force says it has no further information or explanation for the phenomena and believes further investigation is warranted. Because it lacks the technical personnel for that, it passes the matter to SHAEF for whatever investigation is advisable.
This is a memo from the Air Staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, dated 11 February 1945 and addressed to the First Tactical Air Force (Prov.). It answers a 3rd Indorsement about night phenomena reported by pilots of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron. The memo says the Headquarters has no information explaining the lights and other phenomena. It refers the matter to the Air Ministry and hopes to arrange a visit to the unit by a USSTAF Air Technical Intelligence Officer.
This secret memo from the Air Staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force is dated 11 February 1945 and signed by Air Commodore C.M. Grierson. It went to Headquarters USSTAF for the attention of Col. Bradley and covers "Night Phenomena." It forwards reports from the First Tactical Air Force, among them many from the 415th Night Fighter Squadron. The memo concludes that more than imagination seems to lie behind the reports, since crews are becoming worried. It notes that the Air Ministry and Mr. Robertson have been consulted and suggests that an intelligence officer interview the aircrews.
This is an Air Ministry (D.D.I.2) reply dated 13 March 1945, reference 111/45/DDI2, signed by Group Captain E. D. W. Hopkins and addressed to the SHAEF air staff about reports of "balls of fire." It says Bomber Command crews had been reporting similar phenomena for some time. It suggests some of the objects may have been Me. 262 jets and that flak rockets are the most likely explanation for the rest. It concludes that the affair remains a mystery and no definite explanation can yet be given.
This SHAEF Air Staff (Forward) letter of 18 March 1945, signed by Air Commander C.M. Grierson for the Deputy Supreme Commander, went to the First Tactical Air Force (Prov.). It responds to night phenomena ('foofighter') reports that the XIIth Tactical Air Command had sent forward. It relays the Air Ministry's reply that Bomber Command crews had been reporting similar phenomena. The Air Ministry suggested that a few were Me.262s and the rest most likely flak rockets, and the letter offers no further information.
This Project 10073 record and ATIC summary sheet, drawn from Seventh Bomber Command mission reports, covers a 2 May 1945 incident over Fala Island, Truk Atoll. The crew of a B-24 at 11,000 feet saw two airborne objects that turned from cherry red to orange to white. The objects followed the bomber through evasive action, and one stayed with it for hours toward Guam. Other B-24s reported green flames and red tracer-like trails. The final ATIC evaluation was possibly an enemy aircraft.
This declassified White House file holds a 23 August 1946 cover memo from William D. Leahy that forwards to the President a report on "Ghost Rockets" from the National Intelligence Authority. The attached memorandum is dated 22 August 1946 and signed by Lt. Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg as Director of Central Intelligence. It revises earlier conclusions and says most of the rockets were probably launched from Peenemunde. It judges that the U.S.S.R. was probably carrying out large-scale guided-missile tests around the Baltic, mainly for scientific experimentation.
This confidential FBI office memorandum, sent from the San Antonio office to the FBI Director on January 31, 1949, and held in a NICAP copy, reports on Fourth Army intelligence conference discussions of unidentified aerial phenomena. It covers the July 1948 Eastern Airlines sighting over Montgomery, Alabama, and a concentration of green light sightings near Los Alamos, New Mexico. It notes that little concrete information has been obtained, and that G-2 and OSI are investigating while this office is not.
This FBI office memorandum from the San Antonio Special Agent in Charge to the Director, dated January 31, 1949, reports on Fourth Army intelligence talks about unidentified aerial phenomena. It describes a July 1948 Eastern Airlines sighting over Montgomery, Alabama, and a run of green light sightings near Los Alamos in December 1948 and January 1949. According to the memo, the objects are either unknown natural phenomena or man made, and G-2 and OSI are investigating while the San Antonio office is not.
This Black Vault copy of Air Force records centers on the Project Twinkle Final Report, which Louis Elterman of the Geophysics Research Division wrote on 27 November 1951. Project Twinkle investigated green fireballs and other light phenomena in New Mexico using Askania cameras run by Land-Air at Vaughn and Holloman AFB. Elterman found the results essentially negative, with most sightings put down to aircraft, balloons, birds, clouds and meteors. He recommended no further spending. The file also includes the 1949 and 1950 correspondence that set up the project and 1952 memos about declassifying it.
This Central Intelligence Agency information report, No. 00-W-23602, distributed 16 August 1952, translates a 29 March 1952 article by Fritz Sitte from the Austrian newspaper Die Presse. It describes two fiery disks seen over uranium mines in the Elisabethville district of the southern Belgian Congo, and a 15-minute fighter pursuit by Commander Pierre, who estimated the disks at 12 to 15 meters across and about 1,500 km/h. A conjectural sketch of saucer construction is appended.
This declassified transcript, released by the Office of the Under Secretary of War, records a March 1952 presentation by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt on the U.S. Air Force's reorganized UFO investigation. Ruppelt says that of about 800 cases reviewed, roughly 20 percent were good reports from reliable observers that stayed unexplained. He notes clusters of reports near Los Alamos, Albuquerque and Oak Ridge and describes the Lubbock lights and their photographs in detail. He also covers reporting directives, classification and the upcoming Life magazine article.
This CIA Information from Foreign Documents or Radio Broadcasts report, No. 00-W-23682, relays a Greek-language press item published 9 July 1952. It gives the sworn testimony of Oscar Linke, a former mayor of Gleimershausen who had escaped to West Berlin, and his daughter Gabriella. They described two men in shiny metallic clothing beside a frying pan shaped object 13 to 15 meters wide near Hasselbach. The object rose, rotated and flew off toward Stockheim, leaving a freshly dug hole. The report is marked unevaluated information.
This declassified CIA document, released through The Black Vault, reports on the meetings of the Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, which the Office of Scientific Intelligence convened on January 14 to 18, 1953. It includes a history of the sessions and the panel's informal comments, and it appends the formal report signed by H. P. Robertson and others. The panel found no evidence of a direct threat to national security. It recommended stripping UFOs of their special status and starting a public education program.
This 1965 record, released by the JFK Library via The Black Vault, holds an August 17, 1965 letter from Charles J. Quagliana of Lockport, New York to Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the U.S. Air Force reply. The letter accuses the Air Force of censoring UFO information. In the reply, Colonel L. Conquest denies any censorship and says that 18 years of investigating over 9,000 reports point to man-made, atmospheric or celestial explanations. It also says Captain Mantell died of oxygen starvation while pursuing a UFO over Godman Field, Kentucky.
This file contains Gendarmerie nationale records from July and August 1965, released through GEIPAN. It holds a regional daily summary, procès-verbal no. 445, a follow-up report with site measurements and photographs, and a further hearing dated 18 August. The records cover a 41-year-old farmer's report that on 1 July 1965 he saw a craft land in his lavender field at L'Olivol near Valensole. His later statement describes two small beings who left him unable to move. Officers recorded a cylindrical hole and cross-shaped furrows at the site.
This CIA document, dated 6 July 1965, is a page of translated Latin American press and radio items, mostly about Argentina. It covers a government resolution against extremist groups, a crisis in the meatpacking industry, relations with Algeria, and oil imports. One ANSA item says Argentine, Chilean and British bases in Antarctica watched red, green and yellow flying saucers over Deception Island for two hours. The same item says they were also seen flying in formation over the South Orkney Islands.
This is an excerpt from the record of the April 5, 1966 House Armed Services Committee hearing on UFOs, which the Internet Archive holds. It includes correspondence about the September 3, 1965 Exeter, New Hampshire sighting involving Raymond E. Fowler, Project Blue Book and the Exeter police officers, plus a letter on the matter from Minority Leader Ford. Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Major Hector Quintanilla and Secretary Harold Brown testify. They say the police officers' observation remains unidentified and that no radar data or jet scrambles were involved.
This is the printed transcript of an April 5, 1966 hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services on unidentified flying objects. Air Force Secretary Harold Brown testified that 9,501 of 10,147 sightings from 1947 through 1965 had been identified and that no threat or extraterrestrial evidence had been found. The record includes the Scientific Advisory Board ad hoc committee report recommending university studies and the Air Force's marsh gas explanation for the Dexter and Hillsdale, Michigan sightings. Members also questioned J. Allen Hynek and Maj. Hector Quintanilla about the Exeter, New Hampshire case.
This NICAP extract reproduces the statement of Dr. Robert M. L. Baker, Jr., a Computer Sciences Corporation scientist and UCLA engineering faculty member, to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics symposium on unidentified flying objects on July 29, 1968. Baker reviews his analyses of the Utah, Montana, Venezuela and Vandenberg films. He argues that current radar and optical sensors are poorly suited to detecting anomalistic phenomena and urges a well-funded, long-term interdisciplinary research program. The extract ends with panel discussion including Hynek and Hall.
This is the prepared statement James E. McDonald, a senior physicist at the University of Arizona's Institute of Atmospheric Physics, submitted to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics for its July 29, 1968 Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects. He draws on hundreds of witness interviews and weighs eight hypotheses. His conclusion is that UFOs are probably extraterrestrial surveillance devices. He argues that scientists have wrongly neglected the subject and urges much more scientific investigation and further Congressional hearings.
This DTIC release reproduces a National Academy of Sciences panel review of the University of Colorado report on unidentified flying objects, transmitted to Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Alexander H. Flax on January 8, 1969. The panel was chaired by Gerald M. Clemence and assessed the study's scope, methodology and findings. It found all three adequate and concurred that further extensive UFO study is not justified. It called extraterrestrial visitation the least likely explanation.
This is Volume 1 of NASA's Apollo 11 Technical Crew Debriefing, dated July 31, 1969. The Mission Operations Branch of the Flight Crew Support Division at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston prepared it, and it was originally classified Confidential. In it Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins go phase by phase through suiting, launch, powered flight, Earth orbit and lunar surface activities. They comment on suit fit, vibration, checklists, lunar dust, footing and poor sleeping conditions in the lunar module. A section titled Visual Sightings appears in the table of contents.
This Department of Defense press release, dated December 17, 1969, says Secretary of the Air Force Robert C. Seamans, Jr. has ended Project Blue Book, the Air Force program for investigating UFOs. Seamans based the decision on the University of Colorado study directed by Dr. Edward U. Condon, the National Academy of Sciences review of that study, earlier UFO studies such as the 1953 Robertson Panel, and two decades of Air Force experience. According to the release, no UFO ever indicated a threat to national security or evidence of extraterrestrial vehicles.
This is the final highway accident report (NTSB-HAR-71-1) from the National Transportation Safety Board, adopted in December 1970. It covers the collapse of the U.S. 35 bridge between Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Kanauga, Ohio, on December 15, 1967, which killed 46 people. The Board found that the cause was a cleavage fracture in eyebar 330 at joint C13N. That fracture grew from a flaw produced over 40 years by stress corrosion and corrosion fatigue, in a spot that could not be seen or found by inspection.
This Black Vault FOIA release contains a 22 August 1996 cover letter from the Defense Intelligence Agency and the one responsive document, a September 1976 intelligence report sent from USDAO Tehran to DIA. The report describes a UFO seen over Tehran on 19 September 1976. Two Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4s were scrambled, and both lost instruments or communications when they approached the object. Smaller objects came out of the main object, and one appeared to land. The crew later picked up a beeper signal, and the area was being checked for radiation.
NASA Information Sheet 78-1, prepared by the Public Services Branch at NASA Headquarters and dated February 1, 1978, answers public UFO inquiries sent to the White House and NASA. It quotes Administrator Robert Frosch's December 1977 letter, which declines to start UFO research but offers to analyze credible physical evidence. It also summarizes the Air Force's 1969 termination of Project Blue Book and the Condon Report, and discusses astronaut sightings and Jimmy Carter's 1969 sighting over Leary, Georgia.
This is a parliamentary question published by Spain's Congreso de los Diputados on 14 October 1980. Deputy Enrique Múgica Herzog of the Basque Socialist group submitted it for an oral answer in committee. It describes how a TAE Super-Caravelle flying from Palma to the Canary Islands on 11 November 1979 diverted to Manises after an unidentified object approached it. It also covers lights seen over the airport and a Mirage F-1 scramble from Los Llanos. The deputy asks the Government what the objects were.