UFO Reports in Project Blue Book
After the 1947 "Roswell Incident" in New Mexico, the U.S. Air Force launched Project Blue Book which ultimately investigated nearly 13,000 UFO sightings within the United States and abroad. The reports and records of these sightings are available free on Fold3.
When the project closed in 1969, the Air Force had concluded that none of the objects investigated ever threatened national security, that no discoveries were more advanced than known contemporary technology of the day, and there was no evidence that the objects were extraterrestrial vehicles.
Fifty years ago, in August 1963, there were forty-four investigations into UFO sightings. Most were explained as meteors, planets, aircraft, or natural occurrences; and many were written off as lacking in evidence. The files typically begin with a Project Record Card with twelve boxes recording date, location, number of objects, length of observation, a summary and conclusions. While most sightings were in the U.S., other reports in August 1963 came from
Italy,
Afghanistan,
Chile, and the
Pacific Ocean.
The
Cleveland Ufology Project investigated a newspaper story that reported a young boy finding a rock that fell from the sky on August 13, 1963. It tasted like salt (we wonder why anyone would taste something that might be of extraterrestrial origin) and was later
determined to be salt crystals.
Several witnesses in Warner, New Hampshire, near Lake Winnepocket testified that they saw
cigar-shaped objects. One person took a 16mm color movie, supposedly archived in another location at the National Archives. The 38-page report included
diagrams and multiple forms. Analysis confirmed that the observations were of a
meteor shower.
The documents in Fold3's
Project Blue Book files are declassified, but names and addresses are masked to protect identities and locations. The stories can be fascinating. Evidence of any government cover-up is discounted, but you can be the judge of that when you read the investigations.