USAF Project Blue Book is now online

[Locutus]

The truth is out there — now on the Web. The fabled Project Blue Book, the Air Force's files on UFO sightings and investigations, have tantalized and frustrated extraterrestrial enthusiasts for decades. But this past week, nearly 130,000 pages of declassified UFO records — a trove that would make Agent Fox Mulder's mouth water — were put online.

UFO enthusiast John Greenewald has spent nearly two decades filing Freedom of Information Act requests for the government's files on UFOs and other phenomena. On Jan. 12, Greenewald posted the Blue Book files — as well as files on Blue Book's 1940s-era predecessors, Project Sign and Project Grudge — on his online database, The Black Vault.

Project Blue Book was based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. Between 1947 and 1969, the Air Force recorded 12,618 sightings of strange phenomena — 701 of which remain "unidentified."

According to a 1985 fact sheet from Wright-Patterson, posted online by the National Archives, the Air Force decided to discontinue UFO investigations after concluding that "no UFO reported, investigated and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security (and) there has been no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as 'unidentified' are extraterrestrial vehicles."

 

[Locutus]

I started to put this on the Skywatch thread, but I figured it probably deserved its own thread if anyone wants to discuss any of this.

You can find the entire archive online here:

http://projectbluebook.theblackvault.com

There's an absolute TON of documentation there, so if any of you feel inclined to peruse some of it in your spare time, you now know where to find it.   

Let me know if you find this guy:

[Henry Hawk]

I think it deserves it own thread.

Did anyone (Central Indiana Folks) hear the BOOM last evening around 7:00?  I didn't realize it until my friend called me and asked me if I heard it.  I DID hear a loud thump around that time, and I thought it was my son, upstairs.  Then I realized, he wasn't upstairs.

Several folks on facebook heard it.  A guy I work with, who lives 20 miles away, heard it.  Something BOOMED around 7pm last evening.

No explanations have come forth yet, but was just wondering.....

Seemed appropriate to place this thought here on this thread.

[Locutus]

Maybe it was Marvin the Martian cruising through the neighborhood. 

[Henry Hawk]

Maybe it was Marvin the Martian cruising through the neighborhood. 

I think THAT is the story I am leading with.....the only LOGICAL one anyway....

[libby]

The truth is out there — now on the Web. The fabled Project Blue Book, the Air Force's files on UFO sightings and investigations, have tantalized and frustrated extraterrestrial enthusiasts for decades. But this past week, nearly 130,000 pages of declassified UFO records — a trove that would make Agent Fox Mulder's mouth water — were put online.

UFO enthusiast John Greenewald has spent nearly two decades filing Freedom of Information Act requests for the government's files on UFOs and other phenomena. On Jan. 12, Greenewald posted the Blue Book files — as well as files on Blue Book's 1940s-era predecessors, Project Sign and Project Grudge — on his online database, The Black Vault.

Project Blue Book was based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. Between 1947 and 1969, the Air Force recorded 12,618 sightings of strange phenomena — 701 of which remain "unidentified."

According to a 1985 fact sheet from Wright-Patterson, posted online by the National Archives, the Air Force decided to discontinue UFO investigations after concluding that "no UFO reported, investigated and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security (and) there has been no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as 'unidentified' are extraterrestrial vehicles."

 

Locutus, the above made me think of an old book by Donald Keyhoe, a Marine Corps Navy aviator, that I found in a used bookstore.   

The Flying Saucers Are Real
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Flying Saucers Are Real, by Donald Keyhoe, was a ground-breaking[1] book that investigated numerous encounters between USAF fighters, personnel, and other aircraft, and UFOs between 1947 and 1950.[1]

It was printed in paperback by Fawcett Publications, Inc in 1950, and sold for 25 cents. In December, 1949, prior to the publishing of the book, Keyhoe published an article by the same name in True magazine, with similar material.[2][3] The book was a huge success and popularized many ideas in ufology that are still widely believed today.

The Flying Saucers Are Real is short: only 175 pages. It is referenced by footnotes, and cites a panoply of sources: newspapers, magazines, Air Force records and press statements, and personal interviews. It is written in a dramatic, narrative style reminiscent of mystery novels and spy thrillers (Keyhoe also wrote fiction in these genres).

Keyhoe contended that the Air Force was actively investigating these cases of close encounter, with a policy of concealing their existence from the public until 1949. He stated that this policy was then replaced by one of cautious, progressive revelation.

Keyhoe further stated that Earth had been visited by extraterrestrials for two centuries, with the frequency of these visits increasing sharply after the first atomic weapon test in 1945. Citing anecdotal evidence, he intimated the Air Force may have attained and adapted some aspect of the alien technology: its method of propulsion and perhaps its source of power. He believed the Air Force or the US Government would eventually reveal these technologies to the public when the Soviet Union was no longer a threat. 

[Locutus]

It would be interesting to compare some of the situations that Keyhoe illustrates in his book with the records that are now available on line as to Project Blue Book.

I don't put much stock into claims of extraterrestrial visits, however I found one thing interesting about what he said. That is that there was an uptick in extraterrestrial visits after the first nuclear detonation.  If there were some advanced civilization watching us and our technological advancements, one such advancement that would most likely get their attention would be a nuclear detonation. 

[Exterminator]

He was spotted by Curiousity. 

[libby]

It would be interesting to compare some of the situations that Keyhoe illustrates in his book with the records that are now available on line as to Project Blue Book.

I don't put much stock into claims of extraterrestrial visits, however I found one thing interesting about what he said. That is that there was an uptick in extraterrestrial visits after the first nuclear detonation.  If there were some advanced civilization watching us and our technological advancements, one such advancement that would most likely get their attention would be a nuclear detonation. 

After reading the book, I was a believer for a while, and part of me still hopes we are not alone. You know, maybe on probation, like in the old movie The Day The Earth Stood Still....