A secret governmental program to investigate UFOs might sound like something out of the X-Files but in 1952 the U.S. Air Force launched exactly such a program. Code named Project Blue Book, it brought together a military and scientific team tasked with reviewing more than twelve thousand UFO sightings.
Predictably, many of the unidentified objects seen in the skies were hoaxes. Others were cases of mistaken identity - weather balloons, satellites, and meteorological phenomenon had all been reported as UFOs. Still, 701 observations could not be satisfactorily explained.
To help quell the concerns of a nervous public, the Air Force issued a 316 page “Project Blue Book Special Report” in May of 1955. The report explained that none of the sightings showed evidence of being extraterrestrial vehicles. It further claimed that UFOs represented no threat to national security. Controversially, it neither confirmed nor denied the existence of UFOs.
See the Frank Scully papers at UW’s American Heritage Center to learn more.
For more information, visit the American Heritage Center site.