UFO Sightings Declassified by CIA

“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” William Casey CIA Director 1981

UFOs have baffled and fascinated people for decades. The CIA has made it a priority to hide and spin the truth regarding UFOs, it until now. Recently, three days preceding the long-awaited return of The X-Files reboot in late January 2016 the CIA coincidentally (or purposely?) posted a remarkably transparent tweet on its Twitter page. The cheeky tweet read, “Take a Peek Into Our #XFiles 5 docs for Mulder & 5 for Scully #TheTruthIsOutThere”. In the tweet, a link directed you to the government agency's “News & Information” page where, according to the page, hundreds of declassified documents were released to the public, detailing the agency's investigations into Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). The documents date primarily from the late 1940s and 1950s. These documents are excerpts from the legendary, “did not exist”, US Air Force archive of UFO sightings and investigation labeled Project Blue Book.

The CIA states on its site:

“To help navigate the vast amount of data contained in our FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] UFO collection, we've decided to highlight a few documents both skeptics and believers will find interesting. ... You will find five documents we think 'X-Files' character Agent Mulder would love to use to try and persuade others of the existence of extraterrestrial activity. We also pulled five documents we think his skeptical partner, Agent Dana Scully, could use to prove there is a scientific explanation for UFO sightings. The truth is out there; click on the links to find it.”

As if that weren't weird enough, the CIA ends the page with "Do you want to believe? Then find out how to investigate a flying saucer."

The CIA is using the fictional FBI TV series of Special Agents Mulder and Scully in an unlikely bid for public goodwill, especially from the UFO community, a group that has continuously accuses the government of conspiring to cover-up the truth.

Rumors of this “project” have circulated the Ufology and conspiracy communities since its mysterious inception. Many Freedom of Information Act attempts have been made by many to the US government for release of these files to the public with but to no avail. Recently, after several repeated Freedom of Information Act requests by UFO enthusiast John Greenwald did the CIA finally release these documents. An X-Files reboot and now the release of declassified documents the CIA said never existed, ironic foreshadowing or PR gold? Are we now one step away from full UFO disclosure?

Many of UFO believers are gobsmacked with the CIA release and are now questioning, why release them now? Like always with the US government, there seems to be anomition of the notorious Roswell, New Mexico incident of 1947, and coincidentally the same year that Project Blue Book is rumored to have started. A statement in conjunction with the documents release regarding the Roswell incident, the CIA claims it “has been unable to locate any documentation among the Project Blue Book records which discuss a 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico,” in their archives. Why would the CIA omit this highly pivotal moment in US and ufology history? And what are they leaving out?

Many ufologists and conspiracy theorists claim the government reverse engineered alien technology that was found in the crash to advance our own technology. They coined this governmental cover-up as the “secret space program”. If our government used some of this technology it could explain many of the “sightings” that have circulated throughout the years and why Roswell was omitted in the declassified release. But why not include it?

Before this decisive moment in US history, there has been curious leaks made by the CIA. On July 4th 2014, in the name of national security and professionalism, the CIA turned to Twitter to announce the findings revealed in theU-2 bomber document they previously released. "Reports of unusual activity in the skies in the 1950s? It was us." In the tweet, the CIA social media representative linked to a 272-page document from 1998 detailing the extent of the U-2 program.

The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady," was a reconnaissance aircraft first flown on August 1, 1955. The CIA's original cover story for the U-2, in the event it was shot down, was that it was used by the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) as a high altitude weather research plane. However, mistaken reports of extraterrestrial UFO's by a public obsessed with the idea of alien visitors proved to be a far better cover story than the intelligence committee could have hoped to devise.

In the U-2 document the CIA stated, “High-altitude testing of the U-2 soon led to an unexpected side effect -- a tremendous increase in reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). In the mid-1950s, most commercial airliners flew at altitudes between 10,000 and 20,000 feet ... Consequently, once U-2s started flying at altitudes above 60,000 feet, air-traffic controllers began receiving increasing numbers of UFO reports.” How was this advanced leap for mankind achieved using only 1950’s known technology?

So, the CIA says it was responsible for more than half of the UFO sightings reported in the 1950's and 1960's, but what about before that and now? It is fair to extrapolate that foreign nations were surveying the United States in the same way the U-2 was used to spy on other nations? Or is the CIA release subtly stating the obvious, aliens do exist?

The CIA release has gobsmacked many UFO believers. Why release them now? Like always with the government, they seemed to omit of the notorious Roswell, NM incident of 1947, coincidentally the year that Project Blue Book is rumored to have started. In a statement in conjunction of the release regarding the incident, the CIA claims it “has been unable to locate any documentation among the Project Blue Book records which discuss a 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico,” in their archives. Why would the CIA omit this highly pivotal moment in US history? And what are they leaving out?

Many ufologists and conspiracists claim the government reverse engineered alien technology that was found in the crash to advance our own technology. They coin this governmental cover-up as the “secret space program”. If our government used some of this technology it could explain many of the “sightings” that have circulated throughout the years and why Roswell was omitted in the declassified release. But why not include it?

Before this decisive moment in US history, there has been curious leaks made by the CIA. On July 4th 2014, in the name of national security and professionalism, the CIA turned to Twitter to announce the findings revealed in theU-2 bomber document they previously released. "Reports of unusual activity in the skies in the 1950s? It was us." In the tweet, the CIA social media representative linked to a 272-page document from 1998 detailing the extent of the U-2 program.

The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady," was a reconnaissance aircraft first flown on August 1, 1955. The CIA's original cover story for the U-2, in the event it was shot down, was that it was used by the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) as a high altitude weather research plane. However, mistaken reports of extraterrestrial UFO's by a public obsessed with the idea of alien visitors proved to be a far better cover story than the intelligence committee could have hoped to devise.

Most Famous UFO Sightings

Throughout History, humans have reported bizarre sightings and even brief interactions with Unidentified Flying Objects, UFOs. From the chilling Buff Ledge case of two teenagers to the hair-raising William Bosak Encounter, these UFO sightings provoke one of our most feared possibilities – we are not alone, and our ‘neighbours’ might be ill-meaning and more advanced than us. One of the earliest recorded UFO reports were from 4th century China where a ‘moon boat’ would be seen floating about every 12 years. But with all the media tools of the modern times, there has been more documented supposed alien activity than ever before.

Kenneth Arnold UFO Sighting

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past 67 years, you’ve probably heard of the term ‘flying saucer’. This is the incident that started it.

Flying from Chehalis to Yakima, Washington on June 24th, 1947, Kenneth Arnold decided to make a detour in attempts to locate a crashed Marine Corps aircraft for a reward of $5000. But, to every UFO enthusiast, what he witnessed was worth way more than $5000.

Arnold claimed he saw a bright flashing light like that of sunlight in a mirror but took the object for another plane. Thinking he was too close to another aircraft, he quickly scanned his space but to his surprise, his instruments showed he was alone in that part of the sky.

Just 30 seconds later, a fast-moving string of what he called ‘convex shaped objects’ appeared behind him, approached him, and then quickly blew by him. What was even more bizarre than their shape was the way they flew – like saucers skipping on water, according to Arnold.

Messrs du Plessis and Venter and Venter UFO Case

November 18th 1993 started like a normal day does - boring to some, exciting to others, and I’d-rather-die-than-live kind of day to others. But for Messrs du Plessis and Venter, it was confusing, scary, and possibly made them question their dual sanity.

At 10.15 pm, the two residents of Sasolburg, South Africa, observed a strange craft in the sky. As they tried to make out what it was, the object left in a flash but returned after three minutes.

The craft, at first, seemed to have the shape of a water droplet about to fall, but it changed colour and shape into a cigar figure. With further observation, the dual could see individual lights on the craft and a yellowish glow surrounding it. The craft finally cast a downward blue light before departing upward in a twinkling of an eye.

Fortunately, to assure the pair's mental integrity, a nearby resident found what he said were imprints of the landing gear of a small craft a month after the sighting.

The Lubbock Lights

So far, the first two UFO sightings were made by 1 or 2 people. But for the Lubbock case, initially three professors, then a couple of other people reported the same outlandish thing over a month. On August 25th, 1951, three university professors sat at one’s home, presumably discussing how to suck the life out of innocent college students. At 9pm, the trio saw what they described as a ‘V’ shaped formation of 30 lights, fly over them. They were about the size of a dinner plate and had a bluish-green glow to them.

Over the next month, several more people would make the same reports. However, it was the photographs of Carl Hart that ignited a nationwide UFO interest, making the Lubbock lights the first great UFO case in the US.

The Belgian UFO Wave

Now, what sets this case apart is the sheer scale at which it happened. A mind-boggling 13,600 people claimed to have witnessed the events and 2,500 of those actually went on to file witness statements.

The first culprit was a large craft, triangular in shape with three distinct lights at the bottom. It was spotted on November 29th, 1989, marking the beginning of a 5-month wave of UFO sightings. The most peculiar thing about the craft was its eerily silent flight.

On March, 30th/31st, three separate lights described as being bigger than stars and switching colours between red, green, and yellow were observed at 11:00 pm, over the skies of Belgium.

The Belgian air force then sent 2 F-16 fighter planes after the targets. Over the next hour, the pilots managed to acquire 3 radar locks. The first time, the crafts escaped the lock by accelerating from 240 km/h to a milk-curdling 1,770 km/h while changing altitude from 2,700 m to 1,500 m. They then went up to 3500 m and finally went down to ground level. Specialists state such sudden high-speed manoeuvres would be fatal for a human pilot.

The Tehran UFO Incident

The Tehran UFO sighting is one of the few where the government itself is the core witness. On 19th September 1976 around midnight, four separate reports of an unusual light in the sky were reported. The air force sent an F-4 fighter plane to investigate at 1:30 am. When the pilot got 46 kilometres away from the object, he suddenly lost all instrumentation on his plane and decided to turn back.

At 01:40, another F-4 was released. The pilot reached 50 kilometres from the object and managed to get a radar lock. However, the strange craft maintained the distance by moving away. As the pilot persisted, a small object detached from the craft and headed towards the F-4 at a high speed. Knowing he was under attack, he tried to fire a missile but his weapons failed. He then tried to eject but could not and finally decided to turn back. After getting as close as 7 kilometres to the F-4, the small object went back and attached itself to the larger one.

Rendlesham Forest Incident

The Rendlesham Forest Incident is said to be the biggest UFO event in Britain’s history. It took place over three days in the Rendlesham forest. The events were witnessed and reported by trained United States Air Force observers and security police.

On December, 26th 1980, military personnel reported seeing strange lights descending on the forest for over three days. When two soldiers tried to investigate, they claim to have seen a UFO, 3 meters wide and 2 meters high. The craft made the entire forest glow a brilliant white. The object itself had a red light on top and blue lights at the bottom. As they got closer, They could see strange and foreign, almost not of this world writing on the craft. Soon after got close the craft maneuvered away from them and disappeared. What have been thought to be landing marks left by the craft were found the following morning.

Barry and Betty Hill

On the 19th of September 1961, Barry and Betty Hill were driving from Canada after a vacation. At 10:30 pm, the couple saw a bright light emanating from a ‘pancake shaped’ object which seemed to be descending.

The two got out and when Barry looked at the craft with binoculars, he saw 11 humanoid figures looking at him. The craft then veered at them and the couple made a dash for their car and took off. Strangely, the UFO followed them and seemed to play a game of cat and mouse.

The two then heard rhythmic beeps and their car started to vibrate. It is at this point that they claim to have gone into an altered state of consciousness and could not remember what happened after.

Levelland Case

On the evening of November 2, 1957, the Levelland police department received multiple reports of an ‘egg-shaped flying object’ which would cause their car engines to stall as it approached them. The first report was from Pedro Joe and Salaz Saucedo. They reported to have seen a blue light on the road from which rose an egg-shaped flying object. The UFO headed for their truck, instantly killing its engine. It then passed over their car generating a rush of wind which rocked their truck. Saucedo also reported feeling tremendous heat from the craft as it blasted by. When it had fully passed, the truck engine was suddenly restored.

Buff Ledge Encounter

On 17th August 1968, two teens aged 19 and 16 were relaxing on a boat dock at Buff Ledge Girls Camp. Suddenly, they say a bright light in the sky which started falling towards them. Three separate lights then detached from it and made several maneuvers over the lake before two of them went back, leaving only one. As the remaining object came closer to the teens, they could see a transparent dome with two child-like humanoids inside. They had large heads, long necks, and eyes which seemed to protrude on the sides. A bright light was shone on the two and they instantly went into a trance, losing all memory of what transpired next.

Sergeant Moody’s Case

On August 13, 1975, Sargent Charles L. Moody saw an object fall 300 feet away as he watched a meteor shower at 1.15 am, in the desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico. The UFO, which was 50 feet long and disk-shaped, came down to a height of 15 feet before it started moving towards him slowly. Sensing danger, Moody jumped into his car but it wouldn’t start. He looked at the craft and saw a window through which he could observe several humanoid figures. As the craft came even closer, he heard a very high-pitched humming sound before feeling a numbness engulf his body and losing consciousness. The next thing he saw was the craft ascending into the sky. When he checked the time, he realized he had lost an hour and a half but couldn’t remember what happened.