A TIMELINE OF THE PHENOMENON
following the detonation of the first atomic bomb
July 16, 1945
July 16,1945
The Trinity Detonation
The United States detonates the first atomic bomb in the Nevada desert with the code name “Trinity” as a part of the Manhattan Project. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are bombed and a nuclear arms race ensues between Russia, the United States and its western allies. As nuclear weapon stockpiles grow, and their capabilities advance, we are faced with the potential of civilization ending destruction.
June 24, 1947
June 24, 1947
The First "Flying Saucer" wave of 1947
While searching for a missing plane, mountain pilot Kenneth Arnold sights nine saucer-like objects flying and weaving in and out of a reverse echelon formation between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams in Washington State. Kenneth estimates their size to be about 45 feet and speed of about 1,700 miles per hour.
Newspapers in the area are thoroughly convinced the incident is a hoax until they dig in to Arnold’s reputation. The story is picked up in newspapers across the country. “It seems impossible”, Arnold said, “but there it is.”
The story is widely regarded as the first use of the phrase "Flying Saucer” as sightings begin pouring in across the country.
Newspapers in the area are thoroughly convinced the incident is a hoax until they dig in to Arnold’s reputation. The story is picked up in newspapers across the country. “It seems impossible”, Arnold said, “but there it is.”
The story is widely regarded as the first use of the phrase "Flying Saucer” as sightings begin pouring in across the country.
Expand this story
Edward Ruppelt, head of Project Blue Book later reviews this period in his 1952 book “The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects” describing memos and correspondence within the military to be “serious, in fact, very serious” there was “confusion almost to the point of panic”.
Ruppelt states that within the Air Technical Intelligence Center that “The brass wanted an answer, quickly and people were taking off in all directions. Everyone’s theory was as good as the next and each person with any weight at ATIC was plugging and investigating his own theory. The ideas as to the origin of the UFO’s fell in to two main categories, earthly and non-earthly.”
Ruppelt states that within the Air Technical Intelligence Center that “The brass wanted an answer, quickly and people were taking off in all directions. Everyone’s theory was as good as the next and each person with any weight at ATIC was plugging and investigating his own theory. The ideas as to the origin of the UFO’s fell in to two main categories, earthly and non-earthly.”
July 5, 1947
July 5, 1947
The Roswell Incident
Maj. Jesse Marcel posing with the prop crash debris.
Mac Brazel finds crash debris on his ranch. The materials described in the wreckage are strong, lightweight metallic beams with strange hieroglyphic-like geometric symbols. Brazel takes the wreckage to the local sheriff. The sheriff then calls the nearby army airfield group in Roswell, New Mexico for an answer.
Intelligence officer Maj. Jesse Marcel is sent out to investigate the crash site. Marcel collects the wreckage. A press release is issued that they have recovered a flying disk. The release is later retracted by the air force claiming that it was a weather balloon from a secret military project.
Years later, Jesse Marcel would state in an interview that the wreckage he saw was not a weather balloon. “It was not a weather balloon, nor an aircraft, nor a missile. It was something else of which we didn’t know what it was.” Marcel was made to pose with props for the iconic photo of the crashed debris. The actual debris was much different.
The 509th bomb group stationed in Roswell was the air forces only atomic bomb group at the time and conducted the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Intelligence officer Maj. Jesse Marcel is sent out to investigate the crash site. Marcel collects the wreckage. A press release is issued that they have recovered a flying disk. The release is later retracted by the air force claiming that it was a weather balloon from a secret military project.
Years later, Jesse Marcel would state in an interview that the wreckage he saw was not a weather balloon. “It was not a weather balloon, nor an aircraft, nor a missile. It was something else of which we didn’t know what it was.” Marcel was made to pose with props for the iconic photo of the crashed debris. The actual debris was much different.
The 509th bomb group stationed in Roswell was the air forces only atomic bomb group at the time and conducted the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
September, 1947
September 1947
Project Sign Begins
By the end of 1947 there were a multitude of UFO reports flooding in throught the United States around the world. The Air Technical Service Command initiates Project Sign to collect information on the growing phenomenon.
The general of the Army Air Force (the precursor to the USAF) asks Lieutenant General Edward Twining, a high ranking officer in military intelligence, to do a preliminary review of the UFO reports. After review of the unexplained events Twining sends a letter to the General stating “the phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious” and goes on to strongly urges the creation of a permanent and classified project to analyze future UFO reports.
Project Sign is the first government initiative to study the phenomenon and the precursor to Project Grudge and Project Blue Book.
The general of the Army Air Force (the precursor to the USAF) asks Lieutenant General Edward Twining, a high ranking officer in military intelligence, to do a preliminary review of the UFO reports. After review of the unexplained events Twining sends a letter to the General stating “the phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious” and goes on to strongly urges the creation of a permanent and classified project to analyze future UFO reports.
Project Sign is the first government initiative to study the phenomenon and the precursor to Project Grudge and Project Blue Book.
1949
1949
Project Grudge Begins
The successor to Project Sign, Project Grudge is seemingly created to alleviate public concern over Unidentified Flying Objects. Project Grudge concluded that air force personnel should receive basic training in astronomical phenomena.
The project would later be criticized internally within the USAF for doing little to understand the phenomenon. Civilian scientist and Air Force consultant J. Allen Hynek described it as “less science and more of a public relations campaign”.
The project would later be criticized internally within the USAF for doing little to understand the phenomenon. Civilian scientist and Air Force consultant J. Allen Hynek described it as “less science and more of a public relations campaign”.
May 11, 1950
May 11, 1950
The Trent UFO Sighting
Evelyn Trent spots a flying saucer walking back to her farmhouse and tells her husband Paul to get the camera. Paul manages to snap this photo before it speeds off. The image is widely publicized and makes it's way in to an issue of Life magazine. The Trents were told their negatives would be returned but Life magazine later tells the Trents that their negatives had been misplaced.
Skeptics would consider this photograph to be a hoax but the Trent’s kept their story until their death. According to USAF Sgt, L.J. Hyder, who investigated the case in 1950: “The Trents were known to residents of McMinnville as "substantial, solid, honest citizens”.
Skeptics would consider this photograph to be a hoax but the Trent’s kept their story until their death. According to USAF Sgt, L.J. Hyder, who investigated the case in 1950: “The Trents were known to residents of McMinnville as "substantial, solid, honest citizens”.
March, 1952
March 1952
Project Blue Book Begins
The USAF begins Project Blue Book led by Capt. Edward Ruppelt in order to analyze data on UAP and determine if they are a threat to national security. The study was preceded by Project Grudge and before that Project Sign.
Below is an excerpt from Project Blue Book breaking down their collected sighting reports:
Below is an excerpt from Project Blue Book breaking down their collected sighting reports:
July 12-29, 1952
July 12-29, 1952
The "UFO Flap" over Washington D.C.
Maj. Gen. John Samford, USAF Director of Intelligence
Unusual lights in the sky are reported by pilots for over two weeks and confirmed by air traffic controllers. Radar operators describe objects flying slowly at 100mph up to an estimated 7,000mph with the ability to reverse direction instantly.
F-94 jets are scrambled to intercept, but as they close in the objects disappear from the radar scopes.
When the jets return to base the mysterious objects reappear on radar. This phenomenon is corroborated between Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base. The repeated sightings over this period set off a frenzy in the media. Headlines like “ Fiery Objects Outrun Jets over Capital —Investigation veiled in secrecy following vain chase” abound. In the largest press conference since World War II, Maj. Gen. John A. Samford would simply explained it as a series of temperature inversions.
UFO reports are coming in from all over the country.
Amber red lights were seen over Patrick Air Force Base in Florida at their guided missile long-range proving ground. They were seen in Uvalde, Texas, Los Alamos, Nevada, Holyoke, Massachusetts, Dayton Ohio, and New Jersey.
In California a UFO is tracked on radar and intercepted by an F-94 fighter. The fighter achieves a radar lock on to the target and pursues. Just as the fighter reaches weapons range the UFO darts away. The UFO would then slow down and the F-94 would catch up only for the UFO to accelerate out of weapons range again. Edward Ruppelt, head of Project Blue Book at that time, said the pilots felt as if it were just an aerial game of cat and mouse.
F-94 jets are scrambled to intercept, but as they close in the objects disappear from the radar scopes.
When the jets return to base the mysterious objects reappear on radar. This phenomenon is corroborated between Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base. The repeated sightings over this period set off a frenzy in the media. Headlines like “ Fiery Objects Outrun Jets over Capital —Investigation veiled in secrecy following vain chase” abound. In the largest press conference since World War II, Maj. Gen. John A. Samford would simply explained it as a series of temperature inversions.
UFO reports are coming in from all over the country.
Amber red lights were seen over Patrick Air Force Base in Florida at their guided missile long-range proving ground. They were seen in Uvalde, Texas, Los Alamos, Nevada, Holyoke, Massachusetts, Dayton Ohio, and New Jersey.
In California a UFO is tracked on radar and intercepted by an F-94 fighter. The fighter achieves a radar lock on to the target and pursues. Just as the fighter reaches weapons range the UFO darts away. The UFO would then slow down and the F-94 would catch up only for the UFO to accelerate out of weapons range again. Edward Ruppelt, head of Project Blue Book at that time, said the pilots felt as if it were just an aerial game of cat and mouse.
January 1953
January 1953
The Robertson Panel
After release of the USAF’s Project Blue Book, a series of meetings are initiated by the CIA to review it’s findings.
Lead by physicist Howard P. Robertson, a CIA consultant and director of the defense department’s Weapons Evaluation Group, the panel chooses to study a selection of the best cases recorded by the USAF at the time.
The panel concludes that too many low-quality reports were coming in of little scientific value. They expressed concern for military personnel mis-identifying actual enemy artifacts or overloading emergency reporting channels with “false” information and noted the “subjectivity of the public to mass hysteria and great vulnerability to psychological warfare.” Interest groups around flying saucers should be “watched because of their potentially great influence on mass thinking if widespread sightings should occur. The apparent irresponsibility and the possible use of such groups should be kept in mind.”
The panel recommended a broad education program with training and debunking for military personnel and a mass media campaign for the public
Lead by physicist Howard P. Robertson, a CIA consultant and director of the defense department’s Weapons Evaluation Group, the panel chooses to study a selection of the best cases recorded by the USAF at the time.
The panel concludes that too many low-quality reports were coming in of little scientific value. They expressed concern for military personnel mis-identifying actual enemy artifacts or overloading emergency reporting channels with “false” information and noted the “subjectivity of the public to mass hysteria and great vulnerability to psychological warfare.” Interest groups around flying saucers should be “watched because of their potentially great influence on mass thinking if widespread sightings should occur. The apparent irresponsibility and the possible use of such groups should be kept in mind.”
The panel recommended a broad education program with training and debunking for military personnel and a mass media campaign for the public
“The "debunking" aim would result in reduction in public interest in "flying saucers" which today evokes a strong psychological reaction. This education could be accomplished by mass media such as television, motion pictures, and popular articles. Basis of such education would be actual case histories which had been puzzling at first but later explained.”
- The Durant Report of the Robertson Panel Proceedings
December 26, 1980
December 26, 1980
Rendlesham forest incident
An illustration of the initial craft landing as described in Rendlesham Forest.
Bright lights are seen in the forest outside a joint US Air Force/RAF base. Presuming it might be an aircraft that had crashed a security team approaches to find a small triangular craft moving through the trees and then land in a small clearing. Senior base security officer James Penniston along with John Burroughs (the security officer who initially spotted the craft and called it in) get close enough to touch its glass-like metallic surface and find strange markings on the side of the craft akin to pictographs or hieroglyphs.
After observing the craft for about 45 minutes the light from the craft intensifies. Penniston said: “Burroughs and I then took a defensive position away from the craft as it lifted off the ground without any noise or air disturbance. It maneuvered through the trees and shot off at an unbelievable rate of speed. It was gone in the blink of an eye.”
Two nights later the object returns. A small team is dispatched led by Lt. Col. Charles Halt. Moving toward the site where the object had landed the team finds their radios malfunctioning and lights failing. They witness a bright red orange oval with a black center moving through the trees. The men would describe it like an eye winking at them. The object floated off through a pasture then exploded in to five white lights and quickly disappeared.
As they entered the pasture to look for residue, several elliptical objects with lights approach. One of the objects stops overhead then, according to Lt. Col. Halt, “it sent down a concentrated white beam, a small, dense pencil-like beam, like a laser beam—very near to where I was standing. It illuminated the ground about ten feet from us, and we just stood there wondering wether it was a signal, some type of communication, or a warning. We really didn’t know. The beam switched off, and the object receded.”
Later, a few miles away, the team see a craft shooting beams of light near or in to the weapons storage area. Sightings are later confirmed by others on the base including radar operators who noted extreme speeds up to 3,000-4,000mph on their monitor.
After observing the craft for about 45 minutes the light from the craft intensifies. Penniston said: “Burroughs and I then took a defensive position away from the craft as it lifted off the ground without any noise or air disturbance. It maneuvered through the trees and shot off at an unbelievable rate of speed. It was gone in the blink of an eye.”
Two nights later the object returns. A small team is dispatched led by Lt. Col. Charles Halt. Moving toward the site where the object had landed the team finds their radios malfunctioning and lights failing. They witness a bright red orange oval with a black center moving through the trees. The men would describe it like an eye winking at them. The object floated off through a pasture then exploded in to five white lights and quickly disappeared.
As they entered the pasture to look for residue, several elliptical objects with lights approach. One of the objects stops overhead then, according to Lt. Col. Halt, “it sent down a concentrated white beam, a small, dense pencil-like beam, like a laser beam—very near to where I was standing. It illuminated the ground about ten feet from us, and we just stood there wondering wether it was a signal, some type of communication, or a warning. We really didn’t know. The beam switched off, and the object receded.”
Later, a few miles away, the team see a craft shooting beams of light near or in to the weapons storage area. Sightings are later confirmed by others on the base including radar operators who noted extreme speeds up to 3,000-4,000mph on their monitor.
December, 1982
December 1982
Hudson Valley UFO Wave
Over the course of two years through New York and Connecticut thousands of people report seeing large v-shaped craft cruising silently overhead. The craft are seen releasing glowing red balls that seemed to explore the area independent of the main craft. Witnesses pull over to watch the craft move slowly over the area. A few witnesses would report flashing their headlights at the craft and the craft would flash lights back.
At the nuclear power plant at Indian Point security guards witness a UFO the size of a football field hover approximately 300 feet above the reactor in restricted airspace.
At the nuclear power plant at Indian Point security guards witness a UFO the size of a football field hover approximately 300 feet above the reactor in restricted airspace.
November 29, 1989 - March 1991
November 29, 1989 - March 1991
The Belgian Wave
In Eupen, Belgium triangular craft 120 feet wide are seen hovering slowly through the area. Descriptions are reported by 143 witnesses. Thirteen policemen reported seeing craft at 8 different locations. Two policemen witness a craft shining bright red spotlights with red orbs down toward the surface below. After some time the lights would fade and the orbs would return to the craft.
Sightings continue through the next two years in towns through central Belgium all the way out to the German border. On March 30th, 1990 the mysterious craft are spotted and confirmed on radar. The Belgian air force sends two F-16s to intercept. The pilots never make a visual confirmation but witness unusual radar signatures jumping huge distances in seconds.
By late March of 1991, 2,000 cases are reported, 650 would be investigated, and 500 would remain unexplained. Photographs were captured and radar tapes analyzed. The air force eventually held a press conference to brief the public but stated it had no explanation for the sightings. In striking contrast to the United States policy at the time the Belgian government would willingly provide its data to scientists who were gathering interviews and collecting data.
Sightings continue through the next two years in towns through central Belgium all the way out to the German border. On March 30th, 1990 the mysterious craft are spotted and confirmed on radar. The Belgian air force sends two F-16s to intercept. The pilots never make a visual confirmation but witness unusual radar signatures jumping huge distances in seconds.
By late March of 1991, 2,000 cases are reported, 650 would be investigated, and 500 would remain unexplained. Photographs were captured and radar tapes analyzed. The air force eventually held a press conference to brief the public but stated it had no explanation for the sightings. In striking contrast to the United States policy at the time the Belgian government would willingly provide its data to scientists who were gathering interviews and collecting data.
September 16, 1994
September 16, 1994
The Ariel School Encounter
Children at a small private school in Ruwa, Zimbabwe witness a silver craft land at the edge of their school yard. The children run to the site to find beings with large eyes dressed in black exiting the craft. The beings approach the children communicating with what the children seem to describe as telepathy.
The teachers, suspicious of their claims, found that the children all told very similar stories and drew consistent depictions of what they saw. The children who didn’t run away from the site recall experiencing some kind of cautionary environmental message along with strong emotional feelings when looking in to the beings eyes.
The teachers, suspicious of their claims, found that the children all told very similar stories and drew consistent depictions of what they saw. The children who didn’t run away from the site recall experiencing some kind of cautionary environmental message along with strong emotional feelings when looking in to the beings eyes.
January 1996
January 1996
Varginha, Brazil
Multiple residents claim to have seen a cigar shaped object flying erratically over the area followed by a crash landing in a nearby field. An eye witness claimed to have seen the crash and was turned away by the military shortly after.
Later, beings were seen by people in various parts of the town. Three girls claimed to have encountered one of the beings while walking around a military blockade. Another being was reportedly captured alive by the military and brought to the local hospital for an x-ray. Witnesses who were close to the beings described them as having red eyes, round protrusions on their heads, an oily texture on their bodies with the smell of sulfur or ammonia was present. A plane with US Military markings arrives in Varginha unannounced and collects what was presumably the remains of the crash.
Later, beings were seen by people in various parts of the town. Three girls claimed to have encountered one of the beings while walking around a military blockade. Another being was reportedly captured alive by the military and brought to the local hospital for an x-ray. Witnesses who were close to the beings described them as having red eyes, round protrusions on their heads, an oily texture on their bodies with the smell of sulfur or ammonia was present. A plane with US Military markings arrives in Varginha unannounced and collects what was presumably the remains of the crash.
Artist depiction of the being as described by eyewitnesses in the documentary "Moment of Contact"
March 13, 1997
March 13, 1997
The Phoenix Lights
A drawing of the object as described by eyewitnesses as seen in USA Today.
Beginning around 8pm witnesses describe seeing a triangular or V-shaped craft with five spherical lights. Though described differently by many depending on their location, thousands of people across Phoenix, Arizona, and Nevada reported similar sightings.
Arizona governor Fife Symington, a trained pilot and air force veteran witnessed the craft and later recalled “It was enormous and inexplicable. Who knows where it came from? A lot of people saw it, and I saw it too. It was dramatic. And it couldn't have been flares because it was too symmetrical. It had a geometric outline, a constant shape.”
Arizona governor Fife Symington, a trained pilot and air force veteran witnessed the craft and later recalled “It was enormous and inexplicable. Who knows where it came from? A lot of people saw it, and I saw it too. It was dramatic. And it couldn't have been flares because it was too symmetrical. It had a geometric outline, a constant shape.”
November 10, 2004
November 10, 2004
The "Tic-Tac" Anomaly
The USS Nimitz carrier strike group training off the west coast spots several “Anomalous Aerial Vehicles (AAV) operating in and around the vicinity.” Watching from radar the unknown craft would descend rapidly from 60,000 feet down to approximately 50 feet in a matter of seconds. These craft would then hover sometimes for hours and eventually take off at high velocity.
Two F/A-18 fighters returning from a training mission led by Cmdr. David Fravor are sent to investigate. Cmdr. Fravor encounters a white, rounded cylinder, tic-tac shaped craft hovering over the surface of the water. As he approaches the anomalous craft it reorients to Cmdr. Fravors F/A-18 as if it “sees him” then it takes evasive action flying off at supersonic speed.
To make things more strange, the craft was shortly thereafter seen on radar at the precise patrol point that Cmdr. Fravor was scheduled to fly through during that mission. That CAP point was 60 miles away but the UAP appeared there less than a minute after it left Cmdr. Fravors position.
Two F/A-18 fighters returning from a training mission led by Cmdr. David Fravor are sent to investigate. Cmdr. Fravor encounters a white, rounded cylinder, tic-tac shaped craft hovering over the surface of the water. As he approaches the anomalous craft it reorients to Cmdr. Fravors F/A-18 as if it “sees him” then it takes evasive action flying off at supersonic speed.
To make things more strange, the craft was shortly thereafter seen on radar at the precise patrol point that Cmdr. Fravor was scheduled to fly through during that mission. That CAP point was 60 miles away but the UAP appeared there less than a minute after it left Cmdr. Fravors position.
November 7, 2006
November 7, 2006
O'hare airport sighting
At a busy international airport in Chicago IL a gray disc shaped craft is spotted hovering over a United Airlines boarding gate by pilots and ground crew. The disk hovers quietly for a few minutes then shoots up through the clouds leaving a hole with blue sky visible above. Air traffic controllers couldn’t see the object by sight or on their radar.
The FAA, when pressed for an explanation, claims it to be a “hole punch cloud”. These clouds can only happen when ice forms and falls downward through the cloud. The temperature that day was 55deg Fahrenheit at 1900ft above O’hare making it too warm for ice to have been able to manifest.
The FAA, when pressed for an explanation, claims it to be a “hole punch cloud”. These clouds can only happen when ice forms and falls downward through the cloud. The temperature that day was 55deg Fahrenheit at 1900ft above O’hare making it too warm for ice to have been able to manifest.
November 2019
November 2019
Strange Patents from the US Navy
A series of curious patents show up over the course of Dec. 2018 through November 2019 attached to the name Salvatore Cezar Pais with support from Secretary of the US Navy. In these patents we see descriptions of a “high temperature superconductor” where conventional superconductors must be at or below freezing to work. Also mentioned is a “craft using an inertial mass reduction device” which we currently have no conventional equivalent. Other curious patents include a “plasma compression fusion device” and a “high frequency gravitational wave generator”.
May 17, 2021
May 17, 2021
The President on UAP
“What is true, and I’m actually being serious here, is that there are, there’s footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don’t know exactly what they are.
We can’t explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern. And so, you know, I think that people still take seriously trying to investigate and figure out what that is.”
We can’t explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern. And so, you know, I think that people still take seriously trying to investigate and figure out what that is.”
- Former U.S. President Barack Obama on the Late Late Show
July 26, 2023
July 26, 2023
The Senate Hearing on UAP
David Grusch an intelligence officer with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency comes forward as a whistleblower charging that the US government has been concealing the existence of “non-human intelligence” or NHI on planet earth.
According to Grusch there is a secret program "retrieving non-human origin technical vehicles, exotic origin, that have either landed or crashed”
Grusch, as a lead on the UAP task force, was restricted from viewing anything further on these projects. He was approached by several officials with the required levels of clearance who shared key details of the projects and expressed their growing concern. Grusch goes on to insinuate we have alien bodies: “when you recover something that’s either landed or crashed sometimes you recover dead pilots”.
MORE TO COME
...