Released FBI files reference UFOs

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unveiled The Vault, a new electronic reading room, on their website last week. The Vault currently contains more than 2,000 digitized documents that are available for public browsing. Some of these files contain references to UFOs.

One document that is getting attention from the media is a March 22, 1950 memo from Guy Hottel, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, concerning flying saucers that was sent to the FBI’s director. As Fox News explained, the memo states, “An investigator for the Air Force stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico . . . They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed flyers and test pilots.” While this memo simply shows Hottel relaying details provided by a third party, it is still noteworthy that such details are present in an FBI memo.

Another UFO file contained in the FBI’s digitized documents relates to a UFO that exploded over Utah in 1949. The Daily Mail details the FBI cable that describes how “an army guard, a policeman and a highway patrol, who were all miles apart, each saw a UFO, which they said exploded over mountains near Logan, north of Salt Lake City.”

The FBI documents are available for browsing at http://vault.fbi.gov/