Anyone Ever Spot a UFO?

There can be many legends in a family and one just might be a relative seeing a UFO (unidentified flying object). Actually from 1947 to 1969, a total of 12,618 sightings were reported to the U. S. Air Force ‘Project BLUE BOOK’. Of these 701 remain “Unidentified.” The project was headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and records kept in the National Archives in Washington, D. C.

Those records in paper form and on microfilm have been declassified and the records are available for examination at the National Archives. Also with this collection are any photos taken by the military or civilians of these UFOs.

Now online with ‘Black Vault‘ are the digital records from Project Blue Book, available for anyone to investigate. The material is divided by decades – the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Approximately 129,491 pages, with more than 10,000 cases come from the Project Blue Book.

You can use a Search tab at the top or explore by decades. Click on a decades such as the 1940s and you will see two long rows of a full date and a location. Remember you would not search by a surname, but a name might be mentioned occasionally. Just scanning some of the locations of reported UFOs will fascinate you. There are also some overseas locations like Finland.

Click on one of interest and a PDF file will open up. Use the scroll down arrows that appear at the center bottom of the page – move the mouse cursor over the bottom and it will appear. You can save to your computer the whole file.

Many of these files include newspaper articles of the times and interviews with those who spotted the UFO. This is where an ancestor’s name may appear. Some have drawings by witnesses of the flying craft and how it flew about in the sky.

Doing a search keep the keywords basis, such as a city or state location. Again doing a surname may not have too many results. The best to check in hometowns for any interesting UFO events.

Photos:  A photo of a UFO in 1963 in New Mexico, a document of a UFO in 1949 and a drawing of a UFO in 1950.

Related FamilyTree.com genealogy blogs:

Historical Events during Ancestor’s Lifestyles

Your Life Story