UFO Files from Air Force Released on the Internet

The Military Times is reporting that almost 130,000 pages of declassified UFO documents are now available online.

You can thank John Greenewald, a UFO enthusiast who spent decades filing Freedom of Information Act requests. Greenewald posted declassified records from Project Blue Book — the U.S. Air Force’s records on alleged UFO and extraterrestrial sightings — on an online database.

The Air Force project was based out of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and ran from 1947 to 1969. Through the project, the Air Force amassed a total of 12,618 recorded sightings. Out of that total, 701 incidents remain “unidentified.” A University of Colorado report called the “Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects” found that “there has been no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as ‘unidentified’ are extraterrestrial vehicles,” according to a 1985 Air Force fact sheet. Project Blue Book officially ended on Dec. 17, 1969.

The newly released documents do not shed any light on new UFO sightings, but conspiracy theorists are still fascinated. “People have this fascination when it comes to UFOs,” Greenewald told the New York Daily News. “We can have our speculation that it’s top secret, but we simply don’t know.”

One thing that might disappoint the hardcore UFO enthusiast is the “scant reference” to Roswell, New Mexico. Conspiracy theorists have claimed a UFO landing was covered up by the military in 1947.

“The Roswell location itself does make a few brief appearances in the files. The database includes a few blurry images of lights in the sky that were taken at the New Mexico location in 1949. Additionally, a 1950 document mentions airmen at Roswell reporting a “bluish-white” circular object 10 feet in diameter speed by at 8,000 feet.”