Government1987

MJ-12 documents surface; officials find them bogus

When: 1987
Sources: 3 public sources

A page of the 'Majestic 12' papers as held in FBI files; the FBI judged the document bogus Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Papers describing 'Majestic 12', a supposed 1947 committee handling a Roswell crash, were published by UFO researchers in 1987. The FBI closed an inquiry after learning the document was 'completely bogus', and the National Archives found no record of it beyond an unrelated 1954 memo.

Sources

OfficialProject BLUE BOOK - Unidentified Flying Objects (includes reference report on Majestic 12) (opens in a new tab)U.S. National Archives
OfficialFBI File: Majestic-12 (opens in a new tab)FBI (copy hosted by The Black Vault)
OtherThe Secret History of Majestic 12 (opens in a new tab)Skeptoid

How sources are chosen and tiered

How the story came out

Happened 1987. First made public 9 years later (1996).

1987It happened (this event)
1996Stanton Friedman publishes 'Top Secret/Majic' - first made public

See it on the timeline: happened vs became public

Where it fits

Earlier in GovernmentJAL Flight 162817 Nov 1986 Later in GovernmentSturrock's analysis of the Condon Report1987

See it on the timeline More in Government