Culture and science
The books that shaped how the public sees UFOs. 176 events, newest first.
Close encounters22 Apr 1967
University of Arizona atmospheric physicist James E. McDonald told the American Society of Newspaper Editors that the UFO problem had been mishandled for years. He blamed a 1953 CIA-sponsored panel's recommendation for a debunking effort and said Project Blue Book had been downgraded.
Photo: United States Government, Public domain
Close encounters25 Jan 1967
Betty Andreasson said small beings entered her home on a January 1967 evening after a power loss and a glow outside. Her detailed account emerged years later under hypnosis in a study led by Raymond Fowler, whose 1979 book popularized it. Skeptics suggest fantasy; no physical evidence was produced.
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0
Media1967
Researcher Ted Bloecher privately published a compilation of newspaper accounts from the summer 1947 flying saucer wave. NICAP describes it as the work he is best known for in UFO research.
Sightings15 Nov 1966
Two couples told police they saw a man-sized winged creature with red eyes near the TNT area outside Point Pleasant; local papers covered it for weeks. John Keel's 1975 book later tied the reports to UFOs and the Silver Bridge collapse. It remains folklore.
Photo: USACE, Public domain
Government5 May 1966
The Library of Congress Legislative Reference Service issued a report by Robert L. Chartrand, assisted by William F. Brown, summarizing UFO reports, Air Force monitoring under Project Blue Book and public reaction. It came weeks after the April 1966 House Armed Services hearing on UFOs.
Photo: William Henry Jackson, Public domain
Sightings17 Apr 1966
Portage County deputies Dale Spaur and Wilbur Neff said they chased a bright object from near Ravenna about 85 miles into Pennsylvania before dawn; officers elsewhere reported it too. Blue Book chief Hector Quintanilla attributed it partly to Venus, an answer the deputies and others disputed.
Photo: Project Blue Book, Public domain
Government5 Apr 1966
The House Armed Services Committee held an open hearing on UFOs with Air Force Secretary Harold Brown, Blue Book consultant J. Allen Hynek and Maj. Hector Quintanilla. Brown said an advisory board found no threat and urged contracts with universities to study selected sightings.
Photo: United States Department of Defense, Public domain
GovernmentMar 1966
An ad hoc committee of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board chaired by Brian O'Brien reviewed Project Blue Book and recommended a university-based scientific study of UFO reports. That recommendation led to the University of Colorado project headed by Edward Condon.
Media1966
Journalist John G. Fuller published The Interrupted Journey, a book written with Betty and Barney Hill's cooperation that told their 1961 experience and hypnosis sessions. It brought the idea of alien abduction to a wide audience.
Government1966
University of Arizona atmospheric physicist James McDonald began an intensive study of UFO reports and visited Wright-Patterson AFB to review Air Force UFO files. He later told a House symposium the files surprised him and changed his views.
Media1966
Jacques and Janine Vallee published 'Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma' with Regnery in Chicago. The book analyzed patterns in UFO reports by place, time and object type, and Kirkus called it the most rational of that year's UFO books.
Photo: Cmichel67, CC BY-SA 4.0
Media1966
Journalist John G. Fuller published 'Incident at Exeter', a book-length account of the 1965 police and civilian sightings around Exeter, New Hampshire, and of other reports from that period.
Photo: United States Air Force, Public domain
Media1966
Holden-Day published Intelligent Life in the Universe, Carl Sagan's expanded translation of a book by Soviet astronomer I. S. Shklovskii. It weighed the odds of life elsewhere, radio contact, and claims of past alien visits to Earth.
Photo: A. T. Service, CC BY-SA 3.0
Close encounters25 Oct 1965
The Boston Traveler began a five-day series by reporter John H. Luttrell, opening on its front page, on the Hills' claim that they were taken aboard a craft in 1961. The Hills had not consented; the series made them nationally known and preceded John G. Fuller's book on the case.
Sightings23 Oct 1965
Jerry Townsend, a 19-year-old KEYL radio announcer, said his car died on Highway 27 near Long Prairie beside a tall rocket-like object and small figures. The sheriff reported odd marks on the road. Project Blue Book listed the case as 'psychological', apparently without a field investigation.
Photo: Myotus, CC BY 4.0
Military7 Oct 1965
Edwards Air Force Base reported about a dozen moving lights over the base on October 7, 1965; an F-106 was scrambled and found nothing. About 40 minutes of a six-hour recording of the night's radio and phone traffic were declassified when Blue Book closed.
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
Sightings3 Sep 1965
Brazoria County deputies Billy McCoy and Robert Goode said a huge dark object with a bright purple light came close to their patrol car near Damon, Texas. An Ellington AFB officer interviewed them and called them credible, and Project Blue Book listed the case as unidentified.
Photo: Djmaschek, CC BY-SA 3.0
Close encounters23 Apr 1965
George Adamski, the best-known 1950s contactee, died of a heart attack in Maryland at 74. His claims of meeting Venusians and his saucer photographs had been dismissed by investigators, including Blue Book consultant J. Allen Hynek, who called the photos crude fakes.
Photo: Unknown (likely a Buffalo Evening News or press photo), Public domain
Media1965
Astronomer and computer scientist Jacques Vallee published Anatomy of a Phenomenon, which classified historical and modern UFO reports and argued they deserved systematic analysis. Kirkus called it a usable manual of analytical methods for general readers.
Photo: Christopher Michel, CC BY-SA 4.0
MediaJul 1964
NICAP released The UFO Evidence, edited by Richard Hall, which selected 746 reports from more than 5,000, favoring qualified and multiple witnesses. Copies went to congressional leaders and then to every member of Congress.
Photo: CBS, "The Mike Wallace Interview" 1958 March 8, Public domain
Sightings24 Apr 1964
Socorro police officer Lonnie Zamora reported a shiny oval object and a roaring flame in a gully, then found burned brush and ground marks. Blue Book chief Hector Quintanilla called it the best-documented case on record, and it stayed unidentified.
Photo: Project Blue Book, Public domain
Media1963
Harvard astronomer Donald Menzel and Lyle Boyd published 'The World of Flying Saucers' with Doubleday, Menzel's second skeptical UFO book. It argued that reports from Kenneth Arnold onward could be explained by natural phenomena, misperception and atmospheric effects.
Photo: Fdavis99 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Military1963
Hector Quintanilla succeeded Lt. Col. Robert Friend at the Air Force's Project Blue Book and led it until it closed in December 1969, through the Socorro case and the 1966 Michigan sightings. His later unpublished memoir defended the Air Force's handling of reports.
Photo: U.S. Air Force, Public domain
Military1 Jul 1961
The Air Force replaced its Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center with the new Foreign Technology Division under Air Force Systems Command at Wright-Patterson. Project Blue Book records from then until the end of 1969 are filed under FTD's Aerial Phenomena Branch.
Photo: AF Historical Research Agency, Public domain
Military15 Sep 1960
Edward J. Ruppelt, the Air Force officer who led the UFO project during the 1952 wave and later wrote a book about it, died of a heart attack on September 15, 1960, at age 37.
Photo: Associated Press, Public domain
