Then & Now

ThenFrom 1947 to 1968 the FBI kept a running file on flying discs: eyewitness accounts, photos from sites like Oak Ridge, even propulsion proposals. The copy on the FBI Vault has more redactions and some pages missing.

NowThe complete case file is out, with several newly declassified pages and only minor redactions.

Then209 reports of green orbs, discs and fireballs near Sandia Base, in files kept by the Manhattan Project’s postwar successor. Witnesses said some maneuvered or exploded, and residual copper powder was investigated where some were seen. A few of the investigations became the basis for Project Grudge.

NowThe full 116-page file is public in one place.

ThenManhattan Project scientists met over months of “green fireballs” near the lab. No consensus: Edward Teller floated an “electron phenomenon,” and meteor expert Lincoln LaPaz said nothing like it had been seen in meteorite drops.

NowThe conference transcript is public.

ThenOutlining the Air Force’s reorganized UFO investigation, Captain Edward J. Ruppelt says about 20% of some 800 cases stayed unexplained, with reports concentrated around nuclear sites and radar speeds of 1,000–3,500 mph.

NowThe recording itself can be heard: Boston, March 26, 1952.

ThenA Navy warrant officer who specialized in photography films 12 to 14 bright objects near Tremonton. Early Air Force reviews couldn’t identify them; later ones leaned toward seabirds reflecting sunlight.

NowThe National Archives print is digitized, and an AARO comment sorts out the film’s history, a 16mm Kodachrome original later blown up to 35mm. Still no conclusive identification.

ThenNovember 1964, near Puerto Rico: radar aboard the destroyer USS Gyatt tracks a contact above 3,800 knots (about 4,373 mph) for 21 minutes, with an F-8 Crusader pilot on scene.

NowThe CIA memos and the briefing prepared for the Director’s executive assistant are released.

ThenPhotos from the Apollo 12 landing site. Looking through the lunar module’s telescope, Alan Bean described particles and flashes of light “escaping the Moon.”

NowAn archival photo is re-released with five areas of unidentified phenomena marked for viewers, without any conclusion drawn.

ThenThree dots in a triangle in the lunar sky, released before and discussed by observers, with no consensus about what they are.

NowThe Department of War has opened a case. Preliminary analysis suggests the feature is potentially the result of a physical object, and the original mission film has been obtained for a full NASA and DoW analysis.

Then1996: likely military infrared footage of an object crossing the sensor’s view in about three seconds, then replayed frame by frame.

NowThe Navy’s UAP Task Force handed it to AARO in 2022, and it is released as unresolved. The file notes it was digitally altered before it was reported, when no formal handling for such records existed.