As
happens so often, I’m working on one project and get diverted to another. This
time I was looking through the Project Blue Book file index and noticed that many
of the reports were labeled as “case missing.” There was a solution attached to
the sightings, but, of course the index told me nothing of the case.
I
made a quick count, and given that there are a couple of pages missing in the
copy of the index that I have, and given that the notations are sometimes
obscured and some of the pages are barely readable, my count isn’t the most
accurate. It does, however, reveal a trend that is somewhat alarming.
 |
| Part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, one time how to Project Blue Book. Photo courtesy of USAF. |
By
my count, there are over 300 cases that are missing. Most have cards in the
files with a little information on them… but this does demonstrate some of the
rather sloppy gathering of information that went on… or maybe just suggests
that some of those working at Blue Book over the years weren’t as careful as
they might have been.
Sure,
I know what you’re thinking. Just what were these cases?
I
went through a couple of the microfilms to see what the project cards had
listed so that we all would have an idea about them. Following is a sample of
what I found.
On
December 26, 1956, in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, the witnesses, who were
civilians and military, watched a white, egg-shaped object with a red tinge
around the edges. It was the size of a small grapefruit. It flashed with a very
bright red light that was around a tenth of the size of the object. It was in
sight for fifteen to twenty-five minutes.
An
unidentified officer noted on the project card, “Concur with the reporting
officer that sighting caused by a/c. Although there was a helicopter in the
area and the details of the sighting indicate that this was the cause, the
helicopter landed ten minutes before the object disappeared. However, time in
sight might have been incorrectly estimated. Therefore, prob [sic] aircraft is
evaluation of this sight[ing].”
The
details are somewhat sparse but the report seems to indicate that the object
looked to be the size of a small grapefruit rather than actually being that
small. I’m a little amused that the “concurring officer,” whoever he might have
been, tells us that the sighting was caused by an aircraft because there was a
helicopter in the area, but adds that the helicopter landed before the object
disappeared. Seems to be a bit contradictory to me.
However,
it is fair to note, without knowing more about this case, and basing it only on
the few lines on the project card, that it is difficult to argue with the
conclusion. But then it is difficult to believe that one or more of these
witnesses (and I deduced there was more than one based on the “source,” which
was labeled as civilian and military), wouldn’t have been able to identify the
object had it been that helicopter.
In
another of those missing cases, that would have sent me on still another
diversion a couple of years ago, we learn that on January 27, 1957, near
Hellenburg, Germany, a civilian witness said that he (yes, I’m assuming the
witness was male based on the period of the sighting, meaning more than half a
century ago) saw a bell-shaped object that was intense black-white [and yes, it
says that on the card] with a fiery red trail… [It] was observed for only 3
- 4 seconds. Exploded before it hit the
ground.”
In
the comments section, an officer wrote, “Everything here suggests that the
object was, without a doubt, a bolide (fireball). See Dr. Olivier’s and Dr. La
Paz rpts [reports].”
While
it is probably a meteor and even with the officer writing that it was
identified without a doubt, the case I labeled as “Probably Astronomical.” I
just find that a little funny. And those reports by Olivier and La Paz were nowhere
to be found as the index suggested.
The
last one I’ll mention here is from Georgetown, Massachusetts, on February 8,
1957. The source is listed as a civilian and a FBI report (yes, a FBI report is
listed as a source), which is somewhat curious. The summary said, “A very
lengthy report to the FBI, which outlines a number of theories concerning
‘flying saucers,’ makes only brief mention of a UFO sighting. A few days after
reading books by so-called UFO experts Scully and Keyhow [sic] source ‘saw a
group of saucers.’…”
According
to the comments, “Only the date is firmly established. Files show no reports of
any strange or unusual objects for that particular date or area. Source is
obviously a strong believer in ‘saucers’ which may have colored his very
limited report.”
This
case is somewhat revealing, providing clues about the thought processes at Blue
Book. Their search of the files was only a search of the Air Force files at
Blue Book and if a case was not in their files, then it simply didn’t exist, at
least to them.
In
searching the databases available to me in 2018, I found a listing that
suggested that this as a disk-shaped object, but the source for that
information was the Blue Book files. There is no indication on the project card
of what shape the objects might have had. It only mentions saucers and that it
was a daylight sighting.
Of
course, with my access to many additional databases, I carried the search a
little further but I wasn’t able to find anything more on the sighting, which
is to say, that I didn’t find anything. Something might be there, especially
for those who can access newspaper files. I did try the Black Vault, but could
find nothing relating to this particular case there either.
I
will note here, that most of the cases that are labeled as missing are of the
same caliber, which means that I attach no significance to the fact they are
missing. The problem is probably more related to sloppiness rather than
attempting to hide anything because if you were hiding something, you wouldn’t
list it in the index, noting that it was missing.
This
rather quick survey, which allowed me to see some other things, is that many of
the early cases were, in fact, classified. I found nothing listed as “top
secret,” but there were many listed as “secret,” or “restricted,” and later as
“confidential,” when the classification system was reorganized. Later, most of
the files were not classified at all unless there was a national security
aspect to them. That normally related to collection methods, though in the
Belt, Montana case in 1967, the intrusion of a UFO over missile silos had
national security implications.
The
significance here is probably that some 300 cases are missing, but the cases
themselves don’t seem to be all that important. It shows that those at Blue
Book weren’t taking this seriously. They had reached a conclusion, or it might
be said that their superiors had reached a conclusion, and they weren’t going
to do anything to suggest those superiors might be wrong.
One
thought did cross my mind. When there were inspections of their operation, and
there would be inspections, how did they explain the missing cases? Could they
just blame the earlier administrations… or did the inspectors, knowing the
overall opinion of UFOs, just ignore the missing cases? There is nothing to
suggest the missing cases were classified, and given that, there probably wouldn’t
have been repercussions.
Anyway,
this was something that I discovered that I found to be somewhat amusing. I
thought I would share it.
