Man starts real life X-files website with trove of declassified UFO files
John Greenewald wants to believe.
So he spent nearly two decades filing Freedom of Information Act requests to gain access to the federal government’s files on UFOs and other mysterious phenomena, which he’s compiled in a newly launched website where users can search and view thousands of declassified records.
Named Project Blue Book after the Air Force’s scientific study to identify the origin of UFO sightings in the 1950s, the database offers 12,618 reports of strange sightings, of which 701 remain “unidentified.”
The Air Force discontinued its UFO program in 1985, when it determined, with an air of finality, that “no UFO reported, investigated and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security [and] there has been no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as ‘unidentified’ are extraterrestrial vehicles.”
They weren’t always so confident. In 1952 the Pentagon actually considered classifying UFOs as a national security threat after a flurry of sights were reported in Washington, D.C. — an event known as the “Washington flap” or the “Washington National Airport Sightings.” Notably, that case — as well as the famous sightings in Roswell — were not declassified to Greenewald’s website, despite requests for all UFO sightings.
Still, the Project Blue Book does provide a bunch of other bizarre accounts of unidentified objects flying through the skies — enough to reawaken the average sci-fi fan’s inner Fox Mulder. Here’s a couple clips of sightings from the database, offering a sampling of what awaits you if you plunge into the reports.