The UFO Investigator Starter Kit
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTRIBUTING
If you’d like to contribute links or new information to this starter kit, here are the instructions:
- Clone the repository. The repository is here.
- Make a branch, make and commit changes to index.md, then submit a pull request.
- Your pull request will be reviewed and, if accepted, will be merged to the master repository, converted to HTML, and published.
- If you simply want to contribute a link or two but don’t want to use Github, post the link to Twitter and mention @ufodisclosurewb
PURPOSE
This document is for:
- people new to the topic who want a solid foundation at the start of their search for answers
- skeptics who should consider that the answers aren’t as simple as a single Google search or a mere day of topic perusal
- journalists who want a primer on the history of the phenomenon
- government leaders, representatives, fact finders, aides, bureaucrats
- military rank-and-file, leaders, and investigators new to the topic
This is just a beginning with a few major concepts outlined in brief. If you don’t know what something is, search it out to get more detail. Any included links are meant only as starting points and examples, not as the “final word” on anything.
You may count yourself in the camp of the skeptics. That’s fine. Just don’t make the mistake of not questioning your own skepticism as more evidence comes to light. As Herbert Spencer once said,
There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – that principle is contempt prior to investigation.
The reader is encouraged to do their own investigation and come to their own conclusions.
SECTIONS
- UNCLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS
- PROJECTS AND COMMITTEES
- CONGRESSIONAL STATEMENTS AND ACTIONS
- REPORTS
- TESTIMONIES OF HIGHLY-CREDIBLE OBSERVERS
- MASS SIGHTINGS
- TANGIBLE EVIDENCES
- BOOKS
- VIDEOS AND PODCASTS
- DOCUMENTARIES
- RESEARCH AND MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS
- NEWS COVERAGE
- INDIVIDUAL RESEARCHERS AND INFLUENCERS
- DISINFORMATION AGENTS AND CAMPAIGNS
- THEORIES OF ORIGINS
- CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AND ABDUCTIONS
- RELIGIONS AND ANCIENT CULTURE
- OTHER TIMELINES AND MEGALISTS
- MISCELLANEOUS EVIDENCES
UNCLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS
Start here. You’ll see these referenced a lot in both good UFO books and bad. It’s important to know what the documents say and don’t say first so that you can filter author opinions from reality. That also goes for opinions of any skeptics reading this. The documents don’t exist in a vacuum. Indeed, if nothing like the craft that UFOs represent exists, then why do these documents exist at all? There’s a history before, during, and after their creation that is important to pay attention to in order to fully understand what they mean and what they’re saying/not saying.
Note: Just because something is unclassified doesn’t mean there was no good reason to classify it initially. If you read the documents, you’ll find a number of places where the information that justified its classification is either redacted for privacy or defense concerns, or is so outdated as to no longer require classification for the government’s purposes. Also, there’s the problem of deception by omission. We don’t know for sure what is missing from these archives. But there are some context clues if you read between the lines.
- NSA UFO Documents Index
- CIA CREST: 25-Year Program Archive
- CIA UFOs: Fact or Fiction?
- FBI Records An Historic Declassification
- FBI Records: The Vault: UFO
- National Archives: Project BLUE BOOK - Unidentified Flying Objects
- National Archives: Do Records Show Proof of UFOs?
PROJECTS AND COMMITTEES
The following projects and committees produced large amounts of classified and unclassified documentation, reports, studies, and other media on UFOs. They are referenced in numerous books and other publications about UFOs. It’s important to know their names, timelines, players, and conclusions when consuming the materials they produced.
- NASA Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Study
- Project Sign
- Project Grudge
- Project Blue Book
- Condon Committee
- Advanced Aerospace Thread Identification Program (AATIP)
- Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS)
- Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Applications Program (AAWSAP)
- Audio of events and interviews around key UFO projects and committees
CONGRESSIONAL STATEMENTS AND ACTIONS
- Archive of U.S. Congressional Statements & Actions on UAP, with Transparency Ratings
- Timeline of U.S. Congressional Action on UAP (2007 to Present)
REPORTS
Key Reports
The Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) was approved by Deputy Secretary of Defense David L. Norquist on August 4, 2020. It is led by the Department of the Navy under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. The link below is the preliminary assessment report published on June 25, 2021.
Historical Reports
Much of the rest of this list comes from Richard Dolan’s excellent roundup. Read his summaries on them, but also read the documents themselves. Look for the logic in writing and hiding so much on something that was later considered by top brass to be nothing more than “mass hysteria” or “weather phenomena”. But then even later admitted to be real and problematic for pilots.
- The 1947 Twining Memo
- 1949 FBI Memo
- 1951 USAF Intelligence Report
- The Robertson Panel
- The Chadwell Memo of December 2, 1952
- 1954 Maxwell AFB Emergency Report
- Intrusion at Minot Air Force Base, 1966
- Malmstrom AFB 1967
- Wurtsmith Air Force Base, 1975
- The Amazing Encounter over Tehran in 1976
- The 1981 Halt Memo
- U.S. Coast Guard Encounter with a UFO, 1988
- UFOs Over Belgium, 1989-1990
- Physical Evidence Related to UFO Reports: The Proceedings of a Workshop Held at the Pocantico Conference Center, Tarrytown, New York, September 29 - October 4,1997
- The Wilson Memo, see also The Ultimate Breakdown of the Admiral Wilson Leaks
- The UFO Evidence (NICAP)
- “UFO Files”, by UFO researcher Emma Best (@NatSecGeek on Twitter), contains a list of raw document files from projects in various countries from the United States to France to Panama.
- The Pentagon 1997 UFO Briefing as compiled by Giuliano Marinkovic
TESTIMONIES OF HIGHLY CREDIBLE OBSERVERS
- Watch “The Gimbal UAP/UFO Event”
- Read “Strange Skies: Pilot Encounters With UFOs”
- Read “UFOs & Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites”
- Watch “Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation” with Navy pilot David Fravor
- Watch Robert Wood and William Tompkins discuss the Apollo 11 first-hand witness of alien ships along a lunar crater and other phenomena from the moon landing
- Various audio clips from military, aviation, and scientist witness accounts
- Read “UFOs and nukes – One man’s investigation into incidents the government never wanted public”
MASS SIGHTINGS
- Foo Fighters, 1944
- Kenneth Arnold, et. al., 1947
- Roswell NM, 1947
- Aztec NM, 1948
- Lubbock Lights, 1951
- Washington, D.C., 1952
- Levelland, 1957
- Tehran, 1976
- UFOs and nuclear facilities, 1948-1980s
- Rendlesham Forest, 1980
- Hessdalen Lights, 1981, see documentary at https://youtu.be/1KuCu8I_mUg
- Japan Airlines Flight 1628, 1986
- UFOs Over Belgium, 1989-1990
- The Westall UFO encounter, 1989
- The Phoenix Lights, 1997, 19th anniversary coverage, 2014 AZ Governor Fife Symington interview
- St. Claire, Illinois Flying Triangle, 2000 - Documentary Part 1, Documentary Part 2
- The Lights Above the New Jersey Turnpike, 2001
- The USS Nimitz Encounter, 2004, “The Tale of the Tape”
- The Chicago O’Hare UFO, 2006
- The Stephenville Sightings, 2008, see also Air Force Alters Texas UFO Explanation
- The USS Roosevelt Encounter, 2015
- East Coast GO FAST Video, 2015
TANGIBLE EVIDENCES
- USS Nimitz and USS Roosevelt videos (confirmed as real UAP by the Pentagon and not hoaxes or explainable objects)
- Various metamaterials from crash recoveries examined in the past or currently under examination
- Crop circles worldwide
- Praetoria, South Africa, 1965
- Valensole, France, 1965
- Val Johnson UFO Incident, 1979
- Rendlesham Forest, 1980
- Rosedale, Victoria, Australia, 1980
- Ubatuba, Brazil, 1957
BOOKS
- “Identified Flying Objects: A Multidisciplinary Scientific Approach to the UFO Phenomenon” by Dr. Michael P. Masters
- “UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record” by Leslie Kean
- “Inside The Black Vault: The Government’s UFO Secrets Revealed” by John Greenewald, Jr.
- “The Thinking Person’s UFO Book” by Richard Dolan and Gordon Chism
- “UFOs and the National Security State: Chronology of a Cover-Up, 1941-1973” by Richard Dolan
- “UFOs and the National Security State: The Cover-Up Exposed, 1973-1991” by Richard Dolan
- “A.D. After Disclosure: When the Government Finally Reveals the Truth About Alien Contact” by Richard Dolan
- “UFOs for the 21st Century Mind: A Fresh Guide to an Ancient Mystery” by Richard Dolan
- “The FBI-CIA-UFO Connection: The Hidden UFO Activities of USA Intelligence Agencies” by Bruce Maccabee, Ph.D.
- “Project Disclosure: Revealing Government Secrets and Breaking the Truth Embargo (Conspiracies and Cover-Ups)” by Richard Dolan and Bryce Zabel
- “Triangular UFOs: An Estimate of the Situation” by David Marler
- “UFOs, Area 51, and Government Informants: A Report on Government Involvment in UFO Crash Retrievals” by Grant Cameron
- “The Aztec UFO Incident: The Case, Evidence, and Elaborate Cover-up of One of the Most Perplexing Crashes in History” by Scott and Suzanne Ramsey, Frank Thayer Ph.D., and Stanton Friedman
- “Above Top Secret” by Timothy Good
- “Messengers of Deception” by Jacques Vallee
- “The Invisible College: What a Group of Scientists Has Discovered about UFO Influence on the Human Race” by Jacques Vallee
- “Unconventional Flying Objects” by Paul R. Hill
VIDEOS AND PODCASTS
- Aviator John Lear talks flying saucers at Groom Lake, UFO disclosure, Bob Lazar & Area 51
- Massive spreadsheet list of podcasts, video, and media coverage about the Phenomenon
DOCUMENTARIES
- The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch - Docuseries - Multiple Seasons
- Ross Coulthart UFOs Aug 21, 2022
- Extraordinary: The Seeding
- Anonymous Interview
- Patient Seventeen
- Bob Lazar
- Hunt for the Skinwalker
- I Know What I Saw
- The Phenomenon
- Does the Gimbal UFO Craft Self Rotate?
- The Man Who Filmed the Tic Tac UFO
- The Gimbal UFO/UAP Event
RESEARCH AND MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS
- Brandon Fugal and the Skinwalker Ranch team
- Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS or JAHCUFOS)
- International UFO Congress (IUFOC)
- Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)
- National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC)
- To the Stars Academy (TTSA), plus Timeline of TTSA organization
- The Black Vault
- The Debrief
- MysteryWire
- Extraordinary Beliefs
- Comprehensive list
- Open Sky Network: Live Radar
- NATS Airspace Explorer
- MADAR: Magnetic Radar
- SkyHub.org, see example footage
NEWS COVERAGE AND OPINION ARTICLES SINCE DECEMBER 2017
The demarcation line for these “starter kit” articles is December 2017 onward, from when the New York Times broke the story about AATIP until now, in reverse chronological order. Other articles may be added from earlier for reference, but this is “what matters most”, currently, in terms of legitimizing and destigmatizing the topic. Prior articles were always plausibly deniable given that the government hadn’t yet seen fit to release (or allow to leak) materials with unbroken chains of custody or to acknowledge these craft exist. Older stories are now of much more worth given recent developments. Whenever possible, stories below are linked according to free availability (no paywall).
- Military whistleblower claims US has UFO retrieval program - 5 Jun 2023
- Congressional Hearings on UAP: Four Surprises That Came Up During Tuesday’s House Panel - 19 May 2022
- The Hidden History of How Washington Embraced UFOs - 28 May 2021
- Obama on UFOs: ‘There’s footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are’ - 18 May 2021
- “60 Minutes” segment on UAP - 16 May 2021
- Pentagon Confirms Leaked Video Showing “Transmedium” UFO is Authentic - 14 May 2021
- The Pentagon confirmed that a video showing a triangular UFO is real and taken by the US Navy - 16 April 2021
- No Longer in Shadows, Pentagon’s U.F.O. Unit Will Make Some Findings Public - 23 July 2020
- We Can Handle the Truth: Why Now Is the Perfect Time to End the UFO Cover-Up - 8 June 2020
- The Truth Is (Still) Out There - 15 May 2020
- Navy Reports Describe Encounters With Unexplained Flying Objects - 14 May 2020
- Navy Pilot Who Filmed the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO Speaks: ‘It Wasn’t Behaving by the Normal Laws of Physics’ - 19 December 2019
- UFOs in Virginia Beach? Navy pilots report sightings near Oceana. - 30 May 2019
- Navy Pilots Were Seeing UFOs on an Almost Daily Basis in 2014 and 2015: Report - 27 May 2019
- ‘Wow, What Is That?’ Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects - 26 May 2019
- UFO sightings: U.S. Navy drafts guidelines to report - 25 April 2019
- U.S. Navy drafting new guidelines for reporting UFOs - 23 April 2019
- 2 Navy Airmen and an Object That ‘Accelerated Like Nothing I’ve Ever Seen’ - 16 Dec 2017
- Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program - 16 December 2017
INDIVIDUAL RESEARCHERS AND INFLUENCERS
- Richard Dolan
- Bryce Zabel
- George Knapp
- Leonard Stringfield
- Steve Mera
- Hal Puthoff, Ph.D.
- Alexander Wendt
- Leslie Kean
- Robert Bigelow
- Dr. David Jacobs
- What’s Up With UFOs? Tom Curren and Sean Esbjörn-Hargens
DISINFORMATION AGENTS AND CAMPAIGNS
- Aerial Phenomena Enquiry Network (APEN)
- Bill Nye
- Corey Goode and David Wilcock
- Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI)
- Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR)
- Richard C. Doty
- Mick West
- Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- Phillip Klass
- Steven Greenstreet
- Read “Mirage Men: A Journey into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs” by Mark Pilkington
THEORIES OF ORIGINS
Fermi’s Paradox attributed to Enrico Fermi but initially written about by Hart, Michael H. (1975). “Explanation for the Absence of Extraterrestrials on Earth”. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 16: 128–135. Bibcode:1975QJRAS..16..128H http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1975QJRAS..16..128H
The “Zoo Hypothesis” by John A. Ball https://www.haystack.mit.edu/hay/staff/jball/etiy.pdf, see also https://arxiv.org/pdf/1608.08770.pdf and https://www.technologyreview.com/2016/09/06/157713/galactic-model-simulates-how-et-civilizations-could-be-deliberately-avoiding-earth/
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AND ABDUCTIONS
RELIGIONS AND ANCIENT CULTURE
- Egypt and The Great Pyramid
- Nazca Lines
- Puma Punku
- Mayans
- Sumerians
- Native Americans