Following several Freedom of Information Act requests, the U.S. Air Force released its files related to unidentified flying objects this week.
The files reveal many UFO instances that the Air Force has investigated and explained--but also a number they have not, according to USA Today.
The truth is out there — now on the Web. The fabled Project Blue Book, the Air Force's files on UFO sightings and investigations, have tantalized and frustrated extraterrestrial enthusiasts for decades. But this past week, nearly 130,000 pages of declassified UFO records—a trove that would make Agent Fox Mulder's mouth water—were put online.
UFO enthusiast John Greenewald has spent nearly two decades filing Freedom of Information Act requests for the government's files on UFOs and other phenomena. On Jan. 12, Greenewald posted the Blue Book files—as well as files on Blue Book's 1940s-era predecessors, Project Sign and Project Grudge—on his online database, The Black Vault.
Project Blue Book was based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. Between 1947 and 1969, the Air Force recorded 12,618 sightings of strange phenomena—701 of which remain "unidentified."
The Air Force concluded that none of the UFO instances provide any actual evidence of extraterrestrial life.
According to a 1985 fact sheet from Wright-Patterson, posted online by the National Archives, the Air Force decided to discontinue UFO investigations after concluding 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."
Wright-Patterson also said the Air Force has not seen any evidence that suggesting the sightings "represent technological developments or principles beyond the range of present-day scientific knowledge."
Skeptics remained unconvinced by the Air Force's statement.