How the record is kept

Disclosed puts every UAP report we are allowed to publish on one map, and gives the landmark cases, the Pentagon's files, the hearings and the people their own pages. Every case shows what officials concluded and the strongest ordinary reading; every claim shows whether it held up.

Where the data comes from

8,811 reports on the map, by source. 467 curated and Pentagon records also have a case page.

GEIPAN, France3,381Its reuse licence could not be confirmed, so we show facts only (date, place and GEIPAN's class, A to D) and link every record to GEIPAN. None of its text is reproduced.
UK Ministry of Defence and Argentina3,258UK: the Open Government Licence covers the extracted fields; page images need permission, so we show fields only and link to The National Archives. Argentina (CIAE, Fuerza Aérea Argentina): CC BY 4.0, used with attribution, witness photos excluded.
Project Blue Book1,752From Brad Sparks's catalogue. The facts are free; his wording and selection are his. We show facts only (date, place, shape, the official verdict) and link to the National Archives.
Pentagon PURSUE files218US government work, public domain, used in full. 448 files across 6 releases so far; every file links to its original on war.gov or DVIDS.
Curated cases202Our own research and writing, with the official explanation and the strongest ordinary reading for each case.

Not used: NUFORC, whose terms discourage redistribution, and the Chilean files, whose site does not allow automated access. Map data from OpenFreeMap and OpenStreetMap contributors.

What the verdicts mean

A claim is something a person said on camera or a file states. It is recorded as said, with its timestamp, and only gets a verdict once we have checked it against outside sources. Credentials are treated the same way: a title is a claim until a source outside the videos confirms it.

Supported: Outside sources we could check confirm the claim as stated.
Contested: Outside sources disagree with each other, or confirm one part of the claim and contradict another.
Refuted: Outside sources show the claim is wrong as stated.
Unfalsifiable: No observation could confirm or rule it out, so it cannot be checked.
Unverified: Not checked yet. It is listed because it was said, not because it is true.

What the case assessments mean

Each case carries one assessment, the same colour on the map and on its page.

Explained: An ordinary cause is established on the record.
Contested: An ordinary explanation exists, but the evidence for it is disputed.
Unexplained: No ordinary explanation fits the evidence on the record.
Insufficient data: Too little evidence survives to judge either way.
Not assessed: We have not rated it yet. Most Pentagon file incidents are here: the file is published as released.

Evidence strength

A separate four-step rating of how much evidence stands behind a report, whatever it turned out to be. Sensor records, several independent witnesses and official documents raise it. The bars count the 467 case pages at each step.

None87 casesNothing beyond the account itself.

Weak324 casesOne witness or one sensor, or a record with gaps.

Moderate53 casesIndependent witnesses, or a sensor record that backs the account.

Strong3 casesSeveral sensors and trained witnesses, with official documents.

Videos and transcripts

Each video page carries our summary, the chapters, every claim with its timestamp and a short quote, and the verdicts we have reached. The videos themselves stay on YouTube and play from there only when you ask.

Transcripts are never published.

Corrections

If a fact, a date or a verdict here is wrong, we want to know. Corrections: write to the editors.