Disclosed

65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Section_001

Date
1947
Place
multiple locations nationwide, following the June 1947 Kenneth Arnold sighting, United States
Record
Pentagon file
Assessment
Not assessed
Evidence strength
467 case pages by decade; this one falls in 1940s with 30 othersAll cases

What was reported

The opening section of the FBI's flying-discs case file 62-HQ-83894, covering roughly June-August 1947. It opens with newspaper clippings (a Wisconsin priest's found metal disc, nationwide 'flying saucer' reports, unsuccessful Army intercepts) and quickly becomes a stream of field-office reports on individual sightings, several explicitly identified as pranks or fabrications (a Twin Falls, Idaho boys' hoax disc). The section's centerpiece is the correspondence establishing FBI-Army Air Forces cooperation: Army Air Corps Intelligence's Brigadier General George Schulgen asked for Bureau help, and Hoover's handwritten reply -- 'I would do it but before agreeing to it we must insist upon full access to discs recovered' -- became the condition under which the FBI agreed to assist, formalized in a Bureau Bulletin later in the file.

What officials concluded

No conclusion stated

The file gives no official explanation.

Agency
FBI
Released in

Evidence profile

Sensors1 of 9
  • Visual
  • Infrared
  • Radar
  • Video
  • Photo
  • Film
  • Audio
  • Night vision
  • Other sensor
Witnesses1 counted
  • Civilian
  • Military aircrew
  • Military ground
  • Airline crew
  • Sensor operator
  • Law enforcement
  • Scientist
  • Astronaut
  • Intelligence official
  • Other
Shapenot stated
  • Light only
  • Orb or sphere
  • Disc
  • Triangle
  • Cylinder
  • Cube
  • Other shape
Effectsnone reported
  • Physiological
  • Physical trace
  • Electromagnetic
  • Sound
  • Silent

Why this rating The sampled content is dominated by newspaper clippings, unverified phone tips and at least one confirmed hoax; no incident in the sampled pages involves more than a single visual witness, and the file's substantive content here is administrative (the Hoover-Schulgen cooperation agreement) rather than evidentiary.

As described in the file

Witnesses
Varies by incident: civilians, local police, at least one priest, and several unnamed callers reporting objects seen in the sky; see claims
Sensors
Visual

Pentagon files

1

What the file claims

4
  • Unverified

    A Wisconsin priest found a warm, hollow sheet-metal disc with internal wiring in his yard and reported it to the FBI, which the newspaper covered alongside dozens of other 1947 disc sightings nationwide.

  • Unverified

    Hoover conditioned FBI cooperation with Army Air Forces intelligence on being given full access to any recovered discs, citing a prior case where the Army denied the Bureau access.

  • Unverified

    General Schulgen assured the FBI of the Army Air Forces' full cooperation and said sighting reports had already decreased, which he attributed partly to declining publicity value.

  • Unverified

    A teenage-built model flying disc thrown into a yard in Twin Falls, Idaho was later confirmed a hoax by Army and FBI investigation.

On the map

39.80° N, 98.60° W, plotted at the centre of the country

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