Project Blue Book
January 14, 2015 10:51 AM Subscribe
Project Blue Book was an ongoing study by the US Air Force which investigated claims of UFO sightings over the course of 18 years. Now the entire results of that study are online for your viewing pleasure.
MetaFilter is blue.
It has words, like a book.
COINCIDENCE?
posted by Devonian at 10:58 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
It has words, like a book.
COINCIDENCE?
posted by Devonian at 10:58 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
I remember doing my middle school term paper on Project Blue Book and the government coverup of UFOs.
I was a weird kid...
posted by downtohisturtles at 10:58 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was a weird kid...
posted by downtohisturtles at 10:58 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I already learned everything I need to know from this important documentary.
posted by lumpenprole at 11:07 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by lumpenprole at 11:07 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
So what is the going rate on my used UFO?
posted by I-baLL at 11:09 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by I-baLL at 11:09 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
It was just bigfoot flying a kite.
posted by sammyo at 11:09 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by sammyo at 11:09 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
If there was really nothing out there why did it take so long to make these documents available? Next you are going to tell me that there Blue Book isn't just a coverup activity for Majestic 12 and their work with the Greys on colonization.
posted by vuron at 11:10 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by vuron at 11:10 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
These are fascinating documents. What a soul-bending job it must have been to take down these eyewitness reports and scour through blurry images of what is most likely a scratch on the lens or a dribble on the negative, all in the hopes of either a) discovering extraterrestrials or b) helping with the massive cover-up.
posted by chavenet at 11:11 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 11:11 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
It was never aliens, it was ghosts! The real secrets are in Project Boo Book.
posted by jason_steakums at 11:17 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jason_steakums at 11:17 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
You missed c) trying to figure out if the Russians were flying Óź-2's over Nebraska.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:18 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:18 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
A lot of the files in which the location is marked "illegible" seem, on closer inspection, quite legible.
Those are where you'll find the bases, I reckon.
posted by logicpunk at 11:18 AM on January 14, 2015
Those are where you'll find the bases, I reckon.
posted by logicpunk at 11:18 AM on January 14, 2015
I remember doing my middle school term paper on Project Blue Book and the government coverup of UFOs.
I was a weird kid...
Same here. I was also under the romantic delusion that the publishing industry wouldn't label a book "nonfiction" if it wasn't true.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:20 AM on January 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
I was a weird kid...
Same here. I was also under the romantic delusion that the publishing industry wouldn't label a book "nonfiction" if it wasn't true.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:20 AM on January 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
13 year old me would love this.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:20 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:20 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
it was ghosts!
In league with the Rand corporation and under the supervision of the reverse vampires. We're through the looking glass here, people.
posted by sobarel at 11:21 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
In league with the Rand corporation and under the supervision of the reverse vampires. We're through the looking glass here, people.
posted by sobarel at 11:21 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
Project Blue Book was also the source material for a short-lived (and for me as a 10 year old slightly nightmare-inducing) TV series.
posted by hippybear at 11:27 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 11:27 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
You have the WRONG DOCUMENTARY, Lumpenprole.
You want this one.
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 11:32 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
You want this one.
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 11:32 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
I grew up in the house that Edward Condon had lived in when he taught at CU Boulder and worked on this report. When we were redoing the attic insulation we came across some artifacts of his, a "Condon for CU Regent" sign to go on top of a car, and a pair of giant perfectly clear glass bookends, made from fragments of the first Palomar mirror.
The whole block was very spacy. Next door was a gentleman who was part of the development of large liquid hydrogen production for NIST, and the other end of the block is the intersection of Aurora and 7th... where Scott Carpenter grew up.
posted by nickggully at 11:33 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
The whole block was very spacy. Next door was a gentleman who was part of the development of large liquid hydrogen production for NIST, and the other end of the block is the intersection of Aurora and 7th... where Scott Carpenter grew up.
posted by nickggully at 11:33 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
You want this one.
I think you mean "You 1980 want SHADO this UFO one 1980."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:39 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think you mean "You 1980 want SHADO this UFO one 1980."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:39 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was checking a few of these out when I ran across these images from a sighting in Lubbock , TX in 1951. That could just be planes flying to the air base in Amarillo, but if I saw that in the middle of nowhere, it would definitely creep me out.
posted by Benway at 12:06 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by Benway at 12:06 PM on January 14, 2015
I thought blue book was just a cover for keeping an eye on who might have accidentally seen what about the actual secret aircraft projects. It's handy when you can recruit a whole country of people to report potential classified information compromise for you. (Plus, you get to act like you're trying to cover up the alternate explanation, which tends to convince people of it. Reverse reverse psychology!)
posted by ctmf at 12:08 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by ctmf at 12:08 PM on January 14, 2015
Ezekiel saw the wheel; this is the wheel Ezekiel said he saw.
posted by specialbrew at 12:19 PM on January 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by specialbrew at 12:19 PM on January 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
Russian spy planes? Pshaw. If you think that is the real explanation then you are all more naive than anyone could have hoped for.
The truth is so much more simple; in June of 1893, H.G. Wells was abducted by ancient creatures living near the core of the planet, (they staged his death in 1946.) A technologically advanced but engineering poor race needed thinkers who could provide them with the intellectual capacity for a great project; the defense and eventual evacuation of their home. All the stories that Wells produced were simply exercises towards that goal; Journey to the Center of the Earth and War of the Worlds were not science fiction at all, but a combination of his experiences and efforts to save this dying race, as well as to provide deniability later.
They were involved in an ongoing conflict from an equally ancient race from Mars that had colonized the earth long before the dinosaurs existed. They were losing, and despite the clever weapons Wells helped them devise, nothing seemed to be working. Eventually they attempted to flee the planet, though the Martians were able to thwart this as well.
As a last ditch effort, Wells devised a difficult but ultimately successful solution: Time Travel. The core-dwellers built machines that could propel them millions of years into the future in hopes of simply out living the Martians. Unfortunately there was one catch; they couldn't travel underground, so they had to build flying devices which could take to the skies and catapult them through time. This is why you always hear of UFOs darting away faster than the eye could follow; not propulsion, but time dilation. This evacuation took more than sixty years to complete, explaining the swell in "UFO" sightings throughout the '50s and '60s.
So you see, it wasn't interstellar visitors after all, but a much more mundane answer; ancient dwellers of the earth's core using time travel to escape a hostile Martian force that existed since before the dawn of time.
Now, doesn't this just make much more sense?
posted by quin at 12:58 PM on January 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
The truth is so much more simple; in June of 1893, H.G. Wells was abducted by ancient creatures living near the core of the planet, (they staged his death in 1946.) A technologically advanced but engineering poor race needed thinkers who could provide them with the intellectual capacity for a great project; the defense and eventual evacuation of their home. All the stories that Wells produced were simply exercises towards that goal; Journey to the Center of the Earth and War of the Worlds were not science fiction at all, but a combination of his experiences and efforts to save this dying race, as well as to provide deniability later.
They were involved in an ongoing conflict from an equally ancient race from Mars that had colonized the earth long before the dinosaurs existed. They were losing, and despite the clever weapons Wells helped them devise, nothing seemed to be working. Eventually they attempted to flee the planet, though the Martians were able to thwart this as well.
As a last ditch effort, Wells devised a difficult but ultimately successful solution: Time Travel. The core-dwellers built machines that could propel them millions of years into the future in hopes of simply out living the Martians. Unfortunately there was one catch; they couldn't travel underground, so they had to build flying devices which could take to the skies and catapult them through time. This is why you always hear of UFOs darting away faster than the eye could follow; not propulsion, but time dilation. This evacuation took more than sixty years to complete, explaining the swell in "UFO" sightings throughout the '50s and '60s.
So you see, it wasn't interstellar visitors after all, but a much more mundane answer; ancient dwellers of the earth's core using time travel to escape a hostile Martian force that existed since before the dawn of time.
Now, doesn't this just make much more sense?
posted by quin at 12:58 PM on January 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
THIS is the documentary that explains it all. (Even dogs like it)
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:10 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:10 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
No other object has been misidentified as a flying saucer more often than the planet Venus. Even the former leader of your United States of America, James Earl Carter, Jr., thought he saw a UFO once, but it's been proven he only saw the planet Venus..
Venus was at its peak brilliance last night. You probably thought you saw something up in the sky other than Venus, but I assure you, it was Venus.
posted by quin at 1:15 PM on January 14, 2015 [7 favorites]
Venus was at its peak brilliance last night. You probably thought you saw something up in the sky other than Venus, but I assure you, it was Venus.
posted by quin at 1:15 PM on January 14, 2015 [7 favorites]
THE OWLS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM
posted by duffell at 1:22 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by duffell at 1:22 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
One chapter (I think the ufo chapter) in a 'mad scientist club' book had a reference to project blue book. I remember as a kid wondering what that was?
Now I know. Thanks!!!
posted by jazh at 1:59 PM on January 14, 2015
Now I know. Thanks!!!
posted by jazh at 1:59 PM on January 14, 2015
Fun Fact - Carl Sagan was at one point involved with Project Blue Book.
posted by longbaugh at 2:13 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by longbaugh at 2:13 PM on January 14, 2015
Swamp gas! Never mind that you're in New Mexico, just roll with it...
posted by Captain l'escalier at 2:54 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by Captain l'escalier at 2:54 PM on January 14, 2015
"The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus."
posted by mikelieman at 3:06 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 3:06 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
When I was a little kid in the 70s, I was terrified that a space alien was going to come into my room at night and kidnap me. My window curtain protected me from the alien's gaze and kept me safe from harm, or at least so I told myself.
It was a good thing that I didn't know about the cold war, nuclear weapons and mutually assured destruction at that point in my life. I would have been a nervous wreck.
posted by double block and bleed at 3:09 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
It was a good thing that I didn't know about the cold war, nuclear weapons and mutually assured destruction at that point in my life. I would have been a nervous wreck.
posted by double block and bleed at 3:09 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
DB&B: It's OK. Hiding under the bed covers will protect you from everything, absolutely everything!
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:17 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:17 PM on January 14, 2015
Ezekiel saw the wheel.
posted by synecdoche at 4:34 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by synecdoche at 4:34 PM on January 14, 2015
So you see, it wasn't interstellar visitors after all, but a much more mundane answer; ancient dwellers of the earth's core using time travel to escape a hostile Martian force that existed since before the dawn of time.
I read a very serious account of how Nicola Tesla invented Free Energy, Death Rays (Tunguska!) etc. Instead of dying he was spirited away by one of Marconi's UFOs to their secret base under the caldera of an extinct volcano in South America, where the most brilliant minds of the age were building UFOs using repurposed Atlantean technology. They either built or discovered the Face on Mars, which is actually a depiction of an Atlantean wearing a tradition Atlantean helmet.
This book was, I swear to god, published and available in the nonfiction section of my local library. It was useful because in the center were a bunch of reproductions of Tesla's patents, which was pretty cool.
posted by BungaDunga at 6:59 PM on January 14, 2015
I read a very serious account of how Nicola Tesla invented Free Energy, Death Rays (Tunguska!) etc. Instead of dying he was spirited away by one of Marconi's UFOs to their secret base under the caldera of an extinct volcano in South America, where the most brilliant minds of the age were building UFOs using repurposed Atlantean technology. They either built or discovered the Face on Mars, which is actually a depiction of an Atlantean wearing a tradition Atlantean helmet.
This book was, I swear to god, published and available in the nonfiction section of my local library. It was useful because in the center were a bunch of reproductions of Tesla's patents, which was pretty cool.
posted by BungaDunga at 6:59 PM on January 14, 2015
Lots of action at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH.
posted by emelenjr at 8:54 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by emelenjr at 8:54 PM on January 14, 2015
Double block and bleed, you just gave me goosebumps.
As a little kid in the 80s I had the exact same fear. As long as I was protected from the alien's gaze they could not get me. I was very careful with my curtains and develop a whole series of alien abduction defense techniques.
One time I was camping on the beach with my family. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the stars above me through the tent's mosquito netting. My dad had removed the rain canopy and I could feel that the alien had seen me, and that it was standing just at the edge of my field of vision.
At that point the only defense was not to move a single muscle, not even my eyes. I waited immobile with my eyes fixated on the zenith.
No one had explained to me that the stars move in the night, when I saw a planet move I figured that was the UFO that would take me. When I saw Orion's belt move across the sky I just KNEW that all the stars had been UFOs all along.
I waited like this until dawn, and did not say anything for years. Never again have I felt that terror.
I do not think I will be sleeping tonight. The curtains in this room ate just not right.
posted by Doroteo Arango II at 1:39 AM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
As a little kid in the 80s I had the exact same fear. As long as I was protected from the alien's gaze they could not get me. I was very careful with my curtains and develop a whole series of alien abduction defense techniques.
One time I was camping on the beach with my family. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the stars above me through the tent's mosquito netting. My dad had removed the rain canopy and I could feel that the alien had seen me, and that it was standing just at the edge of my field of vision.
At that point the only defense was not to move a single muscle, not even my eyes. I waited immobile with my eyes fixated on the zenith.
No one had explained to me that the stars move in the night, when I saw a planet move I figured that was the UFO that would take me. When I saw Orion's belt move across the sky I just KNEW that all the stars had been UFOs all along.
I waited like this until dawn, and did not say anything for years. Never again have I felt that terror.
I do not think I will be sleeping tonight. The curtains in this room ate just not right.
posted by Doroteo Arango II at 1:39 AM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by entropicamericana at 10:56 AM on January 14, 2015 [8 favorites]