The Black Vault

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3. Two decades of mysterious Air Force UFO files now available online

Two decades of mysterious Air Force UFO files now available online

Morning Mix
By Nick Kirkpatrick and Justin Moyer January 21 at 7:48 AM 

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This is one of three photos of a supposed UFO taken by Rex Heflin on Aug. 3, 1965, near Santa Ana, Calif. Heflin was an Orange County highway department investigator. (AP Photo/Rex Heflin)

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Documents newly available online explore the case of alleged aliens in Orange County, Calif., in 1965.

If not interrogated or probed by hostile alien beings, those lucky enough to see an unidentified flying object may consider themselves blessed. While their experience may be the result of optical illusion, mental illness or alcohol consumption, they have some margin of proof, however slim, that mankind is not alone in the universe.

Until, of course, the United States government shows up. All too often, Uncle Sam has pedestrian — and, for those open to conspiracy theories, suspect — explanations for UFOs. Unidentified flying objects are the result of swamp gas. Unless they’re weather balloons. Or the planet Venus.

So read the files of the Air Force’s Project Blue Book — official records of more than 12,000 UFO sightings between 1947 and 1969 available online in a searchable database for the first time.

“This is as accessible as they’ve ever been,” said John Greenewald in a telephone interview with The Washington Post. The 33-year-old UFO enthusiast and filmmaker built the database, a 130,000-page treasure trove called the Black Vault, using images he and another researcher obtained. “It’s a very comprehensive way of looking at the documents,” he said.