June 24, 1947
Kenneth Arnold sees nine objects in the sky while flying a plane over Mount Rainer, Washington.
July 1947
A flying saucer allegedly crashes on a farm outside Roswell, New Mexico. Crash debris is inspected by military officials.
December 30, 1947
The U.S. Air Force forms Project Sign which will investigate UFO sightings across the country. Project Sign’s leading civilian scientist is Prof. J. Allen Hynek.
June 24, 1948
Two commercial pilots, Clarence Chiles and John Whitted encounter a cigar shaped object while flying over Alabama.
July 1952
Hundreds of UFO sightings are reported. Most are spotted over the Washington, D.C. area causing the Pentagon’s communication channels to clog.
1952-1953
The CIA creates the Robertson Panel based on President Truman’s orders to make recommendations on how the Air Force should handle the UFO "problem."
October 1966
UFO sighting in Dexter, Mich., is explained by Project Blue Book, formerly Project Sign, as “swamp gas,” producing long-term public ridicule.
October 24, 1968
At least 16 ground witnesses and the in-air crew of a
B-52 spot a glowing object hovering near Minot AFB, N.D.
1969
The Air Force closes down Project Blue Book after an independent commission concludes that UFOs were of no scientific interest or threat to national security.
1973
The Center for UFO Studies is established by former U.S. Air Force scientist J. Allen Hynek.
1975
Project Blue Book case files are first made available to the public at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
1987
Publication of best-selling books by Budd Hopkins (“Intruders”) and Whitley Streiber (“Communion”) ignite world-wide interest in alien abductions.
1995
The U.S. Air Force announces that wreckage recovered near Roswell, N.M., in 1947 was weather balloons from the then top secret “Project Mogul.”
March 13, 1997
Thousands of people witness unidentified lights flying over the state of Arizona. Specifically hundreds spot a triangular shaped object over the Phoenix area around 8:30 p.m. And then lights reappear around 10 p.m. the same night.
January 5, 2000
At least six people, including five police officers, see a large-triangular shaped object fly over southwestern Illinois.
YESTERDAY
An object crashed in Foggy Creek, Louisianna in the early morning hours yesterday. Neighbors of a Foggy Creek resident reported a disturbance around the same time.
