Correspondence and Memoranda Regarding Flying Saucer Sightings and Reports (1949-1950)

This collection of documents comprises FBI correspondence, internal memoranda, and teletype communications from 1949 and 1950 regarding public reports of 'flying saucers' or 'flying discs.' The documents reveal a consistent policy by the FBI to refer all public inquiries and reports of sightings to the U.S. Air Force, as the Bureau maintained that it was not conducting official investigations into the phenomenon. The correspondence includes reports from citizens claiming to have seen objects, including one report from a resident in West Virginia who described a rocket-like object, and another from a student at the University of New Mexico who admitted to creating a 'trick photograph' of a crashed saucer. Other documents detail internal discussions regarding radar sightings near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where military and Atomic Energy Commission officials debated the reliability of radar equipment and the potential for misidentification of conventional aircraft or atmospheric phenomena. The documents reflect the Bureau's administrative handling of these reports, which involved logging the information, referring it to the appropriate military or intelligence agencies, and often concluding that no further action was required by the FBI.