Field guide
Claims, not camps.
Each entry separates the documented event, the interpretation, the contrary evidence, and what remains open.
Project Blue Book
The Air Force's best-known public UFO investigation accumulated thousands of reports, closed most of them, and left a smaller set classified as unidentified.
Program documented New Mexico, 1947Roswell
Something was recovered near Roswell in July 1947. The durable dispute is what it was, what later witnesses remembered, and whether the surviving record is complete.
Core interpretation disputed 2004 and 2015 encountersThe Navy videos
FLIR, GIMBAL, and GOFAST are authentic Navy recordings. Authentication settles where the videos came from, not what every object in them was.
Authentic footage; interpretation open A modern baselineThe 2021 ODNI assessment
The first modern public intelligence assessment treated UAP as a flight-safety and national-security data problem, not as a settled explanation.
Assessment documented Claims enter the public recordThe 2023 House hearing
Ryan Graves, David Fravor, and David Grusch testified before a House subcommittee. The hearing documents that the claims were made under oath; it does not independently prove every claim.
Testimony documented; major claims unresolved Better data before bigger claimsNASA's independent study
NASA's panel did not investigate individual sightings. It asked how scientific methods, calibrated sensors, and better reporting could make future UAP data useful.
Recommendations documented The official counter-caseAARO's historical review
AARO reviewed government records, sensitive programs, and interview accounts, then reported that it found no verified evidence of extraterrestrial technology or a concealed reverse-engineering program.
Official finding; publicly contested A document-authentication problemMajestic 12
The alleged MJ-12 papers describe a secret UFO control group. Archival searches found no corroborating record and identified multiple problems with a key memorandum.
Authenticity strongly contradicted