Area 51: the U-2’s unplanned first lift-off
The history of a real secret aircraft helps separate documented activity from legend.
An explanation existsGroom Lake, Nevada
Atlas of mysteries
Items: 143All material
The York cellar: Harry Martindale’s Romans
An apprentice recalled Roman soldiers walking through a cellar wall, visible only from the knees upwards.
Insufficient evidenceTreasurer’s House, York
The Robertson panel: films, air alerts and competing demands for attention
In January 1953 scientists reviewed UFO reports and films; their recommendations also addressed communications overload and public alarm.
Under reviewWashington; scientific advisory panel
Tremonton: a family stop and 1,600 disputed frames
Delbert Newhouse filmed a group of bright points in color; military image analysts and physicists differed over their possible explanations.
Under reviewUtah, north of Tremonton
Washington, 1952: radar returns over the capital region
July radar and visual reports prompted interceptor flights and an official investigation.
Insufficient evidenceWashington National Airport and the Washington region
The Lubbock Lights: professors, photographs and several distinct observations
During summer 1951 faculty members watched groups of lights and a student photographed a similar formation. Their accounts have similarities but also consequential differences.
Under reviewLubbock, Texas
The Mariana film: two lights above a baseball stadium
A short color film from 1950 survived repeated investigations, a date dispute and differences between visual testimony and what the images could establish.
Insufficient evidenceGreat Falls, Montana
Project Sign: how disc reports became an intelligence task
An early Air Force program collected sightings amid fears of unknown aviation technology; its records preserve uncertainties as well as organizational decisions.
Under reviewWright Field and a nationwide reporting system
Mantell's fatal pursuit: an unknown target and the high-altitude balloon hypothesis
On January 7, 1948 Captain Thomas Mantell died after climbing to identify an aerial object. The investigation was more complicated than its early Venus explanation.
Under reviewGodman Field and southern Kentucky
Roswell: from a disc announcement to balloon records
Changing announcements in July 1947 and a later records search produced two connected histories: a debris recovery and the growth of a legend.
Under reviewNew Mexico; Roswell and surrounding region