KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – The first round of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAP, documents released by the Pentagon outline several decades-old UFO sightings in Oak Ridge, even alluding to pictures of “flying saucers” that were a “source of great concern to the military establishment.”
The documents released Friday morning.
The earliest, and most robust, incident we reviewed happened in 1947. The document, a letter to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, outlines the findings from George Rathman, a chief investigator at the Atomic Energy Commission and Colonel C.D. Gasser, an engineer at the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft Research Center.
The two men focus on a series of pictures W. R. Presley took in July of 1947, showing some sort of device in the air.
“He stated that interview with Presley revealed that he had been snapping photographs of his family in front of his residence at 218 Illinois Avenue, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, late in the afternoon, when he looked into the sky and observed the vapor trail as exhibited by the photograph numbered ‘1,’” the letter reads.
The pictures described in the letter were not included in Friday’s release, from what we reviewed.
That said, the letter does outline what happened next. It says the two investigators weren’t the only ones, or even the first, to hear about the pictures.
“Presley made these photographs available to reporters of the Knoxville News-Sentinel and a story concerning them was run in that paper,” the letter reads, referring to Knoxville’s still operating newspaper. “Later, it was learned… that Presley had made several copies of this photograph and had distributed them among his acquaintances at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.”
Presley handing out the pictures prompted a response from the investigators — Rathman and Gasser — who worked to gather the pictures, keep quiet anyone who had them and take the photos into government custody.
“He requested Mr. Rathman as Head of the Compliance and Investigations Division, to recover as many as possible of the photographs, advise the persons in whose possession they were found to say nothing to anyone concerning them, and to return the said photographs to him for transmission to the United States Air Force Intelligence Service,” the letter reads.
Once the investigators got the photos in hand, the letter says the two men evaluated them. According to the letter, “it was the opinion of Mr. Rathman that the photographs were, without a doubt, authentic.”
The entire ordeal caused a stir among U.S. military officials though not necessarily because of little green men.
“Colonel Gasser concluded that this matter, while still purely a matter of guesswork, is nevertheless a source of great concern to the military establishment of this country,” the letter reads.
The concern wasn’t alien life, however. Instead the military men looking into the incident were more concerned with nuclear powered missiles flying in American airspace. In 1947, tensions were high as both the United States and the U.S.S.R. continued to develop nuclear weapon arsenals.
Another couple of incidents — one on March 1 and another the next day — happened in 1950. They’re outlined in communications from within the Army’s staff communications office.
“There is a radar station near Knoxville which has been in operation about three weeks,” the newly-non-confidential letter reads. “On 1 March at 2135 hours the station picked up an object 340 degrees and 18 miles from Knoxville… Direction and distance distance put the object directly over Oak Ridge.”
The document outlines another similar radar ping from the same station the next day, also over Oak Ridge. Investigators looked into both incidents, finding there was no flights planned by the nearby Smyrna Air Base either day. However, there were concerns with the technology’s reliability.
“AEC Sec Div Chief is not certain as to operation efficiency of radar unit,” the note reads. What follows is a series of attempts to get a radar technician to Knoxville to check out the technology, but it proved more difficult than expected.
No nearby organization, like the 14th Air Force, had anyone to send. The note instead says a CIA technician made it to Knoxville at a later date to review the radar, though their findings weren’t included.
The pentagon has released thousands of pages of documents. We’re combing through them still, so it’s possible there are other East Tennessee references to be found.
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