1961 in UFO history
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📅 Year
Contents 5
| Year | 1961 |
|---|---|
| Events | 6 |
| Decade | 1960s |
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Crashes & retrievals (topic), Government programs (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| Timeline | 1961 on the UAP Timeline |
1961 in UFO history — the UAP Timeline records 6 events in 1961, mostly about secrecy & cover-up and crashes & retrievals. People named in these events include Philip J. Corso, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Arthur Trudeau, Stanton Friedman, Brad Sparks.
Overview
1961 produced the first widely publicised alien abduction story. Barney and Betty Hill, a New Hampshire couple and civil rights activists, said they were taken aboard a craft on 19–20 September 1961.[1] Under hypnosis they described the experience in increasingly elaborate detail. Their story became the 1966 best seller The Interrupted Journey and the 1975 TV film The UFO Incident.[1][2] Two ufologists later linked a star map Betty Hill said she was shown to the Zeta Reticuli system, so the case is also called the "Zeta Reticuli Incident."[1] The Hill case was key to spreading the image of grey aliens.[3] In July 2011 New Hampshire marked the site with a historical marker.[1]
The timeline's 1961 entries are mostly about government. On 16 February House Majority Leader John McCormack said the Air Force "has not been giving out all the information it has on UFOs," though Congress had been told a year earlier that no agency was withholding anything.[4] On 17 March, asked by a House subcommittee how its UFO work could be improved, the Air Force's intelligence center suggested a $1,000 raise for adviser J. Allen Hynek and a new Polaroid camera and Geiger counter.[4] On 13 November an Air Force draft policy named intelligence teams to support Projects Moon Dust, Blue Fly and "UFO," among other quick-reaction projects.[4]
Two entries are disputed or unverified. Army Colonel Philip Corso later claimed that in 1961, when the Foreign Technology Division began, he received autopsy reports, crash reports and recovered artifacts.[4] See The Day After Roswell. An alleged 28 June memo from President Kennedy asking the CIA to review "MJ-12" operations belongs to the disputed MJ-12 documents.[4][5] The timeline also notes that Texas Instruments set up the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest, which hired researchers in gravitational physics.[4]
Events
- Graduate Research Center of the Southwest (1961) — Texas Instruments sets up a research center that hires gravitational physicists.
- Philip Corso's Roswell claims (1961) — Army Col. Philip Corso claims he handled autopsy reports and recovered alien artifacts.
- John McCormack's doubts about the Air Force (1961) (16 February 1961) — House leader John McCormack says the Air Force isn't sharing all it knows about UFOs.
- Air Force proposals to improve UFO work (1961) (17 March 1961) — Asked how to improve UAP work, the Air Force suggests a raise for adviser J. Allen Hynek and a new camera.
- Kennedy MJ-12 memo of June 1961 (28 June 1961) — An alleged Kennedy memo asks the CIA to review 'MJ-12' operations.
- Moon Dust, Blue Fly and UFO draft policy (1961) (13 November 1961) — An Air Force draft policy names intelligence teams for Projects Moon Dust, Blue Fly and 'UFO'.
People
- Philip J. Corso — Army officer who claimed in The Day After Roswell that he seeded alien technology into industry.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower — 34th U.S. president, named in the MJ-12 briefing document.
- Arthur Trudeau — Head of Army Research and Development in the early 1960s and Philip Corso's boss.
- Stanton Friedman — Nuclear physicist and leading Roswell researcher.
- Brad Sparks — UFO analyst known for his catalogue of Blue Book unknowns and work on the CIA lawsuit.
- John McCormack — House Majority Leader and Speaker who chaired a 1958 UFO briefing and doubted the Air Force.
- J. Allen Hynek — Astronomer and Air Force UFO consultant from 1948 to 1969 who later founded the Center for UFO Studies.
- John F. Kennedy — 35th U.S. president, named in disputed MJ-12 memos.
- Ryan Wood — Researcher who published the Majestic documents with his father Robert Wood.
- Allen Dulles — CIA director from 1953 to 1961.
Nearby years
1960 in UFO history · 1962 in UFO history
References
- Barney and Betty Hill incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Unidentified flying object — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Grey alien — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- UAP timeline published with Michael Shellenberger's 2024 congressional testimony, entries for 1961 · oversight.house.gov
- Majestic 12 — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “Barney and Betty Hill incident”, “Unidentified flying object”, “Grey alien”, “Majestic 12”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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