Maury Island incident
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🛸 Case
Contents 5
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Maury Island |
The Maury Island incident is a claim that on 21 June 1947, three days before Kenneth Arnold's famous sighting, a harbor patrolman named Harold Dahl saw six doughnut-shaped craft over Puget Sound near Maury Island, Washington, and that one dropped debris on his boat. The story drew in Arnold and two Army Air Forces intelligence officers, who died in a plane crash while returning from investigating it. The FBI concluded it was a hoax, and Project Blue Book's Edward Ruppelt called it "the dirtiest hoax in UFO history".[1][2]
The claim
Dahl said that while on his boat near Maury Island he saw six large, doughnut-shaped craft, one of which appeared to be in trouble and showered the boat with a substance resembling lava rock, injuring a crew member and killing a dog. His associate Fred Crisman said he had recovered samples of the debris, including what was described as "white metal". Dahl later said a man in a dark suit visited him and warned him not to talk about what he had seen.[1][3]
Kenneth Arnold's investigation
After his own sighting near Mount Rainier on 24 June, Kenneth Arnold was paid $200 by publisher Ray Palmer to investigate the Tacoma claims. Arnold met Dahl and Crisman along with United Air Lines pilot E.J. Smith, who had also reported a sighting; the debris they were shown appeared ordinary. Arnold called in two Army Air Forces intelligence officers, Lt. Frank Brown and Capt. William Davidson, who interviewed the men and took debris samples.[1][4]
The B-25 crash
In the early hours of 1 August 1947, the B-25 bomber carrying Brown and Davidson back to California crashed near Kelso, Washington, killing both officers. The crash fuelled later conspiracy theories, though it was attributed to an engine fire.[1]
The hoax
The FBI quickly concluded that the story was false; its files record that Dahl said he would describe it as a hoax if questioned. The incident became an early source of the "Men in Black" legend through writer Gray Barker's 1956 book They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. Crisman later became the subject of other conspiracy claims.[1][5]
References
- Maury Island incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Edward J. Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects — Project Gutenberg · gutenberg.org · archived copy
- Brian Dunning, "Maury Island: The Government's Alien Artifacts", Skeptoid #820 · skeptoid.com · archived copy
- "Mount Rainier: 'Saucer Magnet'", Skeptical Inquirer · csicop.org · archived copy
- "FBI's real-life 'X-Files' documents strange connection between UFOs and the JFK assassination", MuckRock (2016) · muckrock.com · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 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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