Hampton Roads bodies claim (1979)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 10
| Date | 5 April 1979 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Beings & bodies (topic) |
| People | Leonard Stringfield |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 88 |
| Year | 1979 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1979 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
In his January 1980 Status Report II, crash-retrieval researcher Leonard Stringfield published a claim that 13 alien bodies and two craft, once held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, had been moved to Langley Air Force Base at Hampton Roads, Virginia.[1]
The letter
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According to researcher Grant Cameron's summary of Stringfield's report, the story came through aviation historian and Air Force Maj. Truman Weaver, a friend of UFO researcher Don Berliner. Weaver showed Berliner a letter from Robert Thompson, who worked in the aviation business. Thompson wrote that in 1953 he had worked "right across the alley" from where 13 alien bodies were kept, that the smell of embalming fluid drifted over to his workplace, and that the bodies were later moved to Langley.[1]
Stringfield's follow-up
When Stringfield traced Thompson, he confirmed that he had worked across from a building he identified as 18F. He said he had not seen the bodies himself but had seen an "interim report" by his boss, named McAdams, confirming that craft and bodies were on the base. He said he understood the 13 bodies and two craft had been moved to Langley, but that he had heard about the move from a source in Canada he could no longer reach.[1]
Related stories
Cameron linked the account to others placing a saucer at Langley: a former Army intelligence officer Stringfield called "JK" said he had heard at Wright-Patterson that a saucer was stored there, and Stringfield's Status Report III (1982) included a witness who said four bodies from a New Mexico crash had been seen at Langley. Canadian engineer Wilbert Smith was also said to have seen a crashed craft at an Air Force base outside Washington.[1]
Langley
Langley Air Force Base lies in Hampton, Virginia, on the Hampton Roads harbour, one of the largest concentrations of military bases in the world.[2]
Assessment
The account is second- and third-hand. Thompson did not see the bodies, his information about the move came from an unreachable source, and no records support it.[1]
In the testimony
The testimony cites: Retrievals of the Third Kind presented at MUFON 1978, Leon Stringfield, p86.
People and topics
- Leonard Stringfield — Former Air Force intelligence officer and NICAP researcher who collected anonymous crash-retrieval accounts from 1978 to 1994.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Crash retrieval — The alleged recovery of crashed non-human craft by governments.
On the Timeline
- Gabe Valdez and the Dulce cattle mutilations (16 February 1979) — An FBI memo relays a police officer's claim of a cover-up of New Mexico cattle mutilations.
- Victor Marchetti's Second Look article (May 1979) — Former CIA official Victor Marchetti writes that the government is hiding alien contact.
See every 1979 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Grant Cameron, "The presidents and the hard evidence (part 2)", 2nd Annual UFO Crash Retrieval Conference Proceedings (Nov 2004), Internet Archive (PDF) · archive.org · archived copy
- Langley Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Leonard H. Stringfield — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Stringfield's 1978 report — Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Leonard Stringfield's status report at the 1978 MUFON symposium — Podcast UFO · podcastufo.com · archived copy
- Retrobituaries: Leonard Stringfield — Mental Floss · mentalfloss.com · archived copy
- UFO Crash Retrievals: Status Report I — Goodreads · goodreads.com · archived copy
- militarytownadvisor.com · militarytownadvisor.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Harry S. Truman — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
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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