Sandia uncle crashed saucer story (1982)
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Contents 9
Sandia uncle crashed saucer story (1982)
| Date | 29 September 1982 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Propulsion & physics (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| People | Harold Puthoff, Jacques Vallée |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 95 |
| Year | 1982 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1982 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 7 |
The Sandia uncle crashed-saucer story is an anecdote recorded in the private journals of Jacques Vallée, later published in his Forbidden Science series. Michael Shellenberger's 2024 timeline for Congress dates it to 29 September 1982.[6] The physicist Hal Puthoff told Vallée about a friend at Sandia. The friend's uncle by marriage was said to have studied a crashed saucer in the 1950s and duplicated an antigravity device from it.[6] According to the story, the older man was later found hanged with his hands tied behind his back and his laboratory wrecked. Men with official government identification had emptied the bank safe where he kept his plans.[6] The story reached Vallée at least third-hand, no names were recorded in the sources read here, and no independent confirmation has been found.
The story
- The source. Puthoff told Vallée that he had a friend at Sandia. The friend's uncle-in-law was said to have studied a crashed saucer in the 1950s and "duplicated an antigravity device".[6]
- The death. Puthoff said the uncle-in-law had been found hanged, "his hands tied behind his back and his lab in shambles".[6]
- The safe. According to the story, the man had kept his plans in a bank safe. When his family tried to open it, the bank told them that "government men bearing official identification" had already opened it and taken the contents.[6]
- The friend. Puthoff said his Sandia friend was "panicking" and that his house had been burgled several times.[6]
- Earlier summary. The earlier version of this article described the source as a Sandia "colleague" whose "uncle" had studied the saucer, and said no names, documents or technical details were given. Shellenberger's summary calls the source Puthoff's "friend" and the older man his "uncle-in-law". It adds the details of the hanging, the bank safe and the burglaries.[6]
How it was passed on
- Third-hand at best. The account passed from the older physicist, or his family, to the Sandia friend, then to Puthoff, then to Vallée, who wrote it in his journal. It reached the public decades later through the published volumes and through Shellenberger's timeline.[6]
- The journals. Vallée's Forbidden Science journals are diary entries he wrote at the time or soon after.[1][2]
- They run from 1957 onward in several volumes: volume three covers 1980–1989, volume four 1990–1999, and later volumes continue into the 2010s.[1][2][4]
- Reviewers describe them as a detailed, sometimes unsparing record of the UFO research world, where rumours, myths and hoaxes are common.[1][2]
- The writer Tanner F. Boyle, who summarises the journals, notes how Vallée recorded the views of many people, believers and sceptics alike.[5]
- Shellenberger's source. Shellenberger cites an online discussion of the passage rather than the book itself.[6] The journal text could not be checked directly for this article.
Hal Puthoff
- Career. Harold E. Puthoff began as a laser physicist.[3]
- In the 1970s and 1980s he directed a program at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) investigating claimed psychic abilities, including "remote viewing". Critics, including Martin Gardner, dismissed this work.[3] See Remote viewing.
- In 1985 he founded the Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin, later part of EarthTech International, which works on energy and propulsion research.[3]
- In the 1980s and 1990s he published unconventional theories of gravity and zero-point energy.[3]
- Since the 1990s he has been involved in ufology.[3]
- Relationship with Vallée. Puthoff appears often in Vallée's journals as a source of reports about secret UFO research. In 1973 he told Vallée that a government project existed, and in 1980 he agreed with Vallée that it probably no longer did.[7]
Context
- Other antigravity rumours. Shellenberger's timeline places the story beside other reports of antigravity research in the early 1980s. In 1983, for example, Army intelligence under John B. Alexander examined the "Hutchison effect", a claimed method of producing antigravity.[6] See Hutchison effect.
- Sandia and Kirtland. The earlier version of this article said Sandia, in Albuquerque, is one of the main U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories. It added that Sandia sits next to Kirtland Air Force Base, where the Bennewitz affair was unfolding at the same time. Those points are not covered in the sources read here, which only note that the Bennewitz affair came up in Vallée's discussions with Kit Green.[5]
- Similar stories. Vallée's journals record many unverified claims of hidden UFO projects. In September 1989 he concluded that he had "no evidence, not even the hint" that a black project was active.[7] See Vallée on the disinformation campaign (1989).
Assessment
- Unverified. No person, place, date of death or bank is identified in the sources read here. No record of the crashed-saucer study, the antigravity device or the alleged killing has been produced.
- Its value. The story's value lies in showing what circulated among scientists interested in UFOs and exotic propulsion in the early 1980s, and what Puthoff was passing to Vallée. It is not evidence of the events it describes.[6]
People and topics
- Harold Puthoff — Physicist who co-founded the SRI remote-viewing research and later worked on AAWSAP and To The Stars Academy.
- Anti-gravity — The idea of cancelling or controlling gravity for propulsion.
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- Sandia National Laboratories — A U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory in Albuquerque.
- Kirtland Air Force Base — The Albuquerque air base at the center of the Bennewitz affair.
- Bennewitz affair — Bennewitz affair
On the Timeline
- Pat Price's alien base reports (July 1982) — The Army's remote viewing chief finds 1973 reports of claimed underground UAP bases.
- Hutchison Effect (1983) — An Army intelligence group studies the 'Hutchison Effect', claimed to produce antigravity.
See every 1982 event on the UAP Timeline →
Further reading
- Jacques Vallée — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Sandia National Laboratories — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
References
- Forbidden Science — the journals of Jacques Vallée (Anomaly Archives) · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.com · archived copy
- Harold E. Puthoff — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Review of Forbidden Science 6 — SFCrowsnest · sfcrowsnest.info · archived copy
- Forbidden Science Dispatches — Tanner Boyle (journal summaries) · tannerfboyle.substack.com · archived copy
- Michael Shellenberger, written testimony to the House Oversight Committee (13 November 2024), p. 95 · oversight.house.gov
- Keith Basterfield, "Was there secret US government research?" (October 2016), extracts from Forbidden Science volumes two and three · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia article “Harold E. Puthoff”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
Categories: 1982 | Anti-gravity | Congress law | Crashes retrievals | Harold puthoff | Jacques vallée | Kirtland air force base | Propulsion physics | Sandia national laboratories | Timeline event
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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