Project Serpo
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 1 November 2005 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Beings & bodies (topic), Nuclear & missile sites (topic) |
| People | Richard Doty |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 160 |
| Year | 2005 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2005 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 11 |
Project Serpo is an alleged top-secret exchange program in which twelve U.S. military personnel supposedly travelled to a planet called Serpo in the Zeta Reticuli star system and lived there from 1965 to 1978. The story was released through anonymous emails beginning in 2005 and is widely regarded as a hoax; there is no physical evidence for it.[1][2]
The emails
The story first appeared on a UFO email list run by enthusiast Victor Martinez, who in late 2005 began receiving and posting messages from an anonymous sender claiming to be a retired government official. Over the following months the emails described the program in instalments and referred to a 3,000-page report of the team's debriefings. The material was later collected on a website run by Bill Ryan.[1][3]
The story
In the most common version, an alien survived a crash near Roswell in the late 1940s, was held but treated well, contacted its home world and was eventually repatriated, opening a relationship between the U.S. government and the beings, called Ebens. A team of twelve then flew to Serpo, a planet with two suns, expecting to stay ten years but staying about thirteen; several members died, some from radiation, and the survivors returned in 1978. Versions of the story differ on how many returned.[1][3]
Richard Doty
The story has been linked to Richard Doty, a former Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent known for spreading UFO disinformation in the 1980s. In 1983 Doty had offered journalist Linda Moulton Howe Air Force records of an alien exchange for her documentary, then withdrew without providing any evidence. Researchers found that the Serpo details varied considerably and suggested the release may have been promotion for a planned Doty book.[1][4]
Reception
Researchers quickly pointed out scientific problems in the descriptions of the planet and its two-sun system. Zeta Reticuli was already part of UFO lore through the Betty and Barney Hill case and Bob Lazar's claims, and the story echoes scenes from the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In March 2007 Bill Ryan stepped down as webmaster of the Serpo material, saying that while he still believed an exchange had happened, the releases contained disinformation. Project Serpo still has followers.[1][2]
People and topics
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Roswell incident — The July 1947 recovery of debris near Roswell, New Mexico, announced as a "flying disc" and then explained as a weather balloon.
- Defense Intelligence Agency — The Pentagon's military intelligence agency, which ran AAWSAP.
- Air Force Office of Special Investigations — The Air Force's criminal investigation and counterintelligence agency.
- Richard Doty — Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent who fed disinformation to UFO researchers in the 1980s.
- Disinformation — False information spread deliberately to mislead.
On the Timeline
- Kit Green's injury database (2005) — Kit Green begins a database of people injured in close encounters.
- EG&G Special Projects manager meeting (2005) (5 December 2005) — A former Nevada Test Site manager tells Vallée, Puthoff and Davis about secret work.
See every 2005 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Project Serpo — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Serpo — RationalWiki · rationalwiki.org · archived copy
- "Project Serpo: the Zeta Reticuli exchange program", Gaia · gaia.com · archived copy
- Paul Bennewitz — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Paul Bennewitz — Wikipedia · wikipedia.com · archived copy
- Mirage Men (2013 documentary) — Internet Archive · archive.org · archived copy
- Greg Bishop, Project Beta (2005) · goodreads.com · archived copy
- The Bennewitz affair · lennyflatley.substack.com · archived copy
- Mirage Men and the architecture of UAP disinformation · newspaceeconomy.ca · archived copy
- abovetopsecret.com · abovetopsecret.com · archived copy
- amazon.com · amazon.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Hangar 18 (the legend and 1980 film) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · archived copy
- Los Alamos National Laboratory — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Nevada Test Site — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Serpo — 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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