How to report a UFO sighting

About How to report a UFO

The full story, section by section

The story of How to report a UFO in 2 parts. Tap any part to read it in full.

1. Filming itHold the phone as steady as you can, or rest it on something.Read this part → Illustration drawn for this site — not a photograph.
2. Check the common explanationsBefore reporting, it is worth checking a few things.Read this part → Illustration drawn for this site — not a photograph.

Read the full How to report a UFO article →

Programs, organizations & documents

The official programs, groups and papers involved:

🏢 Organization · 4 min readNational UFO Reporting CenterThe National UFO Reporting Center is a non-profit corporation founded in 1974 that collects and catalogs public reports of UFO sightings. Operating in Washington State, it runs a 24-hour hotline and an online reporting form, and its database serves as a widel…🏢 Organization · 7 min readMUFONThe Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) is an American non-profit organization founded in Quincy, Illinois, in 1969 to investigate reported UFO sightings. It operates as a civilian volunteer network that publishes a monthly journal, holds annual symposiums, and mainta…🏢 Organization · 15 min readAAROThe All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is a United States Department of Defense organization created on July 20, 2022, to investigate unidentified anomalous phenomena. Its scope covers objects in the air, at sea, in space, and moving between those do…

🗓️ How to report a UFO on the UAP timeline

1. 19 August 1947An Air Force officer tells the FBI he suspects secret U.S. military tests explain some flying disc reports. Read the article →
2. 16 December 1947A U.S. Army officer reports locating the German Horten brothers, designers of flying-wing aircraft. Read the article →
3. 1948President Truman reportedly asks for spoken-only quarterly briefings on UAP research, with no records kept. Read the article →
4. 17 August 1949An alleged CIA report names a secret Defense Department program for exploiting recovered disc technology. Read the article →
5. 17 August 1949An Air Force base reports an informant's account of seven discs and two crashed ones; a lake search finds nothing. Read the article →
6. 1951A Blue Book officer reportedly runs a private, Navy-assisted inquiry into undersea and aerial UAP. Read the article →
7. 27 February 1951A Navy physicist publicly says all UAP reports are mirages or balloons. Read the article →
8. 27 February 1951The head of Project Twinkle tells reporters the Navy is misleading the public and real UAP show controlled motion. Read the article →
9. 1952A disputed, possibly hoaxed 'Majic' report describes the 1947 recovery of craft and five bodies. Read the article →
10. 24 April 1952Air Force and Navy intelligence study nine undersea UAP encounters reported by U.S. submarines. Read the article →
11. 19 February 1953A Marine pilot scrambled near North Carolina reports a disc with red lights coming within 350 feet. Read the article →
12. 26 August 1953Air Force Regulation 200-2 tightens UAP reporting and routes key reports away from Project Blue Book. Read the article →
13. 1954Engineer Bob Wood reportedly suspects the 'SOM1-01' manual was created as Cold War disinformation. Read the article →
14. 10 March 1954Directive JANAP 146(C) covers UAP reports and bars civilian pilots from discussing them. Read the article →
15. 23 July 1954A new Navy directive orders UAP sighting reports sent to several intelligence commands. Read the article →
16. 1955A Wright-Patterson worker reportedly said she catalogued about 1,000 incoming UAP items. Read the article →
17. 5 May 1955Blue Book Special Report No. 14 analyzes 3,200 sightings and finds no proof of advanced craft. Read the article →
18. 20 November 1955A newspaper reports on research into the 'secret of gravity' at top U.S. laboratories. Read the article →
19. 24 January 1956Wright-Patterson monitors a reported saucer landing in Afghanistan and plans an overflight. Read the article →
20. 5 July 1956Rep. John Moss asks why the unclassified Blue Book Special Report 14 isn't public. Read the article →
21. September 1956Unconfirmed reports describe a domed disc landing in front of personnel at White Sands. Read the article →
22. 7 November 1957Guards at the Pantex nuclear plant in Texas report three flashing objects landing nearby. Read the article →
23. 19 May 1960Alaska residents report a silver object hovering and dragging trash cans; the Air Force investigates. Read the article →
24. 1961Army Col. Philip Corso claims he handled autopsy reports and recovered alien artifacts. Read the article →
25. Late 1964An Atlas launch officer reports a UAP near his missile site in New Mexico. Read the article →
26. 30 April 1964A claimed UFO under guard at Holloman AFB; the same day a pilot reports an egg-shaped object. Read the article →
27. 31 July 1965-2 August 1965An Air Force memo logs 148 objects reported by 143 personnel at F.E. Warren missile sites. Read the article →
28. 1966A radar technician reportedly saw a disc crash at a Utah radar site linked to Area 51. Read the article →
29. 1968A study for President Johnson reportedly says UAP are real and under intelligent control. Read the article →
30. 15 November 1968The Air Force-funded Condon Report concludes that UAP study has added nothing to science. Read the article →
31. June 1972An Air Force propulsion lab report, Project Outgrowth, examines advanced propulsion ideas. Read the article →
32. May 1973Two Air Force colonels reportedly encourage filmmakers to make a UAP documentary. Read the article →
33. 1974Kit Green says he worked with scientists who reported orbs and entities in their homes. Read the article →
34. 1978An Air Force officer reportedly heard of a crash with two dead and one live occupant near Ohio. Read the article →
35. July 1982The Army's remote viewing chief finds 1973 reports of claimed underground UAP bases. Read the article →
36. 1983Alleged Montauk projects reportedly used radio and microwaves in mind experiments. Read the article →
37. 28 June 1984Hudson Valley residents report a boomerang-shaped craft flying at treetop level. Read the article →
38. 24 July 1984Guards at the Indian Point nuclear plant reportedly see a UAP as security systems fail. Read the article →
39. April 1988A contractor submits a propulsion report to the Air Force led by Franklin Mead. Read the article →
40. 1 October 1990Aviation Week reports 45 sightings of craft in the Southwest that hover, then go supersonic. Read the article →

Search the timeline →

🏛️ Official records

• “Apollo 16 Scientific Debriefing”NASA · Released Jun 12, 2026This debriefing includes presentations from principal investigators of various Apollo experiments. The principal investigators describe preliminary results of their work to educate the Apollo crews about what they’ve ob…
• U.S. Air Force Analysis of Flying Objects in the United States, 101-172Department of War · Released Jun 12, 2026Includes a "Check-List - Unidentified Flying Objects" that contains details about the incident. Many summaries also include witness lists or statements and other narrative reports or descriptions. 
• U.S. Air Force Analysis of Flying Objects in the United States, 1-100Department of War · Released Jun 12, 2026Includes a "Check-List - Unidentified Flying Objects" that contains details about the incident. Many summaries also include witness lists or statements and other narrative reports or descriptions. 
• USNavy-Report-of-Flying-Discs 1948Department of War · Released Jun 12, 2026This document is a memorandum from the Commandant of the 5th Naval District, and it cites a memorandum related to "flying discs" from the Chief of Naval Operations. The memorandum requests that naval stations report inc…
• Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 (Analysis of Reports of Unidentified Aerial Objects)CIA · Released Jun 12, 2026This is the USAF Project Blue Book with a CIA cover sheet stating the document is "Official Record Copy." With the exception of the handwritten note on the first page, the content of this document has been available on …
• FD-302, Unidentified Aerial Object Observation Report, 2026FBI · June 2026This document is an FBI FD-302, a form the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses to record interviews. This FD-302 records a 2026 interview with two Federal Special Agents, in which the interviewees describe an inc…
• Triangular UAP AARO Memorandum for Record, 2026Department of War · June 2026This document is a memorandum for record documenting an AARO witness debrief concerning reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) observations at a sensitive national security site in the western United States ove…
• Enhanced PANTEX ImageryDepartment of Energy · Released May 22, 2026A Pantex Unidentified Object Incident Report that includes an enhanced image from ground surveillance radar tower.
• 65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 SUB AFBI · Released May 8, 2026The FBI's 62-HQ-83894 case file includes investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968. The records …
• 65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 Serial 449FBI · Released May 8, 2026The FBI's 62-HQ-83894 case file includes investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968. The records …
• 65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 Serial 438FBI · Released May 8, 2026The FBI's 62-HQ-83894 case file includes investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968. The records …
• 65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 Serial 403FBI · Released May 8, 2026The FBI's 62-HQ-83894 case file includes investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968. The records …

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More in the encyclopedia

Other articles that link to or mention How to report a UFO:

• Government programs (topic)This encyclopedia overview outlines government and private programs established to study UFOs and UAPs from 1947 to 2023. U.S.
• Propulsion & physics (topic)This overview covers claims and research regarding advanced propulsion, gravity, energy, and exotic materials spanning from 1955 to 2023. It details various historical attempts by inventors, governme…
• Remote viewing & psi (topic)This article provides an overview of remote viewing, psychic research, and consciousness studies linked to UFOs from 1950 to 2022. It details government-funded initiatives like the Stargate Project, …
• Congress & law (topic)This topic overview covers congressional hearings, laws, and inquiries regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena from 1950 to 2022. During the Cold War, Congress primarily received closed briefings …
• Disinformation & hoaxes (topic)This encyclopedia overview covers disinformation and hoaxes related to UFO history from 1948 to 2019. It details how officials played down subjects, used cover stories for secret projects, and fed fa…
• Ocean & underwater (topic)This encyclopedia overview covers objects seen entering, leaving, or moving under the sea, which are associated with military encounters and government investigations spanning from 1951 to 2022. It d…
• Crashes & retrievals (topic)This topic overview covers claims from 1947 to 2023 that governments have recovered and studied crashed non-human craft or debris. Beginning with the 1947 Roswell incident in New Mexico, ufology clai…
• Bases & Area 51 (topic)This overview topic covers military bases, test ranges, and secret facilities related to UFO folklore, focusing primarily on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and Area 51 in Nevada between 1949…
• Beings & bodies (topic)This topic overview covers reports and claims about non-human beings, bodies, and biological material spanning from 1947 to 2023. It outlines various second-hand and anonymous accounts involving cras…
• Types of aliensThe kinds of extraterrestrial beings described in UFO reports and lore: greys, Nordics, reptilians and more.
• Nuclear & missile sites (topic)This text is about reported UFO and unidentified anomalous phenomena sightings and incidents at nuclear weapons sites, missile bases, and laboratories between 1947 and 2022. While researchers like Ro…
• Military encounters (topic)This overview covers 72 military encounters with unidentified objects reported by pilots, radar operators, and service members between 1947 and 2022. Key incidents include World War II "foo fighters,…
• Famous UFO hoaxesThe best-known faked UFO photos, films, documents and stories — and how each was exposed.
• Secrecy & cover-up (topic)This overview page covers official secrecy, classification, and cover-up claims regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena from 1947 to 2023. It outlines historical classified studies, released gover…
• Are aliens real?What science and the official investigations say about whether extraterrestrial life exists and whether it has visited Earth.

Questions & answers