Encounter Atlas
UFO files
Project Blue Book: the Air Force UFO files
From 1947 to 1969 the US Air Force investigated 10,622 UFO reports. Every case folder is now public at the National Archives. We've put them on a map and sorted them by state and country.
Cases by year
1957 was the busiest year, with 970 reports. The big spikes match famous flaps: the Washington, DC sightings of 1952, the Levelland wave of 1957 and the Michigan “swamp gas” reports of 1966.
United States
Ohio has the most case folders (1,060).
- Alabama 93
- Alaska 119
- Arizona 124
- Arkansas 56
- California 794
- Colorado 190
- Connecticut 63
- Delaware 24
- District of Columbia 58
- Florida 315
- Georgia 165
- Hawaii 46
- Idaho 36
- Illinois 250
- Indiana 184
- Iowa 117
- Kansas 79
- Kentucky 105
- Louisiana 133
- Maine 96
- Maryland 170
- Massachusetts 201
- Michigan 245
- Minnesota 151
- Mississippi 68
- Missouri 195
- Montana 64
- Nebraska 69
- Nevada 93
- New Hampshire 42
- New Jersey 173
- New Mexico 226
- New York 595
- North Carolina 103
- North Dakota 59
- Ohio 1,060
- Oklahoma 81
- Oregon 165
- Pennsylvania 324
- Rhode Island 5
- South Carolina 62
- South Dakota 40
- Tennessee 101
- Texas 509
- Utah 47
- Vermont 21
- Virginia 196
- Washington 197
- West Virginia 68
- Wisconsin 167
- Wyoming 36
Rest of the world
Air Force personnel overseas and allied militaries also sent in reports.
- Japan 103
- Canada 70
- Germany 56
- Newfoundland and Labrador 52
- United Kingdom 38
- South Korea 34
- Greenland 20
- France 18
- Morocco 18
- Uruguay 18
- Mexico 17
- Bermuda 15
- Puerto Rico 15
- Guam 14
- Italy 13
- Australia 13
- Iran 13
- Iceland 12
- Turkey 11
- Russia 10
- Spain 10
- Finland 9
- Brazil 9
- Panama 8
- Philippines 8
- Taiwan 8
- Norway 7
- United States 6
- India 6
- Venezuela 6
- Libya 6
- Peru 5
- Sweden 5
- Argentina 5
- Denmark 4
- Guatemala 4
- Chile 4
- Cuba 4
- Saudi Arabia 4
- South Africa 4
- Hungary 3
- China 3
- The Netherlands 3
- Jersey 3
- Cyprus 3
- New Zealand 3
- Indonesia 3
- Guinea 3
- Switzerland 3
- Egypt 3
- Algeria 2
- Portugal 2
- North Korea 2
- Pakistan 2
- South Australia 2
- Austria 2
- Afghanistan 2
- Ontario 2
- British Columbia 2
- Bolivia 2
- Antarctica 2
- Thailand 2
- Manitoba 1
- New South Wales 1
- Bulgaria 1
- Poland 1
- Greece 1
- Iraq 1
- Israel 1
- Nicaragua 1
- Haiti 1
- Lebanon 1
- New Brunswick 1
- Belgium 1
- Laos 1
1,293 folders have no readable place (marked “[Blank]” or “[Illegible]” on the original). See them here.
About these files
Each link opens the case folder in the National Archives catalog, where you can read the scanned pages: witness forms, teletype messages, sketches and the Air Force's conclusion. Names of witnesses were blacked out before release. Most cases were explained as aircraft, balloons, stars or planets. 701 stayed “unidentified”.