World's strangest UFO cases revealed: Images show mysterious alien sightings in recently-released Project Blue Book files
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The US government recently revealed its investigations into 12,000 encounters with UFOs spanning between 1947-1969.
Microfilms of these cases, collectively known as Project Blue Book, have become available for anyone to view online.
Now some of the strangest from the collection have been highlighted, revealing the mysterious objects in the sky that left UFO hunters baffled.
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The Lubbock Lights incident was reported August 30, 1951 in Texas. The USAF said that these lights were most likely caused by birds named plovers, whose white breasts could reflect lights from the city below
One of the most famous is the Lubbock Lights incident, which was reported on August 30, 1951 in Texas by three professors, according to a report by Joe Tonelli onDigg.
The witnesses were sitting in the backyard of one of the professor's homes when they saw 20 to 30 'lights' fly overhead.
One of the professors said the objects 'appeared to be about the size of a dinner plate and they were greenish-blue, slightly fluorescent in colour.
'They were smaller than the full moon at the horizon. There were about a dozen to fifteen of these lights...they were absolutely circular...it gave all of us...an extremely eerie feeling.'
This image, titled simply 'Winter 1951', was taken in New Zealand. While the photographer believed this to be a flying saucer, the USAF concluded that it was in fact a lenticular cloud. The lens-shaped formations are the result of moist air that has condensed at a high altitude
Kenneth Arnold saw nine UFOs over Mount Rainier, on 24 June 1947 and the US government agencies took an interest in reports. A similar sighting (pictured) occured over Tulsa, Oklahoma on July 12, 1947
This image was taken on April 15, 1965 in Omaha, Nebraska. There are no additional case files with this photograph. The USAF says that the Blue Book included 12,618 sightings reports, with 701 of which remained 'unidentified'
The USAF concluded that these lights were most likely caused by birds named plovers, which have white breasts that can reflect lights from cities below.
Another image, titled simply 'Winter 1951', shows what the photographer believed to be a flying saucer.
However, scientists discovered that the eerie shape was a lenticular cloud which are created by moist air that has condensed at a high altitude.
The clouds are formed when the air temperature drops and moisture droplets are pushed up a steep slope by high winds.
A more straightforward case can be seen in images of a UFO taken in Santa Ana, California on August 3, 1965 by highway worker Rex Heflin.
Distant objects are hazy in the images because of the LA smog, while the UFO is not. Some suggest this is because the UFO is in fact a small object that was close to the camera.
The USAF says that the Blue Book included 12,618 sightings reports, with 701 of which remained 'unidentified' – or around 5.5 per cent of the files.
The files, which can be accessed here, were previously only available by visiting the National Archives in Washington.
'There is plenty of work for amateur investigators to try to come up with explanations they never had time to consider or research,' Nigel Watson author of the UFO investigations Manual told MailOnline.
One case that Mr Watson is particularly intrigued in for historical reasons is a report filed by Kenneth Arnold which led to the popular term 'flying saucers'.
This image was taken in Roswell in 1949. It is similar to a number of other images submitted, and has no case file associated with it
Found on July, 1957 in Ohio, the mysterious rock was thought to be from an alien civilisation. Experts initially said it was a meteorite that was over a century old. But after testing, they changed their minds and claimed it was a displaced piece of sediment from a glacier
No case files are associated with this image, which looks like a flying submarine. It was taken on December 27, 1954 in Bronx, New York.
Mr Arnold saw nine UFOs over Mount Rainier, on 24 June 1947 and the US government agencies took an interest in reports.
A similar sighting occurred over Tulsa, Oklahoma, just a month later on July 12, 1947
'They flew in a diagonal formation that stretched about five miles from the first to last craft, and they bobbed about erratically,' said Mr Watson.
'He estimated that they travelled faster than 1,000 miles per hour as they flew from Mount Rainier to Mount Adams.'
When describing the sight to newspaper reporters, Mr Arnold said it was 'like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water.'
This, said Mr Watson, reveals that the term flying saucer came from the description of the movement of the craft rather than their appearance.
'Explanations from mirages, secret aircraft to the flight of pelicans have all been used to try to explain his sighting but it still remains a mystery,' he added.
These images were taken in Santa Ana, California on August 3, 1965 by highway worker Rex Heflin using his Polaroid camera. This object supposedly flew over the Marine Corps El Toro Air Station in broad daylight, but no one else saw it. Distant objects are hazy because of the LA smog, while the UFO is not. Some suggest this is because it is small dust that was close to the camera
Pictured is the staff of Project Blue Book, which recorded more than 12,000 encounters with UFOs. Sitting in the centre is Hector Quintanilla, the last chief officer of Project Blue Book
The once-top secret files were previously only available by visiting the National Archives in Washington (left), but have recently been made available online (right)
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