FBI-UAP-D013 is a multi-year case file compiled by the FBI Seattle Field Office under Seattle File No. 100-1894S, released in PURSUE Release 03 on June 12, 2026. The file spans July 1952 through August 1960 and documents dozens of unidentified aerial object sightings reported across Washington State, together with the inter-agency procedures the FBI and the U.S. Air Force established to handle them. The originating agency is the FBI; the incident location is Washington State, United States.123
Provenance and Chain of Custody
The file carries Document ID 34714596 and was declassified under the FBI Automatic Declassification Guide on May 24, 2007. The cover sheet bears two handwritten restrictions: "MATERIAL MUST NOT BE REMOVED FROM OR ADDED TO THIS FILE" and "DO NOT DESTROY WITHOUT CONSULTING FOIA COORDINATOR," indicating active records-management oversight prior to declassification. The principal form type is FD-71 (Complaint Form), supplemented by official correspondence, intelligence memoranda, Air Force evaluation reports, and newspaper clippings.
Primary FBI custodians named in the correspondence include Special Agent in Charge R. D. Auerbach and, later, Special Agent in Charge D. S. Hostetter, along with Special Agents Lloyd A. Ducommun, W. Mark Felt, Charles H. DeFordi, J. Francis Sullivan, and others. Air Force counterparts include Colonel Spencer W. Raynor, District Commander of the 20th District OSI at McCord Field, and Major Eugene L. Zechmeister, Director of Intelligence at the 25th Air Division.
Inter-Agency Coordination Framework
The file opens with the structural context for everything that follows. On August 7, 1952, a semi-monthly intelligence conference was convened at McCord Field, attended by representatives of the FBI Seattle Field Office, the 20th District OSI, the District Intelligence Office (DIO) of the 13th Naval District, and Regional Office No. 3. Participants agreed on formal dissemination procedures: sightings judged to be recently observed and potentially unknown to other agencies would trigger immediate notification of all participating intelligence organizations; delayed or retrospective reports would be forwarded to OSI for Air Force routing.
A foundational Bureau Bulletin (No. 57, October 1, 1947) and SAC Letter (No. 38, March 25, 1949) had already established that investigation of flying discs was "the responsibility of the Department of the Air Force." The FBI field office therefore functioned as a collection and coordination node rather than as a primary investigator. That posture hardened by August 1954: guidance from AFOSI Headquarters (signed by Chief of the Counter Intelligence Division Gilbert R. Levy) specified that dissemination of UFO information to local FBI offices required approval from the 25th Air Division Commander, and that national-level dissemination was not made -- FBI Headquarters itself "expressed no interest in receiving this type of information." Regional military and field-office interest persisted nonetheless, producing the dense case record that makes up this file.
Phase One: Pasco Area Sightings, July-August 1952
The earliest documented incidents centered on the Pasco, Washington area during the nationwide wave of saucer reports in the summer of 1952. On July 29, 1952, the Columbia Basin News reported multiple witnesses in the Navy Homes district describing a bright, high-speed object. Mrs. Fern Jorgenson described a round object displaying "flashing lights, mostly green" that was "so silvery that she could hardly look at it," which after approximately two minutes "appeared to fade away to the North." Child witnesses Timothy Hogland (14), Bobby Greno (13), Larry Luci (11), and Mike May (7) corroborated the account. P. C. Keller at 520 South Rainier reported "tandem-saucers" at 10:15 p.m. William J. Luedke of Kennewick described an object that "appeared round and round at times and triangular at times." Five persons collectively reported a cluster of saucers to Kennewick Police.
Phase Two: Seattle and Hanford Cases, 1952-1954
The file's middle section, covering 1952 through 1954, contains the most operationally significant incidents.
On October 8, 1952, Arthur Owley of 4430-49th Avenue South, Seattle -- a former major in an anti-aircraft artillery unit -- used binoculars alongside two companions to observe an object that "appeared to have four sources of light" and moved "extremely fast," disappearing "in a matter of seconds" after hovering briefly. On October 23, 1952, Mrs. Nelvar Spurdon at the Douglas Hotel reported observing a "round diffused light" that "seemed to suddenly change course" while appearing to fall.
In February 1953, two separate Sand Point Naval Air Station area sightings were relayed through civilian defense channels. Miss Delma J. Segram of Seattle Civil Defense reported that Mrs. Wiskerken of 7355 33rd N.E. observed a "very large object 'quite high'" above Sand Point that was "so silvery that she could hardly look at it" before it "appeared to fade away to the North." Mrs. Kathleen Carter, a Signal Division employee at Seattle Port of Embarkation, independently observed a "bright object in the sky, high over Sand Point Naval Air Station" the same day.
On July 1, 1953, Robert Lee of 1207 S.W. 152nd Street, Seattle, contacted the FBI while watching an object he estimated at 50,000 feet altitude over the channel between Vashon Island. Lee, a former Air Force member, described the object as approximately 100 to 200 feet across with lights, and stated "he has never seen anything like this before." SA Charles Pritchfield of OSI was contacted at 7:40 p.m.
The Jaske Observation, July 15, 1953
The most detailed eyewitness account in the file is that of Robert T. Jaske, a design supervisor in charge of the CA 512 R design at General Electric Company's Engineering Department in Richland, who submitted a written account on July 16, 1953. Jaske had been using a 30-power Bausch and Lomb observation telescope -- an instrument he used approximately four hours per week for target shooting -- when he observed what initially appeared to be a "large sheet of brown paper" at roughly 10,000 feet. At approximately 2:30 p.m., he spotted a "bright shimmering speck at very extreme altitude, perhaps 30,000 feet" hovering at north azimuth approximately 80 degrees. A companion located a second similar speck nearby.
Under sustained telescopic observation, Jaske described "a disc-like body" with "four helicopter-like arms" surrounded by "a thin vaporous ring about with blue in color," covering "about one fortieth of the diameter of the field" -- roughly 20 seconds of arc. He included a hand-drawn sketch showing a central spindle with four arms labeled "GIMMERING PURE WHITE" with an "INDISTINCT RING." Jaske wrote: "Just as I had become convinced this was a radar target balloon made of transparent plastic, the object began to move. It moved at incredible speed toward the east disappearing on the eastern horizon in about 10 seconds."
The official resolution came on August 10, 1953. SAC Auerbach wrote to Colonel Raynor reporting that the AEC Security Division had coordinated with the 5th AAA Group, which confirmed release of "a meteorological balloon, equipped with radio and other meteorological equipment at 2:05 PM on July 15th" tracked by radar to 25,000 feet in the same general area. The case was closed. However, Auerbach noted it was "felt desirable to refer the report to the attention of the Air Force as they may wish to discuss it with the two other interested services" -- residual uncertainty persisting despite the official explanation.
Hanford Area, August 2, 1953
A. I. Moore of 2433 Clearwater Avenue, Kennewick, and Mrs. Mary Eleanor Hodson, a nurse at Kadlec Hospital, observed "two reddish-orange balls of fire" from Moore's yard while finishing an outdoor supper at 9:20 p.m. Moore estimated their speed as "about three times as fast as a B-47" -- a striking reference to one of the era's fastest strategic bombers. CIC Resident Agency officer Allen Eddy assessed Moore as "a very substantial individual who was very sincere in his story." AEC Security Division officer J. P. McHale confirmed he had landed at the AEC airfield at 9:15 p.m. and neither he nor the pilots noticed anything unusual. McHale's working hypothesis was "some slight fog fold which he had noticed forming, showing up in the Pasco airport beacon." No further investigation was recorded.
Neah Bay Radar Interception, June 22, 1954
The Neah Bay incident represents the file's most operationally documented case. The radar station at Neah Bay detected an unidentified object 38 to 40 miles southwest at an altitude of 1,500 to 2,000 feet. Two F-86D Sabre fighters were scrambled from McCord Field under the callsign "Pronto Blue." The incident was documented in detail by Major Eugene L. Zechmeister, Director of Intelligence at the 25th Air Division.
Pronto Blue #2 was flown by 2nd Lieutenant Edward E. McBride of the 317th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, with approximately 463 total flight hours, over half in fighter-interceptor work. Pronto Blue #1 was flown by 2nd Lieutenant Hilson L. Sewell, with approximately 360 total flight hours. Both pilots were interrogated individually by Major Zechmeister and Chief Warrant Officer Odin E. Sorensen, Assistant Director of Intelligence, within four hours of the incident. Statements were obtained individually, the report notes, "ruling out possibility of subconscious innocent collusion."
The ground radar (callsign TIMOTHY, at George LS 1604) first tracked the blip at 08:14Z at 200 knots, estimated altitude 15,000 feet, with intermittent reappearances. The station's technical representative confirmed "malfunction of radar was definitely ruled out." Lt. McBride's airborne radar obtained a pickup at approximately 28 miles that "separated into two 'clear distinct' blips." He descended from 25,000 to 6,000 feet while attempting to close, achieving speeds of +5 to +9 Mach, before the blips "slid off scope from 30 degree port to 60 degree port." Lt. Sewell independently obtained a pickup and held it for approximately 20 seconds before the same slide-off occurred.
All weather stations, Seattle AMIS, Navy, Coast Guard, and the 5th Air Defense Division at Vancouver, B.C., were checked with negative results, ruling out weather balloons, surface vessels, and known aircraft. The Air Force Intelligence evaluation concluded: "The blips or targets observed are tentatively evaluated as true airborne targets, similar in presentation size and general configuration (on ground-based and airborne equipment) to B-36, B-52 type aircraft with an estimated pullout speed of Mach One or better." The report was submitted to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The targets were acknowledged as genuine aerial contacts but were not identified.
Phase Three: Sporadic Reports, 1955-1960
The file's final section documents diminishing official priority alongside continued civilian reporting.
In June 1956, Sergeant Gordon Richardson of the Kennewick Police Department reported an observation from approximately a year earlier. Richardson prefaced his account by acknowledging awareness that it "sounds like a 'nut complaint'" and noting that other officers "never pay any attention to what he says" -- direct evidence of the professional stigma that suppressed formal reporting. He described a "large, shining, metal ball about 30' in diameter" that approached from the west at 200 to 300 feet altitude at high speed, came to "a complete stop," hovered while emitting engine sounds that "sounded like a tractor engine and apparently an internal combustion engine," then "took off with a speed so great that it disappeared from sight in a matter of seconds" with no fire or smoke on departure. Richardson's theoretical speculations on gravity and electron beams -- preserved verbatim in official FBI correspondence -- represent an unusual instance of a law enforcement officer's theoretical engagement with the phenomenon appearing in formal federal records.
On November 5, 1957, Albert Cressey, fishing on Alaska Way near the Union Oil Company docks, observed a large disk from which "six other smaller objects fly away from the big disk." In December 1958, Mrs. Bertha Harrison of Bellingham reported that J. Edgar Hoover's office had previously acknowledged receipt of her earlier sighting report. On October 10, 1959, Mrs. Neil Gotschall -- wife of a Boeing Airplane Company administrator on the Bomarc project -- and her husband observed a light of "tremendous brilliance" moving vertically but not horizontally from their Seattle residence. Both had been, as she noted, "complete skeptics on the 'business of flying saucers'" before the sighting. On August 12, 1960, Mrs. Muriel Bass of Spokane observed an object with "a slight orange slide" that "maneuvered slightly" before disappearing behind a hill; she was assessed by Captain Harold Reaume of OSI at Fairchild AFB as well-educated and credible.
What The Record Supports
FBI-UAP-D013 is a primary federal record documenting eight years of UFO reporting in Washington State and the institutional mechanisms that handled it. It establishes that the FBI Seattle Field Office, the 20th District OSI at McCord Field, the 25th Air Division, and the AEC at Hanford maintained formal inter-agency coordination protocols for UFO reports from at least 1952. It documents that by 1954 national-level federal interest had effectively been withdrawn, while regional military and field-office activity continued.
The Neah Bay radar case is the file's most significant single incident: Air Force Intelligence formally evaluated the detected objects as "true airborne targets" with Mach One or better performance, submitted findings to Wright-Patterson's Air Technical Intelligence Center, but issued no identification. That assessment remains the official record.
Several cases received conventional explanations -- the Jaske observation was attributed to a meteorological balloon, Hanford fireballs to possible atmospheric refraction of an airport beacon -- though both attributions carried noted uncertainty. Most civilian sighting reports in the file were assessed as insufficient for formal Air Force investigation and were not further pursued.
The file does not establish the identity, origin, or nature of any reported object. The phenomena documented across 1952 to 1960 remain unresolved. The record does demonstrate that federal personnel took the reporting seriously enough to maintain systematic documentation and formal inter-agency procedures, while simultaneously constructing bureaucratic structures that limited the scope and escalation of investigation.